HUT 200-

PROFESSIONAL
ETHICS
Overview
• Why study professional ethics? Objective
• Concepts of Morals and classification
• Concept of Ethics
• Differences between morals and ethics
• The role of values
• Identify 5 core human values
Objectives of studying professional ethics

• Deal effectively with moral complexity in the

engineering practice*
• To understand the moral to guide the
Engineering profession
• To resolve the moral issues in the profession
• To justify the moral judgement concerning the
profession
• To develop a set of beliefs, attitudes, and habits
that engineers should display concerning
morality
Example
MORALS
Definition
• Morals are the
 welfare principles
 enunciated by the wise people
 based on their experience and wisdom

• Modified or evolved to suit the

 geography of the region,
 rulers (dynasty),
 science and technology
 time
Issues related to morals
• What ought or ought not to be done in a given
situation?
• What is right or wrong about the handling of a
situation?
• What is good or bad about the people, policies,
and ideals involved?
Types of Morals
• Common Morality
Universally accepted things about right and wrong-never
questions even though they do not follow
Eg: don’t rob, don’t hurt others etc
• Personal Morality
Personal views about a fact
Eg: alcohol consumption, using animal for scientific
research
• Professional Morality(Ethics)
Based on the specific profession
Ethics
• Right and wrong conduct
• Ethics seeks resolve human behaviours
• Good and Evil
• Right and Wrong
• Virtue and vice
• Justice or crime for a given situation or
profession
Moral vs Ethics
Example
• Son of a big politician doing a wrong act, but
saved by his father

• Job interviewer-Selection on personal influence

• Grocer sells adulterated products

Consider a case of Mr A and
Mr.B
Values
Values
• Humans have the unique ability to define their identity,
choose their values and establish their beliefs.
• A value is defined as a principle that promotes well-being
or prevents harm.”
• Another definition is: Values are our guidelines for our
success—our paradigm about what is acceptable.”
• Personal values are defined as: “Emotional beliefs in
principles regarded as particularly favorable or important
for the individual.”
• Our values associate emotions to our experiences and
guide our choices, decisions and actions.
Example of values
• A belief or lack thereof in God or an affiliation
with a religious/spiritual institution
• A belief in being a good use of resources and in
exercising frugality
• A belief that a family is of fundamental
importance
• A belief that honesty is always the best policy
and that trust has to be earned
Values related to RIGHT
CONDUCT
• SELF-HELP SKILLS: Care of possessions, diet, hygiene,
modesty, posture, self reliance, and tidy appearance

• SOCIAL SKILLS: Good behavior, good manners, good

relationships, helpfulness, No wastage, and good
environment, and

• ETHICAL SKILLS: Code of conduct, courage, dependability,

duty, efficiency,ingenuity, initiative, perseverance,
punctuality, resourcefulness, respect for all, and
responsibility
Values related to PEACE
• Attention, calmness, concentration, contentment,
dignity, discipline, equality, equanimity(balance thinking
without extremeity), faithfulness, focus, gratitude,
happiness, harmony, humility, inner silence, optimism,
patience, reflection, satisfaction, self-acceptance, self-
confidence, self-control, self-discipline, self-esteem, self-
respect, sense control, tolerance, and understanding
Values related to TRUTH
• Accuracy, curiosity, discernment, fairness,
fearlessness, honesty, integrity (unity of thought,
word, and deed), intuition, justice, optimism,
purity, quest for knowledge, reason, self-analysis,
sincerity, sprit of enquiry, synthesis, trust,
truthfulness, and determination
Values related to LOVE
• Acceptance, affection, care, compassion,
consideration, dedication, devotion, empathy,
forbearance, forgiveness, friendship, generosity,
gentleness, humanness, interdependence,
kindness, patience, patriotism, reverence,
sacrifice, selflessness, service, sharing, sympathy,
thoughtfulness, tolerance and trust
Values related to Non-Violence
• Being harmless to self and others under every
situation
• PSYCHOLOGICAL: Benevolence, compassion,
concern for others, consideration, forbearance,
forgiveness, manners, happiness, loyalty, morality,
and universal love
• SOCIAL: Appreciation of other cultures and
religions, brotherhood, care of environment,
citizenship, equality, harmlessness, national
awareness, perseverance, respect for property,
and social justice.
PERSEVERANCE
• PERSEVERANCE is defined as persistence,
determination, resolution, tenacity, dedication,
commitment, constancy, steadfastness, stamina,
endurance and indefatigability.
• To persevere is described as to continue, carry
on, stick at it (in formal), keep going, persist, plug
away, (informal), remain, stand firm, stand fast,
hold on and hang on.
• Perseverance builds character
ACCURACY
• ACCURACY means freedom from mistake or
error; conformity to truth or to a standard or
model and exactness. Accuracy is defined as
correctness, exactness, authenticity, truth,
veracity, closeness to truth (true value) and
carefulness
• Telling the truth not exaggerating
DISCERNMENT
• DISCERNMENT means discrimination, perception,
penetration, and insight.
• Ability to judge well
• Discrimination stresses the power to distinguish or select
what is true or genuinely excellent.
• Perception implies quick and often sympathetic
discernment, as of shades of feelings.
• Penetration implies a searching mind that goes beyond
what is obvious or superficial.
• Insight suggests depth of discernment.
Evolution of human values
• The human values evolve because of the
following factors:
1. The impact of norms of the society on the
fulfillment of the individual’s needs or desires.
2. Developed or modified by one’s own awareness,
choice, and judgment in fulfilling the needs.
3. By the teachings and practice of Preceptors
(Gurus) or Saviors or religious leaders.
4. Fostered or modified by social leaders, rulers of
kingdom, and by law (government).
Ethics
• Evolved from greek word ‘Ethos’
• Ethics is the set of codes or moral principles with
which behavior and beliefs are evaluated as right
or wrong
• Basically it is an activity and process of inquiry
• Ethics refers to a particular set of beliefs,
attitudes, and habits of individuals or family or
groups concerned with morals.
Why study Ethics???
• Ethics helps to know the people’s beliefs, values,
and morals, learn the good and bad of them, and
practice them to maximize their well-being and
happiness.
• It involves the inquiry on the existing situations,
form judgments and resolve the issues.
• In addition, ethics tells us how to live, to respond
to issues, through the duties, rights,
responsibilities, and obligations.
Integrity
• Integrity is defined as the unity of thought, word and
deed (honesty) and open mindedness.
• It includes the capacity to communicate the factual
information so that others can make well-informed
decisions
• adds strength and consistency in character, decisions,
and actions.
• Moral integrity is defined as a virtue, which reflects a
consistency of one’s attitudes, emotions, and conduct in
relation to justified moral values.
• Professional Integrity
• Political Integrity
• Academic Integrity
• Integrity in Daily Transactions
Industry and Society are the two systems
which interact with each other and are
interdependent.
• Society requires industry/business system which provides
manufacturing, distribution and consumption activities.
• It needs linvestment (capital input), labor (input), supply (raw
materials), production (industries, business organizations),
marketing and distribution (transport), and consumption
(public, customer).
• A lot of transactions (and interactions) between these sub-
systems involving people are needed for the welfare of the
society.
• the work ethics plays an essential role
Work Ethics
• Definition: set of standards of behaviour or codes of
conduct based on a set of values in the work place
• Eg: Medical Ethics , Military Ethics
• The ‘work ethics’ is aimed at ensuring the economy (get
job, create wealth, earn salary), productivity (wealth,
profit), safety (in workplace), health and hygiene
(working conditions), privacy (raise family), security
(permanence against contractual, pension, and
retirement benefits), cultural and social development
(leisure, hobby, and happiness), welfare (social work),
environment (anti-pollution activities), and offer
opportunities for all, according to their abilities, but
without discrimination.
Overview
• Service Learning
• Virtue-characteristics
• Civic Virtue-rights and duties
• Respect for others-
• Living peacefully-internal and external peace
• Caring and Sharing
• Honesty – dishonest behaviour
• Courage-meaning and type
Service Learning
• Service learning refers to learning the service policies,
procedures, norms, and conditions, other than ‘the
technical trade practices’.
• The service learning includes the characteristics of the
work, basic requirements, security of the job, and
awareness of the procedures, while taking decisions and
actions.
• It helps the individuals to interact ethically with
colleagues, to effectively coordinate with other
departments, to interact cordially with suppliers as well
as the customers, and to maintain all these friendly
interactions.
Service Learning
• Alternatively, the service learning may be defined as the
non-paid activity, in which service is provided on voluntary
basis to the public (have-nots in the community), non-
profitable institutions, and charitable organizations.
• This includes training or study on real life problems and
their possible solutions, during the formal learning, i.e.,
courses of study
• The engineering student analyzing and executing a socially-
relevant project is another example of service learning.
(NSS)
• The service learning is a methodology falling under the
category of experiential education
Features of Service Learning
• Connection to curriculum: Integrating the learning into a
service project is a key to successful service learning..
• Learner’s voice: Beyond being actively engaged in the
project, trainees have the opportunity to select, design,
implement, and evaluate their service activity
• Reflection: Structured opportunities are created to
think, talk, and write about the service experience.
• Partners in the community: Partnership with community
agencies are used to identify genuine needs, provide
mentorship, and contribute input such as labor and
expertise towards completing the project.
• Virtues are positive and preferred values
• Virtues are desirable attitudes or character traits,
motives and emotions that enable us to be successful
and to act in ways that develop our highest potential.
• Example: Honesty, courage, compassion, generosity,
fidelity, integrity, fairness, transparency, self-control
• They are like habits, once acquired, they become
characteristics of a person. Moreover, a person who has
developed virtues will naturally act in ways consistent
with moral principles.
• The virtuous person is the ethical person.
• Civic virtues are the moral duties and rights, as a
citizen of the village or the country or an integral
part of the society and environment.
• An individual may exhibit civic virtues by voting,
volunteering, and organizing welfare groups and
meetings.
Examples of Civic Virtue
• To pay taxes to the local government and
state, in time.
• To keep the surroundings clean and green.
• Not to pollute the water, land, and air by
following hygiene and proper garbage
disposal
• To follow road safety rules
Civic rights
• To vote the local or state government.
• To contest in the elections to the local or state
government.
• To seek a public welfare facility such as a school, hospital
or a community hall or transport or communication
facility, for the residents.
• To establish a green and safe environment, pollution
free, corruption free, and to follow ethical principles.
• People have inalienable right to accept or reject a project
in their area.
RESPECT FOR OTHERS
• This is a basic requirement for nurturing friendship, team
work, and for the synergy it promotes and sustains.
• The principles enunciated
1. Recognize and accept the existence of other persons as
human beings, because they have a right to live, just as
you have.
2. Respect others’ ideas (decisions, words, and actions)
3. Show ‘goodwill’ on others. Love others. Allow others to
grow
• To live peacefully, one should start install peace within (self).
• Only who are at peace can spread peace.
• You can not gift an article which you do not possess.
Nurture
• 1. Order in one’s life (self-regulation, discipline, and duty).
• 2. Pure thoughts in one’s soul (loving others, blessing others,
friendly, and not criticizing or hurting others by thought, word or
deed).
• 3. Creativity in one’s head (useful and constructive).
• 4. Beauty in one’s heart (love, service, happiness, and peace).
Get
• 5. Good health/body (physical strength for service).
Act
• 6. Help the needy with head, heart, and hands (charity). Service
to the poor is considered holier than the service to God.
• 7. Not hurting and torturing others either physically, verbally, or
mentally.
Factors that promote living, with internal and
external peace

1. Conducive environment (safe, ventilated, illuminated

and comfortable).
2. Secured job and motivated with ‘recognition and
reward’.
3. Absence of threat or tension by pressure due to
limitations of money or time.
4. Absence of unnecessary interference or disturbance,
except as guidelines.
5. Healthy labor relations and family situations.
6. Service to the needy (physically and mentally-
challenged) with love and sympathy
SHARING
• caring influences ‘sharing’.
• sharing is a process that describes the transfer of
knowledge (teaching, learning, and information),
experience (training), commodities (material
possession) and facilities with others.
• however, the proprietary information it should
not be shared with outsiders.
SHARING
• For the humanity, ‘sharing’ is a culture.
• Philosophically, the sharing maximizes the happiness for all
the human beings
• Psychology, the fear, divide, and distrust between the ‘haves’
and ‘have-nots’ disappear
• Economically speaking, benefits are maximized as there is no
wastage or loss, and everybody gets one’s needs fulfilled and
satisfied.
• Commercially speaking, the profit is maximized.
• Technologically, the productivity and utilization are maximized
by sharing.
VALUING TIME
HONESTY
• Honesty is a virtue, and it is exhibited in two
aspects namely,
(a) Truthfulness and
(b) Trustworthiness.
Truthfulness
- is to face the responsibilities upon telling truth.
Trustworthiness
-It refers keeping one’s word or promise
DISHONEST BEHAVIOUR
• Lying: Honesty implies avoidance of lying. An engineer may
communicate wrong or distorted test results intentionally or
otherwise.
• Deliberate deception: An engineer may judge or decide on matters
one is not familiar or with insufficient data or proof, to impress upon
the customers or employers.
• Withholding the information: It means hiding the facts during
communication to one’s superior or subordinate, intentionally or
otherwise.
• Not seeking the truth: Some engineers accept the information or
data, without applying their mind and seeking the truth.
• Not maintaining confidentiality: It is giving right information to
wrong people.
• Giving professional judgment under the influence of extraneous
factors such as personal benefits and prejudice.
CHARACTERISTICS OF COURAGEOUS
PEOPLE
(a) Perseverance (sustained hard work),
(b) Experimentation (preparedness to face the
challenges, that is, unexpected or
unintended results),
(c) Involvement (attitude, clear and firm resolve to
act), and
(d) Commitment (willing to get into action and to
reach the desired goals by any alternative but
ethical means).
COOPERATION
• Co-operation is activity between two persons or
sectors that aims at integration of operations
(synergy), while not sacrificing the autonomy of
either party.
• Willingness to understand others, think and act
together and putting this into practice, is
cooperation.
• Cooperation promotes collinearity, coherence
(blend), co-ordination
The impediments to successful
cooperation are:
1. Clash of ego of individuals.
2. Lack of leadership and motivation.
3. Conflicts of interests, based on region, religion,
language, and caste.
4. Ignorance and lack of interest.
COMMITMENT
• Commitment means alignment to goals and adherence to
ethical principles during the activities.
• Affective commitment
• When the employee loves his job
• Continuance commitment
• When the employee is driven by the fear of possible losses.
• Normative commitment
• When the employee feels obligated or duty bound to stay
with the organization.

The following diagram shows degree of involvement of team

members towards a work
EMPATHY
• Empathy begins with showing concern, and then
obtaining and understanding the feelings of
others, from others’ point of view.
• The ability to put one’s self into the psychological
frame or reference or point of view of another,
to know what the other person feels.
• This is an essential ingredient for good human
relations and transactions.
• Empathy is a social radar
To practice ‘Empathy’, a leader must have or develop
in him, the following characteristics

1. Understanding others
2. Service orientation
3. Developing others
4. Leveraging diversity
5. Political awareness
BENEFITS OF EMPATHY
1. Good customer relations (in sales and
service, in partnering).
2. Harmonious labor relations (in
manufacturing).
3. Good vendor-producer relationship (in
partnering.)
SELF CONFIDENCE
• Certainty in one’s own capabilities, values, and goals, is
self-confidence.
• People possess
• positive thinking,
• flexible and
• willing to change.
• The people with self-confidence exhibit courage to get
into action and unshakable faith in their abilities,
whatever may be their positions.
• They are not influenced by threats or challenges and are
prepared to face them and the natural or unexpected
consequences.
Characteristics of self
confidence
1. A self-assured standing,
2. Willing to listen to learn from others and adopt
(flexibility)
3. Frank to speak the truth, and
4. respect others’ efforts and give due credit
Factors that shape self
confidence
• Heredity (attitudes of parents) and family
environment (elders),
• Friendship (influence of friends/colleagues),
• Influence of superiors/role models, and
• Training in the organization ( e.g., training by
Technical Evangelists at Infosys Technologies)
Methodologies to develop Self
Confidence
1. Encouraging SWOT analysis. By evaluating their
strength and weakness, they can anticipate and be
prepared to face the results.
2. Training to evaluate risks and face them (self-
acceptance).
3. Self-talk . It is conditioning the mind for preparing the
self to act, without any doubt on his capabilities. This
make one accepts himself while still striving for
improvement
4. . Study and group discussion, on the history of leaders
and innovators (e.g., Sam Walton of Wal-Mart, USA).
SOCIAL EXPECTATION
• Ideas that we have of how someone in our social surroundings
will behave in the future or in a specific situation
• It helps us to imagine how to act or behave around them and
to predict their behavior
CHARACTER
CHARACTER
SPIRITUALITY