Professional Ethics:

for Engineers

Dr. Ahsan Ejaz

 Introduction to Professional &
Engineering Ethics
• Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of Philosophy
that involves systematizing, defending, and
recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct.
The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns
matters of value, and thus comprises the branch of
philosophy called axiology.

• Ethics seeks to resolve questions of human morality by

defining concepts such as Good and Evil, Right and
wrong, Virtue and vice, Justice and Crime.
 What is Ethics?
Ethics

Normative
Metaethics Applied Ethics
Ethics
 What is Ethics?
Meta-ethics;
• concerning the theoretical meaning and
reference of moral propositions, and how their
truth values (if any) can be determined
Normative ethics;
• Concerning the practical means of determining a
moral course of action
Applied ethics;
• Concerning what a person is obligated (or
permitted) to do in a specific situation or a
particular domain of action.
 What is Applied Ethics?
Ethics

Normative
Metaethics
Ethics Applied Ethics

Etc.

Professional Bioethics
Business Ethics
ethics Environment Ethics
Legal ethics

Medical ethics Accounting

Engineering ethics
ethics
 Professional ethics
• Professional ethics is defined as the personal and
corporate rules that govern behavior within the
context of a particular profession.

• Quite a few professions and professionals have a

direct bearing on the lives of general people, for
example, Medical Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, who
actually work for their clients but their work has a
bearing on the lives of people associated with their
clients.
• In plain and simple terms, Professional Ethics is the
application of the basic principles of honesty, sincerity
and truth in the workplace.

• A Proactive approach to Professional Ethics is all

about seeking out and positively contributing to the
public interest

• A Reactive approach is taking responsibility for any

negative consequences of your actions and where
appropriate, amending these actions to remove
/mitigate the consequences
 What is Engineering Ethics?
Engineering ethics is the study of the moral values,
issues, and decisions involved in engineering practice.

Engineering ethics as much a part of what engineers in

particularly know as factors of safety, testing
procedures, or ways to design for reliability, durability, or
economy.

Engineering practices revolve around 03 variables;

cost, schedule, and quality. A little compromise in one
component affect others.
 Occupation Vs. Profession
• The difference between occupation and profession
can be stated with a simple example: Designing a
building would be called a profession, whereas,
constructing a building is an occupation.

A profession needs extensive training and

specialized knowledge. On the other hand, an
occupation does not need any extensive training. A
person with an occupation need not have
specialized Knowledge of his trade.
 Occupation Vs. Profession
Carpenter Engineers
Goldsmith Doctors
Builder Lawyer, etc.
Handicraft worker Professors??
Tailor?? Social recognition
Bank officer?? A member of a
Television anchor?? profession is expected/
Etc. anticipated others’
Individual choice behaviour on a certain
situation.
Not having code of
ethics Morally permissible
standards
 Who is a Professional?
Criteria to consider someone as a professional (Sociological)
-- Extensive training
-- Vital knowledge and skills
-- Control of services
-- Autonomy in the workplace
-- Know the ethical regulations
Professional responsibilities for engineers
*** Concern for public safety
*** Technical Competence
*** Timely communication of positive and negative
results to management
 Ethics Vs. Professional Ethics
Each and every rational Moral permissible standards
person of conduct that ideally every
member of a profession wants
Don’t lie every other member to follow,
Don’t kill, steal, cheat even if that would mean
to others, so on having to do the same.
Exception of these Engineering ethics as much a
moral rules and part of what engineers in
standards particularly know as factors of
safety, testing procedures, or
Self-defense (may kill ways to design for reliability,
others) durability, or economy.
Objectives of Engineer Ethics
Education
Stimulate the ethical imagination of students
Assist students to recognize ethical issues
Help students to analyze key ethical concepts &
principles
Help students to deal with ambiguity
Encourage students to take ethics seriously
Enhance student sensitivity to ethical issues
Escalate student knowledge of relevant standards
Improve ethical judgment
Proliferate ethical will power
Continue..
All these objectives can be brought under three
categories.
Emotional engagement
Intellectual engagement
Particular engagement
---Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE) ethics code-1946
--- National Institute of Engineering Ethics (NIEE)
--- National Society of Professional Engineers-1912
--These ethical codes may serve as the formal
basis for investigating unethical behaviour.
 What are the codes of professional
ethics?
• A code of ethics and professional conduct outlines

the ethical principles that govern decisions and

behavior at a company or organization. They give
general outlines of how employees should behave,
as well as specific guidance for handling issues like
harassment, safety, and conflicts of interest.
 Who is an Engineer?
Operating diesel locomotive???
Received degree in Civil engineering and got
license to work on projects.
Genetic engineers???
Physicists do some works as engineers do???
Scientists??
What is engineering?—Engineering will be what
engineers at the time in question typically do that
members of other occupation don’t.
Five Questions about Engineering
ethics
What is engineering ethics?
Why should it be emphasized in engineering
education?
How should it be taught?
When should it appear in the students’
education?

Teaching engineering ethics is part of teaching

engineering.
Why should it be emphasized in
engineering education?
Long list of Disasters, tragedies, scandals
Something should be done to protect all these bad things
to happen- eruption of engineering ethics
Conscience is not enough to practice engineering and
take a decision
Engineering code of ethics
Learning from some of the unfortunate mistakes
Despite a few engineers misfortune immoral decisions,
national surveys usually place engineers near the top of
the list in regard to the public confidence in the ethics of
profession.
 What should be the common goals
of engineering ethics education?
To stimulate the ethical imagination of students
To assist students to recognise ethical issues
Conflict of interest vs. conflict of commitment
conflicting roles vs. conflicting obligations
To help students to analyze the key ethical concepts and
principles that are relevant to the particular profession
Public health & safety, usefulness, efficiency, quality, cost-risk-
benefit analysis, damaging the environment, truthfulness, etc.
To help students to deal with ethical disagreement,
ambiguity, and vagueness.
 To encourage students to take ethical responsibility
seriously
Significance of teaching engineering
ethics (EE)
Make the engineers understood that ethical responsibility
should be a central concern of engineering profession and
practices.
Teaching EE can increase student knowledge of relevant
standards.
Knowledge of standards includes more than just knowing
what is written in codes or handbooks.
Danger of partial knowledge on codes of ethics
Teaching EE helps students to improve their ethical
judgments
Teaching EE can accelerate the students’ ethical will-
power.
 How should it be taught?
By using case studies
By adopting different modes of ethical analysis
-- Drawing the line (Gift giving and bribery)
--Conflict of interest (obligation towards employee & public
safety and welfare)
--Trade secrets and Industrial Espionage
By analyzing different concepts those found recursively in
EE.
When should it be taught?
Before earning a particular degree
Before granting license to an engineer
Etc..
 Why do we obey the
professional code?
Oath, Pledge, etc.
Quasi-contract (against violation, there will be legal
action)
It is an obligation for a professional to abide the codes of
professional ethics while doing the professional tasks.
Interpreting the code of ethics

Some case studies for you to reflect upon them.

 Real World Problems
Reading Materials
Baura, G.D. (2006). Engineering Ethics: An Industrial
Perspective. London: Elsevier Publication.
Davis, M. (2001). The Professional Approach to
Engineering Ethics: Five Research Questions. Science and
Engineering Ethics.
Davis, M. (1991).Thinking Like an Engineer: The Place of
a Code of Ethics in the Practice of a Profession.
Philosophy and Public Affairs.
Harris Jr. C.E. et al. (1996). Engineering Ethics: What?
Why? How? And When?. Journal of Engineering Education.
Unger, S.H.(2000). Examples of Real World Engineering
Ethics Problems. Sci. & Eng. Ethics
THANK YOU