Ethics Essay

Having a code of ethics is important because it sets the bedrock for the expectations of
being a professional engineer. It ensures that all professional engineers must remember and
uphold the same basic ethics no matter the context, pressure, or possibility of consequences.
Having these ethics allows the general public to trust the work that engineers do to not only
work but be safe as well. Without following a code of ethics, this public trust cannot be built, and
the work that engineers do would be questioned.
When I personally am faced with an ethical situation, I think about a few key things. The
first thing I do before I take any action is to think about what the actual issue is. I contemplate
what types of ethics are being breached and think about the different ways people might
interpret this issue. From there, I try to come up with as many solutions to the issue as I can,
whether I personally think they are feasible or not. I make a list of all the solutions that are
possible, and I rank them. The ones that are ranked the highest are the ones that stick true to
my own code of ethics, where the greatest good is done overall, no matter the consequence to
me or others. Once I have found the best solution, I take action on it to the best of my ability.
Finally, once I have taken action, I think about what led up to the ethical issue in the first place,
so I can try my best to make sure that a similar issue does not occur again.
The issue that I discussed in my discussion was the Volkswagen emission scandal.
Volkswagen was found to have used sophisticated software in their cars to be able to detect
when the car underwent emission testing. During this time, the software altered the internals of
the engine so that the car would output far less harmful emissions. Once the car was outside of
the testing, it returned to normal. The EPA found that by doing this, Volkswagen was able to
mass-produce cars that produced up to 40 times more pollution than allowed. Obviously, this
cheating software created a massive ethical issue. Volkswagen purposefully misled both the
EPA and customers so they could push cars out that harmed the environment. This broke many
of the ethics in the IEEE Code of Ethics. They broke the ethics of being honest and realistic in
stating claims and avoiding injuring others through malicious action. The sentiments that both
my classmates and I came to were roughly the same. We thought that the action to cheat
emissions by Volkswagen was a purposeful one to cut corners so they could rush a product off
to market without care for the safety of others and the environment. We were all surprised how
nobody from the engineers who designed the product, all the way up to upper management,
had made a big deal about this breach of ethics and instead decided to let it slip into the market.
We concluded that the most ethical decision to have been made would be for someone in the
company to have made a big enough fuss about the car before it got produced, so the unethical
car would never have made it to market. However, the car did make it to market, so the most
ethical decision after the fact would be to investigate the people who signed off on the car for
punishment and to fine the company as a whole.
Volkswagen broke many of the Virtues of Ethics. In my opinion, the top three that they
broke were honesty, integrity, and responsibility. Volkswagen broke the virtue of being honest in
what their product was. They purposefully built software in their car so that they were able to lie
about the amount of pollution it emitted. If they were truthful, the car would never have made it
to market, but because they broke the virtue of being honest, it was allowed to be
mass-produced. Another virtue they broke was integrity. Integrity comprises of exercising good
and ethical judgment in a field of practice. Since numerous engineers signed off on the car,
knowing full well that the car would have to cheat to get past the emissions test, they did not
exercise ethical judgment in engineering. They allowed a car that would harm both people and
especially the environment to be let into the world. The final virtue that Volkswagen broke was
responsibility. Responsibility means being accountable, trustworthy, and recognizing a moral
obligation to act for the good of others. Volkswagen broke its trustworthiness by not being
honest and allowing something into the public that harmed the planet’s future. The damage that
they allowed was a huge moral failure to act for the good of mankind.
The other virtues that I did not mention were fidelity, charity, and self-discipline. I did not
choose these because I thought the other three virtues were more clearly broken. I can see a
case for all of these being broken (because I think they all were in some capacity), but I think
the arguments are slightly harder to make for these three. Another ethical virtue that was not a
part of the six virtue ethics that I think was broken in this scandal was improvement. This virtue
essentially means always trying to improve conditions. This was broken because Volkswagen
allowed a car that actively harmed the quality of our environment more with its excess pollution.
By allowing this harm, they were working against the improvement of our planet’s future.