KNF 3102

ENGINEERING ETHICS

MORAL REASONING AND CODES OF ETHICS

 Contents

o Moral dilemma
o Types of ethical dilemma
o Steps in resolving ethical dilemma
o Ethical corporations & responsibility to
stakeholders
o The importance of codes of ethics
o Abuse & limitations of codes
o Ethical relativism
o Justification of codes
 Moral Dilemma
 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.
 Ethical dilemmas arise in engineering, as elsewhere,
because moral values are many and varied and can
make competing claims.
 Moral Dilemma
Imagine you are walking to a store with your friend, Anne. She tells
you that Lily, a student at your school, stole money from the
cafeteria and blamed Anne for it. As a result, Anne was suspended
for two weeks and had to pay the money back.
As you and Anne walk into the store, you see Lily. Anne pushes Lily
slightly and drops a pair of earrings into Lily's purse. The alarm
sounds once Lily tries to walk out of the store. She is pulled aside
by security for shoplifting, and they call the police. Lily tells them
that she is innocent and that Anne dropped the earrings in her
purse. Anne calls Lily a liar and asks you to back her up.
The police arrive and ask for your version of the story. What do you
say? What is the dilemma here?
Do you prioritize your loyalty to your friend and keep the secret, or
do you report the incident to the police and potentially get your
friend in trouble?
 Moral Dilemma
No matter what choice you make, you will be failing to
follow your morals. In other words, someone or
something will suffer no matter what choice you make.

• Anne will suffer if you tell the truth, and you will likely
lose your friendship.

• But if you don't tell the truth, you will be a liar and
possibly a lawbreaker, and Lily will get arrested for a
crime she did not commit.
Ethical Dilemma
• An ethical dilemma is a difficulty in the choice-making
process between two undesirable choices, neither of
which is clearly acceptable from an ethical
perspective.
• Hence, an ethical dilemma is a situation in which a
person has to choose between two or more courses
of action, all of which have some negative
consequences.
• To make things even more complicated, the person
has to choose between these actions without
knowing for sure what the consequences of their
choice will be.
Ethical Dilemma
• This can be a difficult situation for anyone to be in,
but it’s especially tricky for engineers because
engineering is a profession that is held to high ethical
standards.
• Engineers will likely have to deal with engineering
ethical dilemmas as they develop new technology,
engineering processes, and products. Though
engineers may not always be directly responsible for
these decisions, they still have a responsibility to do
what’s best for the public.
Ethical Dilemma
• Engineers have a responsibility to disclose their
engineering decisions and explain why their choice
was necessary or helpful. This is vital in engineering
practice where there are often multiple choices that
can all lead to negative consequences.
• Engineers must put engineering ethics ahead of all
engineering factors when making engineering
decisions. If they don’t, there is a good chance that
their design will lead to negative consequences for
the public and/or environment and they may be held
responsible for them.
 Ethical Dilemma
This is an actual scenario where an engineer has faced an ethical
dilemma, the Therac-25 failure from the early 1980s. To briefly
summarize a long and complicated software engineering failure,
in the period 1985-1987 there were at least six cases in which
patients were overdosed with radiation while being treated for
skin lesions with a Therac-25 linear particle accelerator.

The overdoses were due to errors in the software that ran this
machine. Sometimes this machine would give off X-ray beams
that were much more powerful than the operator expected.

The bug was introduced by accident; the developers had no

desire to include it. If they had been aware of this beforehand,
they would have fixed it.
 Ethical Dilemma

The Ethical Dilemma faced by the Therac-25 software

engineer:
 Write the safety-critical software by yourself or
do not write the safety-critical software by
yourself.
 While this may seem like an easy ethical
decision to make, it really is not.
 Types of Ethical Dilemma
• Right-Wrong
– Many dilemmas have solutions that are either
right or wrong.
– “Right” means that one course of action is
obligatory, and failing to do that action is
unethical or immoral.
• Better-Worse
– A few solutions where no one of which is
mandatory but one of them should be chosen.
These solutions might be better or worse than
others in some respects.
 Steps In Resolving Ethical Dilemma
1. Identify the relevant moral values and reasons applicable in the
situation.
 What is the ethical dilemma? Be aware of them.
 BEM Code of Conduct of Registered Person (useful resource).
2. Clarify key concepts (legal or ethical issues).
 Which moral values are at stake?
 Clarify the terms/situation; made in Malaysia?
3. Obtain relevant information.
 Get the relevant facts of the case.
 Find out what is unknown and identify ways to get the information.
4. Consider all options.
 Consider all realistic options.
 Which option will produce the most good and do the least harm?
5. Make a reasonable decision.
 If there is no ideal solution, seek a satisfactory one.
 Case 1
Engineer A is employed by a software company and is involved in the design
of specialized software in connection with the operations of facilities affecting
the public health and safety (i.e., nuclear, air quality control, water quality
control). As part of the design of a particular software system, Engineer A
conducts extensive testing, and although the tests demonstrate that the
software is safe to use under existing standards, Engineer A is aware of new
draft standards that are about to be released by a standard setting
organization (standards which the newly designed software may not meet).
Testing is extremely costly and the company’s clients are eager to begin to
move forward. The software company is eager to satisfy its clients, protect the
software company’s finances, and protect existing jobs; but at the same time,
the management of the software company wants to be sure that the software is
safe to use. A series of tests proposed by Engineer A will likely result in a
decision whether to move forward with the use of the software. The tests are
costly and will delay the use of the software at least six months, which will put
the company at a competitive disadvantage and cost the company a significant
amount of money. Also, delaying implementation will mean the state public
service commission utility rates will rise significantly during this time. The
company requests Engineer A’s recommendation concerning the need for
additional software testing.
 Discussion
Identify relevant moral value: Engineer A should write an honest report.
There is no dilemma for Engineer A because what should be done is obvious.
Clarify key concepts: The software company faces an ethical dilemma (i.e.
Is it all right to proceed without the additional testing?) But that is a dilemma
for the managers, it would seem, not the engineer. The engineer should focus
solely on safety issues and fully inform management about the risks, the new
draft standards, and the proposed tests.
Obtain relevant information: What sort of impact? How severe? What is the
difference between current standard and new release?
Consider all options: Do the test, but devise a quicker version of them. Or
do the test, but interrupt them if economic conditions worsen.
That is what the Board of Engineers concludes: “Engineer A has a professional obligation
under the Code of Ethics to explain why additional testing is required and to recommend
to his company that it be undertaken. By so doing, the company can make an informed
decision about the need for additional testing and its effects on the public health, safety,
and welfare.”
In reaching this conclusion, the board suggests the engineer should focus solely on
safety, leaving consideration of other nontechnical matters (such as financial impacts) to
management. Yet the board also concludes that the recommendation should be for further
testing.
Case 2: A software engineer discovers that a colleague has
been downloading restricted files that contain trade secrets
about a new product that the colleague is not personally
involved with. He knows the colleague has been having
financial problems, and he fears the colleague is planning
to sell the secrets or perhaps leave the company and use
them in starting up his own company. Company policy
requires him to inform his supervisor, but the colleague is a
close friend. Should he first talk with the friend about what
he is doing, or should he immediately inform his
supervisor?
1. What is the moral dilemma?
2. Any concepts/ideas to clarify?
3. What factual inquiries needed in making a reliable judgement?
4. What are the options available for solving the dilemma?
5. Which of these options is permissible (all right)?
• Suggestion: The Software Engineer should proceed
as detailed by the code of ethics, as for him
professional ethics supersedes personal ethics. The
software Engineer should talk to his colleague in a
way to keep the company’s interest as a priority. The
use of confidential files for which his colleague is not
authorized to access is a serious issue and has to be
reported to his supervisor immediately.
 Ethical Corporation
1. Corporate influence is by no means unique to engineering. All
professions are interwoven with corporations, including medicine,
law, journalism, and science.
2. Corporations make possible the goods generated by engineering.
3. Most corporations at least strive to be morally responsible.
However, some corporations are corrupt. Since 2001 a wave of
scandals shook America.
One very famous of those scandals is the ENRON scandal.
The ENRON, created in 1985, became the largest bankruptcy ($60
billion) in the history of US at that time. Arthur Andersen, a major
accounting firm that collapsed in the aftermath of the Enron Scandal,
was used to do false accounting. Enron created unethical practices
including price manipulation, inflated profits to keep its rating buoyant.
Indeed based on these practices ENRON was voted among the top
innovative firm by Fortune magazine, for 5 consecutive years.
Responsibility to Stakeholders
• Most companies place a high priority on concern for
worthwhile products and ethical procedures.
• Since the 1960s, a “social responsibility movement”
has raised attention to product quality, the well-being
of workers, the wider community, and the
environment.
• Corporations have responsibilities to all groups that
have a vital stake in the corporation, including
employees, customers, dealers, suppliers, local
communities, and the general public – “stakeholder
theory”.