Ethics in Engineering Practice

Prof. Susmita Mukhopadhyay

Vinod Gupta School of Management
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur

Lecture - 04
Professional Practice in Engineering

Welcome, today, we are going to discuss the Professional Practice in Engineering. In this
session, we will try to look into the factor, what is the profession, how engineering is a
profession and things thereafter. So, let us look into the outline of the discussion of this
module.

(Refer Slide Time: 00:42)

So, this module will define what a profession, attributes of a profession, engineering as a
profession, difference in engineering and other professions, ethical dilemma, codes of
ethics is, what a code of ethics is not, essentials of a code of ethics, abuses of codes,
ethical relativism, cases for discussion and code of ethics for engineers in India.

So, we will discuss this throughout this module one by one and starting with the
definition of what is the profession. Time and again, we have been mentioning like
engineering is a profession.
(Refer Slide Time: 01:36)

So, let us first define what is a profession? So, professions are those occupations that
require both advanced study and mastery of a specialized body of knowledge, this word
specialized body of knowledge is important over here and, to undertake to promote
ensure, or safeguard some aspect of others well being.

So, if we define what is a profession, it has three important aspects like, it requires
advanced study and mastery not in any general field of knowledge, but in a specialized
body of knowledge and also to undertake to promote, ensure, or safeguard some aspect
of others well being are the three important key points in defining what is a profession.

Now, when we discuss about what are the attributes of a profession. So, first attribute is
it requires sophisticated skills, use of judgment and the exercise of discretion, we will
discuss what judgment and discretion is after we finish of this definition and move
further. Also the work is not routine and is not capable of being mechanized. So, here
you understand like it requires some degree of expertise in making decisions about the
problems that you are solving as a part of being a professional.

So, work that requires sophisticated skills, use of judgment and discretion use of
judgment and, exercise of discretion and, also the work is not a routine in nature and is
not capable of being mechanized. Number 2, the membership in the profession requires
extensive formal education not simple practical training or apprenticeship. So, you have
to have mastery and advanced knowledge in the field before you can qualify to be a
professional in a particular field and, not simple practical training or apprenticeship is
going to qualify you to be a professional.

(Refer Slide Time: 04:23)

Then, the public allows special societies or organizations that are controlled by members
of the professions to set standards for admission to the profession and to see to set
standards of conduct for members and to enforce these standards. So, every professional
body defines a standard for admission who will be admitted into that profession, what are
the set rules of conduct for the members of that profession and, how to enforce that
standard. And number 4, significant public good results from the practice of the
profession. So, it is looking into others well-being welfare and, significant public good
results from the practice of the profession.
(Refer Slide Time: 05:23)

Now, as we told we will discuss about what is judgment and discretion in details, let us
see what are these two things so, the word judgment and discretion are attributes of a
particular profession and, which requires a little amplification. So, in a profession
judgment refers to making significant decision based on formal training and experience.

So, based on your experience and formal training you have got that expertise, which
helps you to make a significant decision based on that give you an expertise to judge, in
general the decisions will have serious impacts on people's lives and will offer have
important implication regarding the spending of large amount of money. So, those which
are important decisions and which have great impact on the life of people so, these are
you like make your judgments regarding these type of decisions.

Discretion involves- being discrete in the performance of one's duties by keeping

information about customers, clients and patients, confidential. These confidential it is
essential for engineering a trusting relationship and is the hallmark of the profession, one
thing not mentioned in the attributes of a profession is the compensation received by the
professional for services.

Although most professionals tend to be relatively well-compensated, high pay is not a

sufficient condition for professional status. So, why because pay never determines the
degree of judgment that you have to take for a particular decision that you have to make,
the degree of discretion that you have to show regarding the confidentiality and
trustworthiness of the information, that others may share with you. The intensity and the
degree of these two things will determine the importance of the profession; pay is a very
secondary related to these things.

(Refer Slide Time: 08:13)

Now, how well-being and profession is linked is the ethical demands of a profession
make on the practitioners, is the combination of the responsibilities of some aspects of
others well-being and the complexity of the knowledge and, information that they must
integrate in order to promote that well being.

So, based on ethical demands of the profession we can tell it is a complex like interplay
of the responsibilities that people may have for the others well being and the degree of
knowledge judgment and discretion, that you have to like demonstrate why you are
making those judgments.

Professional practice requires the acquisition of special knowledge and skill, peculiar to
one's profession and application of that knowledge to achieve certain ends. So, it is not
enough to acquire particular knowledge and skill, which are like peculiar to one's
profession, but in order to be termed as a professional you need to apply those
knowledge to certain to achieve certain ends and, that end is of course, the well being of
others.
The further requirement for an occupation to be a profession, namely that the end it seeks
are to preserve, or promote some aspects of human well being. Distinguishes professions
from other disciplines like mathematics, or philosophy code ethics are formulated to
make sure profession clearly as addresses aspects of human well being.

So, when code of ethics means what you are supposed to do, what are your primary
responsibilities and how you apply your knowledge to the welfare of the other people,
these are codes of ethics which guidelines framed under codes of ethics, which ensures
the aspects of human well being.

(Refer Slide Time: 10:57)

Now, when we have discussed what is a profession. Now, we are going to discuss how
engineering is a profession. So, when you try to map we find like engineering requires
extensive and sophisticated skills. Otherwise like if it is not required then why do you
spend so, much time in may be nearly four years in college to get to start your job in
engineering?

The essence of engineering design is the judgment: how to use the available materials
components and devices to reach a specific objective. Discretion is also an ingrained part
in engineering, because engineers are required to keep their employers, or clients’
intellectual property and business information confidential.
Because they are the person who are involved in the process and design they get to know
many information about the which are very crucial information about the employers and
the clients, or other intellectual which is their intellectual property and, it requires lot of
discretion on their part to not to share this business information with outsiders and
maintain their confidentiality about it.

So, what we find over here engineering qualifies as a profession, because it requires
extensive and sophisticated skills, because it has a components of judgment and
discretion also involved in it.

(Refer Slide Time: 13:08)

Also, engineering requires extensive formal training. So, four years of undergraduate
training leading to a bachelor degree in engineering program is essential. After this it is
followed by work under the supervision of an expand like an experienced engineer, then
more many engineering jobs require its advanced degrees we are the bachelors degree.

Also, what we find the work of engineer serves the public good, by providing
communication system transportation energy resources and medical diagnostic, and
treatment equipment these are only a few. So, the products that are developed out of
these engineering practices are directed towards the public good by providing services
like communication system, transportation energy resources, medical treatments
diagnostic equipment; these are only to name a few there are large gamut of things.
So, beyond the three qualities of having an advanced knowledge, the judgment and
discretion, engineering requires formal training, engineering requires like, it is working
for the public good and so, it qualifies to be a profession.

(Refer Slide Time: 14:45)

So, because it fulfills all the five important parameters required for it to be a profession
now, engineering is a profession and there are other professions as well, we need to
differentiate between the engineering as a profession and other professions. So, that we
can understand if there are any special requirements for engineering as a profession, if
there are any special challenges of engineering as a profession, which may or may not be
a part of other professions.

So, although we have just noted that engineering is a profession, it should be noted there
are significant differences, how engineering is practiced and how other professions like
law and medicine are practiced. Like lawyers and are generally self-employed essentially
an independent business, or in a large group practices with other lawyers, relatively few
are employed when large organizations are as corporations.

So, until recently then this was also the trend for physicians, although with the
accelerating trend towards managed care and HMOs in the past decade, many more
physicians work for large corporation rather than in private practice.
(Refer Slide Time: 16:39)

Again training for engineers is different rather than for physicians, that for physicians
and lawyers. Finally, engineering does not have the social stature that law and medicine
have generally what happens is engineers, if you are going by maybe the pay structure,
though it is changing are not that highly paid as that of doctors.

So, but still because it fulfills all the five important criteria to be a profession-
engineering is a profession. Monetary status does not always define the status of a
profession and, in engineering lot of judgment and discretion is required along with the
application of your specialized knowledge engineering is a very important profession.

And also the engineers practice their professions in a very different way from the
physicians and lawyers, because physicians and lawyers generally practice
independently, but engineers are generally get employed.
(Refer Slide Time: 18:21)

So, most engineers are not self employed, but most often there is part of a larger
companies involving, many different occupations including accountants marketing
specialists and extensive numbers of less skilled manufacturing employees. So, what we
find like, because engineers are a part of a large corporation, or they are part of an
organization they have to day in and day out interact with people from other professions
also.

And like be in synergy with them which is a challenge and which may, or may not be
present with the professional like the practice for the physical physicians and the
lawyers, where there are any independent practice, but if yes the physicians are part of in
a hospital system, then they also have to follow the same thing, like interacting with
people from different occupations.

The exception to this rule is civil engineers, who generally practice in independent
consultants, either in their own or an engineer firms similar to many law firms so, civil
engineers are generally practices independent consultants.

So, what happened when the employees are employed in large corporation is engineers
are rarely in significant managerial positions, except with regard to managing other
engineers. So, what happens like, because they are part of a large corporation. So, at the
start you cannot find like at the start of your carrier you cannot expect yourself to be
upgraded to a managerial position.
So, what best you can expect at the start of your carrier is the like, you can be a
supervisor to other managers, or other engineers. Although engineers are paid well
compared to the rest of the society, they are generally less well-compensated than
physicians and lawyers.

(Refer Slide Time: 21:01)

One important part of the profession of engineers and engineering practice is to deal with
ethical dilemma, because there are many stakeholders involved and, because the welfare
of the public at large is the major focus, then there could be many ethical dilemmas in
the process of engineering practice. And we have discussed this time and again. So, here
we will try to elaborate on what are ethical dilemmas.

Ethical or moral dilemmas are situations in which moral reasons come into conflict, or in
which the applications of moral values are unclear and, it is not immediately obvious
what should be done. So, if we are having conflicts between two moral reasons or how to
apply the moral values, if it is not clear and, if it is the outcome that you get from it is not
obvious immediately there, it may have a ethical dilemma.

Ethical dilemmas arise in engineering because moral values are many and varied and,
can make competing claims. Yet, although moral dilemmas comprise the most difficult
occasion for moral reasoning so, they constitute a relatively small percentage of moral
choices that is decision involving moral values so, they these are small percentages of
moral choices, but these are very important parts of the how to make the choice.
So, when you talking of ethical dilemma and we talking of moral choices and, how to
make a decision, because either way we go it will have some pros and cons so, in that
case codes of ethics will serve as the guideline for resolving ethical dilemmas.

(Refer Slide Time: 23:38)

Next, we will focus into understanding what is codes of ethics, what it is, what it is not
how to develop the code of ethics, how it should be stated clearly. So, that it acts as a
guideline and to show us the track, when we are in situations of dilemma.

So, let us see what is meant by codes of ethics. So, let us see what is meant by the codes
of ethics. So, course of ethics we must understand it is not limited to professional
organizations, they can be found in corporations, in universities. Codes of ethics
represents like how thing should be done what is the right way to do the things, what
should be done, what should be avoided etc. These course expresses the rights duties and
obligations of the members of the profession.

Primarily a code of ethics provides a framework for ethical judgment for a profession.
So, when you are in a point of dilemma, you have to make a judgment and you are not
able to understand how to proceed for it, code of ethics provides your framework, or
guideline to for your ethical judgment. Code serve as a starting point for ethical decision
making. So, a code defines the roles and responsibilities of the professionals.
(Refer Slide Time: 25:24)

So, what should be done, how it should be done, what should be avoided what should be
encouraged these type of things, I mentioned in the course of ethics. Before we
proceeded on to discussing, what is code of ethics let us focus into what code of ethics is
not. It is also important to look into what code of ethics is not. It is not a recipe for
ethical behavior as previously stated, it is only a framework for arriving at a good ethical
choices.

A code of ethics is never a substitute for sound judgment, a code of ethics is not a legal
document. And code of ethics does not create new moral or ethical principles. It only
states given the set of rules and regulations this is the set of things that you are expected
to do and, these are the things that you are expected not to do.
(Refer Slide Time: 26:36)

So, with that we will go for further discussion of code of ethics and what it states. So,
code of ethics, addresses ethical dilemmas it is very important to first classify like, the
ethical dilemmas if it can meet to any categorization.

So, what we find in ethical dilemmas, what we find that ethical dilemmas can be
classified into two broad categories. On one hand, many dilemmas have solutions which
are either right or wrong. So, right means the one course of action that is obligatory and,
failing to do that action is unethical immoral, in most instances a code of ethics specifies
what it clearly requires. Obey the law and heed engineering standards, do not offer a or
accept bribes speak and write truthfully maintain confidentiality and so, forth.
(Refer Slide Time: 28:15)

On the other hand, some dilemma have two or more possible reasonable solutions, no
one of which is mandatory, but one of which should be chosen. These solutions might be
better or worse than others in some respects, but not necessarily all respects. So, it is a
choice from like, a various options that you have and you have to like you choose one of
them.

Now, when we have discussed about the two types of ethical dilemmas and, what the
code of ethics is then and, now we will proceed to discussion of like what are the
different aspects of a code of ethics. And, we understand codes of ethics is for resolving
situations of conflict. And here, now we will discuss in details the role played by the
codes of ethics. So, what we find over here there are 8 different roles, which codes of
ethics may play.

So, first is serving and protecting the public, second is providing guidance, third offering
inspiration, fourth establishing shared standards, fifth supporting responsible
professionals, sixth contributing to education seventh deterring wrongdoing and eighth
strengthening a professions image. So, these are eight different codes of ethics. In the
next lecture we are going to elaborate on each of these codes of ethics, we will discuss
scales to related to that and the engineering as a professional practice and, also we will
discuss the code of ethics for engineers as stated in India.

Thank you.