Engineering Ethics

Mahadik P., R #11361998

AbstractThis paper discusses the different practices involved

in understanding engineering ethics at the graduate level. The
practices involved are towards development of professional
studies. Several methods such as rubric system and cronbachs
analysis are discussed for better understanding of ethical
dilemma in electrical engineers.
Index TermsEthics, engineering ethics, dilemma, code of
thics

I. INTRODUCTION

ITH the celerity in which mankind is making progress

in Science and Technology, it is evident that a particular
notion, idea or a concept developed in the past, will be put into
use to augment or built a new scientific concept or a new
technology. In such a situation, it will be inappropriate if the
individual who begets the notion, idea or a concept is not
given substantial recognition for his / her work in the past, on
which new theories or concepts are developed. Although the
morality of the developer of a new scientific concept or a new
technology is not under question; it is essential for a scientist
or a technologist to be aware of the appropriate and
inappropriate practices to be performed while presenting his /
her work to the world. Every scientist and an engineer have an
ode to the society by a significant contribution through their
work. Engineering ethics evolves from applied ethics to
structure engineering practices in a righteous manner. It
confines the practice of engineering and develops a discipline
to all the practitioners of engineering stream towards their
clientele, academicians and upcoming engineering students.
This paper will primarily discuss the practices, case studies
and initiatives undertaken to develop ethical practices in
electrical engineers.
II. ENGINEERING ETHICS A BRIEF OVERVIEW
Ethics is a righteous practice an individual should always
have. Ethical reasoning has its own virtue, where an argument
can be correct or incorrect depending on an individuals
ethical perspective. Recently, technical corporations have
started incorporating ethical offices in their organizations; to
ensure appropriate engineering practices leading to success
and prosperity of the organization instead of arguments and
Submitted for review on 1st May, 2015. The work was supported by the
Department of Electrical Engineering, Texas Tech University.
The author is a graduate student at the Department of Electrical
Engineering
at
Texas
Tech
University,
Lubbock
(e-mail:
pranav.mahadik@ttu.edu).

retaliations on moral grounds between the employees [1].

Ethical thinking depends on what an individual feels is right or
wrong. It depends on what the individual has been practicing
in his / her engineering profession. The ethical aspects for an
electrical engineering have its inception from the fact whether
that individual firmly believes in the qualification of electrical
engineering as an ethical profession. Engineering involves in
the betterment of existing technologies or development of new
technologies. Hence, from the philosophical perspective,
engineering ethics is fortified on the following philosophical
aspects viz.; 1) Technological anarchy 2) Technophilia 3)
Technophobia 4) Appropriate Technology [2]. Such a
fortification develops ethical roots in an electrical engineering
student pertaining to their duties and responsibilities as
electrical engineers towards the society [2].
Electrical engineers should be aware of the experimental
nature of electrical engineering [2]. Hence, all the precautions
and practices involved in an effective outcome through
electrical engineering experiments should be acquainted to
electrical engineers. Moreover, public safety, design and
development and an engineers camaraderie with their
management team counterparts is also a brief matter of
concern from the ethical perspective [2].
Ethical thinking is based on several aspects. Most of the
initial thought process for an electrical engineer is based on
his / her intuitions. It is these intuitions which lead to further
development of an idea or a procedural understanding to
approach a problem [3]. However, mere intuitions and no facts
is again not an ethical approach towards engineering. Hence,
all the intuitions should be substantiated with some facts or
findings at later stages of the work. With the development of
technology, electrical engineers need to be aware about their
social responsibilities. All the technological development
should lead to commercialization of those technologies. Aim
should be to benefit maximum number of people with
maximum number of manufactured products. To summarize, it
is a utilitarianism method to be targeted by an Electrical
Engineer while practicing his / her profession [3].

III. NEED FOR ENGINEERING ETHICS

It is a need which leads to the development of technology. It
is the freedom provided to technologists which leads to
successful creation of manmade wonders. For example, it
would have been impossible for mankind to step on the lunar
surface; had it not been for visionary president J.K.Kennedy.
Advancement in engineering is solely dependent on the
boundaries that mankind creates. On the contrary, such
boundaries, if not defined properly, may lead to untoward
situations. The brilliance of intellect invested in development
of the Manhattan project [4] was futile for the benefit of the
mankind. It was later after dropping the atomic bombs at
Hiroshima and Nagasaki that the project team members
realized the lack of social responsibility they demonstrated
through their actions [4]. Such events may lead to dilemmas.
For instance, Einsteins dilemma is a famous of 1939, where
he conjectured the availability of the nuclear energy as a boon
or a curse [4]. Technological development should be treated as
a boon to mankind. Ethical virtues such as these can only be
developed by incorporating engineering ethics in an academic
curriculum.
Bhattacharya et al. developed a proposition to substantiate
the need of engineering ethics [5]. According to Accreditation
Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), all the design
and development done by the engineers should be focused
towards safety improvement and health amelioration of the
public. Hence, actions taken towards such betterment should
be validated by the product performance. The technological
commercialization harps on strong assurances as compared to
less substantial claims pertaining to the product [5]. Any
technological development does not substantiate its
functionality in worst case scenario. For an instance, the
power window of a luxury car does not ascertain its operation
ability during floods or tsunamis [5]. Such constraints in
product specifications lead to ethical reasoning on the
validation of the products. As a result, an ethical awareness for
the customer as well as the designer helps in resolving such an
issue.
In one finding by Loui et al, it was observed that
undergraduate students in engineering learn professionalism
from their peers, relatives and colleagues who are engineers.
Hence, if an undergraduate is pursuing an internship in an
organization, chances of him or her being professionally
ethical are more as compared to the one who merely take
engineering ethics classes [6]. As a result, it can be inferred
from Loui et al findings that for an academic institute, a
balance should be struck between academic curriculum and
industrial exposure for the students. Thus, every electrical
engineering department should encourage students to pursue
an internship as it not only hones their technical skill sets but
also develops a student as a professional engineer [6].
Thus, engineering ethics is an integral part of any
engineers professional protocols. It is essential for an
engineer to be aware of the ethical practices and should be
undergoing a formal training for the same.

IV. ISSUES FACED DUE TO LACK OF ENGINEERING

ETHICS
Any situation will put an electrical engineer in a two state
mentality. From the perspective of ethical engineering, no
choice is right or wrong. The circumstance on which an
electrical engineer makes a particular decision differs and
cannot be justified all the time. Such a kind of dilemma is very
prominent in engineering ethics. The dilemma always
performs an acid test on the morality of that engineer. A
rationale and trained professional engineer should not fall in
such a quandary. Training in ethical engineering and
understanding of several case studies pertaining to engineering
ethics resolves such a kind of untoward situation for an
engineer [3]. A typical study of several issues faced due to
lack of ethical engineering knowledge was demonstrated by
Wilson et al. A group of 92 students was encouraged to write
on waste electronics and its effect on ecosystem and public
health [7]. It was founded by this research that students are
expressive towards ethical understanding of a problem.
However, it becomes a difficulty when writing down those
points of view. Such a kind of technical communication is
tabulated in Table I (adapted from Wilson et al) [7]:
TABLE I
SKILL LEVELS OBSERVED FOR MULTI LAYERED LITERACIES OF
TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION (%N)
Literacy
Basic
Literacy #1
Basic
Literacy #2
Technological
Literacy
Rhetorical
Literacy
Ethical
Literacy
Critical
Literacy

Novice

Developing

Competent

Exemplary

49% (45)

27% (25)

23% (21)

1% (1)

34% (31)

42% (39)

24% (22)

0% (0)

3% (3)

14% (13)

48% (44)

35% (32)

2% (2)

17% (16)

49% (45)

32% (29)

1% (1)

9% (8)

88% (81)

2% (2)

2% (2)

14% (13)

61% (56)

23% (21)

Adapted from Wilson et al [7]

As can be observed from Table I, 88% of competent

students have an ethical literacy. However, the amount of
students with basic literacy #1 and basic literacy #2 are very
less (below 50%) as compared to ethical literacy. Moreover,
this concludes that although ethical nature of student is
present, their technical communication from professional
ethics is weak. Such issues leads to the development of
training that will lead to ethical and professional studies for
the students.
A similar initiative is presented by Hunt et al wherein the
school of engineering at the University of Puerto Rico
Mayaguez (UPRM) designed and developed course to develop
professional integrity in their students [8]. The course focused
on some of the following aspects: 1) Professional Integrity 2)
Engineering 3) Social responsibility 4) Technological impact
5) Global awareness [8].
An important aspect of this curriculum designed by Hunt et
al is the introduction of law along with ethical morality [8].

Figure 1 depicts the diagram which was used to represent the

combination of ethics, law and morality designed for the
curriculum [8]:

the limitations of an engineering student when it comes to

making decision. Care should be taken that suitable
regulations are developed that lay a ground work for resolving
issues in engineering ethics. Rubric evaluation system is one
such example.
V. CASE STUDIES IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
PERTAINING TO ENGINEERING ETHICS

Fig.1. Co-relationship between law, morality and ethics [8]

It is an important aspect from the ethical engineering point of

view to understand the legal issues involved during breach of
ethical regulations. In such a case, the initiative undertaken by
UPRM is imperative to impart knowledge on legal aspects of
ethical engineering.
Although essential aspects of the issues pertaining ethical
engineering are discussed; the most important problem of
ethical dilemma is a major problem for all the issues in
engineering ethics. Wolfe et al proposed a rubric method to
assess the response of a student. Thus, any situation pertaining
to ethical engineering should be evaluated through rubric
method [9]. This proposition was validated by Wolfe et al by
using Cronbachs alpha parameter to determine consistency in
the students response during a situation that involves ethical
decision. Table II shows the consistency in response of a
student when evaluated through a rubric cube method [9]:
TABLE II
CRONBACHS ALPHA FOR RATER CONSISTENCY
Case

Alpha

Tools
Trees
Heart
BioVis
Overall

0.875
0.880
0.740
0.902
0.875
Adapted from Wolfe et al [9]

The trend and consistency as observed from Table II is a

good indication of the use of rubric method to clarify the
dilemma in the students.
Many such issues are still unaddressed. For an instance,
although the co relation between law, morality and ethics is
presented by Houi et al [8], it cannot be generalized because
several laws change from location to location. Hence, a
generalized law factor is essential issue to be addressed for
engineering ethics. Another aspect of issues is to understand

In order to address the issues faced by engineers during a

decision making situation, it is useful to have a prior
knowledge of similar instances occurred in the past. Such
instances lead to a specific decision making direction for an
existing situation. While dealing with any engineering
problem, it is quite likely that the problem will be a type
where there is no right or wrong answer. Such a dilemma as
discussed earlier does not have an explicit solution. Hence,
case studies also help in refining the estimation developed by
an engineer in that situation [10]. There are several popular
engineering ethics case studies available and discussed in
engineering ethics classes. However, the focus of this section
will be confined to those case studies pertaining to Electrical
Engineering and discussed further in that direction. Several
techniques are developed for solving the case studies and they
shall be subsequently discussed.
A. Price fixing scandal of early 1960s:
Based on the article written by Owen et al and Alger et al, a
book was published based on the electricity price hike scandal
that occurred in early 1960s [11]. The US district court in
Philadelphia filed charges against 29 electrical equipment
manufacturers and 44 of their executives. A conspiracy charge
and Sherman anti trust violation charge was subjected
against these manufacturers. Seven of 44 executives suffered a
30 days of prison and the parties were subjected to conviction.
The following aspects of the case should be understood. It is
the ethical nature of the equipment manufacturers that is
brought to notice. Such an ethical nature depends on the
following [11]:
1) Character
An ornament for an individual. This quality defines the
ethical integrity of that individual, the decision making
and the genuineness of an individual
2) Values
A strong belief and firm faith decide value for an
individual. Such a quality decides what honesty an
individual will demonstrate in a particular situation
3) Morals
Morals have their grounds based on values one learns in
life. Morals help an individual to make a judgment on the
ethical grounds for an individual
4) Ethics
These define how a particular sect or a faction behaves
and orders. It may happen that ethics for an individual are
far different than that for a group. Thus, there might be a
conflict existing for ethics between a group and an
individual

5) Religion
It is an abstract form of belief. Religion has no scientific
background and should be respected without any
scientific rationale. It is often believed that people with a
religious belief are the most ethical people [11].
The rationale behind the behavior of the equipment
manufactures is defined based on these five points. It is
apparent that their actions were highly unethical. A legal
action on these events is recorded by the Court of Law and
several penalties are enforced on the guilty.
A learning outcome from such an event clearly depicts the
following conclusions [11] that 1) Ethical values should be
discussed and delved among individuals. 2) It is not always
necessary that every fraternity will have the same ethical
values 3) Priority should be decided on ethical issues as
compared to other issues lesser than the once deciding an
integrity of an individual.
B. Steel coils in a steel manufacturing company
The case encountered was witnessed by Jordan et al in one
steel manufacturing company [12]. The steel manufactured
will be shipped to customer which will use this steel to
develop core of electric motors. Although the steel
manufacturing company has received specifications from the
engineering and design team of the electric motor company,
the steel manufacturer insists on the use of different pressures
suitable to the manufacturing plant. The engineer under
consideration encounters an ethical dilemma of whether to
meet the specifications as per the customer or supply steel
suitable for making core motor parts.
Such a situation shall deal with question answers suitable
for the resolving of ethical dilemma. Following are the
relevant questions as excerpted by Jordan et al:
1) Hardness testing of the steel
To ensure what hardness of the steel is available and
manufactured and compare the same with the steel required
for the core of the electric motors. Such a question helps in
developing a platform for qualitative inputs.
2) Is there any conflict between the specifications of the
customer and the manufacturers manufacturing capabilities?
Such a question helps in understanding the technical details
of the problem involved and how to resolve it based on facts
and figures.
3) Is it ethical to send a low quality steel to the customer
This question helps in answering the ethical issues involved.
In ideal cases, the low quality steel pertaining to the core of
the electric motor should not be shipped. However, it is on the
manufacturers benefit if such a consignment is shipped. This
question thereby solves the dilemma based on the facts and
figures discussed previously.
4) Should the manufacturer be concerned on the throughput
a customer receives on the steel supplied
Such a question answers the ethical integrity of the
manufactuer. If in a case where the manufacturer supplied a

soft steel, it is in the manufacturers benefit to maintain a

relationship with the customer by regularly asking the success
the customer has received due to the manufacturer. Also, such
a feedback ensures the ethical genuinity of an individual.
5) Is it possible for the manufacturer to alter his
manufacturing capabilities from the customers point of view
This question again reflects the ethical behavior of the
manufacturer. If the manufacturer alters the manufacturing
process for the customer, it is an ethical way to provide the
required output. However, care should be taken that other
customer outputs are not affected by the same. Hence, an
ethical dilemma occurs.
6) Should the manufacturer suggest technical compromises
to the customer
This question reflects the integrity and honesty of the
manufacturer by accepting the constraints in production line at
his / her end and honestly accepting the same by projecting it
to the customer
Eventually, such an activity certainly helps an electrical
engineer to solve ethical dilemma in a situation. The primary
benefit of case studies is the development of a situation and
applying ethical engineering principles to the same in given
amount of limitations. Thus, studying case studies is an
important aspect of engineering ethics.

VI. DIFFERENT STANDARDS IMPLEMENTED TO

PRACTICE ENGINEERING ETHICS
Standards and regulations help in organizing an activity. It
is a day to day practice in electrical engineering to perform
activities, experiments and design experiments based on
standards. Similar standards and regulations are developed to
practice engineering ethics. Several institutes and
organizations have come forward and developed their own
standards for engineering ethics. Few of the institutes are
mentioned as follows [3]: 1) National Council of Examiners
for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) 2) National Society
of Professional Engineers (NSPE) 3) American Society of
Civil Engineers 4) American Society of Mechanical Engineers
(ASME) 5) American Institute of Chemical Engineering
(AIChE) 6) Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers
(IEEE) 7) Accreditation Board for Engineering and
Technology 8) National Institute for Engineering Ethics
These standards develop their own code for engineering
ethics on the basis of their stream of working. The National
Institute for Engineering Ethics develops general rules
whereas organizations such as IEEE, AIChE have their own
set of Engineering Ethics codes pertaining to Electrical
Engineering and Chemical Engineering respectively.
From the perspective of electrical engineering, IEEE code of
ethics is diligently followed [3]:
1) Safety
Safety, health and public benefits are the most priority
while developing a technology. Factor which might affect the
public safety should be avoided

2) Conflicts
To avoid issues whenever possible and resolve any
problematic matters amicably when they existy
3) Honesty
An honest claim of the obtained data should be practiced

The first question refers to understanding the foundation for

right and wrong. The second question deals with the moral
problems that need to be considered and challenged. The third
question calls the conscience of the human being to approach
the situation.
VII. SUMMARY

4) Bribe or gifts
Bribery, in any form should be rejected
5) Technological implications
Technological understanding and its future use with its
advantages and disadvantages should be understood
6) Technical competency
Help others on technological tasks once a competency has
been achieved
7) Criticism
Always accept honest criticism and provide honest criticism
on any activity or work
8) No discrimination
Every professional individual should be treated without any
bias irrespective of his / her caste, sex, religion or nationality
9) False actions
Never hurt anyone by any malicious information or false
actions
10) Co-operation
Help colleagues and professional counterparts in their work
whenever and whichever way possible.
The main requirement of the ethics for engineering students
is to understand and differentiate between right and wrong.
There are no final and solid answers to any situations.
However, the studies of ethical practices rationalizes the
thinking of an electrical engineer as a professional.
Engineering has a direct impact on day to day life of mankind.
As discussed in the NSPE code of ethics, it is the first and
foremost duty of an engineer to care for the public. Hence, as
described in the NSPE codes, health, safety and warefare hold
paramount importance in the practices of an engineer. The
rising demand for ethical services has shown its impact in
developing fundamental engineering aspects for an engineer.
The easiest way to understand the principles of ethics is
through case studies.
The case studies help to understand real life principles of
engineering ethics. Understanding of the basic ethical theories
such as utilitarianism, virtue ethics and respect for person
provides the fundamentals. In order to approach any given
situation from an ethical point of view, the following three
questions need to be asked by an individual to himself [3]:
1) What is the supreme principle of morality?
2) How should we solve the moral problem?
3) What kind of a person we should be?

It is essential to understand case studies involved while

solving engineering ethics problems. Also, it is useful to
understand various activities implemented while studying
engineering ethics. Various activities involved in
understanding the ethical nature of an engineering student
were discussed in this paper. Also, several standards and
specifications were studied which will involve in solving
engineering ethical dilemmas. The Texas Tech Department of
engineering ethics conducts the coursework for engineering
students in order to understand the ethical practices followed
in the professional life. The National Institute for Engineering
Ethics in collaboration with Murdough center for engineering
professionalism and college of engineering at texas tech
university have published a comprehensive textebook,
Engineering Ethics: Concepts, Viewpoints, Cases and codes
[3].

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