Engineering Ethics

18 Engineering Ethics: An Industrial Perspective

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Conflict of interest refers to the potential to distort good judgment while

serving more than one employer or client. When this potential exists, an

engineer should openly admit to these relationships in order to prevent

impropriety.

A

CCOUNTABILITY TO CLIENTS & CUSTOMERS

Although an engineer’s primary responsibility is to protect public safety,

the engineer should also perform tasks for the client or company responsibly.

FAIR TREATMENT

Engineers are entitled to a fair work environment. Employees are entitled

to an environment where treatment is based on merit (nondiscrimination)

and ethnic, sexual, and age harassment are not tolerated. Company policies

should be spelled out in an employee handbook.

DETERMINING YOUR PERSONAL ENGINEERING

ETHICS THRESHOLD FOR ACTION

During their careers, many engineers will become involved in unethical

situations they cannot control. Though they choose to act responsibly—

attuned to public safety, technically competent, and quickly informing their

managers of positive and negative results—their managers may choose to

act based on other concerns. For example, the day before the Challenger

space shuttle exploded, NASA and Morton Thiokol managers decided that

the O-ring data just presented were inconclusive. The launch had already

been postponed by bad weather several times; launch delays had received

considerable media attention because the first “teacher in space” was a

member of the shuttle crew. President Reagan’s State of the Union

address was also scheduled for the following day. His prewritten speech

contained references to the Challenger already being launched. These

managers decided that the launch would proceed as scheduled.

In preparation for being involved in unethical situations you cannot

control, it is important to know your limits (Figure 1.1). If one or more of

the ethical dilemmas discussed in the last section occur at your place of

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A Personal Engineering Ethics Threshold 19

Figure 1.1 Dworshak Dam in Idaho. Determining your personal engineering ethics threshold

for action may resemble waiting for a dam to burst.

Courtesy U.S.Army Corps of Engineers.

employment, do you still want to work there? If you personally have kept

up your professional responsibilities, should you stay? Other engineering

ethics textbooks, written by engineers or philosophers without industrial

engineering experience, advocate internal or external whistleblowing. This

is impractical advice for the rank-and-file engineer, who may be support-

ing a family and may be financially tied to his or her work position.

Certainly, this engineer has the right to practice his profession.

W

HAT IS YOUR PERSONAL THRESHOLD?

What is your personal engineering ethics threshold for action? As illus-

trated by the 10 anonymous case studies in Chapter 16, there are many

answers to this question. In each case, an engineer was extremely troubled

about an unethical work situation and resolved the situation in a unique

way, whether by leaving the company, leaving the field, fighting for internal

change, or minimizing interaction with the offending party. It is up to you

to decide your own threshold. Because the probability is high that you may

work in such an environment, it is recommended that you know your

threshold before you start working full time.

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