Professional Practice and Ethics

HUMN 501
Instructor: Fahad Anwar
Email: faafarooqi@iau.edu.sa

Lecture 04
 HONESTY ,RELIABILITY, AND
INTEGRITY IN ENGINEERING PRACTICE
From “code of Ethics”, the Engineer
SHOULD BE:

» “objective and truthful”

» Participate in“ None but

Honest enterprise”

» “Honest and Realistic in

stating claims”

» “ Offer Honest criticism”

» “Honest and impartial”

» “Avoid deceptive acts …”

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FORMS OF DISHONESTY
1. Lying
In Court Oath: ”Do you swear to tell
the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth?”
• To lie: a person intentionally or knowingly
convey false or misleading information.
• A lie = false or misleading statement, with the
intention to deceive

• It has three elements:

• First, a lie ordinarily involves something that is
believed to be false or seriously misleading.

• Second, a lie is ordinarily stated in words.

• Third, a lie is made with the intention to deceive. 3

FORMS OF DISHONESTY(CONT’D)
2. Deliberate Deception

• False one’s own expertise

• One can false the value of certain

products or designs by praising their
advantages

Example

“I know this house is worth X” (when it

is not), “and is in great condition”
(“when it is not”).

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FORMS OF DISHONESTY(CONT’D)
3.Withholding Information

• Generally, omitting or
Withholding information is
practicing a form of dishonesty.
• You might get into trouble if
you withhold information from
your parents or the police.

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FORMS OF DISHONESTY(CONT’D)
4. Failure To Seek Out the
Truth

• Honest Responsible Engineer ?

• You are committed to find the truth
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FORMS OF DISHONESTY(CONT’D)
• 5. Failing to adequately promote the
spreading of information.

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FORMS OF DISHONESTY(CONT’D)
• 6. Revealing confidential information.
 FORMS OF DISHONESTY(CONT’D)
• 7. Allowing one’s judgment to be corrupted
– by conflict of interest

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FORMS OF DISHONESTY(CONT’D)
• 8. More Suggestions? Cheating in
exams and assignments? When “own
work” emphasized?

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 DISHONESTY IS WRONG?
❑ Consider dishonesty from the standpoints of the
ethics of respect for persons and utilitarianism; each
can provide valuable suggestions.

❑ The term honest has such a positive connotation and

the term dishonest such a negative one that we forget
that telling the full truth may sometimes be wrong
and concealing the truth may sometimes be the right
thing to do. Examples?

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RESPECT OF PERSONS PERSPECTIVE

❑ Actions are wrong if they violate the moral

agency of individuals.

❑ Engineers have some degree of responsibility to

see to it that employers, clients, and the general
public make autonomous decisions ( ex: product
safety).

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 UTILITARIAN PERSPECTIVE
❑ Requires that our actions promote human happiness
and well-being.

❑ The profession of engineering contributes to this

utilitarian goal by providing designs for the creation
of buildings, bridges, chemicals, electronic devices,
automobiles, and many other things on which our
society depends.

❑ It provides information about technology that is

important in decision making at the individual,
corporate, and public-policy levels.
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UTILITARIAN PERSPECTIVE (CONT’D)
❑ From both the respect for persons and utilitarian
perspectives, outright dishonesty as well as other
forms of misusing the truth with regard to technical
information and judgment are wrong.

❑ Dishonesty can also undermine informed decision

making.

❑ Managers in both business and government, as well

as legislators, depend on the knowledge and
judgments provided by engineers in making
decisions.
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 ENGINEERING STUDENTS HONESTY?
❑ Your experience (as a student) in engineering school
is a training period for Your professional career.

❑ Pressures that You experience in the academic setting

are not that different from, and perhaps less than,
those they will experience in Your future jobs.

❑ As it is not morally permissible to cheat on exams

and misrepresent data on laboratory reports and
design projects; similarly it is not permissible to
misrepresent data to please the boss, get a promotion,
or keep a job.
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HOW HONEST SHOULD WE BE?

❑ Professionally:
– Very Honest?
– Depend?
– Honest?

❑ Exceptions:
– Confidentiality?
– Internal Laws of workplace?
– What else?

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DISHONESTY IN RESEARCH

❑ Dishonesty in science and engineering takes several

forms:

–Trimming
–Cooking
–Forging
–Plagiarism.

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TRIMMING
❑ Is the smoothing of irregularities to make the data
look extremely accurate and precise.

Examples: Regression Analysis?

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COOKING
❑ Is retaining only those results that fit the theory and
discarding others.

❑ Robert A. Millikan, American Physicist, Nobel

Laureate, Accused: selected data reported in one of
his famous papers?

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PLAGIARISM
❑ Is the use of the intellectual property of others
without proper permission or credit. It takes many
different forms.

❑ Example of plagiarism, when the extended passages

involving the exact words or the data of another are
used without proper permission.

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 ENGINEERING WITNESS

• In cases that involve accidents such as;

defective product, structural defects, or other
areas where technical knowledge is required,
engineers are sometimes hired as expert
witnesses

• Engineers should be credible at court. This

credibility depends on the engineer’s knowledge
in engineering, the case and the court process.
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ENGINEERING WITNESSING (CONT’D)

To avoid ethical problems, rules for expert witness

are:
1. The engineer should not take a case if he does
not have adequate time for investigation.
2. The engineer should not accept a case if he
cannot do so with good conscience.

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ENGINEERING WITNESSING (CONT’D)

3. The engineer should consult with a lawyer

familiar with the technical details of the case and
can prepare the expert witness for cross-
examination.
4. The witness should maintain an objective and
unbiased behavior.
5. The witness should always be open to new
information, even during the course of the trial.

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 CONFIDENTIAL
One can misuse the truth not only by lying or
otherwise distorting or withholding it but
also by disclosing it in inappropriate
circumstances.
Examples:
Medicine: A patient has a right to expect that his/her
medical records will not be released without
permission.
Law: A client has the right to expect that his legal situation
will be kept secret and private.

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CONFIDENTIALITY (CONT’D)

Engineering:
• Confidentiality cover sensitive
information:
• Given to the engineer by client
• Information gained or discovered
by the engineer in the process of
work done for the client.

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 ABUSE OF CLIENT PROFESSIONAL
CONFIDENTIALITY

Two forms:
• Breaking confidentiality without
justification.

• Refusing to break confidentiality when

a higher obligation to the public safety
or welfare
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ABUSE OF CLIENT PROFESSIONAL CONFIDENTIALITY (CONT’D)

Note the different between the interpretation of client-

professional confidentiality in the case of medicine and
engineering.
• A physician can not release a specific disease
diagnosis to anyone but the individual in question,
even though he/she may put others at risk?
• Sometimes, an engineer MUST violate client-
professional confidentiality in the interest of protecting
the public.
• The violation of personal privacy here is not as great,
and the potential for public harm is often greater.
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ABUSE OF CLIENT PROFESSIONAL CONFIDENTIALITY (CONT’D)

• Note that the Respect of Person approach

gives the “Correct” analysis to client-
professional relationship between physicians
and patients
• BUT fails to analyze the clients-engineers
relationship.
• Also, note that the Utilitarian principles could
fail in an analysis of the physician – patient
relationship.

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ABUSE OF CLIENT PROFESSIONAL CONFIDENTIALITY (CONT’D)

Case Study
• Engineer Ali inspects a new building for a client before
selling the building. Ali discovers structural defects that
could threat the public safety.
• Ali informs the clients of the defects and recommends
repair before sale. The client replies, “I am not going to
repair the building before sale”.
• Also, if you reveal information to the authorities or to
potential buyer, I am going to take legal action.
• Ali has obligation to the client and public. Although he
may have obligation to potential buyers, his more
immediate and pressing one is to protect the safety of
the current occupants of the building.
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The End
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