Engineering Ethics

Anonymous Industrial Engineering Ethics Cases 189

case. But then I could be blackballed from my industry. In the end, I took a

severance package and resigned. After I left, I fell into a deep depression

for 2 years.

As a footnote, less than a year later, the same upper management was

fired and had charges brought against them. The charges were for similar

improprieties, resulting from their dealing with a couple of other departments

in the medical center.

LOOKING BACK, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE

DIFFERENTLY

?

I performed my job well, under the circumstances I was given.There was

nothing else I could do, unless I contacted the local newspaper or possibly

another organization (JCAHO, Food and Drug Administration).

WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?

I had been teaching an undergraduate class part-time even before my

resignation, and continued teaching this class. During my depression,

I interviewed for hospital jobs, but never accepted the job offers I

received. I was so disgusted with my field that after 2 years, I became a

full-time professor in electrical engineering. I will never work in a hospital

again.

CASE 2: MECHANICAL ENGINEER

Ethics Dilemma Scorecard

Public Safety & Welfare

Data Integrity & Representation

Trade Secrets & Industrial Espionage



Gift Giving & Bribery

Principle of Informed Consent

Conflict of Interest

Accountability to Clients & Customers

Fair Treatment

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190 Engineering Ethics: An Industrial Perspective

TELL US YOUR STORY

It was Monday morning and many of my co-workers were busy grab-

bing their first cups of coffee and trading tales of their weekend exploits.

The stories were never shocking or out of the ordinary because we are

all engineers. But that Monday was a bit different. In the distance as

I approached my desk there was a group in a manager’s office having a

really great time. They looked like a bunch of happy kids at

Christmastime opening their “unexpected” gifts. As I joined the group

my curiosity turned to bewilderment. Here were five or six engineers

staring down at a manager’s desk covered with what looked like wrin-

kled engineering notepad paper. It was the typical graph paper used by

engineers everywhere, and there were notes, sketches, and calculations

on the various formerly crumpled papers.

Although they looked like happy kids, what they were playing was

anything but a kid’s game. They were poring over someone else’s work.

A competitor’s work at that! No permission was asked for and no per-

mission was given to view this information. It was taken without the

knowledge of our competitor. I’d heard that companies often pay some-

one to “dive” into a competitor’s Dumpster in search of secrets, but

I never ever thought I’d be witnessing it firsthand. Two thoughts immedi-

ately came to my mind. This was wrong, very wrong. What if someone

such as the president of our company would walk by and catch all of us

looking this stuff over? Probably grounds for dismissal, I was sure. But to

my surprise, the president of the company was right in the middle of the

group, congratulating the manager for his dedication.

I had difficulty hiding my distaste and disgust for the whole sorry

situation and had to leave the manager’s office quickly. Our company

had committed an act of a common criminal in my opinion; never mind

that Dumpster diving can be legal. The Dumpster-diving manager was

proud of his take, and was actually being congratulated by the company

president!

LOOKING BACK, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE

DIFFERENTLY

?

Because this behavior was accepted by the company president, there

was nothing I could have done. I said nothing then, and would still do the

same.

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