CASE STUDY – CHALLENGER

ETHICAL ISSUES

• DID ASTRONAUTS HAVE ENOUGH INFORMATION TO GIVE CONSENT TO LAUNCH

• CAN AN ENGINEER WHO HAS BECOME A MANAGER TRULY EVER TAKE OFF HIS/HER ENGINEER’S
HAT

• REAGAN WAS WIDELY SEEN AS DOING NOTHINGWHILE EDUCATION SYSTEM DECAYED.

TEACHER-IN-SPACE IDEA WAS COOKED UPTO TO DIVERT ATTENTION FROM THE PROBLEM.
WHAT ARE ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS IF THIS IS TRUE

• SHOULD LAUNCH HAVE BEEN ALLOWED WHEN THERE WAS NO TEST DATA FOR THE EXPECTED
CONDITIONS

• SHOULD A PRODUCT BE RELEASED -USED WHEN IT HAS NOT BEEN TESTED OVER ALL EXPECTED
OPERATIONAL CONDITIONS – WHEN DATA IS INCONCLUSIVE WHICH WAY SHOULD THE
DECISION GO

• AFTER THE ACCIDENT THIOKOL AND NASA INVESTIGATED CAUSES OF EXPLOSION. BOISJOLY
ACCUSED NASA AND THIOKOL OF INTENTIONALLY DOWNPLAYING THE PROBLEM WITH O-RINGS
WHILE LOOKING FOR OTHER CAUSES - WHAT ARE ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THIS TYPE OF
INVESTIGATION

• MANAGEMENT DECISION TO LAUNCH WAS PROMPTED BY CONCERN FOR HEALTH OF THE

COMPANY AND SPACE PROGRAM – IF PROBLEMS AND DELAYS HAD CONTINUED THIOKOL
MIGHT HAVE LOST NASA CONTRACTS OR NASA FUNDING REDUCED – LOSS OF JOBS AT THIOKOL
AND NASA. HOW MIGHT THESE CONSIDERATIONS ETHICALLY BE FACTORED INTO THE DECISION

• ENGINEERING CODE OF ETHICS REQUIRE ENGINEERS TO PROTECT THE SAFETY AND HEALTH OF
THE PUBLIC – DO ASTRONAUTS COUNT AS “PUBLIC” IN THIS CONTEXT

• WHAT SHOULD NASA MANAGEMENT HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY

• WHAT SHOULD THIOKOL MANAGEMENT HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY

• WHAT ELSE COULD BOISJOLY AND THE OTHER ENGINEERS AT THIOKOL HAVE DONE TO PROTECT
THE LAUNCH FROM OCCURRING

PROFESSIONALISM

• LATE IN 1994 REPORTS APPEARED THAT THE LATEST GENERATION OF PENTIUM

MICROPROCESSORS WAS FLAWED – JOURNALS, MAGAZINES AND NEW YORK TIMES

• STORIES REPORTED THAT THESE CHIPS WERE UNABLE TO PERFORM RELATIVELY SIMPLE
MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION OPERATIONS
 • INTEL DENIED – LATER ARGUED THAT ALTHOUGH A PROBLEM BUT ERROR WOULD BE
SIGNIFICANT IN SOPHISTICATED APPLICATIONS – MOST PEOPLE WOULD NOT EVEN NOTICE IT

• ALSO REPORTED INTEL KNEW AND WAS WORKING TO FIX IT

• MANY PEOPLE ASKED TO HAVE DEFECTIVE CHIP REPLACED – INTEL REFUSED

• PUBLIC OUTCRY REACHED HUGE PROPORTIONS AND IT BECAME A PUBLIC RELATIONS DISASTER

• INTEL AGREED TO REPLACE DEFECTIVE CHIPS WHEN CUSTOMER REQUESTED

• DID INTEL DO ANYTHING UNETHICAL

• NEED TO DEVELOP FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING ETHICAL PROBLEMS

• ONE PART OF FRAMEWORK IS CODE OF ETHICS ESTABLISHED BY PROFESSIONAL ENGG

ORGANIZATIONS

• CODES HELP GUIDE ENGINEERS IN THE COURSE OF PROFESSIONAL DUTIES AND GIVE THEM
INSIGHT INTO ETHICAL PROBLEMS

• ENGINEERING CODE OF ETHICS HOLD THAT ENGINEERS SHOULD NOT MAKE FALSE CLAIMS OR
REPRESENT A PRODUCT TO BE SOMETHING THAT IT IS NOT

• ANY WORK FOR HIRE CAN BE CONSIDERED A JOB, REGARDLESS OF THE SKILL LEVEL INVOLVED
AND THE RESPONSIBILITY GRANTED

• OCCUPATION IMPLIES EMPLOYMENT THROUGH WHICH SOMEONE MAKES A LIVING

• ENGINEERING IS CERTAINLY A JOB AND ALSO AN OCCUPATION

• HOW DO THE WORDS JOB AND OCCUPATION DIFFER FROM PROFESSION

What is a Profession

• WORK THAT REQUIRES SOPHISTICATED SKILLS

• MEMBERSHIP IN THE PROFESSION REQUIRES EXTENSIVE FORMAL EDUCATION

• PUBLIC ALLOWS SPECIAL SOCIETIES OR ORGANIZATIONS THAT ARE CONTROLLED BY MEMBERS

OF THE PROFESSION

• SIGNIFICANT PUBLIC GOOD RESULTS FROM THE PRACTICE OF THE PROFESSION

• JUDGEMENT REFERS TO MAKING SIGNIFICANT DECISIONS BASED ON FORMAL TRAINING AND

EXPERIENCE. DECISIONS WILL HAVE SERIOUS IMPACTS ON PEOPLE’S LIVES AND WILL OFTEN
HAVE IMPORTANT IMPLICATIONS REGARDING THE SPENDING OF LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY
• DISCRETION CAN HAVE TWO DIFFERENT MEANINGS. THE FIRST INVOLVES BEING DISCRETE IN
THE PERFORMANCE OF ONE’S DUTIES BY KEEPING INFORMATION ABOUT CUSTOMERS, CLIENTS
AND PATIENTS CONFIDENTIAL. THE OTHER DEFINITION INVOLVES THE ABILITY TO MAKE
DECISIONS AUTONOMOUSLY.

• MEDICINE – fits definition of profession, requires very sophisticated skills and cannot be
mechanized, requires judgment as to appropriate treatment plans for individual patients and it
requires discretion – physicians have been granted physician – patient privilege, the duty not to
divulge information given in confidence by the patient to the physician. Although Medicine
requires extensive practical training (residency/housejob), it also requires much formal
education (05 -08 years). Medicine has a special society – Pak Medical Assoc

• To which a large number of practicing physicians belong and that participates in the regulation
of medical colleges, sets standards for practice of the profession, and enforces codes of ethical
behaviour for its members. Healing the sick and helping to prevent disease clearly involve the
public good. By the definition presented earlier, medicine definitely qualifies as a profession

• LAW – is a profession, involves sophisticated skills acquired through extensive formal training,
has a professional society – Pak Bar Association/Council etc and serves an important aspect of
the public good – highly debatable

• Difference between athletics and carpentry on one hand and law and medicine on the other is
clear. First two really cannot be considered professions, and the latter two most certainly are.

• Engineering requires sophisticated skills – spend four years in college to gain them – min level

• Essence of engineering design is judgment – how to use the available materials, components,
devices , etc to reach a specified objective

• Discretion is required in engineering – required to keep their employers’ or clients’ intellectual

property and business information confidential

• Primary concern of any engineer is the safety of the public that will use the product and devices
he designs

• Always a trade-off between safety and other engineering issues in a design requiring discretion
on the part of the engineer to ensure design serves its purpose and fills the market niche safely.

• Mechanization needs to be examined carefully – once design finalized it can easily be replicated
without the intervention of an engineer. However, each new design or a modification of an
existing design requires a engineer.

• Industry uses many computer based tools for generating designs – CAD Software – not
mechanization
• Each discipline within has a professional society – Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) – for Electrical Engineers

• Society of Mechanical Engineers (SME)

• Engineering Societies differ from Law and Medical Societies – each specialty of Engineering has
its own Society – no overlapping

• Very few practicing engineers belong to their professional societies – engineering societies weak
as compared to Law and Medical Societies

• Although Engineering a profession – significant differences between how engineering is

practiced and how law and medicine are practiced

• Lawyers typically self employed in private practice – essentially independent business – group
practice – law firms – very few employed

• Initially doctors in private practice but now managed care and medical centers growing and
physicians employed in large corporations/Govt – however they retain much of decision making
power – head always a doctor of medical facility

• Engineers practice differently. Most engineers are not self employed – part of large companies
involving many different occupations – accountants, marketing, less skilled employees

• Exception are civil engineers who generally practice as independent consultants or in

engineering firms like Law Firms

• When employed by large corporations, engineers are rarely in significant managerial positions,
except with regard to managing other engineers

• Paid well as compared to rest of society but less compensated than doctors and lawyers

• Training different from doctors and lawyers. Employed after undergraduate studies unlike law
and medicine where training begins after undergraduate program completed

• Engineering societies not as powerful as medical and law associations perhaps because of
number of professional engineering societies.

• Law and Medicine cannot be practiced without license/registration whereas engineers

employed by large corporations on the basis of degree only.

• Engineering does not have same social stature as law and medicine – less pay

• Despite differences engineering is a profession – may not be as mature as law and medicine

• Professional Societies also serve other, perhaps less noble, purposes.

• Sociologists describe two different models of professions – social contract and business model
 • Social-Contract model views professional societies set up primarily to further public good –
implicit social contract involved – society grants the professions perks like high pay, high status
and ability to self regulate – in return society gets services by profession

• Cynical view of professions is provided by the business model

• Professions function as a means for furthering the economic advantage of its members –
professional organizations are labor unions for the elite – strictly limiting the number of
practitioners of the profession, controlling the working condition for professionals, artificially
inflating salaries of its members

• Analysis of both models in terms of law and medicine show that there are ways in which these
professions exhibit aspects of both these models

• Where does engineering fit in this picture – service oriented profession , fits into social-contract
model very nicely

• Some engineers would like to see engineering professional societies function more according to
business model – but they do not

• Engineering societies have no clout with major engineering employers to set wages and working
conditions or to help engineers resolve ethical disputes with their employers – little prospect
that engineering societies will function this way in future

ENGINEERING IF PRACTICED LIKE MEDICINE

• If engineering was practiced like law/medicine

• Education to be changed

• Four year “pre-engineering” degree followed by 3 – 4 years engineering professional program

• Engineers in all fields work for firms

• Corporations have fewer engineers supervising several “engineering technicians”

• Less engineers in work force – higher pay

• Engineering Technicians less pay than engineers

CODE OF ETHICS

• Codes express the rights, duties and obligations of the members of the profession

• Primarily code of ethics provides a framework for ethical judgment for a professional

• No code can be totally comprehensive and cover all possible ethical situations – starting point
for ethical decision making
 • Ethical codes do not establish new ethical principles – reiterate principles and standards that are
already accepted

• Codes express these principles in a coherent - comprehensive and accessible manner

• Code defines the roles and responsibilities of professionals

• Important what a code of ethics is not

• Not a recipe for ethical behaviour – only a framework for arriving at good ethical choices

• Never a substitute for sound judgment

• Not a legal document

• Cannot be arrested for violating its provisions – expulsion from professional society may result

• Expulsion does not mean cannot practice engineering – not necessarily any direct consequences
of violating ethical codes

• Code of ethics does not create new moral or ethical principles

• Code of ethics spells out the ways in which moral and ethical principles apply to professional
practice

• Code helps the engineer to apply moral principles to the unique situations encountered in
professional practice

• Helps create an environment within a profession where ethical behaviour is the norm

• Serves as a guide or reminder of how to act

• Can also be used to bolster an individual’s position with regard to a certain activity

• Code provides a little backup for an individual who is being pressured by a superior to behave
un-ethically

• Can also bolster the individual’s position by indicating that there is a collective sense of correct
behaviour; there is strength in numbers

• Can indicate that the profession is seriously concerned about responsible, professional conduct

• Should not be used as “window dressing”

Eight essential roles

• Serving and protecting the public

• Guidance
• Inspiration

• Shared standards

• Support for responsible professionals

• Education and mutual understanding

• Deterrence and Discipline

• Contributing to the profession’s image