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Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Course Name: Ethics in Engineering Practice
Assignment - Week 1 Solution
TYPE OF QUESTION: MCQ/MSQ
Number of questions: 10 Total marks: 10 X 1 = 10
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QUESTION 1:
Out of the three statements given below, based on your understanding of personal and
professional ethics, identify the misquoted statement (s).
I. How we treat people in our day to day lives is an example of pseudo-personal ethic
II. Principles of personal ethics can also be applied to situations in organizations
III. There may not always be the clear boundary between personal and professional ethics
IV. You can always prepare a list of how you will apply personal ethics and how you
will apply professional ethics and be sure that these are not mixed
a) Statement I and II are misquoted
b) Only Statement I is misquoted
c) Only Statement III is misquoted
d) Statement I and IV are misquoted
Correct Answer: d
Statement I and IV are misquoted
Reason: There is no concept like pseudo-personal ethic, hence statement I is wrong. We can
never be sure that our personal and professional ethics are not mixed while dealing with
situations and it is difficult to prepare such list thus Statement IV is also wrong. Though
Statement II and III are correct.
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QUESTION 2:
Ms. Sunanda Pushkar, an alumnus from Institute of Technology had recently joined the
Corporate social responsibility division of Bata Troy Motors and was placed as chief of the
division. As Chief, she was asked to review a few projects on ethical grounds which were about
the construction of a dam in far off outskirts of the city. She realized that one of the projects
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submitted by Spark constructions though was causing an issue of relocation of a very small
population of people living there but was beneficial for the majority of stakeholders and was
causing maximum good. On this basis, she selected this project and rejected others. According to
you, which basis did she use for selecting the project?
a) Cost-benefit analysis approach
b) Minimax approach
c) Utilitarianism
d) None of the above
Correct Answer: c
Utilitarianism
Reason: The basis which she used for selecting the project is ‘maximum good’ thus answer
is utilitarianism.
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QUESTION 3:
As far as the views of general public are concerned, it can be said that public views engineers as
utilitarians, positivists and _________________.
a) Capitalists
b) Wealth creators
c) Applied physical scientists
d) None of the above
Correct Answer: c
Applied physical scientists
Reason: Refer Slide 4. Public views engineers as Utilitarians, as Positivists and Applied
Physical Scientists. They are ideally never seen as wealth creators and capitalists.
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QUESTION 4:
Shrikant told his friend, if I borrow some money from a friend or a relative, I make sure that I
return it as promised. This is an example of _____________.
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Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
a) Professional ethic
b) Personal ethic
c) Pseudo-personal ethic
d) None of the above
Correct Answer: b
Personal ethic
Reason: Refer Slide 7. Answer is personal ethics as these deal with how we treat others in
our day-to-day lives and Shrikant was talking about a personal situation concerning his
borrowings from a friend.
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QUESTION 5:
Mr. Sridharan Pillai after entering the class in which he was supposed to deliver a lecture on
code of ethics wrote on board the roles (1-10) that code of ethics play:
1. Serving and protecting the public 2. Supporting responsible professionals 3. Offering
inspiration, 4. Providing guidance 5. Establishing shared standards 6. Contributing to education
7. Deterring wrongdoing 8. Strengthening a profession’s image and 9. Substitute for sound
judgment 10. Provide legal support
According to you, which role or roles are erroneous?
a) Role 5 and 4
b) Role 6 and 9
c) Role 7 and 4
d) Role 9 and 10
Correct Answer: d
Role 9 and 10
Reason: Role 9 and 10 are erroneous because code of ethics cannot be used as a substitute
for sound judgment and they never provide legal support and are not legally binding.
______________________________________________________________________________
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Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
QUESTION 6:
One of the key limitations of the Theory of utilitarianism is that you cannot
decide____________.
a) The number of stakeholders involved
b) What causes maximum good
c) What are the consequences of a decision
d) None of the above
Correct Answer: b
What causes maximum good
Reason: Refer Slide 18. There are no parameters or methods for deciding what causes
maximum good and thus this is one of the prime limitations of the theory of utilitarianism
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QUESTION 7:
Sharman Khosla, an engineer from the School of Mines decided to implement the project Y, as
he found out that the benefits emerging out of the project outweighed the costs. According to
you, he must have decided this based on:
a) Tree diagram
b) Flowcharting
c) ABC costing
d) None of the above
Correct Answer: d
None of the above
Reason: Answer is cost-benefit analysis which is not given as an option, thus answer is none
of the above.
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Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
QUESTION 8
Dr. Naina Banerjee, while teaching her students about ethics, told them, “people have
fundamental rights that other people have a duty to respect”. According to you, she was
explaining to her students the concept of:
a) Virtue ethics
b) Rights ethics
c) Both of the above
d) None of the above
Correct Answer: b
Rights ethics
Reason: Refer Slide 21. People have fundamental rights that other people have a duty to
respect. This was the basis of Right Ethics proposed by John Locke (1632–1704)
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QUESTION 9:
State whether the following is True or False.
In using virtue ethics, it is important to ensure that the traits you identify as virtues are indeed
virtuous and will not lead to any negative consequences.
a) True
b) False
Correct Answer: a
True
Reason: Refer to Slide 24.
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QUESTION 10:
_______ utilitarianism focuses on individual actions rather than on ________.
a) Act, rules
b) Rule, codes
c) Professional, act
d) Personal, rule
Correct Answer: a
Act, rules
Reason: Refer Slide 17. Act utilitarianism focuses on individual actions rather than on
rules. The best-known proponent of act utilitarianism was John Stuart Mill (1806–1873),
who felt that most of the common rules of morality (e.g., don’t steal, be honest, don’t harm
others) are good guidelines derived from centuries of human experience.
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