Ethics in Engineering: Navigating Ethical Dilemmas with Integrity

Standards of Conduct in Engineering Ethics

Ethics refers to standards of conduct which are accepted by society as being morally right, such as being honest, causing no harm, and acting in the best interest of public welfare. Engineers often face ethical questions. We need to weigh potential harm or benefit to the public, our employer, our customers and our fellow workers. Sometimes the answers are not clear. Should we work on a product that could be beneficial, but could potentially be misused in a harmful way? Must we follow every regulation to the letter or are there times when it’s acceptable to fudge a little, such as to preserve jobs for people who need them? Many professional engineering societies have a code of ethics. Electrical engineers follow the IEEE Code of Ethics, included at the end of this handout.

 

You have lots of choices here! Besides the six choices below, you can also pick from the questions about the movie, Henry’s Daughters, which we discussed in class. I think some of the movie questions might be a bit short for an entire essay, but you could pick a topic from the movie and expand on it.

 

1) You work for the FDA, evaluating a pharmaceutical company’s new drug. The company wants to release the drug immediately, not just to make money but also because the drug shows promise to help people who are very sick right now. So far, their testing has not shown any serious side effects, but the testing is not complete. For example, the drug has only been tested on adult males, and not for long-term usage. Do you approve the drug now or wait for more testing?

 

2) You are the quality control engineer evaluating a product that is scheduled for release now. The product is not quite ready – it basically works and is not dangerous, but it is not perfect. For example, maybe it breaks easily or some of the advanced options don’t work. If the company releases it, people will waste money on an inferior product, and the company’s reputation may suffer. If the company misses the release date, the customer will cancel the contract. The company will lose money and lay off workers. Do you approve the product for release or not?

 

3) You are the supervisor for a team of electronics production technicians. You are supposed to follow a rigorous set of government safety regulations, but the technicians routinely ignore them. They say that the regulations are cumbersome, uncomfortable, unnecessary and inefficient. For example, they are supposed to wear safety goggles while soldering, but they say that it is hard to see clearly through the goggles, it takes them longer and they make more mistakes. The technicians are all very experienced and competent, and have never been injured on the job. Do you insist on compliance with the safety regulations, or let the technicians ignore them?

 

4) You are the manager of a project to produce an item for a customer. The contract is for a certain amount of money, based on a detailed analysis of what it will cost your company to produce the item. While working on the project, one of your engineers has discovered that the item can be made just as well with a less expensive material, which will cut the cost significantly. If you tell the customer, they may want to renegotiate your contract for less money. Do you tell them?

 

5) You are in charge of monitoring the levels of toxic chemicals your company releases into a local river. One chemical exceeds the permitted level by a very small amount, a fraction of a percent. If you report it, your company will have to introduce a very expensive procedure to treat this chemical. In these hard economic times, that expense may mean the company will have to cut jobs. Do you report it or let it slide?

 

6) You work company developing high-tech security systems, including extensive audio and visual surveillance equipment and biometric monitoring devices. You are concerned that companies can use this surveillance to spy on employees without their knowledge violating their privacy and that the personal data collected could be sold, stolen or otherwise misused. What is your responsibility here? Should you refuse to work on ethically questionable technologies or is it the sole responsibility of the customer who buys the equipment?