Engineering ethics is very essential towards guiding the professionals on how they carry out various activities. The ethics entail a set of moral values and principles. These guidelines sensitize the experts on the moral issues that are likely to face while on professional duty. The protocols govern how the professionals behave through laying out guidelines on how they handle certain situations in the profession (PSU, 2014). The ethical principles and guiding protocols also enhance and promote the creation of professional culture in the organizations through the manipulation of behavior and attitudes to comply with the professional and technical requirements.
Engineering ethics is very important in the society. As a functional unit of the profession, the ethics provide a standard that assist the engineers to meet common considerations in their area of operation. Engineering is a technical field that has high-level social interaction. The ethics assist the engineers to address various structural failures for the sake of the welfare of the public. The ethical standards and regulation assist in the alleviation of disparities and biases that may result from emotional and psychological inconsistencies in human beings. Consequently, these standards ensure the professionals use the predetermined procedures in undertaking various situations in a rational manner for the good of the profession and the society (PSU, 2014).
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In my area of expertise, there are various situations that have exhibited a violation of the engineering ethical principles. Most of these violations are related to the common conducts in practice while others are associated with the technical and logistical operation in the organization. In one situation, our organization was awarded a government project. In order to enhance the execution of the project, there was need to acquire a strategic piece of land from the execution. Consequently, the structural experts went ahead and identified two pieces of land that were appropriate for the project.
Our organization had to choose from the two pieces of land and then then the owner of the land could be compensated. One of the members in sitting in the committee to determine the piece of land to implement the project was the owner of one of the plots that were under scrutiny. The committee member was fully aware of the situation but continued to be an active member of the committee. However, the other members to the committee were not aware of her ownership to the land. Consequently, the individual influenced the members to consider the other piece of land for the implementation of the project.
According to section II.4a of the National Society of Professional Engineers rules of practice, ‘Engineers shall disclose all known or potential conflicts of interest that could influence or appear to influence their judgment or the quality of their services.’ Our situation was a typical example of a violation of the NSPE ethical standards (NSPE, 2014). The engineer used her position to serve her selfish interest the rough influencing the other professional to make a decision that was biased. Consequently, the situation may have resulted in an inappropriate that may affect the quality of services advanced in the organization. It was the professional obligation of the individual to disclose her interest in the pieces of land under discussion before the decision-making process.
After the discovery of the violation, the individual was suspended from duty to pave the way for investigations to ascertain if she had influenced the decision-making process. The outcome of the investigation will be very crucial towards determining the next action. One of the possible outcomes can be exposure to legal processes that can lead to procession and even suspension from the association.
