All Of Ethics

Coding Ethics nono's: argument 1

Kant said- ethics need individual moral judgment (autonomous), while code of conducts can be imposed with external threat/perception Disciplinary codes for example, because these codes need to be strictly followed.

Mission Statement

Something that concisely formulates the strategic objectives of the company and answers the question what the organization stands for?

Window dressing

"A code of conduct serving only the interests of a company or profession may amount to this." presenting a favorable impression that is not based on actual fact (an ugly company caked in make up made of this "code")

Technological Enthusiasm

"The existential pleasure of engineering" The ideal of wanting to develop new technological possibilities and taking up technological challenges

Codes of conduct

a form of self-regulation, sometimes they are primarily formulated for reasons of self interest.

Vagueness and potential contradictions

vague concept and rules need interpretation which result in contradictory recommendations

Stakeholders

(actors without power) they have an interest in the tech but have no say, morale says they shouldn't be ignored for their helplessness (example: habitats of area getting new nuclear reactor- they care about sh*t, but have no say)

Reasons for code of conduct

-Identification/stimulation of morale -values of profession or company -stimulation of ethical discussion -increase accountability to world -improve image of profession or company

Professional Code 3 domains

1. Conducting with integrity and honesty 2. obligation towards client & employer 3. responsibility to society & public

Variety of actors

1. Developers and producers of tech. 2. users 3. regulators. 4. interests

Why codes are morally binding?

1. Professionals bound to professional code because that is a contract with society in exchange for their power, money and status 2. existence of professional codes for engineers testifies that engineers have made the choice to be engineers, implying contract with colleagues, creating level playing field for them so that all professionals can pursue moral ideal. 3. Based on common morality, they are not binding per say, but express moral responsibility (WHY THE F*CK IS THIS A REASON FOR BINDING THEN?)

The 3 models of Engineers VS. Managers

1. Separatism 2. Technocracy 3. Whistle-blowing

Guidelines to whistle blowing =(by Richard De George)

1. company of employee does serious harm to public. 2. threat of harm reported to superior, and noted with proof superior don't give a sh*t/ 3. Done everything internally till danger to self allows. (for example going higher up exec ladder) 4. evidence of threat clear and at hand 5. knowledge that revealing the threat may prevent it at reasonable cost.

Limits to confidentiality duties

1. many countries have freedom of speech, but the weightage of confidentiality is the same as freedom of speech so freedom of speech not really as free as you thought. 2. legal requirements of informing public something may over write confidentiality duties 3. professional code, can imply over looking confidential duties, recently laws put in place to protect the whistle blowers after blowing (hihi)

Charles Harris's Claims for Engineering Responsibilities:

1. refuse to engage in direct intentional harm 2. don't help in any way to create something that does more harm than good 3. work only on stuff that promotes the country's development 4. Don't violate human rights 5. respect lesser developed country's culture in profession

TAYLORISM- 4 Principles of Scientific Management

1. rule of thumb methods replaced with scientific methods 2. select, train and develop workers instead of letting them learn over time 3. work together with workers to complete with with scientific principles 4. scientific management applied to plan work, workers will be able to perform the tasks.

Code of conduct

A code in which organizations (ie companies) lay down guidelines for responsible behavior of their members.

Corporate Social Responsibility

A company's responsibility towards stake holders and to society at large that extends beyond meeting the law and serving shareholder's interests Friedman's- companies only have responsibility towards stake holders, not any other stakeholders, society or environment.

Actor

Any person or group that can make a decision how to act and that can act on that decision. (engineers and managers not the only ones) (ps. mob not an actor.)

External Auditing

Assessing of a company in terms of its code of conduct by an external organization

Judgement

A question of normative ethics- "What is a right opinion, decision, or action?" to answer this we must have judgement

Ethics

A systematic reflection on morality (to analyze morality per say, look at the morals and think 'hhmmmm yes/no') -Increases our ability to copewith moral problems, and thus moral problems that are related to technology as well. - NOT a manual with answers

Case John Tozer

Australian engineer who was kicked out of the ACEA (Aussie engineer consulting blah) because he openly criticized other engineers work. --> moral of the story: self interest in creation of codes of conduct no objectionable as long as the content of the code is ethical and serious attempts are made to live by the code of conduct.

Passive responsibility

Backward looking responsibility, relevant after something undesirable has occurred, specific forms are accountability, blameworthiness and liability.

Case: Bart

Bay area rapid transport system engineers see a defect, report to management, management ignored, bypass and go to directors, directors got their back, they still publish story get fired BART in action- accident happens, they each get 25K out of court settlement, careers ruined ---> followed IEEE code but still fired, professional conduct?

Case Brent Spar

Brent spar oil platform, shell wanted to sink instead of dismantle, British government said yes, Greenpeace went apes shit rallied the consumers and shell was forced to not sink it

Global Code of Conduct

Code of conduct that is believed to apply worldwide- multinationals the roots of this creation Like- UNGC (United nations Global Compact)

Coding Ethics nono's: argument 2

Codes are not morally binding. though there are reasons why they can be morally binding, it can be argued that these codes only have existing moral obligations, ergo not creating new moral obligations, not necessarily meaning the code is superfluous (unnecessary). on the other hand, could say that a reminder of moral ethics in the form of code is not a bad thing.

Enforcement of Corporate Codes

Corporations influence day to day actions on individuals, monitor their codes for their benefits. Companies have power to stimulate and discourage behaviors and also fire people upon breaking the code #brocode Also enforced by external auditing

Effectiveness and Efficiency (should know this guys...)

Effectiveness- The extent to which an established goal is achieved (how well it does what you want it to do) Efficiency- the ration between goal achieved and the effort required (time put in vs. result ratio)

Human Welfare

Engineers must contribute towards human welfare- use their knowledge and skill for the enhancement of human welfare- health, the environment, sustainability (varying depending on engineering) KEY aspect- SAFETY (lol weapons manufacturers) --> because other two ideals can overlook morale, this is key to making sure the end result and it's byproducts are morally in shape.

Case Ford Pinto

Ford put the gas tank in the back under rear axle, was dangerous, but met government standards, didn't opt for cheap alternative, charged with homicide, paid LOTS in damages - the role of ethical theories is to aid moral judgement what is the value of a life for the ford company? think about it!

Case Shell, Nigeria and the Ogoni

Found oil in nigeria, started oil platforms, what used to be fertile land turned into shit. Locals protested, wanted them to cut back production or at least repair the damage, shell denied it, Locals selected leaders, to run against shell, suddenly the military came in, found those leaders guilty of some crime and hung them to death. Shell denied any part in that, but it is believed that they were in fact that devil. (...oil companies)

Case: Werhner Von Braun

German guy who made USA moon mission possible, had been part of SS, says he joined to save his life's work on rockets, helped SS kill people through bombs and prisoners did work on his project...ethical? your call

Critical Loyalty

Giving due to the interest of the employer, insofar as this is possible within the constraints of the employee's personal and professional ethics.

Global engineers

Globalization of economies means engineers have to work with each other, and learn what other cultures value and adapt or compromise to work together in harmony.

Case Google in China

Google comes to china, and is taken down and ruined by government for not complying with censorship Google comes back to china and says they will comply with censor laws. but then find out Chinese hackers have been taking down good servers and canning through gmail accounts of some human right activists. Start routing searches in china through Hong Kong without Censorship.

USA vs Japan professional autonomy

Ideal American model: be autonomous so as to protect the public in the face of corporate self interest Ideal Japanese model: requires engineers to work together as a team where corporations serve society.

Professional Ideals

Ideas that are closely allied to a profession or can only be aspired to by carrying out the profession; 3 kinds: 1. Technological Enthusiasm 2. Effectiveness and Efficiency 3. Human Welfare (lol oil companies)

Multinational code of ethics

In 1970's multinationals saw that the companies had a hard time adjusting and making peace with local economies, social and political standings. less developed nations exploited in terms of environment and human rights cause governments not strong enough to impost corporate code. "Triple Bottom Line" introduced- econimic, social and environment factors to be accounted.

Features of Active Responsibility

Mark Bovens made this (f*ck him right?): 1. Adequate perception of threatened violations of norms 2. consideration of consequences 3. autonomy- ability to make your own decisions 4. displaying code of conduct 5. taking role obligations seriously.

Profession

Occupation with specific characteristics: 1. specialization required (study period long) 2. monopoly on carrying out occupation (ex.- not everybody can do engineering work, so we gots engineers [woooh! REPRESENT!]) 3. assessment only by same profession peers. 4. provides society with something useful 5. ethical standards - [wtf no idea... -.-]

Users

People who use a technology and who may formulate certain wished or requirements for the functioning of it.

Foresee ability

Person held responsible for the consequence should have been able to foresee it (like...duh)

Uncritical Loyalty

Placing the interests of employer, as the employer defines those interests, above any other considerations (BART engineers not loyal in this one)

1. Conducting with integrity and honesty

Practice in a Contempt way- up to date and well informed in field & competent. - honest, faithful and truthful manner (geez relationship much) avoid conflicts

2. Obligation towards client & employer

Professionals should serve to the desires of clients and employers (#bottombitch) and keep secret the confidential information if provided any.

Active Responsibility

Responsibility before something has happened referring to a duty or task to care for certain state-of-affairs or person. Not just to identify the negatives but to also see the positive aspects- positive attitude required.

Case: Atomic Bomb

Scientist (Szilard) discovers potential in atomic bombs, Germans have the idea, scientist give it to US fearing Germans winning with the use of it, Germans fail to develop and lose war, scientists of Manhattan project sign saying "ey lets not use the bombs we successfully made, won't be able to live with ourselves" Truman never gets petition, drops little boy and fat man on Japan, war ends, but scientists sad.

Code history

Smeatonian first one, then few in US in early 20th century- not really bothered with social and ethics, but WWII happened and people were animals- ethics and moral issues introduced to better name of science.

Can ethics be Codified?

Some say... (stig reference :D) codes are vague because ethics cannot be codified People argue codes are vague, opposite side of that is codes do not "uniformly prescribe certain behavior"--> strict codes conflict ethics! 3 arguments of ethics not being 'codifiable'

Hired Guns

Someone who is willing to carry out any task or assignment from his employer without moral scruples.

Causal contribution

doing an action or failing to do a necessary action, without these the consequence wouldn't occur.

TA- technology assessment

Systematic method for exploring future technology developments and assessing their potential societal consequences

Honesty

Telling what one has good reasons to believe to be true and disclosing all relevant information

Descriptive ethics

The branch of ethics that describes existing morality, including customs and habits, opinions about good and evil, responsible and irresponsible behavior, and acceptable and unacceptable actions. studies morality found in certain sub cultures and history.

(Perspective)Normative Ethics

The branch of ethics that judges morality and tries to formulate normative recommendations about how to act or live Uses question: "Do norms and values actually used conform to our ideas about how people should behave?"

Collingridge Dilemma

The dilemma refers to a double blind problem to control the direction of technological development. it is often not possible to predict the consequences of new technologies already in the early phases of technological development. On the other hand, once the (negative) consequences materialize, it becomes difficult to change the direction of technological development. (easy lang: its like sh*t being set in stone, nothing can be done once product is made bad because of consequences)

Whistle blowing

The disclosure of certain abuses in a company by an employee in which he or she is employed, without the consent of his/her superiors and in order to remedy these abuses and/or to warn the public about these abuses. --> bad consequences from company, hard time getting hired again and may lose friends/family (trust issues?!)

Case: Johan van Veen

The guy in the netherlands who kept warning people using books written under secret name about the dykes being too low, people cared less, ignored him, floods in 1953 people died surprised and swallowed their pride.

Professional Autonomy

The ideal that individual professionals achieve themselves moral conclusions by reasoning clearly and carefully

Case: Inez Austin

The lady who worked at nuclear facility in USA and refused to pump radioactive waste from one thing to another and got awarded, second time she refused to do something she got sacked.

Paternalism

The making of moral decisions for others on the assumption that one knows better what is good for them than those others themselves.

Freedom of action

The person responsible is not working under compulsion (no pressure to act a certain way or in a certain direction), had the FREEDOM (U.S.A!!!) to act the way he/she desired

Ethical Principles for Engineers in a global Environment

The principle of... 1. Public Safety: keep people safe from shit you do from your developments 2. Human rights: engineer's work in technology should not negatively impact rights of humans 3. Environment and animal Preservation: should not do something that damages animal or environment, possibly long term hence effecting humans too. 4. Engineering Competence: only do shit you know how to do. 5. Scientifically Founded Judgement: decisions should be based on science and math... avoid external factors. 6. Openness and Honesty: keep public informed about shit that can affect them

Conflict of Interest

The situation in which one has an interest that, when pursued, can conflict with meetings one's professional obligation to an employer, another client or another professional.

Morality

The totality of opions, decisions, and actions with which people express, individually or collectively, what they think is good or right

Interests

Things actors stive for because they are beneficial or advantageous for them

Inconsistencies in Codes of Conducts

Three codes: IEEE, FEANI, and NSPE would have had a different look at the actions of the BART engineers given their codes on that topic differ.

Tripartite Model

a model that maintains that engineers can only be held responsible for the design of products and not for wider social consequences or concerns. 3 segments- 1. politicians- policy makers, managers establish objectives for projects and make it rain (money) 2. engineers- designing, developing, creating and executing the projects or products 3. users- those you USE the tech (DUH!)

wrong doing

an actions that violates law, social.ethical norm or code of conduct.

Construction technology Assessment (CTA)

approach to TA (technological assessment) in which TA-like efforts are carried out parallel to development and are fed back to the development and design process (this is to overcome the collingridge dilemma, like a back up in case sh*t goes down)

Accountability

backward looking responsibility in the sense being held to account for, or justify one's actions towards others

blameworthiness

backward looking responsibility in the sense of being a proper target of blame for one's actions or the consequences of one's actions. In order for someone to be blame worthy, the conditions of wrong doing, causal contribution, foresee-ability and freedom have to apply

Corporate Code

code of conduct that is formulated by a company mostly disciplinary- want employees to act according to certain guidelines. -->"Voluntary commitments made setting certain values, standards, and principles for the conduct of corporations" Main Elements: 1) Mission; 2) core values; 3) responsibility towards stake holders and 4) detailed rules & norms

Professional Code

code of conduct that is formulated by a professional association Mostly advisory- moral issues emphasis, identifying moral issues and deriving questions or issues related to them, and coming to a judgement on them

Coding Ethics nono's: argument 3

code of conducts presuppose that morality can be expressed in a set of universal moral rules.- this is questionable because: engineering too diverse in terms of discipline and activities for one code to apply. also, sound moral judgement needs particularities of the situation in it, code of conducts toooooo general.

Types of Code 3: Disciplinary Code

code with objective to achieve that the behavior of all participants meets certain values and norms. (corporate codes are mostly disciplinary)

Can you live by codes of Conduct?

codes can sometimes contain stuff impossible or VERY hard to follow in practice. Consider the conflict between professional and corporate code, following on or the other and neglecting the other could make you a whistle blower (BART case) or satan's minion who killed innocent people knowingly (USA rocket launch exploding)

Case: Teflon

created very unpredictably first kept secret used in atomic bomb, later became common, much later found to be cause of cancer and bad for environment.

Confidential Duties

duties on employees to keep silent certain information. often imposed by law in some countries 2--> fold reason for this: 1. confidentiality important for competition 2. laws made to prevent employees from disproportionately damaging the company- "you fire me? F*ck you I will tell the world all your secrets"

Responsibility Towards Stake holders

express responsibility to stake holders like consumers, employees, investors, society, and the environment. (its LITERALLY, what it sounds like....) Responsibility to environment- Mentioned in Europe , not in US responsibility to competitors- Mentioned in US, not Europe and Asia

Core Values

express the qualities that a company considers desirable and which ground business conduct outcomes. Often mentioned values: teamwork, responsibility, open communication, creativity, customer orientation, flexibility, efficiency, professionalism, and loyalty

Types of Code 1: Aspirational Code

expresses the moral values of profession or company to the outside world to show what they are committed to.

Technocracy

government by technological experts (technocrats) risks: 1. what skills do engineers have that make them technocrats? things such as efficiency and technological enthusiasm leads to possible risks.... 2. Paternalism- leads to no moral autonomy (important moral value...)

Norms and Rules

guidelines for employees how to act in specific situations Like- acceptance of gifts, fraud, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, theft, corruption, bribery, discrimination, respect and sexual harassment.

Types of Code 2: Advisory Code

help individual professionals and employees to exercises moral judgement in concrete situations. (most professional codes are advisory)

Case: Frederick W. TAYLOR- TAYLORISM

how to get as much work out of workers as possible, (his goal was to fashion the fastest way scientifically possible without demanding too much from workers) insight to engineers and their approach to things better than management. (teaser-> taylor = over board efficiency)

Ideals

ideas or "strivings" of two kinds: 1. motivating or inspiring for the person having them 2. aim for optimism or maximizing

Integrity

living by one's own moral values, norms and commitments

Enforcement of Professional Codes

often not enforced because its more of a guideline and advisory. they don't have legal status. It is voluntary to be in a professional association, not required to practice the profession.

Enforcement

only an objective in case of disciplinary codes, active enforcement an exception, especially for professional codes

Regulators

organizations who formulate rules or regulations that engineering products have to meet such as rulings concerning health and safety, but also rulings linked to relations between competitors.

Stakeholder Principles

principles that guide the relationship between a company and its stakeholders. - transparency, honesty, and fairness

Moral Responsibility

responsibility that is based on moral obligations, moral norms and moral duties

3. Responsibility to society & public

safety, health, the environment, sustainable development, and the welfare of public. Professionals must tell public about tech hazards.

Separatism

scientists and engineers should provide the technical input but the appropriate management and political organs should make the value decisions

Boisjoly

the engineer involved in the exploding NASA ship....in case his name shows up

Professional Responsibility

the responsibility that is based on one's role as a professional in as far it stays within the limits of what is morally allowed.

Role responsibility

the responsibility that is based on the role one has or plays in a certain situation