A “Code of Ethics” is a set of principles and guidelines for the moral and ethical conduct

expected in your profession, with the one we will discuss in engineering. The purpose of this is

to be a moral compass that can point to acceptable behavior in professional or personal life. This

builds and upholds the values, trust, and credibility of the organization by setting the standards of

a culture to help advance technology and better the workforce of the respected profession.

When facing an ethical dilemma, I consider multiple factors, from ethical to personal

values. One of the easiest ones to act on when facing an ethical dilemma is asking a trusted peer

or mentor to help consider different possibilities or viewpoints I might not consider elsewhere.

Suppose this is a quick decision, or I don’t have the option to ask someone else for help. In that

case, I make sure my choice aligns with my values and try to find a solution that helps reduce the

most conflict and treats all persons equally, as I feel that that way of thinking will produce the

best result. Factors involved when making this decision include my values and trying to get as

much information as possible to help formulate my decision.

Ethical issues that were discussed in class were the issue of the Ford Pinto issue which

focused on Ford's pressure of money as they chose to push production and minimize safety to

maximize their money made. The Volkswagen issue of emissions changed when the cars were

tested for their emissions to be in regulation. The Amazon Echo issue of whether to disclose

personal stored data and if it's morally wrong to halt an investigation. The big data issue of

disclosing personal information in order to improve their medical database and whether to

choose their job if they push back or the fact that linking these people's data is morally wrong.

The ethical considerations introduced in class differed from my own in some categories

as sometimes you need to go against your own moral compass and form the subjective right

opinion. Most of these did align as I’m for allowing the inclusivity of people and pushing for a
better work force. My class was not able to come to a consensus on the most "ethical" decision

as it wasn’t really discussed, so we never came to a consensus on which decision would be the

most ethical. On top of this, each person described different ideas that were shown throughout

the discussion board.

The “Virtue of Ethics” relates to the case study that my groupmates and I discussed on

the Volkswagen emissions scandal. This is when the company manipulated the emissions test to

appear to be in line with regulations when they weren’t. Three of the virtues stated in the “Virtue

of Ethics” related to this case study are integrity, honesty, and responsibility. The first virtue that

relates to this is integrity, which involves having good moral and ethical principles even when

pressured to diverge from them. The Volkswagen company showed a lack of this in their

organization as they used dishonest tactics to evade car regulations. These actions didn’t align

with their stated values, failing to uphold integrity. Another virtue that they failed to uphold was

honesty. This is one of, if not the biggest, virtues they failed to uphold as they deceived

regulators and consumers and manipulated the cars to comply with regulations but only during

emissions tests. This virtue is needed to build trust between the company and the consumer

which will impact the sales and industry. The third virtue that resonates with this case is

responsibility. The company failed in this virtue as they kept shifting the responsibility onto

others. More specifically shifting blame off the higher-ups as they were trying to avoid

accountability for the actions taken. The other virtues are less relevant as fidelity is only for the

public as faithfulness and support to the public technically go against them but not as strongly as

the other three virtues mentioned before. Charity doesn’t relate as well to the case study as it is

voluntarily giving help and showing compassion for your fellow man which does go against

helping others, but they don’t care as much for the community. Self-discipline as this virtue isn’t
about indulging in excess behavior like saving money but acting with restraint, which isn’t really

shown in this case. There isn't another ethical virtue you feel could apply to your case study that

is not included in the "Virtue of Ethics” as anything else that I think of would fall in line with the

“Virtue of Ethics”. Other things that I could think of are transparency and accountability which is

covered in both honesty and it is covered in responsibility.