Contracts for Engineers

15

Ethics for Organizations

Introduction

The separation of ethical behavior of individuals from that of organizations is somewhat artificial since, as pointed out in the NSPE Code of Ethics in Chapter 14, “Real persons (subject to the code of ethics) in turn establish and implement policies within the business structures.” While that is true, it is generally recognized that the corporate culture in which the engineer works is a very important determinant of the ethical environment. Business ethics and engineering ethics are considered by some to be “members of the same family” (Bowie 2005). Bowie claims that neither business nor engineering are “professions.” Others argue that engineering is a profession but that business is not (Weil 2005). ...