Section 2: Ethics Flashcards
what is the Golden Rule?
Treat others as you would like to be treated
What are the four classical ethical theories?
Mill’s Utilitarianism, Kant’s Formalism or Duty Ethics, Locke’s Rights Ethics, Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics
Code of Ethics commonalities include duties to what? (7 points)
- Society (protection of public) duty to the public is paramount to all others
- Employers (disclose conflicts of interest, confidential)
- Clients (as above)
- Colleagues (Golden Rule)
- Employees, Subordinates (integrity, honesty, fairness, objectivity)
- Profession (honor, dignity, reputation)
- Oneself (good pay, good work environment)
Results of the COE that govern the professionals’ behavior?
- Health, Safety, and Welfare of the public is paramount
- Competence & Knowledge (refuse unfamiliar work)
- Act with Integrity, Honesty, Fairness, & Objectivity
- Know and comply with Statuses, Regulations, and Bylaws
- Enhance Honesty, Dignity, and Reputation of the profession
Name two common ethical issues and dilemmas
4 options:
- over-ruling technical recommendations (formally make your recommendation known and stand back unless illegal or unethical)
- illegal activities (refuse the activity and provide an alternative solution)
- breaching COE (simple refusal and provide an alternative solution)
- conflict of interest (announce the interest of each party and any conflicts, if blatant step down)
Method for solving ethical dilemmas - EGAD
Ethical issues - identify the main ethical issues in the problem
Generate alternatives - find a nicer alternative solution than the one proposed in the problem thus far. A common technique is to lead you to believe there are only two solutions; don’t be tricked
Analysis - evaluate all solutions with respect to fairness, ethical theories, Code of Ethics
Decision - choose the least negative alternative
Obligation of the Engineer vs. Code of Ethics
Obligation is a voluntary commitment to high standards and the COE requires high standards by Act, by Law
Director’s conflict of interest
Each director is required to disclose their personal interest in any material contract or transaction to which the corporation is involved. If there is a personal interest, they must not vote
Director’s fiduciary duty
Obligation to behave honestly, in good faith, and in the best interest of the corporation
Mill’s Utilitarianism
- Correct choice is one that provides max benefit for max number of people, e.g. democracy
- Hard to distribute amongst all the people
Kant’s Formalism or Duty Ethics
- Correct choice is one in which each person follows an ethical route
- Highly process focused (good results will follow)
- But what if the result is harm but process is good?
- Does not allow for “white lies”
Locke’s Rights Ethics
- Correct choice is one that doesn’t infringe on anyone’s basic rights (life, human dignity and liberty)
- What if one person’s rights infringe on another’s
Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics
- happiness is achieved by developing virtues through deduction and reasoning
- Correct choice is a balance or “happy medium”
- Very vague and very difficult to apply
Moonlighting
Having a second job. Only considered unethical if not disclosed to your employer of the limitations and when there is a conflict of interest
Four basic categories of justice
Procedural, Corrective, Distributive, Political
