HUT 200 PROFESSIONAL

ETHICS MODULE4
MODULE 4
 SYLLABUS
• Module 4- Responsibilities and Rights.
• Collegiality and loyalty – Managing conflict- Respect for authority-
Collective bargaining- Confidentiality-Role of confidentiality in
moral integrity-Conflicts of interest- Occupational crime-
Professional rights Employee right- IPR Discrimination.
Collegiality and loyalty
Collegiality:
Collegiality is the tendency to support and cooperate with the colleagues
It is a virtue essential for team for to be effective.
This consists of various aspects such as:
1. Respect the ideas and work of others.
2. Commitment to the moral principles: commitment is towards moral
decisions, actions, goals of organisations and values of profession.
3. Connectedness: it means the shared commitment and mutual
understanding . It ensures absence of egoism and paves way for
progress,
Loyalty
Loyalty exhibited in two senses, namely,
1. Agency Loyalty
It is an obligation to fulfil his/her contractual duties to the employer.
The duties are specific actions one is assigned, and in general cooperating
with others in the organisation. It consists of several obligations to
employers. But, for engineers, the paramount obligation is still “ the safety,
health, and welfare of the public”
2. Attitude Loyalty (or Identification loyalty)
It is concerned with the attitudes, emotions, and a sense of personal
identity. It includes willingness to meet moral duties, with attachment,
conviction, and trust with employer. The attitude loyalty is more
a virtue than an obligation.
Managing conflict
Conflict problems can be solved in three ways. Often, there are conflicting
moral choices, but one is obviously more significant than the other. For
example, protecting the health and safety of the public is more important than
your duty to your employer. In this type of case, the resolution of the conflict
involves an easy choice. A second solution is an attempt at some kind of a
compromise that will work for everyone. The emphasis here should be on the
compromise that will work for everyone. The emphasis here should be on the
word “creative” because it takes a great deal of creativity to find a middle
ground that is acceptable to everyone and a great deal of diplomacy to sell it to
everyone. Finally, when there is no easy choice and attempts to find a middle
ground are not successful, all that is left is to make the hard choice. Frequently,
you must rely on “gut feeling” for which path is correct one.
Respect for authority
Authority
Decisions can be taken by a few people, but putting into action requires
larger participation from different groups of people, such as operation,
purchase, sales, accounts, maintenance, finance etc. In
effectively-and efficiently-transferring decisions to actions, the authority
comes into play a great role. Otherwise the individual discretions may ruin
the activities. Further the authority fixes the personal responsibility and
accountability uniquely on each person. This is necessary to ensure
progress in action.
Institutional Authority
It is the authority exercised within the organization. It is the right given to
the employees to exercise power, to complete the task and force them to
achieve their goals. Duties such as resource allocation, policy
dissemination, recommendation, supervision, issue orders (empower) or
directions on subordinates are vested to institutional authority, e.g., Line
Managers and Project Managers have the institutional duty to make sure
that the products/projects are completed successfully. The characteristics
features of institutional authority are that they allocate money and other
resources and have liberty in execution.
Expert Authority
On the other hand, the Expert Authority is
(a) the possession of special knowledge, skills and competence to
perform a job thoroughly (expertise),
(b) the advice on jobs, and
(c) is a staff function. It is also known as ‘authority of leadership’. These
experts direct others in effective manner, e.g., advisers, experts, and
consultants are engaged in an organization for a specific term.
Collective bargaining
It is the bargain by the trade union for improving the economic interests
of the worker members. The process includes negotiation, threatening
verbally, and declaration of ‘strike’. It is impossible to endorse fully the
collective bargaining of unions or to condemn. There exist always
conflicting views between the professionalism and unionism.
A. Faithful Agent or Trustee?
Professional societies such as NSPE and IEI refuse to accept the ‘collective
coercive action’ of unionism, holding the principles of professional
integrity as right, e.g., as per NSPE code III, i.e., engineers shall
not promote their own interest at the expense of the dignity and integrity
of the profession. The actions of unions are usually against the interests of
the employers and the use coercion and force against the employers.
These actions are interpreted as unprofessional and disloyal. But in certain
cases, the safety of the workers had been ignored for a long period or the
employees were under-paid for years. Can we hold the action as unethical?
So it is concluded that
a) The duty of the employee to one’s employer does not mean sacrifice of
monetary self-interests, and
b) Trustee or faithful agent means executing the assigned tasks and
safeguarding the property. It does not nullify the right to negotiate for
safe and hygienic working conditions, and economic benefits
collectively.
c) The codes insist that the paramount obligation is to the society, as
compared to their employers. The duty to the employers is also limited
by considerations such as workers safety, and the right to disobey illegal
or unethical activities. After all the employees are also parts of the
society, and
d) Can collective and coercive action be resorted, when all other efforts
have failed?
B. Service to the Public?
The service to the public is of foremost importance. But the unions
promote the interests of a few members only. The public welfare should
not suffer because of their actions. Imagine a situation when all the
teachers, medical practitioners and ambulance go on strike. Will this not
damage to the public safety and health?
The collective bargaining cannot be judged as unethical, unless we
study the cases individually and decide. The collective bargaining is
acceptable, per se, but the means should be constructive, persuasive, firm
based on mutual understanding, and not destructive, disruptive, and not
harming the persons or property.
C. Assessment on Unionism
The moral assessment on union is a complex process. A careful
consideration of all the moral facts are to be inquired into and judged.
The table below shows the divergent views on unionism
CONFIDENTIALITY
Confidentiality means keeping the information on the employer and
clients, as secrets. It is one of the important aspects of team work.
Keeping confidence is one of the most central and widely acknowledged
duties of any professional. Defense lawyers must keep clients’ information
confidential, and teachers must keep at least personal information deemed
desirable to be kept as secret.
Confidentiality-Role of confidentiality in moral integrity
The following moral principles also justify the concept of ‘confidentiality’
1. Respect for Autonomy -It means respecting the freedom and self-
determination of individuals and organizations to identify their legitimate
control over the personal information of themselves. In the absence of
this, they can not keep their privacy and protect their self-interest.
2.Respect for promises- This means giving respect for the promises
made between the employers and employees
3.Trustworthiness- Maintaining confidentiality by lawyers, accountants,
and attorneys are necessary to develop confidence and welfare of the
individuals and the organizations. It does not mean however that these
professionals collude with them unethically.
4.Respect for Public Welfare- This moral consideration is important in
identifying relationships in professional transactions, for the benefit of
welfare, e.g., if the medical practitioners keep confidentiality on the
problems of patients, patients develop confidence and trust in them, they
feel free to reveal their problems and personal information, without
being shy.
CONFLICT OF INTERESTS
A conflict of interest occurs when the employee has more than one
interest. A professional conflict of interest is the situation where the
professional has an interest that, if pursued, might prevent him from
meeting his obligations to his employers or clients, e.g., an Electrical
Engineer working in the State Electricity Board may have a financial
interest in a company which supplies electrical instruments. If the engineer
is decide on the bid for the supply of electrical instruments, a clear case of
conflict of interest exists.
Types of conflict of interest
Several types of conflicts of interests exist depending on the ways and
severity of outside interests. A few common types are discussed here.
1. Actual conflict of interest
This refers to the situation where the objectivity is lost in decision making,
and the inability to discharge the duty to the employer. It is the result of
weaker judgment and service. A civil engineer working in the public works
department has a financial interest in a contracting company, which has
submitted a bid for the construction of a bridge. There may be a variety of
outside interests. But the conflict arises when then outside interest
influences or threatens the professional judgment in serving the employer
or clients
2. Apparent conflict of interest
This is explained in the following example. An engineer is paid based on a
per cent of the cost of the design and there is no incentive for him to cut
the costs. In this situation, it appears that the engineer makes the design
more expensive in order to get larger commission for him. This situation
leads to doubting the engineer’s interest and ability for professional
judgment.
3. Potential conflict of interest
There are situations where the interest of an employee extends beyond the
current employer and into the interest on one’s spouse, relative or friend.
The interest changes into intimacy and subsequent non moral judgments
against the interest of the employer and in favor of the outsider or even a
potential competitor.
a) Favorable contact – When an engineer’s spouse is working for a contractor
or vendor, a conflict does not arise. But if the engineer is to.
give a subcontract to the contractor or purchase order to the supplier, the
conflict arises. This happens even when the engineer has partial or
substantial stockholding in that contractor or supplier.
(b) Bribe and Gift - The conflict arises when accepting large gifts from the
suppliers. Bribe is different from a gift. The table below shows the
comparison of the nature of bribe and gift
 (c) Moonlighting - It is a situation when a person is working as employee for
two different companies in the spare time. This is against the right to
pursue one’s legitimate self-interest. It will lead to conflict of interests, if
the person works for competitors, suppliers or customers, while working
under an employer. Another effect of moonlighting is that it leaves the
person exhausted and harms the job performance in both places.
(d) Insider Information-Another potential conflict of interest is when using
‘inside’ information to establish a business venture or get an advantage for
oneself or one’s family or friends. The information may be either of the
parent company or its clients or its business partners, e.g., engineers might
inform the decision on the company’s merger with another company or
acquisition or an innovative strategy adopted. In such cases, their friends
get information on stock holding and decide on trading their stocks to sell
or buy quickly, so that gain more or prevent a loss. For example, in
WorldCom USA, the insider information was used to manipulate and sell a
large amount of stock holding by the Director, upon knowing that the
government has declined to admit their product.
OCCUPATIONAL CRIME
An occupational crime may be committed by (1) wrong actions of a person
through one’s lawful employment or (2) crime by an employee to promote
ones own or employer’s interest or (3) theft or pilferage by the employee or
(4) damage to the property or an employee of one’s organization. These are
also called white-collared crimes
Many of these crimes are examples of conflicts of interest. These are
motivated by greed, corporate ambition, and misguided loyalty. Even the
crime to promote the interests of the employer, is an occupational crime.
Some of the examples of occupational crimes are:
1.Price Fixing
Fixing the bidding rate by companies, in collusion with other companies,
especially for the contract/services, is called price fixing. This is an
occupational crime, prevalent in electrical equipment industries, where there
used to be a few contractors but large number of contracts.
2.Industrial Espionage
It means simply spying for personal or company benefits, e.g., in the silicon
valley area, there are several company manufacturing company chips, ICs,
and ,microprocessors. There are a lot of engineers who are entrepreneurs
and venture capitalists. The espionage is more prevalent here because of the
following factors:
a) The development of chips is extremely competitive and on fast track.
Profit and loss can be made quicker.
b) Manufacture of chips is very costly. Some organizations prefer to steal
 the design details through illegal means rather testing and development
(c) The components involved are very small. Hence, pilferage or removal of
gadgets could be done easily and without being caught.
(d) The crime detection and law enforcement are difficult and ineffective.
(e) Employees do not carry out the activities directly, but through engineers
who were employees or through the weakest link in the supplier-
producer chain.
3. Bootlegging
Manufacturing, selling or transporting products(liquor and narcotics) that are
prohibited by law, is called bootlegging.
4. Endangering Lives( Occupational Hazards)
Industries who expose their employees to hazards usually escape penalties.
Victims have the right to sue, but only to claim monetary compensation.
Even after 22 years since Bhopal gas tragedy, appropriate compensation has
not been paid. Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series, OHAS-
18001 Certification has been adopted in many Indian Industries. As per the
Annual report of RIL10, an initiative called Project CASH, Change Agent for
Safety and Health, had been formed to bring about a positive change and
continual improvement in occupational health practices at the work place,
besides attitudinal and behavior changes. This is claimed to have prevented
work-related diseases, injuries, reduced absenteeism, and ultimately increased
the productivity level.
PROFESSIONAL RIGHTS
Engineers also have rights that go along with these responsibilities. Not all
of these rights come about due to the professional status of engineering.
There are rights that individuals have regardless of professional status,
including the right to privacy, the right to participate in activities of one’s
own choosing outside of work, the right to reasonably object to company
policies without fear of retribution, and the right to due process. The most
fundamental right of an engineer is the right of professional conscience.
This involves the right to exercise professional judgment in discharging
one’s duties and to exercise this judgment in an ethical manner. This right is
basic to an engineer’s professional practice. However, it is no surprise that
this right is not always easy for an employer to understand. The right of
professional conscience can have many aspects. For example, one of these
aspects may be referred to as the “Right of Conscientious Refusal”. This is
the right to refuse to engage in unethical behavior.

EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
Employee right are the moral and legal rights that are obtained by the status
of being an employee. The provisions made to the employees under this
category are:
1. Professional rights
2. Basic human rights
3. Institutional rights or contractual rights
4. Non-contractual employee rights.
1. Right to privacy – It is the right to control the access to and use of
information about myself. This right is limited in certain situations by
employers’ rights. But who among the employers can access the
personal information is again restricted. Only duly authorized persons
can get the personal information.
2. Right to choose outside activities – This is also interpreted as a right
to personal privacy as that means a right to have a private life outside
the job. There are some situations when this right can be curbed. For
example,
a) When those activities lead to violation or found detrimental to the
duties of their job
b) When the activities of the employees form a conflict of interest
 c) When the interest of the employer is getting damaged
3. Right to Due Process from Employer - It is the right to fair
process or procedures in firing, demotion and in taking any disciplinary
actions against the employees. Written explanation should be initially
obtained from the charged employee and the orders are given in writing,
with clearly-stated reasons. Simple appeal procedures should be framed
and made available to all those affected. Fairness here is specified in
terms of the process rather than the outcomes.
4. Right to Equal Opportunity —Non-discrimination Discrimination
because of caste, sex, religion, creed, and language are regressive actions.
Discrimination which means a morally unjust treatment of people in the
workplace is damaging to the human dignity.
5. Right to Equal Opportunity —Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
The sexual harassment is a display of arrogance and misuse of power
through sexual means. It is against the moral autonomy i.e., freedom to
decide on one’s own body. It is also an assault on one’s human dignity and
trust.
6. Right to Equal Opportunity —Affirmative Action or Preferential
Treatment It means giving a preference or advantage to a person of a group
that was denied equal treatment in the past. Such treatments are given
especially to women and minorities all over the world. It is also called ‘reverse
preferential treatment’, because it reverses the historical preferences.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR)
Intellectual property is the information and original expression that derives
its original value from creative ideas, and is with a commercial value. IP
permits people to have fully independent ownership for their innovations
and creativity, like that of own physical property. This encourages the IP
owners towards innovation and benefit to the society. It is an asset that can
be bought or sold, licensed, and exchanged. It is intangible i.e., it cannot be
identified by specific parameters. The agreements with World Trade
Organization (WTO) and Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property
System (TRIPS) have been adopted effective from January 2005. Besides
the minimum standards set for protection of IP rights, appropriate laws
framed by the member countries are expected to reduce distortions and
barriers for and promote the international trade. The global IPR system
strengthens protection, increases the incentives for innovation, and raises
returns on international technology transfer. However, it could raise the costs
of acquiring new technology and products, shifting the global terms of trade
in favor of technology producers.
Need for Protection of IP
IP plays an essential role to stabilize and develop the economy of a nation.
This protection actually stimulates creativity, research, and innovation by
ensuring freedom to individuals and organizations to benefit from their
creative intellectual investments. The IP serves many purposes, namely
(a) it prevents others using it,
(b) prevent using it for financial gain,
(c) prevent plagiarism
(d) fulfill obligation to funding agency. ICICI Bank has advanced loan
against IP as security to Shopper’s Stoppe, New Delhi, and
(e) provides a strategy to generate steady income.
Some of the challenges in the acquisition of IP are:
(a) Shortage of manpower in the industry. Educational institutions can
play a vital role in providing the same.
(b) High cost of patenting and lengthy procedure. This was being
considered by the Government and a simpler and faster procedure is
expected, and
(c) Lack of strong enforcement mechanism.
Types and Norms
The agreements establish norms and conditions for the following
instruments of intellectual properties:
1. Patents
Patent is a contract between the individual (inventor) and the society (all
others). Patents protect legally the specific products from being
manufactured or sold by others, without permission of the patent holder.
Patent holder has the legally-protected monopoly power as one’s own
property. The validity is 20 years from the date filing the application for the
patent. It is a territorial right and needs registration. The Patent
(Amendment) Act 2002 guarantees such provisions. Patent is given to a
product or a process, provided it is entirely new, involving an inventive.
method and suitable for industrial application. While applying for a patent, it
is essential to submit the documents in detail regarding the problem
addressed, its solution, extent of novelty or innovation, typical applications,
particulars of the inventor, and the resources utilized. Inventions are
patentable and the discoveries are not.
Types of patents
a) Utility patent- the utility patent is granted to anyone who invents or
discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture or chemical
composition of any manner or any new and useful improvement thereof.
The utility time is 20years.
b) Industrial design patent- it is an idea or conception regarding features of
shape, configuration, pattern, ornamental with lines or colors applied to
any article, two or three dimensional, made by any industrial process and is
judged by the eye or a product. The design patent has a term of 14 years
from the date of filing the application.
2. Copyright
The copyright is a specific and exclusive right, describing rights given to
creators for their literary and artistic works. This protects literary material,
aesthetic material, music, film, sound recording, broadcasting, software,
multimedia, paintings, sculptures, and drawings including maps, diagrams,
engravings or photographs. There is no need for registration and no need
to seek lawyer’s help for settlement. The life of the copyright protection is
the life of the inventor or author plus 50 years. Copyright gives protection
to particular expression and not for the idea
. Copyright is effective in (a) preventing others from copying or reproducing
or storing the work, (b) publishing and selling the copies, (c) performing the
work in public, commercially (d) to make film (e) to make translation of the
work, and (f) to make any adaptation of the work. Copying the idea is called
‘plagiarism’ and it is dealt with separately.
3. Trademark
Trademark is a wide identity of specific good and services, permitting
differences to be made among different trades. It is a territorial right, which
needs registration. Registration is valid initially for 10 years, and renewable.
The trademark or service mark may be registered in the form of a device, a
heading, a label, a ticket, a letter, a word or words, a numeral or any
combination of these, logos, designs, sounds, and symbols. Trademark
should not be mistaken for a design,
e.g., the shape of a bottle in which a product is marketed, can not be
registered as a trademark. Trademarks Act 1999 made in compliance with
TRIPS agreement, provides further details.11 There are three functions of
trademark:
1. Just as we are identified by our names, good are identified by their
trademarks. For example, the customer goes to the shop and asks for Lux
soap. The word ‘Lux’ is a trade mark. In other words it shows the origin or
source of the goods.
2. The trademark carries with it an inherent indication or impression on
the quality of goods, which indirectly demonstrates that it receives the
customer’s satisfaction.
3. The trademark serves as silent sales promoter. Without a trademark,
there can be no advertisement. In other words, it serves as a medium for
advertising the goods.
4. Trade secret
A trade secret is the information which is kept confidential as a secret. This
information is not accessed by any other(competitor) than the owner and
this gives a commercial advantage over the competitors. The trade secrets
are not registered but only kept confidential.