Emerging ethical issues for professional engineers.Engineering 10Spring, 2008

Engineering as a professional community:

Interacting with the general public (clients and others)

Working in a global marketplaceA professional community whose

membership is increasingly diverse

Interactions with clients and the public:

Delivering a good productLooking after human safetyRespecting shared resourcesUsing expertise to solve pressing

problems

Sustainable development:

“Sustainable development is a process of change in which the direction of investment, the orientation of technology, the allocation of resources, and the development and functioning of institutions [is directed] to meet present needs and aspirations without endangering the capacity of natural systems to absorb the effects of human activities, and without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and aspirations.”

“The Role of the Engineer in Sustainable Development,” ASCE

Sustainable development:

Development: working to meet needs and aspirations we have right now

Sustainable: the development shouldn’t make big changes in natural systems, and shouldn’t undercut ability of future generations to meet their needs and aspirations

Environmental impacts:

Some have immediate health and safety effects for humans (e.g., air and water pollution)

Others may impact humans on a longer timescale (e.g., global warming)

Impacts that aren’t clearly connected to human health (e.g., extinction of species)

What are our responsibilities?Don’t harm the environment because

doing do harms humans?

Don’t harm the environment because the environment is valuable in itself?

Not everyone agrees here -- which means there needs to be a dialogue and a consideration of different points of view!

Sustainable development as more than an engineering problem:

What we can build (engineering)What the regulations require/allow

(legal, political)What clients, consumers will adopt

(economic, social)

The engineer in a global marketplace.

Working in/with other countries can bring you in contact with different conditions:

Labor costs (and labor conditions)Environmental regulationsPolitical conditionsExpectations about normal business

interactions

Factories oversees.

Lower labor costs (good for business)Are conditions safe for workers?

(Something an engineer has the expertise to evaluate!)

Are conditions humane for workers?(Slave labor would be wrong. Would a dollar a day?)

Impacts/risk on the people and environment in the host country?

First world norms vs. developing world realities.

Legal to dump hazardous materials, skip testing of products before marketing them -- but is it right?

Countries where “grease payments” and “gifts” are required to get permission to build, do business -- but Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes these illegal!

First world norms vs. developing world realities

Trying to find the optimal balance of cost, quality, and safety.

(Sometimes minimizing cost sacrifices safety or quality.)

Reputation matters, too!

Whose needs and aspirations should matter to engineers?

There are some needs only engineers can address (because of specialized knowledge and skills).

Special powers bring with them special responsibilities.

Choice of clients, projects has an ethical component.

How will this product be used?Distribution of costs and benefits?As an engineer, which problems

should I (and my professional community) prioritize?

iPhone vs. projects from “The Other 90%”

http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/

Diversity in engineering communities.

In 1993, 3.2 million employed in science and engineering in the U.S.

Almost 0.75 million womenAlmost 0.5 million members of racial or

ethnic minorities200,000 members of

underrepresented minorities175,000 people with disabilities

http://www.nsf.gov/sb/srs/nsf96311/forward.html

Diversity in engineering communities.

Why does it matter?

Isn’t it just a matter of having the skills to get the job done?

Diversity in engineering communities.

“Your new project engineer will be a woman.”

“We don’t like the idea of a woman supervising our work!”

(Similar reactions to engineers from other groups not well represented in the community of engineering.)

Diversity in engineering communities.

Engineering relies on teamwork:

Who we’re comfortable working withWho we have to supervise/who

supervises usWho we mentor/who mentors us

Diversity in engineering communities.

Engineering as a job vs. a profession:

Accomplishing the design/production/quality control task

Having to prove yourself capable of accomplishing the engineering task (if people expect you to fail)

Feeling like a full member of the professional community

Learning how to be an engineer:

Gaining technical skills, theoretical framework (from classes, projects)

Thinking about how the engineer fits into a larger (global) society

Finding out how engineers interact with each other in professional communities

Learning how to be an engineer:

Joining a professional community:

Sharing values with others in that community (and letting those values guide your actions)

Being engaged in discussions of what the community’s values ought to be.

Not a hive-mind; a group of individuals with common commitments.

Learning how to be an engineer:

Watch what working engineers and engineering professors do.

Ask them questions about how they decide what they ought to do.

Consider other ways things could be (better and worse), and how the community and its members might move in better directions.

Wrapping things up on BlackboardKeep discussing those case studies.Remember to identify:

Interested parties Potential consequences Obligations Main conflicts between obligations What should be done in each case and

why?

Wrapping things up on BlackboardAfter discussion, write your responses

to the cases (set up as quizzes in Blackboard).

“Improved Sampling Device” Discuss through Fri. 5/9 Response due Fri. 5/9, 11:59 PM

“Routine Inspections” Discuss through Wed. 5/14 Response due Wed. 5/14, 11:59 PM