Code of Ethics for Engineers Concepts and Cases

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Code of Ethics for EngineersConcepts and Cases

• By Foad Arvani
• MSc. Of Microelectronics
• foad_arvani_at_ee.sharif.ir

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Agenda

• Definition
• History of codes of ethics
• Case studies
• Professional Communities
• Problem Solving
• Real World Example
• Summary

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Ethics is a hot topic

• Google Search--Matches
• Ethics 56,200,000
• Ethics Organizations 15,800,000
• Ethics Case Studies 15,900,000
• Code of Ethics 20,300,000

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Definitions

• Ethics
• A body of moral principles
• Distinguished from matters of legality

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Ethics and Law
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Responsible Engineering

• What we do matters a great deal
• Public health
• Environmental impact
• Minimal legal standards
• Acknowledgement of fault
• Call of duty

Public health
justice
Ethics
responsible care
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Rock Solid Professionalism
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History of Codes of Ethics

• 1803 First code of professional ethics (medical
  ethics, Thomas Percival)
• 1852 ASCE (Civil Engineering)
• 1880 ASME (Mechanical Engineering)
• 1884 AIEE (Electrical Engineering)

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Cyrus Cylinder

• The Cyrus Cylinder
• 538 BC
• First charter of human rights

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Case Studies, Ford Pinto (1971)

• Cost vs Human Life
• Explosion
• Car doors jam

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Case Studies, Ford Pinto (1971)

• Cost Benefit analysis
• Cost to make safe cars
• 12.5 million cars x 11 137 million
• Benefits
• 180 Deaths, 180 Injured, 2100 Burned Cars
• 49.5 million

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Case Studies, Challenger Shuttle

• January 28, 1986
• 72 seconds into the flight the shuttle exploded,
  killing all aboard

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Writing a Code of Ethicsby Chris MacDonald, Ph.D.

• Purpose
• Statement of Values, a Policy, a Mission
  Statement, a Code of Conduct...
• Tailored to the needs and values
• Ethics codes components
• Aspirational
• Rules or principles

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Writing a Code of Ethicsby Chris MacDonald, Ph.D.

• List in rough order of importance
• Process of creating new code
• How implemented
• How/when reviewed/revised

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Professional Communities

• National Society of Professional
• Engineers (NSPE)
• Institute of Electrical and
• Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
• The Institute of Industrial
• Engineers (IIE)

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Our Country

• Iranian Association for Ethics in Science and
  Technology
• Founded 1383
• Dr. Mahdi Bahadori Nejad as managing staff
  (Mechanical Eng., S.U.T.)

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IEEE Code of Ethics

• Accept responsibility
• Avoid conflicts of interest
• Be honest and realistic
• Reject bribery
• Improve the understanding of technology
• Improve our technical competence
• Honest criticism

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IEEE Code of Ethics

• Treat fairly
• Avoid injuring others
• Assist colleagues

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Problem Solving
establish the facts
Identify the options
Applicable items of code of ethics
Analysis
Decision
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Real World Example

• Your team (one of many) are planning to watch the
  newest movie coming out next week. While your
  boss cannot cover the tab, you are going to be
  skipping out on work for the afternoon.Should
  you go?
• Movie on work time?

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Real World Example

• Yes. While you should definitely okay the team
  event with the manager, it is a good opportunity
  to make work fun, and for new team members to
  become one with the team.

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Summary
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Final Word

• The believers whose faith is most perfect are
  those who have the best character.
• Anecdotal of the Prophet
• (from Imam Ibn Hanbal)

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Resources

• What Every Engineer Should Know About Ethics,
  by K. K. Humphreys, 1999, Marcel Dekker
• Engineering Ethics An Industrial Perspective,
  Gail D. Baura, 2006, Elsevier
• Engineering Ethics Peace, Justice, and The
  Earth, George D. Catalano, 2006, Morgan
  Claypool
• Academic Ethics, Neil W. Hamilton, 2002,
  Greenwood
• Social Work Values and Ethics, Frederic G.
  Reamer, 1999, Columbia university press

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Resources

• http//www.ieee.org
• http//www.onlineethics.org
• http//iranethics.irost.org
• http//www.wikipedia.org
• http//www.todaysengineer.org
• http//www.michiganspe.org
• http//ethics.iit.edu
• http// www.iienet.org

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Question and Answer

• Thanks for your attention