UNIT V

GLOBAL ISSUES
Global Issues
■ Multinational Corporations
■ Environmental Ethics
■ Computer Ethics
■ Weapons Development
■ Engineers as Managers
■ Consulting Engineers
■ Engineers as Expert Witnesses and Advisors
■ Moral Leadership
■ Code of Conduct
■ Corporate Social Responsibility.
Globalization

■ Means integration of countries thro’

commerce, transfer of technology and
exchange of information and culture.
■ Includes acting together and interacting
economies through trade, investment, loan,
development schemes and capital across
countries.
 1.Multinational corporations
■ Organizations who have established business in more
than one country are called multinational corporations.
■ The headquarters are in the home country and the
business is extended in many host countries.
■ The western organizations doing business in the
less-economically developed countries gain the
advantage of inexpensive labor, availability of natural
resources, conducive-tax atmosphere.
■ The developing countries are also benefited by fresh job
opportunities, jobs with higher remuneration and
challenges.
 Threats of globalization
■ Loss of jobs for the home country.
■ Loss or exploitation of natural resources.
■ Political instability for the host countries.
International rights
■ To know what are the moral responsibilities
and obligations of the multinational
corporations operating in the host countries,
let us discuss with the frame of work of rights
ethics.
■ Common minimal rights are to be followed to
smoothen the transactions when engineers
and employers of MNCs have to interact at
official, social, economic and sometimes
political levels.
Ten international rights
■ The right to freedom of physical movement.
■ The right to ownership of property.
■ The right to freedom from torture.
■ The right to fair trial.
■ The right to nondiscriminatory treatment.(fair)
■ The right to physical security.
■ The right to freedom of speech and association.
■ The right to minimal education.
■ The right to political participation
■ The right to subsistence(survival)
 Promoting morally just measures
A few principles to maintain the morality by MNCs are enlisted
here:
❑ MNC should respect human rights of the people of the host

countries.
❑ The activities of the MNC should give economic and transfer

technical benefits and implement welfare measures of the

workers of the host countries.
❑ The business practices of the multinational organizations

should improve and promote morally justified institutions in

the host countries.
❑ The multinationals must respect the laws and political set up,

besides culture and promote the culture of the host countries.

Promoting morally just measures

❑ The multinational organizations should provide

a fair remuneration to the employees of the host
countries.
❑ Multinational organizations should provide
necessary safety for the workers when they are
engaged in hazardous activities and ‘informed
consent’ should be obtained from them.
Adequate compensation should be given to
them for the additional risks undertaken.
 Technology transfer

■ It is a process of moving technology to a new setting and

implementing it there.
■ Technology includes hardware and the techniques.
■ It may mean moving the technology applications from
laboratory use to field/factory or from one country to
another.
■ This transfer is affected by governments, organizations,
universities and MNCs.
Appropriate Technology
■ It refers to identification of most suitable technology
for a set of new situations.
■ Factors such as economic, social and engineering
constraints are the causes for the modification of
technology.
■ Depending on the availability of resources, physical
conditions, social acceptability which includes their
traditions, beliefs and religion, the appropriateness is
to be determined.
Appropriate Technology-examples

■ Small farmers in our country prefer to own and the

power tillers, rather than the high-powered tractors.
■ On the other hand, the latest technological device, the
cell phones have found their way into remote villages
than the landline telephone connections.
■ The term “appropriate” is value based and it should
ensure fulfillment of the human needs and protection of
the environment.
2. Environmental ethics
It is the study of
❑ moral issues concerning the environment

❑ moral perspectives, beliefs or attitudes concerning

those issues.
■ Engineers in the past are known for their negligence of
environment, in their activities.
■ It has become important that engineers design
eco-friendly tools, machines, sustainable products,
processes and projects.
■ There are essential now to
❑ Ensure protection of environment.

❑ Slow down the exploitation of natural resources.

 Environmental ethics
■ The American Society of Civil Engineers(ASCE) code of ethics,
has specifically requires that “engineers shall hold paramount
safety, health and welfare of the public and shall strive to comply
with the principles of sustainable development in the performance
of professional societies.”

■ The term “sustainable development” emphasizes on the investment,

orientation of technology, development and functioning of an
organization to meet the present needs of the people and at the
same time ensuring the future generations to meet their needs.
Engineers as experimenters have certain
duties towards environmental ethics
■ Environmental impact assessment: One major but sure
and unintended effect of technology is wastage and the
resulting pollution of land, water, air and even space.
Study how the industry and technology affects the
environment.
■ Establish standards: Study and to fix the tolerable and
actual pollution levels.
■ Counter measures: Study what the protective or
eliminating measures are available for immediate
implementation
■ Environmental awareness: Study on how to educate the
people on environmental practices,issues, and possible
remedies.
Disasters

■ Plastic Waste Disposal

■ e-Waste Disposal
■ Industrial Waste Disposal
■ Depletion of Ozone Layer
■ Global Warming
■ Acid Rain
 Case studies
■ Acid rain
❑ Large emissions of sulphur oxides and nitrous oxides are

being released into the air from the thermal power stations
using the fossil fuels and several processing industries.
❑ These gases form compounds with water in the air and

precipitates as rain or snow on to the earth.

❑ The acid rain in some parts of the world has caused

sufficient damage to the fertility of the land and to the

human beings.
 Case studies
■ Depletion of Ozone Layer
❑ The ozone layer protects the entire planet from the ill-effects of
ultraviolet radiation and is vital for all living organisms in this
world.
❑ It is eaten away by the chloro-floro carbons(CFC) such as freon
emanating from the refrigerators, air conditioners.
❑ This has caused also skin cancer to sun-bathers in the western
countries.
❑ Further NO and NO2 gases were also found to react with ozone.
❑ Apart from engineers, the organizations, laws of the country and
local administration, mechanisms are required to take up
concerted efforts to protect the environment.
 Philosophical views of nature
■ Philosophers have explored a wide range of moral perspectives
concerning the environment.
■ The most fundamental issue is whether ethical theories need to be
rethought by widening the circle of things that have inherent worth.
That is , value in themselves, independent of human desires and
appraisals.
■ Traditional theories were exclusively human-centered or
“anthropocentric”.
■ They recognized only persons as having inherent worth and
regarded nature as a mere source for humanity.
 Philosophical views of nature

■ While examining the philosophers’ views of

environmental ethics, we should bear in mind that the
world’s great religions have invariably given the
nature a prominent role in their prescriptions for moral
living.
 Sentient-centered ethics
■ It recognizes all sentient animals as having inherent worth.
■ Sentient animals are those that feel pain and pleasure and
have desires.
■ Some utilitarians extend their theory to sentient animals as
well as humans.
■ Peter Singer developed a utilitarian perspective in his
influential book ,”Animal Liberation”.
■ Singer insists that moral judgments must take into account
the effects of our action on sentient animals.
■ Failure to do so is a form discrimination what he labels
“speciesism”.
 Bio centric ethics

■ A life-centered ethics regards all living organisms as having inherent

worth.
■ Albert schweitzer set forth a pioneering version of this perspective
under the name of “reverence for life”.
■ He argued that the most fundamental feature of us is our will to live,
by which he meant both a will to survive and a will to develop
according to our inherent tendencies.
■ All organisms share these instinctive tendencies to survive and
develop, and hence consistency requires that we affirm the inherent
worth of all life
 Eco centric ethics
■ A frequent criticism of sentient-centered and bio centered ethics is that
they are too individualistic.
■ Eco centric ethics locates inherent value in ecological systems.
■ The naturalist Aldo Leopold who urged that we have an obligation to
promote the health of ecosystems.
■ “ A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and
beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
 Human-centered environmental ethics

■ This approach assumes that only human beings have

inherent moral worth duly to be taken care of.
■ Other living being and ecosystems are only
instrumental in nature.
■ Utilitarianism aims to maximize good consequences
for human beings.
■ Most of the goods are engineered products made out
natural resources
 Human-centered environmental ethics

■ Human beings have also

❑ recreational interests (enjoy leisure thro’ sports and past times)

❑ aesthetics interests (enjoy nature as from seeing water falls and

snow-clad mountains)
❑ scientific interests to explore into nature or process.

❑ a basic interest to survive, by preservation as well as conservation

of nature and natural resources.
■ Right ethicists favor the basic rights to live and right to liberty, to
realize the right to a in supportive environment.
■ Virtue ethics stresses importance of humility, appreciation of natural
beauty and gratitude to the mother nature that provides everything
3. Computer ethics
■ It is defined as
❑ a study of nature and social impact of computer technology

❑ formulation and justification of policies, for ethical use of

computers.
■ The use of computers have raised a host of moral concerns
such as free speech, privacy, intellectual property right and
physical as well as mental harm.
Power relationships

■ The development and proliferation of microcomputers became

increasingly powerful and economically competitive with larger
models.
■ Remote access and time-sharing allowed computer users in distant
locations to share the resources of large computer systems.
■ These changes opened new possibilities for decentralized computer
power.
■ Computers are power tools which do not by themselves generate
power shifts. They contribute to greater centralization or
decentralization insofar as human decision-makers so direct them.
Few Moral issues in computer ethics

■ Job Elimination
■ Customer Relations
■ Biased Software(Unfair)
 Property

■ The most troublesome issues about property and

computers fall under two general headings.
■ The first is the use of computers in misuse and
other forms of stealing money or financial assets.
 Embezzlement(Misuse)
■ Computers are only incidentally involved when extortion
is attempted via a phone that is part of a computerized
telephone system.
■ Two factors make computers especially troublesome:
❑ their speed and geographical coverage, which allows

the large number of people to be victimized.

❑ the difficulty of tracing the underlying transactions to

apprehend the thieves.

30
 Common cases of computer abuse

■ Stealing or cheating by employees at work.

■ Stealing by non-employees or former employees.
■ Stealing from or cheating clients and consumers
■ Violating contracts for computer sales or service.
■ Conspiring to use computer networks to engage
in widespread fraud.
 Protection against criminal abuse

■ It has become a major constraint for effective and successful

design of many computer systems an programs.
■ Engineers predict not only the intended context in the
computer will be used , but both likely and possible abuses.
■ For some time, secret computer passwords have been used
as a security feature.
■ Now, data encryption technique is widely employed to
prevent theft from funds transfers systems.
 Data and software
■ Data refers to information stored in a computer whether the
information expresses facts or falsehoods.
■ Software refers to programs that direct an electronic
machine to perform certain tasks, typically tasks involving
problem solving.
■ Programs have several aspects:
❑ an algorithm
❑ a source code
❑ an object code
■ Computer hardware is protected by patent laws. Software
can be protected by trade secrets and copyrights.
 Privacy
■ By making more data available to more people with
more ease, computers make privacy more difficult
to protect.
■ Privacy issues
❑ Inappropriate access
❑ Data Bank Errors
❑ Hackers
❑ Legal responses
Professional issues

■ Computer Failures
■ Computer Implementation
■ Health conditions
 4.Weapons development
■ Military activities including the world wars have stimulated the
growth of technology.
■ The growth of internet illustrates this fact fully.
■ The development of warfare and the involvement of engineers
bring out many ethical issues concerned with engineers such as
the issue of integrity in experiments as well as expenditure in
defense research and development ,issue of personal
commitment and conscience and the issues of social justice and
social health.
 Engineer’s involvement in weapons development

■ Engineers involve in weapon development because of

the following reasons:
❑ It gives one job with high salary.
❑ One takes pride and honor in participating in the activities
towards the defense of the nation.
❑ One believes that he fights a war on terrorism and thereby
contribute to peace and stability of the country. Ironically, the
wars have never won peace, only peace can own peace.
❑ By research and development, the engineer is reducing or
eliminating the risk from enemy weapons and saving one’s
country from disaster.
❑ By building-up arsenals(weapon store) and show of force, a
country can for the rouge country towards regulation.
 5. Engineers as managers
■ Engineers undergo the most intensive technical training of any
professionals.
■ Many companies prefer engineers as managers because their technical
understanding is essential to managing technological corporations.
■ Engineers find management inviting because of an array of corporate
incentives.
■ Some corporations have instituted a “ dual-ladder system” that allows
engineers to advance in their careers along either administrative or
technological tracks.
 Managers as professionals
■ Managers require expanded knowledge about finances and scheduling.
■ They require strengthened skills in coordinating and motivating other
people
■ They should have ability to make risk-taking decisions involving wider
range of factors than purely technical considerations.
■ The ultimate goal of managers and engineers alike should be to make
“valuable products” that are also profitable.
■ Two responsibilities of engineer-managers are:
❑ Promoting an ethical climate. - through framing organization
policies, responsibilities and by personal attitudes and obligations
❑ Resolving conflicts - by evolving priority, developing mutual
understanding, generating various alternative solutions to problem
 Managing conflicts
■ In solving conflicts, force should not be resorted.
■ In fact the conflict situations should be tolerated, understood and
resolved by participation by all the concerned.
■ The conflicts in the case of project managers arise in the following
manners:
❑ Conflicts based on schedules.

❑ Conflict based on the availability of personnel.

❑ Conflict over expenditure and its deviations

❑ Conflict over technical, economic, and time factors such as cost,

time, and performance level

❑ Conflict arising in administration such as authority, responsibility,

accountability, and logistics required

 Resolving conflicts
Following principles are widely used for resolving conflicts:
❑ “People: Separate the people from the problem.”

❑ “Interests: Focus on interests, not positions.”

❑ “Options: Generate a variety of possibilities before deciding what

to do.”
❑ “Criteria: Insist that the result of conflict resolution be based on

objective standard.
6. Consulting engineers
■ The consulting engineers work in private.
■ There is no salary from employers.
■ They charge fees from the sponsor and they have
more freedom to decide on their projects
 Responsibilities of Consulting engineers-advertising
■ Consulting engineers are directly responsible for advertising their
services, even when they hire consultants to them.
■ They are allowed to advertise but to avoid deceptive ones.
■ Deceptive advertising can be done in many ways including :
❑ By white lies.
❑ Half-truth, e.g., a product has actually been tested as prototype, but it was
claimed to have been already introduced in the market. An architect shows the
photograph of the completed building with flowering trees around but actually
the foundation of the building has been completed and there is no real garden.
❑ Exaggerated claims. The consultant might have played a small role in a
well-known project. But they could claim to have played a major role.
❑ Making false suggestions. The reduction in cost might have been achieved
along with the reduction in strength, but the strength details are hidden.
❑ Through vague wordings or slogans.
 Responsibilities of Consulting
engineers-competitive bidding
■ It means offering a price and get something in return for the service
offered.
■ The organizations have a pool of engineers
■ The expertise can be shared and the bidding is made more realistic.
■ Individual consultants have to develop creative designs and build
their reputation steadily and carefully over a period of time.
 Responsibilities of Consulting
engineers-contingency fee
■ This is the fee or commission paid to the consultant when one is
successful in saving the expenses for the client.
■ A sense of fairness and honesty is required in fixing this fee.
■ The fee may be either as an agreed amount or a fixed percentage of
the savings realized.
 Responsibilities of Consulting engineers-safety
and client needs
The greater freedom for the consulting engineers in decision making
on safety aspects and difficulties concerning the truthfulness are
matters to be given attention.
❑ E.g. in design-only projects, the consulting engineers may design
something and have no role in the construction.
❑ Sometimes, difficulties may crop up during construction due to
non-availability of materials.
❑ Properly trained supervision is needed.

❑ The contractor may not understand and be willing to modify the

original design to serve the clients best.
 7. Engineers as expert witness
■ Gives expert view on the facts in their area of their expertise.
■ Interprets the facts in terms of the cause-and-effect relationship.
■ Comments on the view of opposite side.
■ Reports on the professional standards, especially on the precautions
when the product is made, or the service is provided.
Engineers as expert witnesses-abuse

■ Hired Guns
❑ Violate the standards of honest and due care in conducting

investigations.
❑ Forward white lies and distortions.

■ Finance Bias
❑ Consultants may be influenced for monetary considerations.
Engineers as expert witnesses-abuse
■ Ego Bias
❑ The assumption that the own side is innocent, and the

other side is guilty, is responsible for this behavior.

■ Sympathy Bias
❑ Sympathy for the victim on the opposite side may upset

the testimony.
❑ The integrity of the consultant will keep these biases

away from the justice.

 Engineers as advisers in planning and policy
making
■ Technology is always involved in decisions about policy-making and
public planning.
■ In policy making, public officials and the general public need objective
studies about the costs and benefits of alternative transportation,
housing , energy use, land use and national defense.
■ In public planning, they need expert advice about the feasibility , risks
and benefits of particular technological projects that affect local
communities.
Normative models of advisers
Hired Guns
❑ This model makes the obligation to clients paramount if

not exclusive.
❑ Facts favorable to the client are dramatically

highlighted an unfavorable facts downplayed.

❑ The minimal level of interest is shown for public

welfare.
Value neutral analysts
■ This assumes an impartial engineer.
■ They exhibit careful decisions, impartiality.
 Value guided advocates
■ The consulting engineers remain honest and autonomous in
judgment and show supreme importance to the public.
 8. Moral leadership
■ It means adopting reasonable means to motivate the groups to achieve
morally desirable goals.
■ Moral leader are individuals who direct, motivate, organize,
creatively manage or in other ways move groups toward morally
valuable goals.
■ Moral leaders are morally creative.
■ Moral creativity consists in identifying the most important values that
apply in particular situation, bringing them into focus thro’ effective
communication within groups and forming workable commitments to
implementing them.
 Participation in professional societies
■ Moral leadership within engineering is often manifested in
leadership within professional societies.
■ Professional societies do more than promote continuing education
for their members.
■ Professional societies provide a forum for communicating,
organizing and mobilizing change within and by large groups.
■ Many of the current tensions in professional societies exist because
of uncertainties about their involvement in moral issues.
Leadership in communities
■ This is another platform for engineers to exhibit their moral
leadership.
■ The engineers can help in guiding , organizing and stimulating
the community towards morally and environmentally desirable
goals.
❑ E.g. The corporate organizations have come forward to

adopt villages and execute many welfare schemes towards

this objective.
 Ideals of voluntary service
■ Promoting services without fee or at reduced fees to the
needy groups.
■ Voluntarism of this sort has long been encouraged in
medicine, law and education.
■ By sharp contrast, ABET code was revised during 1960s
to state: “Engineers shall not undertake nor agree to
perform any engineering service on a free basis.”
9. Codes of Ethics
■ Codes of Ethics promote and sustain the ethical
environment and assist in achieving the ethical
goals
❑ It creates an environment in a profession, where ethical behavior
is the basic criterion.
❑ It guides and reminds the person as to how to act, in any given
situation.
❑ It provides support to the individual, who is being pressurized or
tortured by a superior or employer, to behave unethically.
❑ Apart from professional societies, companies and universities
have framed their own codes of ethics, based on the individual
circumstances and specific mission of the organizations. These
codes of conduct help in employees’ awareness of ethical issues,
establish, and nurture a strong corporate ethical culture.
Sample code of conduct
■ National Society of Professional Engineers(NSPE).
■ Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers(IEEE).
Four Sections of the
Code of Ethics for Engineers

■ Preamble – Answers the question “Why have a

Code of Ethics?”

■ Fundamental Canons – Describes the “bedrock”

principles or fundamental obligations of
Professional Engineers
How the Code of Ethics for Engineers is
structured

■ Rules of Practice – Describes the fundamental rules that

govern the professional practice of engineering

■ Professional Obligations – Describes the standards of

professional conduct for Professional Engineers
I. Fundamental Canons
Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional
duties, shall:

1. Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the

public.
2. Perform services only in areas of their competence.
3. Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful
manner.
4. Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees.
5. Avoid deceptive acts.
6. Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and
lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and
usefulness of the profession.
Rules of Practice

II. Engineers shall hold paramount the safety,

health and welfare of the public.

▪ Engineering judgment overruled under circumstances

that endanger life or property must be reported to their
employer, client and other authority as appropriate.
▪ Only approve work that is in conformance with
applicable standards.
▪ Engineers shall not reveal confidential information
except as required by law or Code.
▪ Engineers shall not associate in fraudulent or
dishonest enterprise.
▪ Engineers shall not aid unlawful practice of
engineering
▪ Engineers shall report violations of the Code.
Rules of Practice

II. Engineers shall perform services only in the

area of their competence.
▪ Only accept assignments you are qualified for.
▪ Don’t stamp documents that you are not qualified to
stamp.
▪ Don’t stamp documents not prepared under your
direction and control.
▪ Engineers can assume responsibility for coordination
of an entire project and sign and seal the documents,
provided that each technical segment is signed and
sealed only by the qualified engineers who prepared
the segment.
II. Rules of Practice

II. Engineers shall issue public statements only in an

objective and truthful manner.

▪ Be objective and truthful (factual) in reports,

statements and testimony. Include all relevant
information.
▪ Engineers may express technical opinions that are
founded on knowledge of the facts.
▪ Engineers shall make no statements, criticisms or
arguments on technical matters that are inspired or
paid for by interested parties, without first divulging the
interest.
 Rules of Practice
II. Engineers shall act for each employer or client as
faithful agents or trustees.
▪ Engineers shall disclose all known or potential conflicts of
interest.
▪ Engineers shall not accept compensation from more than
one party for services on the same project.
▪ Engineers shall not solicit or accept consideration from
outside agents in connection with the work for which they
are responsible.
▪ Engineers in public service shall not participate in
decisions with respect to services solicited or provided by
them in their public or private practice.
▪ Engineers shall not accept a contract from a
governmental body on which a principle or officer of their
organization serves as a member.
Rules of Practice

II Engineers shall avoid deceptive acts.

▪ Engineers shall not falsify their qualifications or permit
misrepresentation of their or their associates’
qualifications.
▪ Engineers shall not offer, give, solicit or receive any
contribution to influence the award of a contract by
public authority.
▪ Engineers shall not offer gifts to secure work.
▪ Engineers shall not pay a commission or brokerage fee
to secure work, except to a bona fide employee or
established commercial or marketing agencies retained
by them.
Professional Obligations
III. Engineers shall be guided in all relations by the
highest standards of honesty and integrity.

▪ Engineers shall acknowledge their errors and not distort

facts.
▪ Engineers shall advise their employer and client if they
feel a project will not be successful.
▪ Engineers shall not accept outside employment that is
detrimental to their regular work or interest.
▪ Engineers shall not attempt to attract engineers from
other employers by false or misleading premises.
▪ Engineers shall not promote their interests at the expense
of the dignity and integrity of the profession.
 Professional Obligations
III. Engineers shall at all times strive to serve the
public interest.
▪ Engineers are encouraged to participate in civic affairs
and work for the advancement of the safety, health and
well-being of their community.
▪ Engineers shall not complete, sign or seal plans and/or
specifications that are not in conformity with applicable
engineering standards.
▪ Engineers are encouraged to extend public knowledge
and promote engineering and its achievements.
▪ Engineers are encouraged to adhere to the principles of
sustainable development(1) in order to protect the
environment for future generations.
 Professional Obligations
III. Engineers shall avoid all conduct or practice
that deceives the public.

▪ Engineers shall avoid the use of statements containing a

material misrepresentation of fact or omitting a material
fact.
▪ Consistent with the foregoing, engineers may advertise
for recruitment of personnel.
▪ Consistent with the foregoing, engineers may prepare
articles for the lay or technical press, but such articles
shall not imply credit to the author for work performed by
others.
 Professional Obligations
III. Engineers shall not disclose, without consent,
confidential information concerning the business affairs
or technical processes of any present or former client or
employer, or public body on which they serve.
▪ Engineers shall not, without the consent of all interested parties,
promote or arrange for new employment or practice in connection
with a specific project for which the engineer has gained a particular
specialized knowledge.
▪ Engineers shall not, without the consent of all interested parties,
participate or represent an adversary interest in connection with a
specific project or proceeding in which the engineer has gained
particular specialized knowledge on behalf of a former client or
employer.
Professional Obligations
III. Engineers shall not be influenced in their
professional duties by conflicting interests.
▪ Engineers shall not accept financial or other
considerations, including free engineering designs, from
material or equipment suppliers for specifying their
product.
▪ 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 the work for which the engineer is
responsible.
Professional Obligations
III. Engineers shall not attempt to obtain employment
or advancement or professional engagement by
untruthfully criticizing other engineers, or by other
improper or questionable methods.
▪ Engineers shall not request, propose or accept a commission
on contingent basis under circumstances in which their
judgment may be compromised.
▪ Engineers in salaried positions shall accept part-time
engineering work only to the extent consistent with the policies
of the employer and in accordance with ethical considerations.
▪ Engineers shall not, without consent, use equipment, supplies,
laboratory or office facilities of an employer to carry on outside
private practice.
 Professional Obligations

III. Engineers shall not attempt to injure, maliciously or

falsely, directly or indirectly, the professional
reputation, prospects, practice or employment of
other engineers. Engineers who believe others are
guilty of unethical or illegal practice shall present
such information to the proper authority for action.
▪ Engineers in private practice shall not review the work of
another engineer for the same client, except with the knowledge
of such engineer, or unless the connection of such engineer
with the work has been terminated.
▪ Engineers in government, industrial, or educational employ are
entitled to review and evaluate the work or other engineers
when so required by their employment duties.
Professional Obligations
III. Engineers shall not…to the proper authority for
action. (continued from previous page)
▪ Engineers in sales or industrial employ are entitled to
make engineering comparisons of represented products
with products of other suppliers.
Professional Obligations
III. Engineers shall accept personal responsibility
for their professional activities, provided
however that engineers may seek
indemnification for services arising out of their
practice for other than gross negligence, where
the engineer’s interests cannot otherwise be
protected.
▪ Engineers shall conform with state registration laws in the
practice of engineering.
▪ Engineers shall not use association with a non-engineer,
a corporation or partnership as a “cloak” for unethical
acts.
 Professional Obligations
III. Engineers shall give credit for engineering work
to those to whom credit is due and will
recognize the propriety interests of others.
▪ Engineers shall name the person or persons who may be
individually responsible for designs, inventions, writings,
or other accomplishments.
▪ Engineers using designs supplied by a client recognize
that the designs remain the property of the client and may
not be duplicated by engineer for others without express
permission.
▪ Engineers, before undertaking work…that may justify
copyrights or patents, should enter into a positive
agreement concerning ownership.
 Professional Obligations
III. Engineers shall give…propriety interests of others.
(continued from previous page)
▪ Engineer’s designs, data records, and notes referring
exclusively to an employer’s work are the employer’s
property. The employer should indemnify the engineer for
use of the information for any purpose other than the original
purpose.
▪ Engineers shall continue their professional development
throughout their careers and should keep current in their
specialty fields by engaging in professional practice,
participating in continuing education courses, reading in the
technical literature and attending professional meetings and
seminars.
 IEEE Code of Ethics
We, the members of the IEEE, in recognition of the importance of our
technologies in affecting the quality of life throughout the world, and in
accepting a personal obligation to our profession, its members and the
communities we serve, do hereby commit ourselves to the highest ethical
and professional conduct and agree:

1. to accept responsibility in making decisions consistent with the safety,

health and welfare of the public, and to disclose promptly factors that might
endanger the public or the environment;

2. to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible, and to

disclose them to affected parties when they do exist;

3. to be honest and realistic in stating claims or estimates based on available

data;

4. to reject bribery in all its forms;

5. to improve the understanding of technology, its appropriate application, and

potential consequences;
IEEE Code of Ethics
6. to maintain and improve our technical competence and to undertake
technological tasks for others only if qualified by training or
experience, or after full disclosure of pertinent limitations;

7. to seek, accept, and offer honest criticism of technical work, to

acknowledge and correct errors, and to credit properly the
contributions of others;

8. to treat fairly all persons regardless of such factors as race, religion,

gender, disability, age, or national origin;

9. to avoid injuring others, their property, reputation, or employment by

false or malicious action;

10. to assist colleagues and co-workers in their professional

development and to support them in following this code of ethics.