Common to all Branches 07G004 Professional ethics and Human Values Prepared by R.SENTHIL KUMAR Associate Professor/EEE Responsibilities of Engineers Internal Responsibilities . Collegiality . Loyalty . Respect for Authority . Collective Bargaining External Responsibilities . Confidentiality . Conflicts of interest . Occupational Crimes Internal Responsibilities Collegiality Collegiality is the tendency to support and cooperate with the colleagues Team work Collegiality Engineers should not try to harm the feelings and respect of their colleagues No criticism of work Aspects of Collegiality Respect Admiration of colleague and their potential Respect for the work Commitment Commitment towards the relationship Sharing of loyalty Connectedness Co operation and bond in a team work Mutual Understanding LOYALTY Being loyal in the profession There are two aspects Agency Loyalty Fulfill a persons contractual duties to an employer Identification Loyalty Attitudes, emotions and personal identity exhibition Obligations of Loyalty Agency Loyalty is an obligation within a limit of official commitment Identification Loyalty is obligatory with following conditions Employees are sure that their goals are achieved with the help of group in which they work Employees to be treated in a fair manner Professionalism and Loyalty Performing duties on professional commitment and not on orders of the company Loyalty to companies should be truthful Professionals and employers should have a moral understanding Respect for Authority Respect to legitimate authority of their employers to fulfill the organizational aims Authority paves way to understand the personal responsibility and accountability Respect to Authority Institutional Authority Authority within organization To handle employees and subordinates (Institutional Right to exercise power) Given to qualified and experienced professionals Good decision makers, reasonable thinkers Respect to Authority Expert Authority For resolving problems in institutional authority (Incompetence) Possession of special knowledge in system Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers are expert authorities in solving some problems that could not be solved by managers just.
Unionism Unionism is for the welfare of the employees Professionalism is for the welfare of the organization and economy Unionism and Professionalism Unionism and Respect to authority Unionism and Loyalty ULTIMATE CONTRADICTION !!! Collective Bargaining Unions are bargaining agents for improvement of economic status of employees Loyalty decreases as unionism increases Communist thoughts and employee satisfaction Arguments in favor of unionism Obtaining healthy salaries & promotions Job security and protection Resist the unethical impositions by org. Grievance resolving medium Struggles against the exploitation of employees Creates a confidence Arguments against unionism Cause for inflationary condition Cause for Destruction to economy Always oppose the decision than co- operating Removes individual negotiations between employee and org. Encourages disqualified workers Escapes employees from penalization for their mistakes Influences Promotions and rewards Develops an enmity between the org. and employees Less transparency between employee and management Arguments against unionism External Responsibilities - 1 Confidentiality Keep certain information secret in an organization Should be a habit of a professional All professions have got confidential matters Confidentiality in professionals becomes essential Keep up the proprietary information Confidential Information Related Terms Privileged Information (Details known to PA to MD due to privilege of being PA) Proprietary Information (Information owned by a company) Trade Secret Information (Designs, quoted cost for tender, etc) Patents (legally protected works)
Types Obvious Information Test results, Data, tender quotation, design values of unreleased product etc Information of lesser confidentiality Vague information like strategy followed, no of employees, methods adopted, systems followed etc Confidentiality Limits There are two levels 1. First level Respect for autonomy Respect for Promises Respect for Public well being 2. Second level Right based theory Duty based theory Utilitarian Confidentiality Limits Respect for autonomy State of self realization to keep up the secrets Respect for Promises Commitment to the promises to the company for keeping up secrets Respect for Public well being Secrets reveled causing danger to any individual or group should not be done Ethical theories and secrets Right based theory (Violation of Rights in violating confidentiality Issues) Duty based theory (Violation from Duty to violate confidentiality Issues) Utilitarian Rule (Very clear that GO BY RULES) Act (Act according to situations) How management maintains confidentiality? Employment contracts and restrictions A threaten to employees Tight control of flow of secret information Creating a professional responsibility amongst employees by motivation and good culture of work External Responsibilities -2 Conflicts of Interest It is the conflict that a professional has when his interest is disrespected If an engineer is more interested in going for a bidder who is good in quality But management wants a low bidder who is poor in quality Conflict of interest of an engineer arises. Types of Conflicts Actual Conflicts of Interest Loss of professional duties due to conflict Potential Conflicts of Interest A good relationship maintained with a client being misunderstood by management Apparent Conflict of Interest Misunderstanding a professional that he tries to improve his margin in getting the business Avoiding conflict of interest Follow company policy Opinions from boss and subordinates Examining ones motives Follow code of ethics properly External Responsibilities -3 Occupational Crime Illegal acts that are made possible through a persons lawful employment Carried out by office workers and professional are called as White collars Crime Industrial Espionage (spying), Price Fixing and Endangering lives Industrial Espionage Getting confidential details of a company in illegal way Gopal, a spy for 10 year was caught in California..ICs and Computer companies suffered a lot of spying and espionage Reason may be due to tough competition in the production business Price Fixing Fixing the contract bidding price and other quotations without knowledge of the proprietors Westing house and General Electrics Case. Rotating plan: Phase of Moon basis Endangering Lives Exposing employees to safety hazards Asbestos industry caused a lung disease named asbestosis and a cancer named mesothelioma 25 million people affectedcase went on in court compensation.. Occupational crimes of macro and micro structure Rights Engineers have lot of rights in addition to their responsibilities Three types Human Rights (personal) Employee Rights Professional Rights(PR) Express views, judgment, refuse unethical, warn public, remuneration and recognition, talk publicly about jobs, society engagement Employee Rights Employ rights are the rights that apply or refer to the status or position of employee Any right moral, legal, that refers for well being of employee Contractual Employee Rights Documented and Informed to an employee when he joins an org. Eg. Right to receive salary, right to receive other benefits, etc. Employee Right Non contractual Employee Right Not formally recognized in specific contracts or recognition Rights to choose outside activities (Taking tuitions in evening), right to prevent sexual harassment Eg. Right to choose outside activities, privacy, nondiscrimination etc. Choice of Outside activities Basic human rights for any one to engage in outside activities No interference should be there from the management Violations in rights like scolding for doing a business outside, taking tuition classes being a school teacher Choice of outside activities Outside activities are the rights of employees till they stick to the following The activity should not affect the business, fame and respect of the organization Ex. Doing a moonlighting is not permittedcannot be justified as right Professional Rights Its one of the most fundamental rights Professional rights are the rights possessed by virtue of being professionals having special moral responsibilities Eg. Express views, judgment, refuse unethical, warn public, remuneration and recognition, talk publicly about jobs, society engagement Aspects of PR Two aspects 1. Rights of professional conscience 2. Specific rights 1. Rights of professional conscience It refers to moral right to exercise responsible professional judgment in discharging once professional duties Its the right to do what everyone agrees, its obligatory for professional engineer to do Aspects of PR 2. Specific rights Two kinds Right of conscientious refusal and Right to recognition Right of conscientious refusal It is the right to refuse to engage in unethical behavior Which means no employer can force an employee to do unethical practice This is possible in two situations 1. Where there is a widely shared agreement in the profession reg. ethical and unethical acts 2. Where there is a possibility for disagreement among people over unethical acts Right to recognition It refers the engineers right to professional recognition for their work It may be of two types 1. Extrinsic rewards: related to monetary benefits, like, salary increment, incentives, cash bonus 2. Intrinsic rewards: non monetary rewards, like, appreciation letters etc., Principles of Professional Rights Justification by Right Ethics Everyone have got their own rights.... similarly professionals. should not be disturbed from their rights Justification by Duty Ethics It is the duty of the public to allow engineers to take better decision (to use their rights Principles of Professional Rights Justification by Utilitarianism Greatest good is promoted by permitting Engineers to do good things Their rights should be protected Rule utilitarianism try to set up best policy or rule for employee rights Privacy Employers should not look in to personal and private life of employees But contradictory justification is that Personal life only influence in professional behavior. Cashier, Sales Department, (Trust worthiness) Personal Counseling for enhancement of professional performance Rights due to process Rights to take actions on indisciplinary grounds Contradiction: Misuse of the rights Proper documents for the use of rights of process Produce explanations for actions taken What is Intellectual Property? It is the information and original expression that derives original values from creative ideas with commercial values Provides an ownership and independence for property IPs Patents Plant varieties Undisclosed Information Design of ICs Industrial design Trademarks Copyrights Geographical Indications Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) To keep the intellectual proprietary High impact on socio economic and technological improvement of a nation Trade Related Intellectual Property Right System (TRIPS) takes care of the IPR systems WTO supposed to implement standards Intellectual Property Rights Technology Obsolescence and fierce competitions to protect the innovations with patents, trademarks, service marks, design registration etc IPR plays a vital part in advancing technological ambience IPR Agreements Agreement established by WTO and TRIPS accepted by India during 1995 This gives certain minimum standards for protecting an innovation Enforcement as law in many countries will protect IPR much Elements of IPR Patents for Inventions Copyrights for materials Trademarks for broad identity Trade Secrets IP could be bought, sold, licensed or exchanged Patents Innovations New or improved product of processes which are meant for industrial applications Contract between Inventor and Individual Inventor has rights to prevent anybody using or selling invention Patents Patent period 20 years.after that people can freely use the product Enforceable by civil laws and criminal proceedings Non obviousness Patent Requirements Problem of invention Current report of problem to address Solution or procedure to problem Extent of novelty or inventive Application or uses Details of the inventor Resources of funds Types of Patents Utility Patents Inventions or discoveries to utilize new and useful 20 years (Chemical composition) Design Patents Design of new things, article, ornaments etc 14 years Plant Patents Asexually reproduces a new variety of plant - 20 years Copy Rights Specific and exclusive right even for reproduction of an original work Material, Literature, aesthetic material, music, film, sound recording, broadcasting, software, multimedia Licensing from the owner Disclaimer statements Legal proceedings Trade Marks Identity for a specific product Territorial right which needs registration Source of any sign or combination of signs of goods Service marks to individualize product In form of logos, symbols and wordings TRIPS agreement provides protection similar to copyright Trademarks Registration must be renewed for encouraging competition, protecting inventors good will etc., Trademarks are of National Level Distinctive marks (distinguish products) Trademarks are very generic and not clear about the process Need for protecting IPR Prevent plagiarism Prevent others using it for financial gains Support income generation strategy Importance of IPR Granted to the investors for their freedom for further creation Give the inventors the right of use Permit entry to a technical market Steady Income by licensing Discrimination Unfair difference in treatment of people Giving preference on sex, race, religion, status etc. Teasing and ill-treating people based on their religion, race, sex etc. Called as Reverse Preferential Treatment Discrimination Examples Selecting candidates based on communal preferences Securing mistakes of people based on communal preferences Appointing women in front office sales operations Voluntary Retirement Schemes Preferential Treatments Weak Preferential treatment Selecting a candidate who belong to the community of the organizational majorities Strong Preferential treatment Selecting women / minority candidate based on reservations by law or by conventions Strong Preferential Treatment to be supported !! As per Right ethics every one has right to get an opportunity. Minority and backward class reservations are compensatory benefits for the discriminations in the past As per Utilitarian principle, social improvement is main factor Reservations are essential. As per right ethics, an individual who comes without any reservation is violated from his rights to get a job Equal opportunities are not given Strong Preferential Treatment to be supported !! Sexual Harassment Continuous annoying and attacks on women on the basis of sexual considerations Harassment by Female superiors to male employees also come under this discussion Moral and ethical violations as well, CULTURAL DEVASTATION Sexual Harassment Any sex oriented practices that endangers a womans job that undermines her job performance and threatens her economic livelihood Unwanted imposition of sexual requirements in the context of relationship of unequal power A Woman may be a boss, employee, engineer, manager.. Different Forms of Harassment Interviewer / Recruiter seeking for a sexual favor, for offering a job Boss seeking a sexual favor for offering a promotion Tortures like scolding, firing a woman not for accepting the sex request Comments, Tease, sex jokes, Request for dates etc., Forms of Harassment Violation of basic rights as happened in a school of New Delhi (Camera capture) For the sake of promotions, survival in the job etc, women are exploited All the four theories, stand in one line, with no controversies to disagree with Sex Harassment
END OF UNIT IV Difference Between His & Her Thoughts HER DIARY --------- Friday night, I thought he was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a cafe to have some coffee. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment. Conversation wasn't flowing so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk, he agreed but he kept quiet and absent. Difference Between His & Her Thoughts- Continues.. I asked him what was wrong - he said, "Nothing." I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said it had nothing to do with me and not to worry. On the way home I told him that I loved him, he simply smiled and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior, I don't know why he didn't say, "I love you, too. When we got home I felt as if I had lost him, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there and watched TV, he seemed distant and absent. Finally I decided to go to bed. Difference Between His & Her Thoughts- Continues.. About 10 minutes later he came to bed. I decided that I could not take it anymore, so I decided to confront him with the situation but he had fallen asleep. I started crying and cried until I too fell asleep. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster. HIS DIARY --------- . . . . . . Today India again lost the cricket match. DAMN IT