Professional Ethics and
Community Engagement
Week#1-2
Dr. M. Mazhar Saleem
Department of Civil Engineering
The University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore
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Professional Ethics and Community Engagement
Course Code: CE-209A
Credit Hours: 2+0 = 2
Contact Hours: 2 (Theory) + 0 (Practical) = 2
Pre-Requisites: No
Course Outline
1. Definitions: Ethics, Professional Ethics, Engineering Ethics, Business
Ethics.
2. Need and Scope of Engineering and Professional Ethics through
case studies
⚫ Development of Engineering Ethics and Major Issues in Engineering
and Professional Ethics.
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Course Outline
3. Moral Reasoning and Ethical Frameworks
⚫ Ethical Dilemma: Resolving Ethical Dilemma and making
moral choices.
⚫ Codes of Ethics (of local and international professional
bodies)
⚫ Moral Theories: Utilitarianism, right ethics and duty ethics,
virtue ethics: self-realization and self-interest.
⚫ Ethical problem-solving techniques: Line drawing, flow
charting, conflict resolution
4. Contemporary Professional Ethics
⚫ Workplace Responsibilities and Ethics: Teamwork,
confidentiality and conflict of interest, Whistleblowing,
Bribe and gift, gender discrimination, and sexual
harassment. 3
Course Outline
⚫ Environmental Ethics.
⚫ Cyber ethics and responsible use of social media
⚫ Honesty: Truthfulness, trustworthiness, academic and
research integrity, critique codes of ethics
5. Community Engagement
⚫ Concept, nature, and characteristics of community.
⚫ Community development and social cohesion.
⚫ Approaches to effective community engagement.
⚫ Case studies of successful community-driven initiatives.
Assessment Methods:
Mid-semester Exam, Final Semester Exam, Class Participation
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Problem-based learning, Community Service, Presentation
Course Learning Outcomes
1. To explain the ideas and principles of a variety of
traditional ethical systems.
2. To apply ethical values while dealing with the issues in
professional practice.
3. To apply various principles of Contemporary Professional
Ethics
4. To apply principles of community engagement while
performing community service.
Book:
‘Introduction To Engineering Ethics’ by Mike W Martin
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Etiquettes of Communication
⚫ Email is better than WhatsApp or text messages. Email is
more formal.
⚫ If you send an email on a holiday, do not expect its response
before the next working day.
⚫ Try to avoid phone calls as far as possible, be extra careful
on holidays.
⚫ It is always preferable to communicate during office hours.
⚫ Be respectful of others’ time.
⚫ Use formal language.
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Email Template
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Request for a Recommendation Letter
⚫ Always ask for consent before providing
anyone’s contact information as a referee.
⚫ Preferably provide a draft of the
recommendation letter.
⚫ Give at least 1 week’s time to the referee.
⚫ Do not assume a one-time consent as a lifetime
consent
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Community Service
Program
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Community Service Program (CSP)
⚫ Volunteer for an NGO!
Orphanage
Old home
Organizations working for education, healthcare, or
special persons, etc.
⚫ Other Projects: Plantation drive, cleanliness drive, etc.
⚫ Collect donations to buy gifts, clothes, or food items
⚫ Complete the project in the form of groups of 4-5 students
⚫ Should not be just a visit to any NGO
⚫ Get the recommendation letter from the department.
⚫ Prepare a formal report/documentary of your project. 10
Guidelines for CSP Report
1. The report should have 4-6 pages.
2. 1st page should be the title page exactly according to the given
template.
3. 2nd page should have a ½ to 1 page description of the project,
including the following.
⚫ Basic information about the organization you have
volunteered for (name, location, founder, brief history, type
of services and capacity, etc.)
⚫ The amount of funds collected and spent for the project.
⚫ Your activities as a volunteer, etc.
4. The remaining pages will have images of your activities during
the project.
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Guidelines for CSP Report
5. All the pictures should be symmetrically placed and “In line with
Text” to ensure a smooth compilation of the comprehensive
report for the entire session.
6. The report must be free of spelling and grammatical mistakes.
You may use Grammarly for that.
Note:
⚫ Any report that is not according to the given guidelines will
be sent back and will not get full credit.
⚫ You may simply put your project information in the given
template to efficiently prepare the report.
⚫ Submit the final report on [email protected] in PDF as
well as Word format.
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Definitions
⚫ A professional is a skillful person who we trust
to get certain services according to certain
standards.
⚫ Ethics are the set of behavioral standards that
professionals are expected to follow in their
work.
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Unethical Practices in the Construction
Industry
From Contractor’s Side
⚫ Material Quality
⚫ Construction Quality
⚫ False Claims
⚫ Negligence in Safety
⚫ Non-Compliance with Environmental Standards
From Consultant’s Side (Design/Supervision)
⚫ Issues related to structural design
⚫ Compromising Integrity in Supervision
⚫ Delaying Approvals
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Unethical Practices in the Construction
Industry
From Client’s Side (Owners / Government Agencies)
⚫ Delayed Payments
⚫ Scope manipulation
⚫ Unrealistic deadlines
⚫ Kickbacks
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Concluded
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