Engineering

Ethics
Important definitions, terms, and sample true or false statements .
Definitions
Silo Mentality
An attitude found in some organizations that occurs when several departments or groups do not want to share
information or knowledge with other individuals in the same company.

Incompetence
Inability to do something successfully.

Creed
A set of beliefs or aims which guide someone's actions.

Interdisciplinary
Relating to more than one branch of knowledge.

Solicit
Ask for or try to obtain (something) from someone.

Contemporary
Belonging to or occurring in the present.

Myriad
Countless or extremely great in number.

Macro
Large scale.

Micro
Small scale.

Coherent
Logical and consistent.

Fidelity
Faithfulness to a person, cause, or belief, demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support.
Stewardship
The management or care of something, particularly the kind that works.
Terms
Moral Clarity
Identify the relevant moral values.

Conceptual Clarity
Clarify key concepts.

Ethical Dilemmas
Situations in which moral reasons come into conflict, or in which the application of moral values is problematic,
and it is not immediately obvious what should be done.

Stakeholder Theory
Corporations have responsibilities to all groups that have a vital stake in the corporation, including employees,
customers, dealers, suppliers, local communities, and the general public.

Ethical Relativism
The view that actions are morally right within a particular society when, and only, because they are approved by
law, custom, or other conventions of that society.

Preventive Ethics
Ethical reflection and action aimed at preventing moral harm and avoidable ethical dilemmas.
True or False Statements
Key:
GREEN -> Important
RED -> Not sure

1) As an area of inquiry, engineering ethics consists of the

responsibilities and rights that ought to be endorsed by those F
engaged in engineering.
2) Engineering ethics consists of the desirable ideals and personal
commitments in engineering. T
3) Ethics involves duties and dilemmas beside problems and
punishment. T
4) Engineering is about products only.
F
5) Compliance issues are about making sure that individuals comply
with professional standards and avoid wrongdoing. T
6) The pressures that sometimes lead engineers to cooperate in
wrongdoing, rather than reporting wrongdoing to proper F
authorities shouldn’t be examined.
7) Reasonable laws are more essential than and government
regulation, including penalties for reckless and negligent conduct. F
8) Preventive ethics concern about preventing wrongdoing in the last
place and aim at preventing moral harm and unnecessary ethical T
problems.
9) Reinforcing the connection between ethics and excellence,
individuals and corporations should primarily be “compliance- F
based,” rather than simply preoccupied with “value-driven”
procedures.
10) Moral dilemmas are situations that immediately obvious what
should be done. F
11) Moral values can come into conflict and requiring good judgment
about how to reconcile and integrate them. T
12) Micro issues concern the decisions made by individuals and
companies while Macro issues concern the decisions made by T
groups such as engineering professional societies and consumer
groups.
13) Micro issues are more important than macro issues in engineering
ethics. F
14) Morality involves being fair and just, meeting obligations and
respecting rights. T
15) The study of engineering ethics strengthens one’s ability to reason
clearly and carefully about moral questions. T
16) Obligations are types of actions that are morally mandatory.
T
17) Being responsible doesn’t means being accountable.
F
18) Moral responsibility overlaps with legal responsibility.
T
19) Legal responsibility includes legal obligations and accountability for
meeting them. T
20) Professions are those forms of work involving advanced expertise,
self-regulation, and concerted service to the public good. T
21) Professions require only sophisticated skills (“knowing-how”) in
exercising judgment that is not entirely routine or susceptible to F
mechanization.
22) Professions are those forms of work which usually formulated in a
code of ethics. T
23) Ethics and excellence in engineering go together.
T
24) Promoting responsible conduct is equally important with punishing
wrongdoing. F
25) Because moral values are myriad and can conflict, ethical dilemmas
arise in engineering. T
26) Micro and macro engineering ethics issues are often connected.
T
27) Moral dilemmas are situations in which the applications of moral
values are unclear, and it is obvious what should be done. F
28) Reasonable solutions to ethical dilemmas are clear, informed, and
well-reasoned. T
29) Reasonable solutions to ethical dilemmas are informed which moral
values are at stake and how they pertain to the situation. F
30) Clarity in reasonable solutions to ethical dilemmas means that good
judgment is exercised in integrating the relevant moral values and F
facts to arrive at a morally desirable solution.
31) Ethical responsibility in ethical dilemmas is to be honest, to the
employer, to the public, and also to protect the environment. T
32) Obtain relevant information and consider all options are necessary
through solving ethical dilemmas. T
33) Often a code of ethics always provides a straightforward solution to
dilemmas. F
34) The development of good moral judgment is a primary goal in
studying ethics. T
35) Some dilemmas have two or more solutions and no one of which is
mandatory. T
36) Engineering design often involves uncertainties and ambiguities
about the specific problems that will arise as solutions are T
developed.
37) Codes of ethics state the moral responsibilities of profession as seen
by the engineers. F
38) Codes are substitute for individual responsibility in grappling with
concrete dilemmas. F
39) Codes are restricted to general wording, and hence inevitably
contain substantial areas of vagueness. T
40) Reasonable solutions to ethical dilemmas are informed about both
facts and options. T
41) Moral choice doesn’t involve alternative permissible solutions to
dilemmas with dynamic processes involving series of problems. F
42) Serving and protecting the public, providing guidance, offering
inspiration, establishing shared standards, contributing to F
education, deterring wrongdoing, and strengthening a profession’s
image are the limitations of codes of ethics.
43) Ethical subjectivism is the view that actions are morally right within
a particular society when, and only because, they are approved by F
law, custom, or other conventions of that society.
44) The view that moral judgments merely express feelings and
attitudes, not beliefs that can be justified or unjustified by appeal to T
moral reasons called ethical subjectivism.
45) Engineers share responsibility for creating benefits, preventing
harm, and pointing out dangers. T
46) Supporting engineering organizations are part of micro-ethics.
F
47) Professional competence means: Being willing to submit one’s
actions to moral inspection and be open and responsive to the F
assessments of others.
48) It is much easier to held an engineer responsible for a design
problem if he is working in a company more than if he is working as F
an individual engineer.
49) The limited number of lifeboats in Titanic was not ethical
engineering practice but it was legal engineering practice. T
50) Industrial standards can benefit manufacturers only.
F
51) Industrial standards tend to increase production cost.
F
52) Engineering ethics is affected by the culture of the society as well as
the religious commitment of its members. T
53) In engineering education, there is no standard for the quality of
graduate. F
54) By definition, engineering ethics focus only on the engineer’s
responsibilities. F
55) Engineering ethics is taught in many engineering faculties in Egypt.
T
56) The silo mentality is an engineering company ensures that every
engineer benefits from the experience of other engineer. F
57) Individual engineer is much easier to behave ethically than another
engineer who is working in a company. T
58) Responsible behavior is more important for a physician rather than
an engineer. F
59) According to the accreditation board of engineering and
technology, engineering ethics is not one of the requirements of F
accrediting engineering programs.
60) Applying cost benefit analysis in environmental impact assessment
ensures that all necessary actions are talking care regardless of their F
costs.
61) Ethically, engineers should perform jobs outside their area of
competence to serve the clients better. F
62) Engineers can participate in some issues involving conflict of the
interest. F
63) To solve dilemma, it is enough for an engineer to have a little info
about the situation. F
64) In a cost benefit analysis we tend to maximize the safety and health
of the public. F
65) The code of ethics is very solid criteria which has no limitations.

66) Case studies are one way of teaching engineering ethics.

T
67) Legal rights are large in number than human rights.
F
68) Stewardship ensures that engineers would develop a product that is
in harmony with the environment. T
69) If students from two different engineering programs participate in
one graduation project, this will enhance their environmental T
awareness.
70) Any engineering project should not be changed with time.
F
71) An engineering student who attends professional seminars most
probably will have the importance of continuing education after T
graduation.
72) Engineering ethics are usually not affected by the society culture
and the religious commitment of its member. F
73) Engineering code of ethics should not be changed with time.
F
74) The role of engineers towards the engineering syndicate is paying
their fees. F
75) An engineer should inform the local community of a certain project
about the expected side effects. T
76) Final task in making a product is recycling.
T
77) Managers pressure their employees to assess the impact of a certain
project before moving to new one. F
78) There is at least one student chapter of an international
professional society in the faculty of engineering in Alexandria. T
79) If an engineering student cheats in his exams, most probably he will
cheat while performing his engineering duties. T
80) We should be proud of the Egyptian engineers’ achievements over
history. T
81) Engineers should not be concerned with how the product of their
inventions will be used. F
82) Moral theories contradict.
T