UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

FACULTY OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

CPE 680 LEADERSHIP AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
FOR ENGINEERS

ASSIGNMENT 1
EH 2206D

PREPARED FOR:
Ir. Normadyzah binti Ahmad

PREPARED BY:
 Ahmad Mujahid Hakimy bin Zuhairi
2015666918

 Muhammad Shahril bin Aidi

2015283828
Question

“A Registered Engineer acting as an independent adviser or consultant shall not be the

medium of payment made on his employer’s behalf unless so requested by his employer;
nor shall he place contracts or orders in connection with work on which he is employed,
except with the authority of and on behalf of his employer.” Write an essay of not less than
2000 words discussing the ways in which an engineer, especially one that is a newcomer to
the field, can project him/herself as a responsible professional to the society without being
guilty of violating the above.
 ASSIGNMENT 1 LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS.

A Registered Engineer acting as independent adviser or consultant shall not be the

medium of payment made on his employer’s behalf unless so requested by his employer, and
shall not the place contracts or order in connection with work on which he is employed, except
with the authority of and on behalf of his employer. One of the example that we can relate to this
situation is an engineer, Ahmad who is working in the company which serve a consultant and
adviser cannot receive the payment from the person which he is serve unless his employer give
him a responsible to receive the payment. Besides, he also cannot act as the medium of place the
order or contract such as the work that outside the area of his competence. However, nowadays,
there are a lot of cases that occur in the company which involve this type of problem.
Engineering is considered as one unique field in the society which solve the problem but the
ethical and moral need to follow as the code of ethics for engineer which are listed in the Board
Of Engineer Malaysia (BEM) and Institution Of Engineering Malaysia (IEM) in order to make
sure that we as the engineer serve the society without the guilty of violating the code of ethics. In
Malaysia, there are lot of unregistered engineering undergraduates than the registered
professional engineer which work in private and government sector. This need to be give an
attention as the unregistered engineering undergraduates or in other words the engineer who is
newcomer to the field is higher are for surely follow the codes of ethics and codes of
professional conduct to the society. There are a lot of code of ethics which the newcomer
engineer to field can follow and no doubt to violate the codes of ethics that have been listed in
the IEM, BEM and NSPE.

The first code of ethics which I get from the National Society of Professional Engineer
(NSPE) is the newcomer engineer to the field shall issue public statements only in an
objective and truthful manner. (1) Engineer should be objective and honest in proficient reports,
proclamations, or declaration. They might incorporate all applicable and appropriate data in such
reports, proclamations, or declaration, which should bear the date demonstrating when it was
present. An engineer need to have an objective on what that he or she would doing in the society
because objective or purpose is an important components that we should have in ourselves
during doing a responsible that given to us in order to make sure we and our company achieve
the goal or the target that have been set by us or our company. Furthermore, truthful manner is
one of the good behaviors that we need to practice in our daily life as a newcomer engineer to the
field. For example of truthful manner is when someone ask you to do some work that is outside
of your competence or not your responsible during your working time, you should tell him or her
that you cannot do the work because it is outside your competence and it is not your responsible
to the company. Clearly, you cannot do the work that your company not assign or give you the
responsible to do that work. Engineers shall issue no statements, criticisms, or arguments on
technical matters that are inspired or paid for by interested parties, unless they have prefaced
their comments by explicitly identifying the interested parties on whose behalf they are speaking
and by revealing the existence of any interest the engineers may have in the matters. (1) However,
if this code of ethics are not practice by the newcomer engineer in their working to the society or
more easy word if he or she violate this code of ethics, there will be a consequences for them that
will punish by the BEM, IEM and NSPE. One type of punishment that the person will receive if
he or she violate the code of ethics is the penalty or summons from the Disciplinary Committee
of BEM or IEM which the person could not able to escape from the penalty or summons. In
addition, we will lose our position as engineer in our company as our company does not trust our
words or our work when our employee already know about this case which reported by the
Disciplinary Committee. What will make the situation become worse is, when people lost their
jobs because of disciplinary problem, it is difficult to his or her to get a new job in other
company.

Another code of ethics that newcomer engineer to the field can practice in their working
life to the society where also I found it at the National Society of Professional Engineer (NSPE)
is engineer shall act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees. This can be
describes as we as an engineer should be done our responsible as a workers in our company in a
good manner and do not even breach of trust towards our company with intention or without
intention. Engineers shall not solicit or accept financial or other valuable consideration, directly
or indirectly, from outside agents in connection with the work for which they are responsible. (1)
For example as the above situation which an engineer who is Ahmad strictly should not act as
the medium of receiving the payment from the member that he serves without his employer’s
permission or in other words it is not his responsible to receive the payment. However, if the
engineer wants to receive the payment from the member of his or her company, he or she needs
to get the permission from his or her employer. Other way around are we let our employer to
know that we have received the payment for the work. In addition, if we apply this behavior in
our daily life, it will make our life more meaningful and blissful as all people will approach you
and trust with you. The consequence if all of us violate this code of ethics is we might lose our
job and position in our company because they will not trust with your word also with your work.
It is become worse if your employee report about that to the Disciplinary Committee of BEM or
IEM because they will take an action which is the disciplinary action towards the person who is
violating this code of ethics.

Besides, the National Society of Professional Engineer (NSPE) code of ethics III
numbers 5 it stated that engineer shall not be influenced in their professional duties by
conflicting interest. This code of ethics is then divided into two part. The code of ethics III.5.a
stated that the engineers shall not accept financial or other considerations, including free
engineering designs, from material or equipment suppliers for specifying their product and code
of ethics III.5.b stated engineers shall not accept commissions or allowances, directly or
indirectly, from contractors or other parties dealing with clients or employers of the engineer in
connection with work for which the engineer is responsible. In this section, we know that as an
engineers, he or she should not receive any money, gift or even free engineering design from
their supplier that specifying and give benefits to their products . This is because if he or she
receive money, gift or engineering design from the supplier, it will be unfair toward his or her
competitor. For example, if a company A want to buy some equipment or material in a large
quantity, the company will open the tender for that projects. Company B and C will enter and
fight for the tender. The company B and C will prepare a difference specification and of course
difference price from each other. At the same time, supplier from company A is acquaintance of
engineer in company B that take part in the tender. If the engineer from company B accepts any
amount of money, or engineering design from the supplier which is company A for specifying
their product, this act is unfair toward the company C. This what we called as conflict of interest
and strictly unethical behavior. For the next section, we as engineers should avoid accepts any
amounts of commissions or allowances from contractors or other parties dealing with clients or
our employers that we have connection with work for which responsible. This is because, an
engineer already have their own monthly salary that being paid by their employer. If he or she
also accepts the commissions or allowances from contractors or other parties that they have
connection in work with whether it is directly or indirectly, this is consider as unethical. In the
nuts shell, to be a good engineer, code of ethic III number 5a and 5b which is engineers shall not
accept financial or other considerations, including free engineering designs, from material or
equipment suppliers for specifying their product and engineers shall not accept commissions or
allowances, directly or indirectly, from contractors or other parties dealing with clients or
employers of the engineer in connection with work for which the engineer is responsible
respectively must be follow without doubt and apply I his or her engineering life style.

Last but not least, the code of ethics that I found in the National Society of Professional
Engineer (NSPE) that newcomer engineer to the field should practice and apply it in their
working life is engineer shall be guided in their relations by the highest standard of honesty and
integrity. Honesty is defined as telling the truth or able to be trusted and not likely to steal, cheat,
or lie. Engineer should have highest standard of honesty because as an engineer we are expected
to serve diverse group of people and society to make their life easier. Thus, it is engineer task to
keep these people informed of relevant facts from time to time as we know technology evolve
with time. The public trusts professionals to provide and to keep them updated with new
technology and information that is as complete and accurate as possible. It is important for
engineer to apply highest standard of honesty as their working lifestyle, such as when bidding for
projects, disclosing conflicts of interest, answering requests for information under the Freedom
of Information Act, disclosing sensitive personal issues and talking about your qualifications,
experience, positions of responsibility. There is quotes stated that “honesty is a very expensive
gift, do not expect it from cheap people”. Next, integrity is defined as quality of being honest
and having strong moral principles that the engineer refuse to change. Integrity has a close
relationship with acting ethically, even when there is no benefit and personal advantage of doing
so. People always say that integrity is not something you show to others. It is how you behave
behind their back. An engineer with highest standard of integrity will endure pressure to tolerate
and compromise their ethical standards and beliefs, whether that pressure comes from employers,
clients, or anywhere else. Having highest standard of integrity make an engineer clear about their
own values. Engineer that have highest standard of integrity also think that they should ‘stand for
something’, trying to change practices and attitudes that they think are less than ethical. Thus
being an honest and integrity engineer mean engineer with high artistic standards or standards of
doing their job, and that engineer is determination not to lower those standards.
 In the conclusion, the code of ethic for engineer give a good set of guides to follow and
put duties, thus it is compulsory for an engineer to know and apply the code of ethics in their
working life. The code of ethics helps to create an environment within the profession where
ethical behavior is the norm. The code of ethics also serves as a guide or reminder of how to take
action in specific situation. Furthermore, the code of ethics strengthen the individual’s position
by showing that there is a collective sense of an ethical behavior. Lastly, the code of ethic also
point out to others that the engineer is seriously concerned about responsible and professional
conduct.