CIV402 Sec 22 and 66 4/15/2020

Review – Multiple Choice Question

The concept of the “standard of care” is often used in legal proceedings
against engineers. Which statement is true about this standard?
a. It refers to engineering work that involves no errors or omissions.
b. It refers to the level of work done by normally competent engineers.
c. It refers to a sincere dedication to doing the best that one can.
d. It refers to the virtue of caring for the welfare of the public.

Legal Liability

The standard of care is better defined in the legal case Coombs v. Beede
(Case #18). “Architect” in this context is applicable to an engineer:

The responsibility resting on an architect is essentially the same as that

which rests upon the lawyer to his client, or upon the physician to his
patient, or which rests upon anyone to another where such person
pretends to possess some special skill and ability in some special
employment, and offers his services to the public on account of his fitness
to act in the line of business for which he may be employed.

The undertaking of an architect implies that he possesses skill and ability,

including taste, sufficient enough to enable him to perform the required
services at least ordinarily and reasonably well; and that he will exercise
and apply, in the given case, his skill and ability, his judgment and taste
reasonably and without neglect.

Dr. Manish A. Kewalramani 1

CIV402 Sec 22 and 66 4/15/2020

Harms – Legal Liability and Moral

Responsibility
Liability for harm ordinarily implies that the person caused the harm, but it
also implies something about the conditions under which the harm was
caused.

What are different ways in which harm can be caused?

1. Intentionally (or knowingly and deliberately) causing harm
2. Recklessly causing harm—awareness of likelihood of causing harm,
but not intending or aiming at harm
3. Negligently causing harm—overlooking or not noticing risk of harm,
failure of due care
4. Strict liability for causing harm, even without fault—legal but not moral
liability

Responsibilities of Engineers

1. Legal responsibilities: Not to cause harm; to

compensate when harm is caused; to practice in accord
with Engineering Practices Act

2. Moral responsibilities: To recognize and discharge

our duties while satisfying our obligations to the public;
to understand and adhere to a Code of Ethics

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CIV402 Sec 22 and 66 4/15/2020

Responsibility in Design
Standards are one of the principal mechanisms for
managing complexity of any sort, including
technological complexity.

Standardized terminology, physical properties, and

procedures all play a role in constraining the size of the
universe in which the practitioner must make decisions.

Three Models of Professional Responsibility

1. Minimalist or Malpractice model

2. Reasonable Care model
3. Good Works or Supererogation model

1. Minimalist or Malpractice model

Engineers have a duty only to adhere to accepted standards of
practice, fulfill only basic duties prescribed by terms of
employment.

Those who would follow this model might be most concerned with
not doing anything “wrong”.

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CIV402 Sec 22 and 66 4/15/2020

Models of Professional Responsibility………

2. Reasonable Care model

• Adhere to accepted standards of practice, and...
• Take reasonable care to ensure that mistakes are
prevented and the public welfare is protected.
• Exercise and apply skill, ability and judgement reasonably
and without neglect.
• Keep abreast of evolving changes in knowledge and
practice
• Recognize when minimal standards of practice might not
be sufficient to prevent a harm, and take additional actions
to prevent harm.
Characteristics of the Reasonable Care model
1. Concern for preventing harm, rather than trying to prevent
causing harm.
2. Oriented towards the future, towards avoiding problems and
protecting the public.
3. Attitude of concern or caring about public, client, environment.

Models of Professional Responsibility………

3. Good Works (Supererogation) model of responsibility:

“the act of performing more than is required by duty, obligation, or
need”
Webster’s Collegiate

“...above and beyond the call of duty.”

Examples…..
1. Peter Palchinski, the Marxist mining engineer who promoted
improvements to workers’ living conditions, was executed by
Stalin.
2. A consulting engineer offers to design a parking lot for her
church at her cost, with no charge for her time.

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CIV402 Sec 22 and 66 4/15/2020

Impediments to Responsibility
1. The Problem of Many Hands (or fractured responsibility)
Individuals often attempt to evade (escape) personal responsibility for
wrongdoing, especially by individuals in large organizations by pointing
out that many individuals had a hand in causing the harm, this called the
problem of many hand.

So how do we handle it?

If a harm has resulted from collective inaction, the degree of individual
responsibility of each member of the group, should vary based on the
role each member could have played in preventing the inaction, this
called the principle of responsibility for inaction in groups.

A similar principle can apply to the harm that has been produced by
collective action, which is called the principle of responsibility for
action in groups.

Impediments to Responsibility…….
2. Blind Spots:
• self-interest
• self-deception
• willful blindness
• inattentional blindness

Self-interest: Engineers, like every one else, are people with personal
hopes and ambitions that are not restricted (limited) to professional
ideals. Some times concern for our interests tempts us to act contrary
to the interests of others.

Self-deception: Some rationalizations seem to betray a willful

(determined) lack of self-understanding called self deception, an
intentional avoidance of truths we would find it painful to confront self-
consciously, it is particularly difficult to discover it in oneself.

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CIV402 Sec 22 and 66 4/15/2020

Impediments to Responsibility….

Impediments to Responsibility…….
3. Fear We may be moved by different kinds of fear- fear of
acknowledging our mistakes, of losing our jobs, or of some sort
of punishment or other bad consequences. Fears of these sorts
can prevent us to act responsibly.

4. Egoistic and Egocentric Tendencies A common feature of human

experience is that we tend to interpret situations from very
limited mindset is called egocentricity (self-centered). Is present
mostly in younger children (innate dignity or pride ) like "since I
know it, you know it too".

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CIV402 Sec 22 and 66 4/15/2020

Impediments to Responsibility…….
5. Microscopic vision Like egocentric thinking, microscopic vision embraces
a limited perspectives, and may be highly accurate and precise but focusing
only on the narrow field of resolution (determination).

6. Uncritical acceptance of authority Engineering codes of ethics emphasize

the importance of engineering exercising independent , objective judgment
in performing their functions (autonomy), and at the same time the codes
insist that the engineers have a duty of fidelity (loyalty) to their employers
and clients.
Experiments shows that high percentage of people are inclined to defer
(delay) uncritically to authority.

Impediments to Responsibility…….
7. Groupthink
Situations in which groups come to agreement at the expense of critical
thinking.
Noteworthy feature of large organizational settings

Symptoms of “group thinking”

• A strong “we-feeling” that views outsiders as adversaries or enemies
and encourages shared stereotypes of others
• “rationalizations” that tend to shift responsibility to others;
• an “illusion of morality” that assumes the inherent morality of the
group and thereby discourages careful examination of the moral
implications of what the group is doing;
• “Self-censorship”, resulting from a desire not to ‘‘rock the boat’’;
• “Illusion of unanimity”, construing silence of a group member as
consent
• An application of “direct pressure” on those who show signs of
disagreement.

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CIV402 Sec 22 and 66 4/15/2020

Conflicting interests and Conflict in interests

Example 1
Let us consider a girl who needs to choose from among her interests
in order to fit in her timetable. She wants to attend the exam in
college, to attend the music class, to go out for a movie, to deliver a
seminar and also go visit her friend. As she is falling short of time, it
is her interest to choose what to do and what not. The term used to
mention this can be “Conflicting interests” and this cannot be
morally wrong.

Example 2
If another instance is considered where a man works for a company,
being in some crucial position where he has access to all the
confidential information and if he works as an unofficial adviser to his
wife’s company, it would be morally wrong, where a moral conflict
definitely arises. This can be termed as “Conflict in interests”.
Hence, the two concepts are different.

Self-Study
• Lack of awareness is a willful-blindness and a major impediment to
responsibility. Give an example to elaborate this impediment in
engineering practice.

• List four blind-spot impediments to responsibility.

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CIV402 Sec 22 and 66 4/15/2020

Multiple Choice Question

1. The problem of many hands is the problem:
a) that firms have when they have so many employees that they
become inefficient.
b) created when the standard of care is improperly applied.
c) created by the fact that some errors in engineering judgment are
normal and should be expected.
d) created when many people have a part in an error.

How can the problem of “groupthink” be minimized for

engineers?
It mostly and much depends on the attitudes of group leaders,
whether they are managers or engineers (or both).

Leaders need to be aware of the tendency of groups toward

groupthink and take constructive steps to resist it. Each
member of a team or group can assume role of critic.
Outsiders can be often invited to meetings and group leader
can often remain absent in these meetings to avoid
influencing the discussions in the meetings..
Encouraging culture of dissent, where disagreement or
difference of opinions is welcomed can discourage
“groupthink” mentality.

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CIV402 Sec 22 and 66 4/15/2020

How can the problem of “uncritical acceptance of authority”

be minimized for engineers?

To overcome the problems associated with the uncritical

acceptance of authority or, organizations must establish a
culture in which dissent (disagreement or difference of
opinions) is accepted and even encouraged.

Dr. Manish A. Kewalramani 10