Which of the following ensure that behavior is ethical

Manuel Velasquez, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, S.J., and Michael J. Meyer

Ethics is based on well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues.

Some years ago, sociologist Raymond Baumhart asked business people, "What does ethics mean to you?" Among their replies were the following:

"Ethics has to do with what my feelings tell me is right or wrong.""Ethics has to do with my religious beliefs.""Being ethical is doing what the law requires.""Ethics consists of the standards of behavior our society accepts."

"I don't know what the word means."

These replies might be typical of our own. The meaning of "ethics" is hard to pin down, and the views many people have about ethics are shaky.

Like Baumhart's first respondent, many people tend to equate ethics with their feelings. But being ethical is clearly not a matter of following one's feelings. A person following his or her feelings may recoil from doing what is right. In fact, feelings frequently deviate from what is ethical.

Nor should one identify ethics with religion. Most religions, of course, advocate high ethical standards. Yet if ethics were confined to religion, then ethics would apply only to religious people. But ethics applies as much to the behavior of the atheist as to that of the devout religious person. Religion can set high ethical standards and can provide intense motivations for ethical behavior. Ethics, however, cannot be confined to religion nor is it the same as religion.

Being ethical is also not the same as following the law. The law often incorporates ethical standards to which most citizens subscribe. But laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is ethical. Our own pre-Civil War slavery laws and the old apartheid laws of present-day South Africa are grotesquely obvious examples of laws that deviate from what is ethical.

Finally, being ethical is not the same as doing "whatever society accepts." In any society, most people accept standards that are, in fact, ethical. But standards of behavior in society can deviate from what is ethical. An entire society can become ethically corrupt. Nazi Germany is a good example of a morally corrupt society.

Moreover, if being ethical were doing "whatever society accepts," then to find out what is ethical, one would have to find out what society accepts. To decide what I should think about abortion, for example, I would have to take a survey of American society and then conform my beliefs to whatever society accepts. But no one ever tries to decide an ethical issue by doing a survey. Further, the lack of social consensus on many issues makes it impossible to equate ethics with whatever society accepts. Some people accept abortion but many others do not. If being ethical were doing whatever society accepts, one would have to find an agreement on issues which does not, in fact, exist.

What, then, is ethics? Ethics is two things. First, ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the reasonable obligations to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. And, ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom from injury, and the right to privacy. Such standards are adequate standards of ethics because they are supported by consistent and well-founded reasons.

Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of one's ethical standards. As mentioned above, feelings, laws, and social norms can deviate from what is ethical. So it is necessary to constantly examine one's standards to ensure that they are reasonable and well-founded. Ethics also means, then, the continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our moral conduct, and striving to ensure that we, and the institutions we help to shape, live up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.

This article appeared originally in Issues in Ethics IIE V1 N1 (Fall 1987). Revised in 2010.

Ethical values provide the moral compass by which we live our lives and make decisions – 'doing the right thing' because it’s the right thing to do.

The way we make decisions is important for organisations because the wrong decisions – or decisions which have been implemented badly – can have a significant impact on people’s lives and the reputation of organisations. So when we make decisions based on good principles, and live by good values, we can improve the lives of others and the experiences they have at work.

Even when a decision isn’t going to have positive outcomes for everyone, we can manage it in the best way possible by behaving ethically in the way we carry out that decision, and in the way we treat people.

We can do this by considering different ethical perspectives in our decision-making, challenging others on their decisions, being transparent about what we’re doing and why, and role-modelling our professional values, principles and integrity.

'In an era of increased transparency, perceptions are that unethical behaviour is increasing. As well as role modelling ethical behaviour individually, the people profession is often tasked with being the ethical conscience of an organisation. As a professional, habitual ethical practice is intrinsic in decision making and navigating dilemmas.'

'Internally, establishing a culture of ethical practice improves morale and reduces risks that arise from unethical practice. On a macro level, reputable ethical practice not only contributes towards good relations with customers, but has proven to impact financial performance.'

Tina Russell, Professional Conduct Manager, CIPD

Lead Author: Dick Fairley, Chuck Calvano, Contributing Authors: Scott Jackson, Heidi Davidz, Alice Squires, Art Pyster

If the competencycompetency of the systems engineer is a matter of KSAA—knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes—then the word “attitudes” must have an ethical dimension. The ethical framework that guides the SE's actions ensures that the SE ultimately does good and not harm. Ethical standards apply both to individuals and to organizations. This section discusses the moral foundations of ethics, and the elements of ethical conduct that are especially relevant to systems engineering.

Ethics and Morals in Systems Engineering

Like other people, systems engineers have morals: guiding personal thoughts and feelings about what is right and wrong. All of us also share, with other members of various communities to which we belong, ethics: standards that say what conduct is appropriate and what is not (Whitbeck 2007).

Morals are part of a person's character, the result of upbringing, culture, and other environmental influences. Ethics apply morals within the frame of a social system, which could be professional, business, academic, recreational, cultural, political, religious, or even familial. While a person’s moral code is usually considered immutable, one's ethics may need to account for new situations as one's profession or role in life changes. Tensions may exist between an engineer's responsibilities to society and those to the customer, the employer, or even the family, resulting in ethical dilemmas, and creating situations where morals come into play.

There is no shortage of discussion on ethics. Ethical codes are promulgated by professional and other organizations. Professions here refers to occupations that require learning and advanced knowledge and which safeguard or promote the well-being of others and of society as a whole.

Systems engineersSystems engineers have two ethical responsibilities over and above those of most other engineering professions:

• While engineers in general use their professional skills to address customer needs and desires, systems engineeringsystems engineering (SE) helps determine those needs and desires in the course of defining and managing requirements. SEs have an obligation to ensure that problem or program definition is influenced solely by the interests of the customer or user, not by those of the systems engineer or the engineer’s firm.
• Systems engineers typically integrate and oversee the work of others whose expertise differs from their own. This makes the obligation to widen one’s understanding and to seek competent advice from other professionals more acute in SE than in other disciplines.

Caroline Whitbeck's Ethics in Engineering Practice and Research explains what ethical behavior means for engineering professionals. Like most books on ethics, this one starts by clarifying the differences between ethics and morals, which can seem somewhat obscure at times (Whitbeck 2007).

A sampling of areas where ethics figure in the engineering of modern systems are described below.

Data Confidentiality and Security, Surveillance, and Privacy

Privacy, confidentiality, and security in systems which touch Personally Identifiable Information (PII) have an ethical dimension for the systems engineers responsible for developing those systems.

Laws and Regulations

Systems are typically developed in societies, sometimes involving international communities, which have laws concerning contracts, intellectual property, freedom of information, and employment. The requirements and restraints of those laws govern the practice of the systems engineer, who must be aware of the laws and must consider their implications for the partnerships that system development entails.

Whether or not they are stated in the system requirements document or provided by the customer, laws and regulations do, in fact, impose system requirements. SEs are responsible for knowing and applying relevant laws and regulations. This means recognizing other people’s proprietary interests by safeguarding their intellectual property (trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, and patents), and giving them credit for performing work and making innovations.

Cultural Issues

Since systems engineers develop and maintain products used by humans globally, it is important that they understand the historical and cultural aspects of their profession and the related context in which their products will be used. System engineers need to be aware of societal diversity and act without prejudice or discrimination.

Ethical Considerations in the Systems Engineering Method

Naturally, SE approaches to meeting customer needs must integrate SE ethics.

Codes of Ethics and Professional Conduct

Codes of ethics are promulgated by the IEEE (IEEE 2009), the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) (NSPE 2007), the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE 2006) and other engineering organizations.

The INCOSE Code of Ethics enunciates fundamental ethical principles like honesty, impartiality, integrity, keeping abreast of knowledge, striving to increase competence, and supporting educational and professional organizations. Based on these principles, the code identifies the systems engineer's fundamental duties to society and the public, and the rules of practice that systems engineers should follow to fulfill those duties.

According to the INCOSE Code of Ethics, it is the systems engineer's duty to:

• guard the public interest and protect the environment, safety, and welfare of those affected by engineering activities and technological artifacts;
• accept responsibility for one's actions and engineering results, including being open to ethical scrutiny and assessment;
• proactively mitigate unsafe practice;
• manage risk using knowledge gained by applying a whole-system viewpoint and understanding of systemic interfaces; and
• promote the understanding, implementation, and acceptance of prudent SE measures.

Enforcing Ethics

Many organizations enforce ethics internally by means of ethics policies. These polices typically include rules such as the following:

• There shall be no exchange of favors between anyone in the organization and entities with which it does business, such as suppliers, customers, or regulatory agencies.
• Product information, for example, test data, shall be reported accurately and completely to the contracting agency.
• There shall be no conflict of interest between the organization and entities with which it does business.

Favors can consist of providing money, reimbursement of travel or entertainment expenses, other items of equivalent value, or inappropriate job offers. Conflict of interest can arise when the personal or professional financial interests or organizational ties of an engineer are potentially at odds with the best interests of the customer or the engineer’s employer. Since conflict of interest and other ethical transgressions can be hard to define, care must be taken to design ethics policies that are observable and enforceable. Internal audit functions or external regulatory agencies may enforce ethical rules at the individual, team, organizational, or enterprise level. Punishment for violating ethics policies can include termination and other disciplinary actions.

Unlike self-employed physicians who may choose to not do something specific, many systems engineers are individuals employed by organizations. Depending on the organizational context, an issue in conflict with the company might result in giving up the job. This may result in additional ethical considerations.

Responsibility to Society

Engineers who create products and services for use in society have an obligation to serve the public good. Additionally, the IEEE Code of Ethics states that engineers have an obligation to foster the professional development and ethical integrity of colleagues (IEEE 2015). Because of the criticality and scope of many systems, systems engineers, operating in teams within projects and on behalf of the public in delivery of products, have special responsibility. Poorly designed systems or services can have calamitous effects on society. The INCOSE Code of Ethics asserts the responsibility of systems engineers to “guard the public interest and protect the environment, safety, and welfare of those affected by engineering activities and technological artifacts” (INCOSE 2006).

References

Works Cited

IEEE. 2009. IEEE Code of Ethics. in IEEE [database online]. Accessed September 7, 2012. Available: http://www.ieee.org/ethics.

IEEE. 2015. IEEE Code of Ethics. Accessed April 6, 2015. Available: http://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/governance/p7-8.html.

INCOSE. 2006. INCOSE Code of Ethics. In International Council on Systems Engineering [database online]. Accessed April 13, 2015. Available: http://www.incose.org/about/leadershiporganization/codeofethics.

NSPE. 2007. NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers. Alexandria, VA, USA: National Society of Professional Engineers. NSPE publication #1102. Accessed on September 15, 2011. Available: http://www.nspe.org/resources/ethics.

Whitbeck, C. 2007. Ethics in Engineering Practice and Research. New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.

Primary References

Whitbeck, C. 2007. Ethics in Engineering Practice and Research. New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.

Additional References

National Institute for Ethics in Engineering. "National Institute for Engineering Ethics." In the Murdough Center for Engineering Professionalism. Hosted by Texas Technical University. Accessed on September 15, 2011. Available at http://www.murdough.ttu.edu/pd.cfm?pt=NIEE.

OnlineEthics.org. "Online Ethics Center (OEC)." Accessed September 8, 2011. Available at: http://www.onlineethics.org/.

Martin, M. and R. Schinzinger. 2004. Ethics in Engineering, 4th ed. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill.

Penn State. "Ethics: Books." In Penn State College of Engineering. Accessed September 8, 2011. Available at: http://www.engr.psu.edu/ethics/books.asp.

Smith, J.H. (ed). 2008. Engineering Ethics – Concepts, Viewpoint, Cases and Codes. National Institute for Engineering Ethics, Texas Technical University.