KNF 3102
ENGINEERING ETHICS
MORAL REASONING AND CODES OF ETHICS
Contents
o Moral dilemma
o Types of ethical dilemma
o Steps in resolving ethical dilemma
o Ethical corporations & responsibility to
stakeholders
o The importance of codes of ethics
o Abuse & limitations of codes
o Ethical relativism
o Justification of codes
Codes of Ethics
• Codes of ethics state the moral responsibilities of
engineers as seen by the profession and as represented by
a professional society. Because they express the
profession’s collective commitment to ethics, codes are
enormously important, not only in stressing engineers’
responsibilities but also in supporting the freedom needed
to meet them.
• Codes of ethics play at least eight essential roles:
– serving and protecting the public
– providing guidance
– offering inspiration
– establishing shared standards
– supporting responsible professionals
– contributing to education
– deterring wrongdoing
– strengthening a profession’s image.
1. Serving and Protecting people
• Engineering involves advance expertise that
professionals have and the public lacks, and also
considerable dangers to a vulnerable public.
Accordingly, professionals stand in a fiduciary
relationship with the public: Trust and
trustworthiness are essential.
• A code of ethics functions as a commitment by the
profession as a whole that engineers will serve the
public health, safety, and welfare. In one way or
another, the remaining functions of codes all
contribute to this primary function.
2. Guidance
• Codes provide helpful guidance by articulating
the main obligations of engineers.
• Codes should be brief to be effective, they offer
mostly general guidance. Nonetheless, when well
written, they identify primary responsibilities.
3. Offering Inspiration
• Because codes express a profession’s collective
commitment to ethics, they provide a positive
stimulus (motivation) for ethical conduct. In a
powerful way, they voice what it means to be a
member of a profession committed to
responsible conduct in promoting the safety,
health, and welfare of the public. Although this
paramount ideal is somewhat vague, it expresses
a collective commitment to the public good that
inspires individuals to have similar aspirations.
4. Shared Standards
• The diversity of moral viewpoints among
individual engineers makes it essential that
professions establish explicit standards, in
particular minimum (but hopefully high)
standards. In this way, the public is assured of
a standard of excellence on which it can
depend, and professionals are provided a fair
playing field in competing for clients.
5. Support for Responsible Professionals
• Codes give positive support to professionals seeking
to act ethically.
• A publicly proclaimed code allows an engineer, under
pressure to act unethically, to say: “I am bound by
the code of ethics of my profession, which states that
. . .” This by itself gives engineers some group
backing in taking stands on moral issues.
• Codes can potentially serve as legal support for
engineers criticized for living up to work-related
professional obligations.
6. Education and Mutual Understanding
• Codes can be used by professional societies and in the
classroom to prompt discussion and reflection on moral
issues.
• Widely circulated and officially approved by professional
societies, codes encourage a shared understanding
among professionals, the public, and government
organizations about the moral responsibilities of
engineers.
7. Deterrence and Discipline
• Codes can also serve as the formal basis for investigating
unethical conduct. Where such investigation is possible, a
deterrent for immoral behavior is thereby provided. Such an
investigation generally requires paralegal proceedings
designed to get at the truth about a given charge without
violating the personal rights of those being investigated.
• Some professional societies do suspend or expel members
whose professional conduct has been proven unethical, and
this alone can be a powerful sanction when combined with
the loss of respect from colleagues and the local community
that such action is bound to produce.
8. Contributing to The Profession’s Image
• Codes can present a positive image to the public of an
ethically committed profession. Where warranted, the
image can help engineers more effectively serve the
public. It can also win greater powers of self regulation
for the profession itself, while lessening the demand for
more government regulation. The reputation of a
profession, like the reputation of an individual
professional or a corporation, is essential in sustaining
the trust of the public.
Abuse of Codes
• When codes are not taken seriously within a profession,
they amount to a kind of window dressing that ultimately
increases public cynicism about the profession.
• Worse, codes occasionally stifle dissent within the
profession and are abused in other ways.
Does that mean an PE can express publicly if it is founded upon his
competence?
Limitations of Codes
• Codes are no substitute for individual responsibility in
grappling with concrete dilemmas.
• Most codes are restricted to general wording and hence
inevitably contain substantial areas of vagueness. Thus,
they may not be able to straightforwardly address all
situations.
• Other uncertainties can arise when different entries in
codes come into conflict with each other. Usually codes
provide little guidance as to which entry should have
priority in those cases.
• Codes are not always the complete and final word.
Ethical Relativism
• Several social scientists may disagree on the relative
importance of Codes in Ethical issues. Stephen Unger1
states that codes “recognize” obligations that already
exist whether or not the code is written. It means that
the codes cannot be used in a cook book fashion. They
are valuable in outlining the factors to be considered.
From here a relative ethical debate arises.
• Michael Davis2 disagrees, and he places far greater
emphasis on professional codes of ethics. In his view,
codes are conventions (rules) established within
professions to promote the public good. As such, they are
morally authoritative.
1 Stephen H. Unger, Controlling Technology, 2nd ed. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1994), 106.
2 Michael Davis, Thinking Like an Engineer (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 111.
Justification of Codes
• A sound professional code will stand up to three tests
as:
(1) It will be clear and coherent;
(2) It will organize basic moral values applicable to the
profession in a systematic and comprehensive way,
highlighting what is most important; and
(3) It will provide helpful and reasonable guidance that
is compatible with our most carefully considered moral
convictions (judgments, intuitions) about concrete
situations. In addition, it will be widely accepted within
the profession.
Moral vs Ethics
MORAL:
• Refers only to personal behaviour.
• Refers to any aspect of human action.
• Social conventions about right or wrong conduct.
ETHICS:
• Involves defining, analyzing, evaluating and resolving
moral problems and developing moral criteria to guide
human behavior.
• Critical reflection on what one does and why one does it.
• Refers only to professional behaviour.
Codes of Conduct for Graduate Engineer
a) Registered Graduate Engineer not to falsify qualification,
etc.
Refer to the attachment in eLeap for detailed explanation.
b) Registered Graduate Engineer to certify work only if he
has supervised, witnessed or inspected such work, etc.
Refer to the attachment in eLeap for detailed explanation.
c) Registered Graduate Engineer not to accept benefit from
more than one party, etc
Refer to the attachment in eLeap for detailed explanation.
BEM & The Engineering
Profession
Board of Engineers Malaysia
(BEM)
• Formed in 1972, under the Registration of Engineers
Act 1967
• Latest Amendments enforced 31st July 2015
• BEM’s primary role is to safeguard the safety and
interest of the public:
• to facilitate the registration of Engineers,
Engineering Technologists, Inspectors of Works,
Engineering Consultancy Practices;
• to regulate the professional conduct and practice of
registered persons.
Board of Engineers Malaysia
(BEM)
Available online at
BEM website
Section 2. Interpretation
REGISTRATION OF ENGINEERS ACT, 1967
(Latest amendment 2015)
PURPOSE OF THE ACT
• To protect the public by legislative control so that the practice of
engineering, which has a bearing on public safety, health and
welfare, can only be carried out by licensed professional engineers.
• To create a regulatory body with mandate to carry out licensing of
professional engineers and regulation of the profession;
• To set regulations pertaining to the practice of engineering;
qualifications for licensing; and code of professional conduct for
registered engineers;
• To maintain public confidence in the standard of services provided
by licensed professional engineers
• To designate the Board as the authority to represent Malaysia on
provision of Engineering services under GATT’s classification
2015 AMENDMENTS TO REA 1967
• REA (1967) & its Regulations - AMENDMENTS 2015
• Registers 5 Categories of Registered Persons : (new
in red)
1. Accredited Checker
2. Professional Engineer with Practising Certificate
3. Professional Engineer
4. Graduate Engineer
5. Engineering Technologist
6. Inspector of Works
BEM website: http://www.bem.org.my/web/guest/home
Thank you
