Question 1:

The director of a research in a large aerospace firm recently promoted a woman to head
an engineering team charged with designing a critical component for a new plane. She
was tapped for the job because of her superior knowledge of the engineering aspects of
the project, but the man under her direction have been expressing resentment at working
for a woman by subtly sabotaging the work of the team. The director believes that it is
unfair to deprive the woman of advancement merely because of the prejudice of her male
colleagues, but quick completion of the designs and the building of a prototype are vital
to the success of the company. Should he remove the woman as head of the engineering
team?
Answer 1:
The code of ethics of the National Society for Professional Engineers (NSPE) states that:
Engineering is an important and learned profession. As members of this profession,
engineers are expected to exhibit the highest standards of honesty and integrity.
Engineering has a direct and vital impact on the quality of life for all people.
Accordingly, the services provided by engineers require honesty, impartiality, fairness,
and equity, and must be dedicated to the protection of the public health, safety, and
welfare. Engineers must perform under a standard of professional behavior that requires
adherence to the highest principles of ethical conduct.
As mentioned in the codes of ethics of the NSPE, the services provided by engineers
require honesty, impartiality, fairness, and equity. So, having a woman as head of the
engineering team is not considered as something wrong at all, since an engineer should
be honest and treat others equally through the services. Thus, the director should not
remove this woman from her position or it may be considered as the violation of the
codes of ethics. Also, this position requires superior knowledge of engineering aspects to
complete the design and build the prototype which is vital to the success of the company
that is found within this person.
In this case the director should choose the correct person regardless of the sex, color, age,
etc according to this case, I think this woman is the suitable person in this place, and
has the knowledge to complete these designs and to build a prototype.

Question 2:
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An engineer leaves a company and goes to work for a competitor.

a. Is it ethical for the engineer to try to attract customers away from the previous
employer?
b. Is it justified for the engineer to use proprietary knowledge gained while working for
the previous employer at the new job?
c. At the new job, is it acceptable for the engineer to use skills developed during previous
employment?
Answer 2:
a. In my personal view, it is unethical for the engineer to try to attract the customers
away from the previous employer (his new competitor). This action done by the
engineer is considered to be an impediment to responsible action, which is selfinterest. Sometimes concern for the engineers own interests tempts him to act
contrary to the interest of the others, and block the vision to a fully understanding the
professional responsibilities. In order to make this action professional, the engineer
may give better offers to the costumers of the competitor with better characteristics.
These offers should not cause any harm to the competitor or the costumers themselves
on the professional level.
b. The engineer in my opinion is not justified to use proprietary knowledge gained while
working for the previous employer at the new job. If the engineer wants to use this
gained proprietary knowledge in his new job, he should take the permission from the
former job. So, it would be unethical to use this knowledge without any permission,
since this knowledge may have taken long time of hard work and research to obtain it.
c. It would be acceptable for the engineer to use skills developed during previous
employment in his new job. These skills are learnt during the years of work and
experience. So, using these skills is normal and in some cases important in order to
give a clear image about the engineers abilities and performances, especially when
there is any promotions in the job.

Question 3:
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In your opinion, how do decisions differ in the personal level and that of professional
level? Identify their similarities and differences. Should we give proper weight to both
together or to rely on one rather than the other?
Answer 3:
In my opinion, decisions differ in the personal and professional levels. From ethical point
of view, personal ethics depend largely on the persons background and life relationships
and concern, while professional ethics may have same principles of personal ethics such
as honesty and fairness, but also extend to principles like company loyalty and are more
specific.
Professional ethics became the basis for small and large decisions within the workplace,
since ethics assist in making judgments and decisions through the concept of right and
wrong. On the personal level, also the decisions are affected by personal morals in the
real life such as avoiding harm to others and avoiding telling lies.
According to the situation that the decision is made, personal and professional levels play
important roles with different weights. It is not acceptable to always rely on professional
level or on personal level only, but a combination of both is required. Sometimes personal
and professional levels may differ dramatically and influence each other leading to a
clash between both of them.
For example, if the engineer was asked in his company to design an abortion machine, he
will face a clash between personal and professional levels regarding the decision about
the designing of the machine. The engineer may consider that abortions are not allowed
in his society and it is against his personal morals, while on the professional level, it is
required from him to do that since it is his job to design machines even though it is
against his personal morals. This situation shows how much the engineer may depend on
his personal or professional ethics that could lead to his resignation if he refused to accept
that mission.

Question 4:
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Government laws and engineering societies codes of ethics attempt to provide a legal and
professional framework for engineers. Is there a relationship between the two? Identify
some of their similarities and differences. Which one provides the society with more
benefits?
Answer 4:
Government laws and engineering societies codes of ethics have a relationship between
them. Governmental laws are found to protect all the citizens in the country and to punish
anyone who breaks the specific laws. On the other hand, the codes of ethics are
responsible for protecting the engineers from any harm they might face in their
professional career, and to also punish them in certain cases where professionalism is not
presented. Also, the codes of ethics of the engineering societies supply the needed
guidance for the engineers for further expansion in ethical issues and morals. So, both the
government laws and codes of ethics are found for the preservation of peoples rights and
for punishments in case of law breaking.
Codes of ethics of engineering societies and the governmental laws cannot be separated
each apart. Both of them match each other for the benefits of the society, and have several
connections between them for maximum supply of benefits.

Question 5:

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Compare the role of physicians and lawyers with the role of engineers. How do such roles
differ from one profession to another? Justify your answer.
Answer 5:
Engineering meets all of the definitions of a profession. In addition, engineering practice
has much in common with medicine and law. Also, although they are professionals,
engineers do not yet hold the same status within society that physicians and lawyers do.
There are significant differences between how engineering is practiced and how law and
medicine are practiced. Lawyers are typically self-employed in private practice,
essentially an independent business, or in larger group practices with other lawyers.
Relatively few are employed by large organizations such as corporations.
On the contrary, engineers generally practice their profession differently from physicians
and lawyers. Most engineers are not self-employed, but more often are a small part of
larger companies involving many different occupations and extensive numbers of less
skilled manufacturing employees.

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