CENG 291
LECTURE SIX
WORKPLACE RESPONSIBILITIES
AND RIGHTS
DR. JUSTICE OWUSU AGYEMANG
RIGHTS OF ENGINEERS
RIGHTS OF ENGINEERS
• Engineers have several types of moral rights.
• As humans, they have fundamental rights.
• As employees and professionals, they have
special rights.
PROFESSIONAL RIGHTS
1. Right of Professional Conscience.
It is the moral right to exercise professional judgement in pursuing
professional responsibilities.
2. Right of Conscientious Refusal.
It is the right to refuse to engage in unethical behavior and to
refuse to do so solely because one views it as unethical.
3. Right to Recognition.
This is the right of an engineer to professional recognition for their
work and accomplishments.
EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
1. Privacy
The right to pursue outside activities can be thought of as a right
to personal privacy in the sense that it means the right to have a
private life off the job.
However, here, it means the right to control the access to and the
use of information about oneself.
2. Equal Opportunity: Nondiscrimination.
This is the right not to be discounted or discriminated- treated in a
manner that is morally unjustified- on irrelevant grounds like; sex,
race, skin color, age, or politic al or religious outlook.
EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
3. Equal Opportunity: Sexual Harassment.
Sexual harassment in one definition is “the unwanted imposition
of sexual requirements in the context of a relationship of unequal
power.”
It takes two main forms:
Quid pro quo: It includes cases where supervisors require sexual
favors as a condition for some employment benefit.
EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
It can be a sexual threat or sexual offer.
Hostile work environment: It is any sexually oriented aspect of
the workplace that threatens employees’ rights to equal
opportunity. It includes unwanted sexual proposals, lewd
remarks and inappropriate physical contact.
Employees have the right to not receive such treatments.
4. Equal Opportunity: Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is giving a preference or advantage to a
member of a group that in the past was denied equal treatment,
in particular, women and minorities.
EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
It is also called “reverse preferential treatment”. The weak form
consists in hiring a woman or a member of a minority over an
equally qualified white male.
The strong form consists in giving preference to women or
minorities over better-qualified white males.
Arguments favoring preferential treatment take three main forms,
which look into the past, present and future.
EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
1. An argument based on compensatory justice: Past violations of rights
must be compensated.
2. Sexism and racism still permeate our society today, and to counter
balance their insidious impact reverse preferential treatment is warranted
in order to ensure equal opportunity for women and minorities.
Reverse preferential treatment has many good consequences: integrating
women and minorities into economic and social mainstream (especially in
male-dominated professions like engineering), providing role models for
minorities that build self-esteem, and strengthening diversity.
EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
Arguments against this treatment condemn it as reverse discrimination. It
violates the rights to equal opportunity of white males and others who are now
not given a fair chance to compete on the basis of their qualifications.
Various attempts have been made to develop intermediate positions sensitive
to all of the preceding arguments.
For example, one approach permits this preferential treatment within
companies that can be shown to have a history of bias against minorities or
women.
Another approach is to permit weak forms of this treatment and forbid strong
forms.
DISCUSSION
• Present and defend your view as to whether
affirmative action is morally permissible and
desirable in:
1. Admissions to engineering schools.
2. Hiring and promoting within engineering
corporations.
WHISTLEBLOWING
WHISTLEBLOWING: DEFINITION
• Whistleblowing occurs when an employee or former employee conveys
information about a significant moral problem to someone in a position to
take action on the problem, and does so outside approved organizational
channels (or against strong pressure).
• External whistleblowing is when the information is passed outside the
organization.
• Internal whistleblowing is when the information is conveyed to someone
within the organization.
MORAL GUIDELINES
In open whistleblowing individuals reveal their identity as they convey the
information.
Anonymous whistleblowing involves concealing one’s identity.
• Under what conditions are engineers justified in whistleblowing (permitted
and obligated to)?
• It is when:
1. The actual or potential harm is serious.
2. The harm has been adequately documented.
3. The concerns have been reported to immediate supervisors.
MORAL GUIDELINES
4. Regular channels within the organization have been used to reach up to
the highest levels of management (if one did not get satisfaction from
immediate supervisors).
5. There is reasonable hope that whistle blowing can help prevent or
remedy the harm.
There are exceptions.
Condition 2 might not be required where cloaks of secrecy are imposed on
evidence that, if revealed could possibly aid commercial competitors or
national adversaries.
MORAL GUIDELINES
Conditions 3 and 4 may be inappropriate in some situations, such as if
one’s supervisors are the main source of the problem or when extreme
urgency does not leave time for those conditions.
PROTECTING WHISTLEBLOWERS
• Most whistleblowers have suffered unhappy and even tragic fates.
• Yet the vital service to the public provided by many whistleblowers has led
increasingly to public awareness of a need to protect them against
retaliation by employers.
• Laws when they are carefully formulated and enforced provide two types of
benefits for the public, in addition to protecting the responsible
whistleblower:
1. They help to prevent harm to the public in particular situations (episodic
benefits).
2. They send a strong message to the industry to act responsibly or be
subject to public scrutiny once the whistle is blown (systemic benefits).
PROTECTING WHISTLEBLOWERS
• The law alone will not suffice.
• When officialdom is not ready to enforce existing laws-or introduce
necessary laws- engineering associations and employee groups need to act
as watchdogs ready with advice and legal assistance.
COMMONSENSE PRODEDURES
• There are several rules of practical advice and commonsense that should
be headed before taking this action:
1. Except for extremely rare emergencies, always try working through
normal organizational channels.
2. Be prompt in expressing objections.
3. Proceed in a tactful, low-key manner. Be considerate of the feelings of
others involved.
4. As much as possible, keep supervisors informed of your actions, both
informally and formally.
COMMONSENSE PRODEDURES
5. Be accurate in your observations and claims, and keep formal records
documenting relevant events.
6. Consult trusted colleagues for advice- avoid isolation.
7. Before going outside the organization, consult the ethics committee of
your professional society.
8. Consult a lawyer concerning potential legal liabilities.
BEYOND WHISTLEBLOWING
The obvious way to remove the need for internal and external whistleblowing
is for management to allow greater freedom and openness of
communication within the organization.
Finally, conscientious engineers sometimes find the best solution to be to
resign and engage in protest.
DISCUSSION
• Do you see any special moral issues raised by
anonymous whistleblowing?
ASSESSMENT
1. Define the duty of confidentiality.
2. Differentiate between “conflict of interest” and “conflicting interests”.
3. Give two moral guidelines and commonsense procedures each for
whistle blowing.
4. Give three categories of companies as defined by Davis and his
colleagues.
5. Give two main categories of the rights of employees.
THANK YOU
