CprE 394

Ethics Essay
Bijan Choobineh

Ethics in general is important not only in engineering but in all professions. For Engineers, the
Code of Ethics is one of the most important code that we need to follow through our lives and jobs. The
main purpose of the code of ethics is to give a set of ethical rules for engineers to follow. These are
important in maintaining the integrity of our work through honesty and integrity through our practices.
Dealing with ethical situations however is not always easy. When faced with an ethical situation
personally, there are several factors that go into my decision making. When facing such a situation, I
try to follow the code of ethics and maintain integrity through all of my actions. If It is concerning
around something that I feel uncomfortable with or feel is unethical, I either report it accordingly or try
to stray away from the situation, depending on the situation itself. For example, if a specific job is
asking you to do something unethical, I would try to move to another job in that company.
In our small group meetings with Dr. Geiger, we discussed the case study of a company asking
you to do something which you were uncomfortable with or felt was unethical. We also discussed a
situation where your boss may be doing something unethical. During this discussion, some of the
points that some group members brought up were ones that I had not considered. Topics which were
brought up included the fact that speaking out may potentially lead to you being fired from the job. I
also noted that a different consideration was to ignore it and move away from the situation as well.
Upon talking amongst ourselves and Dr. Geiger, it was noted that the situation was difficult to deal with
and the best situation was try to get as far away as possible to the problem.
In reference to the case study mentioned above, the three virtues of ethics I would choose would
be Self-Discipline, Responsibility, and Integrity. Self-Discipline applies because without so, I would be
tempted to speak out immediately without thinking of the ramifications. Responsibility applies almost
the same. I would be responsible to my own career as well as my own value of ethics and not wanting
to do something unethical. Finally, and most importantly, I would choose Integrity. Integrity is my
moral principles telling me that I do not want to do something unethical and leaving the situation. This
is not to say however that the other virtues are unimportant. The other virtues are most definitely
important however they are less applicable to the situation. Any other virtue I may add would be
Rational Thought. A rash thought in the situation would be to complain or be upset, but by using
rational thought, one would be able to make a more well informed decision.