DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY Delhi-

110042, India
Assignment 1-Ethical Responsibility of Engineers concerning global
issues

FEC –professional ethics S3

SUBMITTED BY 1.Tanay Kumar Prasad
2k21/b16/41

Submitted to:
Deepti Sinha
 Acknowledgement
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher
Deepti Sinha who gave me the golden opportunity to do this
wonderful project on the topic Ethical Responsibility of Engineers
concerning global issues, which also helped me in doing a lot of
Research and i came to know about so many new things I am really
thankful to them.
Secondly i would also like to thank my parents and friends who
helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.
 Content
Introduction : Ethical Responsibility of Engineers concerning global
issues:-

a)Multinational Companies

b) Bio- Ethics and their principles

c) Business Ethics and the principles
d) War Ethics and the principles
 Introduction
The concept of globalization increases with the integration of nations through
trade, investment, transfer of technology and exchange of ideas and culture.
So far as the engineers and companies are concerned, the Multinational
Companies play crucial roles in promoting globalization. The ethics related to
business, environment and computer.

Multinational Companies

Multinational Companies, also called Transnational Companies are the

companies that have a main branch in a country called the Home country and
its other branches in different companies called the Host countries, as
International Labor Organization (ILO) defines it.
Multinational Corporations can have a powerful influence in local economies,
and even the world economy, and play an important role in enhancing
international relations and globalization. These MNCs also get tax benefits,
pledges of governmental assistance or improved infrastructure or lax
environmental and labor standards enforcement as they help in increasing the
national GDP. MNCs should produce high degree of operational efficiency
pertaining to high standards in the jurisdiction of the place where they are. The
wages, safety measures, employee benefits are all should be taken care of by
the MNCs.
There have been instances of corporate and government confrontations when
governments tried to force MNCs to make their intellectual property public in
an effort to gain technology for local entrepreneurs. Such an idea paves way for
conflicts where either the government has changed its rules or the companies
have withdrawn their investments. Multinational corporate lobbying is directed
at a range of business concerns, from tariff structures to environmental
regulations. The threat of nationalization or changes in local business laws and
regulations can limit a MNCs power.
Business Ethics-
Ethics are the set of rules of conduct that the concerning persons need to abide
by. These ethics when related to the field of business, are called Business
Ethics. Business ethics are similar to professional ethics. Business ethics are
related to the aspects of business dealing with all employees in an ethical
manner.
An organization is expected to follow certain ethical values in its functioning,
establishment, employee welfare, operations, environmental factors, waste
management and the issues related to the people living around, etc. These
factors affect the reputation of the company and indirectly affect the value of
its shares in the global market. The main principles of admirable business
ethics can be - being trustful, open minded, meeting obligations, having the
documents clear with good accounting control, etc.
The general business ethics include the following aspects −
 Be it any industry or a corporate office, the infrastructure and the
working environment should be comfortable and encouraging.
 The safety precautions and maintenance of the organization are to be
taken care of.
 The work and the skills of the employees are to be identified and
encouraged for the development of the organization.
 A hierarchical procedure is to be followed, maintaining the ethical
standards for the execution of work.
 The product maintenance right from the procurement raw material to the
dispatch of product should be done in a standard procedure uninfluenced
by any unethical issues.
 No tolerance should be there for any kind of unethical behavior or
influences that affect the production and organizational standards.
 To encourage the activities that promote social good and are
environment-friendly.
Bioethics-
Bioethics is the multi-disciplinary study of, and response, to these moral and ethical
questions.

Bioethical questions often involve overlapping concerns from diverse fields of study
including life sciences, biotechnology, public health, medicine, public policy, law,
philosophy and theology. They arise in clinical, research, and political arenas, usually in
response to advances in biology, health care, and technology, particularly biotechnology.

Although bioethics began as a multi-disciplinary field of study, it is now a full-fledged

discipline in its own right. As technology advances ever more quickly, and questions
involving its implementation become more complex, bioethics will continue to grow and
become increasingly important.

General principle of bioethics are :–

1. Principle of respect for autonomy- In a prima facie sense, we ought always

to respect the autonomy of the patient. Such respect is not simply a matter of
attitude, but a way of acting so as to recognize and even promote the
autonomous actions of the patient.
2. Principle of non maleficence- In the course of caring for patients, there are
situations in which some type of harm seems inevitable, and we are usually
morally bound to choose the lesser of the two evils, although the lesser of
evils may be determined by the circumstances.
3. Principle of beneficence- One clear example exists in health care where the
principle of beneficence is given priority over the principle of respect for
patient autonomy. 
4. Principle of justice- Justice in health care is usually defined as a form of
fairness, or as Aristotle once said, "giving to each that which is his due."
This implies the fair distribution of goods in society and requires that we
look at the role of entitlement. 

Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics

 War ethics-
Human beings have been fighting each other since prehistoric times, and people
have been discussing the rights and wrongs of it for almost as long.
The Ethics of War starts by assuming that war is a bad thing, and should be
avoided if possible, but it recognises that there can be situations when war may
be the lesser evil of several bad choices.War is a bad thing because it involves
deliberately killing or injuring people, and this is a fundamental wrong - an
abuse of the victims' human rights.
The purpose of war ethics is to help decide what is right or wrong, both for
individuals and countries, and to contribute to debates on public policy, and
ultimately to government and individual action.
War ethics also leads to the creation of formal codes of war (e.g. the Hague and
Geneva conventions), the drafting and implementation of rules of engagement
for soldiers, and in the punishment of soldiers and others for war crimes.
General principle of war ethics are :–

 Discrimination (distinguishing between enemy combatants and non-

combatants)
 Proportionality (the harms must be proportional to the gains)
 Actions must be militarily necessary
When attempting to apply and interpret these principles considerable
disagreement arises, as evidenced by the – still ongoing – debate about the 2003
US-led invasion of Iraq. Just war principles are used to address the question of
whether the war lacked legitimate authority without a UN Resolution.

Legitimate authority is at issue in all conflicts, including those considered to be

acts of terrorism or insurgency. Think about recent uprisings such as the 2011
ousting of Gaddafi's regime in Libya and the other movements loosely termed
the Arab Spring; and most timely the current debate about whether to arm the
‘rebels’ in Syria. Are these legitimate authorities? And does legitimate authority
make sense anymore?

Establishing ‘just cause’ is also problematic, for example, self-defence is widely

recognised, and the UN Charter grants states a right to defend themselves.
However, other ‘just causes’ are more difficult to defend. Particularly
controversial is humanitarian intervention, even though it is sometimes seen as
obligatory and indeed, the most ethical reason for war. It was for humanitarian
reasons that NATO intervened in Kosovo in 1999, but, there are other instances
where humanitarian disasters are left (perhaps most controversially the failure to
intervene in the Rwandan genocide in 1994).

All criteria are problematic and hard to meet. Think about ‘right intention’ with
regard to the 2003 Iraq war and discussions about the ‘real’ motives of Bush
and Blair. And when we come to proportionality, the contemporary debate is
particularly fraught. Can it ever be proportional to use drones where there is no
risk to life on one side and risk to many lives (including civilian lives) on the
other? And when battles are fought in villages and homes by those with no
uniforms, how can the principle of discrimination ever be respected – and
indeed should it be?

The character of war is changing fast and the ethics needs to keep pace with that
change. These particular principles might well need revision. But we should not
imagine the fundamental ethical issues have changed. It is still the case that in a
sense war is inherently unethical. To be justified, significant ethical reasons are
required and although imperfect Just War theory continues to be one way to
seek such reasons.
 Bibliography
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/
https://www.wikipedia.com/