A few days ago I was at a dinner party thrown in my honor by some of my long term associates. All of them had done well rising to great heights in their chosen professions. Many had retired and formed their own companies, others had become consultants to rapidly rising business houses seeking to enter the complex area of oil and gas exploration, but all had done well. What struck me during our discussions was the fact that almost no one had any compunctions about working for companies who were in direct conflict with a company they had loved and served for over three decades. While they mourned the gradual decline of their old company that had once bestridden the country, but was now beset with poor leadership and worse decision making, embroiled in one conflict or the other and struggling against the new upstarts, they felt no great urge to return and help their erstwhile colleagues. They had become onlookers - actually they had become silent spectators who applauded and supported the upstarts! That, I was told, was the way of the world.
But perhaps more troubling was the blinkered view of the tactics that they were, tacitly or explicitly, forced to collude in to help the new companies. Many of these upstart companies, though not all, used shady means and corrupt means to attain their ends. Those who were consultants felt that it was not in their charter to blow the whistle, others directly employed defended themselves with the old but discredited view that they were simply following orders.
After all "Just Following Orders" is a justification for morally questionable actions that many invoke when questioned about the rightness or necessity of such actions. This justification holds that the (bulk of the) responsibility for such actions falls upon those who make such decisions and give such orders within any hierarchy; by extension, those who obey and act upon such orders cannot be held accountable for their actions.
The ethics dilemmas typical engineers face in their careers are probably not the stuff that sells newspapers. While there have been some widely published accounts of bribery, disregard for safety, and deceit, an engineer is more likely to deal with conflicts of interest, or confidentiality concerns. Engineers can deal with the black and white issues pretty easily but there are gray areas where two ethical principals conflict with each other. For example, the duty to protect the public health and safety sometimes conflicts with the obligation to
maintain confidential information for a client. Or the desire to curry political favours sometimes leads to make claims about reserves that they know are dubious at best. Or they avert their eyes when their company indulges in corrupt practices to obtain a contract.
Are there no codes of ethics for engineers similar to other professions the most famous
being the Hippocratic Oath that all graduating medical students take?
The Hippocratic Oath in its earliest form is rather simple: "I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism. I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug. I will not be ashamed to say "I know not", nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant: I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure. I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.I will remember that I remain a member of society with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm. If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.".
Perhaps it is time for engineers to develop their own oath or a code of ethics which is as simple and as direct as the one above? Why should not all engineering courses insist on a program on engineering ethics?
PS I found out that many professional societies of engineers do have a code of ethics- most are about five pages long- but none have the moral force of the Hippocratic oath.And none of our IIT's teach about ethics in their four year programs.
But perhaps more troubling was the blinkered view of the tactics that they were, tacitly or explicitly, forced to collude in to help the new companies. Many of these upstart companies, though not all, used shady means and corrupt means to attain their ends. Those who were consultants felt that it was not in their charter to blow the whistle, others directly employed defended themselves with the old but discredited view that they were simply following orders.
After all "Just Following Orders" is a justification for morally questionable actions that many invoke when questioned about the rightness or necessity of such actions. This justification holds that the (bulk of the) responsibility for such actions falls upon those who make such decisions and give such orders within any hierarchy; by extension, those who obey and act upon such orders cannot be held accountable for their actions.
The ethics dilemmas typical engineers face in their careers are probably not the stuff that sells newspapers. While there have been some widely published accounts of bribery, disregard for safety, and deceit, an engineer is more likely to deal with conflicts of interest, or confidentiality concerns. Engineers can deal with the black and white issues pretty easily but there are gray areas where two ethical principals conflict with each other. For example, the duty to protect the public health and safety sometimes conflicts with the obligation to
maintain confidential information for a client. Or the desire to curry political favours sometimes leads to make claims about reserves that they know are dubious at best. Or they avert their eyes when their company indulges in corrupt practices to obtain a contract.
Are there no codes of ethics for engineers similar to other professions the most famous
being the Hippocratic Oath that all graduating medical students take?
The Hippocratic Oath in its earliest form is rather simple: "I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism. I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug. I will not be ashamed to say "I know not", nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant: I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure. I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.I will remember that I remain a member of society with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm. If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.".
Perhaps it is time for engineers to develop their own oath or a code of ethics which is as simple and as direct as the one above? Why should not all engineering courses insist on a program on engineering ethics?
PS I found out that many professional societies of engineers do have a code of ethics- most are about five pages long- but none have the moral force of the Hippocratic oath.And none of our IIT's teach about ethics in their four year programs.
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