CASE 53 Why Wont They Read?

Ata TURAN Uduak Daniel EKONG ILE 335 Ethics Course / Group 1/ Case Study #1
CASE STUDY PRESENTATION 22/04/2013

1st Case

Sid Fisher was fuming.

The manager of mechanical engineering research for XYZ had spent most of the morning in a research project review. He had listened patiently at first, then impatiently, to two young engineers review their research efforts on the development of a more efficient heat transfer surface.

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1st Case (Cont...)

Realizing they were reporting efforts which had been unsuccessful, he finally interrupted and exclaimed, "Do you men realize that you have gone down the same blind path that Edwards and O'Malley did about five years ago? Their detailed research report is in our technical library.

"Did you read it before you began your work?"

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1st Case (Cont...)

The two engineers admitted they had not heard of Edwards and O'Malley's previous work, had not read the report covering it and, in fact, had made no effort
to check the current technical literature for related publications.

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1st Case (Cont...)

Sid thought about these wasted efforts and the money the unproductive research had cost his company. He remembered, painfully, at least two other recent efforts where inadequate literature research had cost XYZ the expense of wasted research and development activities. In one case a team of XYZ engineers worked hard for two years on a project only to discover that one of XYZ's competitors had a four-year-old patent covering almost precisely the same innovation they were 5 developing. 22.04.201
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1st Case (Cont...)

Until one of XYZ's patent attorneys called attention to the competitive patent after reading a monthly research report mentioning the engineers' project, none of the engineers on the development team had made any effort to review the patent literature.

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2nd Case

In the second case, there had been a long, tedious research effort to modify the properties of a material for use in a new component part of one of XYZ's products. No progress at all was made until one of XYZ's scientists got a clue at a technical society meeting that it might be useful to check an article in a foreign technical journal. The article provided major help in accelerating the materials development significantly.

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2nd Case (Cont...)

Sid thought to himself, "Why won't my engineers read?" Certainly XYZ provided the wherewithal--a modern technical library adequately supplied with current and past engineering and scientific journals, facilities for computerized literature searching and a staff to assist engineers and scientists in using literature resources. Most of his engineers seemed to lack the incentive to read the literature, Sid thought. At best they seemed to confine their reading to a current trade journal or two.
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2nd Case (Cont...)

Looking for clues to cure the "won't read" syndrome, Sid call an old friend, who was head of the mechanical engineering department at a nearby university. He asked him what sort of reading requirements were part of an engineer's course of study at present. The department head explained that engineering students, because of demanding course loads, did well to read the assigned textbooks and related technical handbooks and computer manuals.
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2nd Case (Cont...)

Significant outside reading began only in the M.S. or Ph.D. thesis research program. Not overly encouraged by this response, Sid began to think about what he could do to encourage greater use of available technical literature on the part of his engineers.

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Discussion and Question Part

Discuss the responsibilities XYZ engineers have to keep up with readings relevant to their research. What responsibilities does Sid Fisher have in this regard? What might Sid Fisher do to deal effectively with this problem? Do university engineering programs have any special responsibility to help companies like XYZ with this problem?

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Discussion Part

Discuss the responsibilities XYZ engineers have to keep up with readings relevant to their research. When we discuss the responsibilities of XYZ engineers;

Firstly, NSPE Fundamental Canons section says

"Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession." At the beginning, XYZ engineers should research and read some articles or literatures related to the "Development of A More Efficient Heat Transfer Surface Project". 22.04.201
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Discussion Part (Cont)

When engineers reading articles or literatures, they collect informations which are useful for the development project. Then engineers use these informations for the development project should improve. At the end of the research, engineers would increase the probability of success the development project.

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Solution Part

What responsibilities does Sid Fisher have in this regard?

Sid Fisher should provide information about the previous studies. When explain the previous studies, he should explain all the informations and give access permission to engineers for access the all research informations.

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Solution Part (Cont)

What might Sid Fisher do to deal effectively with this problem? Sid Fisher would have to take precautions against the possibility of failure of the project.

A staff member who has served in previous studies would have to include the current project development group and provide collaboration.

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Solution Part (Cont)

What might Sid Fisher do to deal effectively with this problem?

Sid Fisher constantly making decisions must be calm.

Sid Fisher should encourage engineers to conduct research. The concept of risk is not at all well understood by the public. Instead of providing assistance in understanding this concept, many engineers and managers like Sid Fisher have encouraged unrealistic expectations by their attitudes. The public has become more intolerant of failure and more suspicious of the technical experts who are unable to deliver the promised risk-free society.
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Solution Part (Cont)

Do university engineering programs have any special responsibility to help companies like XYZ with this problem?

Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles related to the professional practice of engineering. It includes the initial education for becoming an engineer and any advanced education and specializations that follow. Engineering education is typically accompanied by additional examinations and supervised training as the requirements for a professional engineering license.
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Solution Part (Cont)

Do university engineering programs have any special responsibility to help companies like XYZ with this problem?

In this case, these type of developing projects may be give to students for a research project case study in university. Each student has found different documents and each student has a different opinion/solution about the research project.

In this way, students will be directed to research.

By the way, they learn research methods and how to do research.
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THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION

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QUESTIONS ?

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