Your task is to make the case that Jim Malone should not call in the archaeologists.

You will
then present this case to the rest of the class in an oral presentation lasting no longer than 10
minutes. You can design the presentation however you like as long as you stick to the
following guidelines.

The Reasons Jim Not Ought To Call In The Archaeologists.

JK Construction would suffer massive loss if the project is delayed. It is clearly and
strictly stated that JK Construction will have to incur the losses if they fails to complete the
excavation and building of the new carriageway between Norwich and Cambridge as
promised while winning the bidding for this tender. According to the NSPE Code of Ethics,
I, Fundamental Canons, Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall
(1) Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees. This means that as
employee, Jim Malone shall be responsible to perform his duty in the area of his competence.
He knew that as an employee in JK Construction, he know that he has to be faithful to his
employer especially when the decision will affect not only himself, but the company and the
interest of the public as well. If he calls in the archeologists, this means that he has not been
acting as a faithful agents or trustees, and he can be considered not being faithful to his
employer, JK Construction. According to NSPE Code of Ethics, Engineers shall act for
each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees (a) Engineers shall disclose all
known or potential conflicts of interest that could influence or appear to influence their
judgment or the quality of their services.
JK Construction must consider the welfare and interest of the public, especially when
the road which have been closed entirely for four months had caused much disruption to the
public who have been using the existing single-lane B11 as their main route for the past 15
years. According to the ASME code, The Fundamental Canons (9), Engineers shall
consider sustainable development in the performance of their professional duties. This
statement means that as an engineer, Jim Malone shall know how to put the interest of the
public as his priority. He may need to choose between the interest of the public or telling
about what they think is artifact to the archeologists. However, as an engineer, Jim Malone
shall consider the consequences of the decisions that he might bring upon himself, the
company as well as the public. The public especially will suffer the most as they have to
endure the disruption that they will face if the road is closed more than four months.

Apart from that, the reputation of the JK Construction is at stake as they have very limited
time to finish the excavation and building of a new dual carriageway as proposed when they
first won the tender if they tell the archeologists that they found something that may turns out
to be artifact. The archeologists may take the opportunity to carry out a detail and thorough
investigation which may take for weeks and perhaps months. This may be the worse case that
will occur if they let the cat out of the bag. Jim Malone also may feels that in this situation
may severely drag their schedule behind the proposed time of completion because he knew
what had happened to him previously when the archeologists falsely claimed that the site that
Jim Malone is digging was the site that stores the historical and intrinsic value of
archaeologies. What if the project is delayed just because the archeologists are eagerly looking
for the national values while the public’s interest is neglected and put behind after so many
disruptions that they need to face? For people who are engaging in business, time is invaluable
and money just cannot buy even a second if it is not valued. The Highway Agency have paid
the compensation for the related party who have experience losses due to the closing of the
road and JK Construction will have to bear the full responsible for any other cost incurred in
the future. This statement means that any delay in the excavation and building of the new dual
carriageway will cause them being heavily fined. Just think, what will happen if the project is
delayed and who will be blamed for this? The employer, JK Construction and also the owner,
Highway Agency will lose their faith and trust in Jim Malone as the person in charge in this
project because he is the one who oversees the project from the beginning to the very end. JK
Construction may even think of retrench him if the project is delayed because they will have
to suffer massive losses to the company. Highway Agency will never have the intention to
award any tender in the future to JK Construction for the bad performance if the project is
delayed.

Another reason that Jim Malone should not call in the archaeologists is because as the
foreman, he should have considered his career as his priority than the artifact. This statement
does not mean that he is neglecting the importance and the value of the historical and valuable
artifact, but being caught in this dilemma, he has to come out with a decision that will
probably affects many, not only himself, but the public as well. As a responsible employee of
JK Construction, Jim Malone is obliged to put his responsibility and to be committed to his
employer by fulfilling all his duty accordingly. According to NSPE Code of Ethics,
Engineers shall act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees. He needs to
know that he is obliged to his employer and he had a sense of being responsible towards his
employer, JK Construction at all time and in all place. In addition, according to the NSPE
Code of Ethics, I, Fundamental Canons, Engineers, in the fulfillment of their
professional duties, shall (6) Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and
lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and use fullness of the profession. As a
foreman, he knows that all he has to do now is to get his job done as assigned. In this moment,
all he has to do is to get the work done and to follow his scope of works. He knew that he has
to bear the responsibility to conduct his work responsibly. He needs to keep the honor that he
had by not making any decision that will ruined his career. His cope of works does not cover
or requires him to consider him to keep his conduct ethically by preserving the artifacts
because all he knows as an engineer is only the NSPE Code of Ethics. Jim Malone clearly
knows what consequences he might have to bear if the project is behind the schedule. He will
not only have to suffer the consequences himself, but the whole organization of JK
Construction will be ruined. The good name of the company is at the end of the rope. Being
known as the contractor company, they will find it hard to be trusted again as they are not
capable to carry out what they supposed to do in the very first thing when they won this
tender. There will be sense of losing their hope when the public and even other contractors in
the field knew that they failed to complete the project on time.
Jim Malone knows that in getting the award to do this work, they are clearly given the
scope of the works covered. This might helps him to think that all he needs to do is to follow
the guidelines given to him to get this work done. Is it ethical that the archeologists “used up”
the time of JK Construction where they are supposed to carry out their task as being
promised? We supposed and assume that they knew that there is huge project going on by JK
Construction especially when the road had to close for entirely four months for the excavation
and building of a new dual ca carriageway. Why can’t the archaeologists try to think in JK
Construction shoes? We are that they realized that if JK Construction fails to complete the
project within 4 months, they will surely suffer huge losses and also putting their reputation
and the good name of the company at stake. It is not wrong if JK Construction has the reason
not to give in to the archeologists as they are only given 4 months time to complete their work.
Can the archeologists be held responsible for the penalty that JK Construction might face for
the delay in the project?
There are doubts when two experts in archeology, Dr Prendergast and Dr Angela Haldane
who claimed that they have discovered some kind of primitive tool, the Neolithic axe-heads
and the permanent settlement, hence inform Jim Malone that they will have to perform a
through investigation on the tools. On the second finding of what Dr Angela Haldane claimed
as the permanent settlement which causes Jim Malone to stop his work at the related site for
about two months. According to the NSPE Code of Ethics, I, Fundamental Canons,
Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall (6) Perform services only
in areas of their competence. This statement means that as a former of JK Construction, he is
only obliged to carry out his duty in the area of his competence. It also means that he are not
obliged to have any responsibility on the artifact because it is not under the responsibility to
preserve the artifact. Rationally and logically, Jim Malone would have finish part of the
excavation and building of the new dual carriageway in that period of time. But, can you
imagine that two months has been wasted away when he was told by the archeologists that he
need to stop his work at the site. To make the matter worse, the permanent settlement claimed
by Dr Angela Haldane turned out to be in vain.

Conclusion

In this case study, we can conclude that the results Jim Malone as a foreman for the
company not to call archeologist when facing this dilemma is due to some things and among
them is because the professional responsibility to protect the interests of the company name
and company employees. The other factor that also can be considered is the community also
plays an important role in this decision which is known to delay project completion will give
negative impact to many parties. Besides that, according to engineering ethics code, the action
taken by Jim Malone did not violate the ethical conduct code as an engineer or foramen but if
we look at the views from the others perspective, may be the action that taken by Jim Malone
is an offense for damaging artifacts related to national treasure which is the evidence used to
know and recognize identity and heritage of a country or nation. Therefore, as an engineer we
should know how to choose and make decision when facing the dilemma between
professional responsibility and civic responsibility to our country and nation.