Question Bank

Part – A
(Two-Marks Questions and Answers)

CHAPTER – 1: HUMAN VALUES

Ethics
1. What is Engineering Ethics?
2. What are the two approaches to Engineering ethics? (Microethics, Macroethics)
3. What is the scope of engineering ethics?
(ethics of workplace, ethics related to product or work
4. List different meanings of ‘ethics’.
5. List the key trends in engineering ethics
{The world of work is changing. Five key trends in engg. and mgt. have become apparent,
namely,
1. Understanding other people’s point of view is becoming increasingly important in a
globalised knowledge economy.
2. People will have more responsibility at an earlier age for managing their own careers
-ethically.
3. Organisations are changing in ways which create new ethical challenges.
4. The world is becoming increasingly diverse in matters of values and faiths, creating an
increased demand for tolerance.
5. The complexity of our skills and knowledge raises new ethical questions in respect to
technology and practice.
6. The emerging WTO regime calls upon professionals including engineers to qualify as
per internationally laid down and recognised norms to facilitate their global mobility.
Morality
6. What is morality?
7. Distinguish between ‘morality’ and ‘ethics’
Question Bank 141

Values
8. Define ‘value’?
(Sum of attitudes and behaviors of a person. To the society, values are principles, ideas or
actions that are positive, constructive and causing good to every human being)
9. List different types of values and give a few examples in each.
(core values: right conduct, peace, truth, love, non-violence)
10. How do the human values evolve?
11. Define Integrity? (unity of thoughts, words and deeds, owning responsibility in doing a
job)
12. Define service learning?
(learning service procedures, norms, and conditions. Service or training or study on real life
problems during formal learning)
Virtues
13. Define ‘virtues’ (positive and preferred values. They are attitudes or character traits, motives
and emotions).
14. Define ‘civic virtue’?
(duties and rights, as a citizen of village or municipality or a city or country)
15. List the types of virtues, with an example for each.
(self-direction virtues, public-spirited, team-work, proficiency, and cardinal virtues)
16. Explain the term ‘respect for others’
17. What should one do or not to do live peacefully?
18. What are the factors for one to work peacefully?
19. Distinguish between ‘caring’ and ‘sharing’?
20. Define ‘honesty’ (virtue, exhibited in truthfulness and trustworthiness).
21. List different ways the honesty reflects. (beliefs, communication, decisions, and actions)
22. Define ‘courage’.
(accept and face risks in rational ways. physical, social, and intellectual courage).
23. Define ‘co-operation’.
24. What are the impediments to proper co-operation?
25. Define Commitment?
26. Define ‘Empathy’
(ability to put one’s self into psychological frame or view of another, imaginative projection
into other’s feelings, and feeling of concern for another’s background)
27. List the benefits of empathy.
28. Define self-confidence.
29. What are the factors that shape self-confidence in a person?
(attitudes of parents, influence of friends, of superiors and training in organisation)
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30. List two methods of developing self-confidence.

(SWOT analysis, training to evaluate risks and self-talk).
31. Define ‘character’.
32. Define ‘spirituality’.
{awareness of spiritual dimension (mind and its development) of nature. It includes faith or
belief in supernatural power on worldly events. It consists of principles including experiences
of enlightenment, healing, & meditation. The concept of human spirit, implying capacities
such as love, peace, service, hope, forgiveness, integrity, creativity, & search for meaningful
life}

CHAPTER – 2: ENGINEERING ETHICS

Fundamentals
1. List the objectives of this course ‘professional ethics’?
(understand, resolve moral issues, justify moral judgement)
(Improvement of cognitive skills (skills of intellect, in thinking clearly), and act in morally
desirable ways (moral commitment and responsible conduct))
2. Define Engineering Ethics.
3. State the senses of ‘engineering ethics’.
(normative sense and descriptive sense)
4. Why do people behave unethically? Or why and how do moral problems arise in a profession?
(Resource crunch — Pressure, through time limits, money or budgetary constraints,
Opportunity — Double standards employer, emphasis on results and gains only MBO, Attitude
of employees due to low morale, lack of promotion or absence of recognition and reward
system, poor working conditions)
Moral Dilemma
5. Explain the term, ‘moral dilemma’.
6. What are the situations when moral dilemmas arise?
(problem of vagueness, problem of conflicting reasons, problem of disagreement)
7. What are the difficulties in solving moral problems?
(vagueness, conflicting reasons, disagreement)
8. List the steps in confronting moral dilemma?
(identification of factors, collection of information, ranking, generate alternatives, discussion,
decision)
Autonomy
9. Define ‘moral autonomy’.
(self-determinant or independent)
10. Explain the relation between autonomy and authority.
(independence in making decisions and actions, providing freedom to act)
Question Bank 143

Type of Inquiry
11. Name three types of inquiries.
(normative, conceptual, descriptive inquiry)
Moral Development
12. Highlight the principle of ‘pre-conventional level’ of moral development.
13. Highlight the principle of ‘conventional level’ of moral development.
14. Highlight the principle of ‘post-conventional level’ of moral development.
15. Differentiate between ‘Kohlberg and Gilligan theory’ of moral development.
Profession
16. Explain the terms, ‘Profession’, ‘Professional’, and ‘Professionalism’.
(Profession: Occupation that requires advanced skills and knowledge, Self-regulation,
concerted service to the public.
(Professional: Relates to a person or any work which requires skills and knowledge, self-
regulation and results in public good. It means a ‘person’ as well as a ‘status’)
(Professionalism: Qualities expected of a professional)
17. List the criteria to achieve professionalism.
18. List the five characteristics of professionals.
(training, knowledge and skills, monopoly in service, degree of autonomy in work place,
regulation by code of ethics)
19. List the models of professional roles.
(savior, guardian, bureaucratic servant, social servant, social enabler, game player)
20. Define a ‘professional engineer’.
Professional engineer is a person who is entitled to undertake independent practice on planning,
research, design, analysis, execution, manufacturing, maintenance, testing, evaluation, quality
assurance, management and/or guidance thereof, certification work and such other matters
as required for professional abilities in engineering and technology, which ECI may decide
from time to time and include in its Regulations (Refer Engineers Bill 2004, as drafted by
ECI 17).
Responsibility
21. What are the types of ‘responsibility’?
(moral, causal, job, legal)
22. What are the different senses of responsibility?
(characteristic quality, obligations, general moral capacity, liability and accountability for
actions, praiseworthiness or blameworthiness)
23. What are the virtues fulfilled under professional responsibility?
(self-direction, public-spirited, team-work, proficiency virtues)
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24. What is Social Responsibility?

(well-being of employees, investors, customers, dealers, supplier, local communities,
government, and business owners. Protecting the work environment, training workers)
25. Define “Accountability”
(capacity to act on moral reasons, answerable for meeting specific obligations, conscientious,
blameworthy/praiseworthy)
26. Distinguish between ‘corporate responsibility’ and ‘corporate accountability’.
(voluntary compliance of particular organizations to particular codes of conduct, and holding
all organizations accountable to laws, regulations, and rules)
27. What is moral integrity? Write on its significance.
(unity of thought, word, and deed, owning responsibility on wrong actions)
28. State the specific virtues relating to honesty.
(truthfulness, trustworthiness)
Ethical Theories
29. List the uses of ethical theories.
(Understanding moral dilemma, in justifying obligations and ideas and in relating ordinary
and professional morality)
30. Define ‘self-respect’.
(Valuing oneself in morally-suitable ways)
31. Differentiate between self-respect and self-esteem.
32. What is meant by ‘strict liability’?
(manufacturer is held legally responsible for design of tool or device when it fails, during its
use)
33. Name three conditions for ‘duty ethics’, as per Immanuel Kant.
(To show respect for persons, duties binding on everybody and duties prescribe certain
actions categorically)
34. Explain the term ‘self realization ethics’.
(Right action consists in seeking self-fulfillment. In called ethical egoism, right action
consists in always promoting what is good for oneself).
35. List the different tests for evaluating ethical theories.
(Clear, internally consistent, theory and its defense depend only upon facts, comprehensive,
and compatible with moral convictions)
36. What are the reasons for a person to accept ‘ethical relativism’?
(a) Laws and customs seem to be definite, real, and clear-cut
(b) Believes that the values are subjective at the cultural level
(c) Accepts that the moral standards vary from one culture to another
37. What is meant by ‘paramount obligation’?
38. Define ‘self-control’.
Question Bank 145

39. Define a ‘right’.

(Entitlement to act in a certain way. Rights serve as a protective barrier, shielding individuals
from unjustified infringements. For every right, a complementary duty of non-interference
exists)

CHAPTER – 3: ENGINEERING AS SOCIAL EXPERIMENTATION

Engineering as Experimentation
1. What is engineering experimentation?
2. Why does engineering have to be viewed as experimental process?
(assumed model is uncertain, final outcomes are uncertain, material behavior is uncertain
and not constant, nature of user environment is uncertain, and unintended side effects in use)
3. List the responsibilities of engineers to society OR What are the elements that should make
an engineer a responsible experimenter?
(commitment to moral values, comprehensive perspective on relevant information,
Unrestricted personal involvement in all steps, in product development and accountable for
results of project)
4. Name two aspects for comparing engineering work as experiment.
(Experimental control, Informed consent)
5. Explain the term ‘learning from the past’, in engineering experimentation.
(learning not only from their own work but also from work & results of others)
6. Give the principles of experimental control.
Codes of Ethics
7. What does the ‘codes of ethics’ exhibit?
(Rights, duties, and obligations of the professional)
8. Name the roles of codes of ethics.
(Inspiration and guidance, Support to engineers, Deterrence and Discipline, Education and
mutual understanding, Create good public image, and protects status quo)
9. What are the limitations of codes of ethics?
(vague wordings, not applicable to all situations, have internal conflicts, they can not be
treated as final authority, only a few enroll as members in professional society and non-
members can not be compelled, different societies have different codes, codes are said to be
coercive)
10. Distinguish between the codes of ethics and codes of conduct?
Codes of ethics are aspirational the codes of conduct are more oriented to professional and
one’s attitudes.
11. Give two conditions, essential for valid informed consent.
(Consent is voluntary, all relevant information shall be presented in a clearly understandable
form, and consenter shall be capable of processing information and make rational decisions)
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12. What is meant by ‘informed consent’ when bringing an engineering product to market?
(Let the customer know about the product, risks and benefits of use, and all relevant
information on product, such as how to use and how not to use)
13. Define relevant factual information.
(all available information related to fulfillment of one’s moral obligations, including intended
and unintended impact of the product , on society)
14. What is meant by conscientiousness?
(Being sensitive to full range of moral values and responsibilities and willingness to develop
the skill and put efforts needed to reach best balance possible among those considerations)
Standards and Law
15. What is the importance of Industrial Standards?
(Specification for interchangeability. Standardisation to reduce production costs but with
better quality)
16. What does the ‘balanced outlook on law’ stress in engineering practice?
(It stresses the necessity of laws and regulations and their limitations in directing and
controlling the engineering practice)
17. List a few factual issues, conceptual issues and moral/normative issues in the space shuttle
challenger incident.

CHAPTER – 4: SAFETY, RESPONSIBILITIES AND RIGHTS

Safety and Risk

1. State the definition of ‘Safety’.
(risks would be judged to be acceptable)
2. Name the factors that influence the perception of risk.
(Probability of risk, consequence of the risk, proximity, and method of information
dissemination on risk)
3. What is the use of knowledge of risk acceptance to engineers?
(Designer can redesign product to include safety measures, to allow product fail safely,
abandon it safely, and provide for safe escape from product to minimize the loss)
4. Compare ‘safety’ and ‘risk’.
(Safety means that the risk is known and judged as acceptable. Risk is a potential that
something unwanted and harmful may occur. Risk = 1 - safety)
5. Mention two ways to determine the risk (testing for safety).
(testing on the functions of the safety system components, destructive testing, prototype
testing, simulation testing)
6. List two analytical methods of testing for safety of a product/project.
(scenario analysis, FME analysis, fault-tree analysis, event-tree analysis)
Question Bank 147

7. List the positive uncertainties in determining the risk.

(restricted access to knowledge on risk, behavior of materials, behavior of environment, use
or misuse of materials, newer applications of old technologies, and unexpected and unintended
outcomes)
8. List the factors that affect the risk acceptability.
(lack of knowledge of product/process outcomes, estimating probability of rare events,
incorrect and unacceptable assumptions and data, magnitude and proximity and voluntary-
ness)
9. List two advantages of fault-tree analysis.
10. Compare the fault-tree and event-tree analysis for risk assessment.
11. What is meant by ‘safe exit’, in the study of safety?
(conditions are: (1) product, when it fails, should fail safely, (2) product, when it fails, can
be abandoned safely, (3) The user can safely escape the product )
Risk- Benefit Analysis
12. List two reasons for the Risk-Benefit Analysis.
(to know risks and benefits and weigh them each, to decide on designs, advisability of
product, and to suggest and modify the design so that the risks are eliminated or reduced.
13. Name two ethical implications (limitations) of risk-benefit analysis.
(benefits and risks may go to different groups, units for comparison are not same, is there
any violation of rights for those who are exposed to maximum risks and get only minimum
benefits? Both risks and benefits lie in the future. The discounted present value, may not be
correct, and both risk and benefits may have uncertainties)
14. List two methodologies adopted to assess ‘personal risk’.
(assess the voluntary activities, assess the degree of occupational hazard, and loss of senses
or limbs, loss of earning capability)
15. List the factors required to assess ‘public risk’.
(loss of future income, costs of treatment, and cost of welfare and rehabilitation)
Reducing Risk
16. Name a few techniques (steps) to reduce risks.
(apply safety concepts in design, use redundancy principle in instrument design, monitor
and test safety system, train operating personnel and audits, and well-designed emergency
plan for evacuation)
17. What is meant by voluntary risk?
(involvement of people in risky actions knowing that these actions are unsafe)
18. When is testing ‘inappropriate’?
(in destructive testing, test duration is long, if components failing by tests are very costly.
Use then design of experiments, accelerated testing and computer simulations)
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Collegiality and Loyalty

19. What is meant by commitment?
(sharing of loyalty to moral principles)
20. What is ‘collegiality’?
(tendency to support and cooperate with the colleagues)
21. List various aspects of collegiality.
(respect to work of others, commitment to moral principles, and connectedness)

Authority and Loyalty

22. Name two senses of loyalty.
(Agency loyalty, an obligation, attitude (identification) loyalty, a virtue)
23. Define ‘institutional authority’ with an example.
(authority within the organization. It is the right of the employer to exercise power on the
employees and force them to achieve their goals. Ex.: resource allocation, policy decisions,
recommendation, supervision, issue orders on subordinates. line managers)
24. What is ‘expert authority’?
(Possession of special knowledge, skills and competence to perform a job thoroughly and
advice on jobs. They direct others, e.g., Advisers, Experts)
Collective Bargaining
25. Define ‘collective bargaining’.
(bargain by the union for improving economic interests of the worker members, through
negotiation, threatening verbally, and declaration of ‘strike’)
26. What is meant by ‘proprietary information’?
(information owned by the organization, including knowledge and procedures established)

Confidentiality
27. What is meant by ‘confidentiality’?
(Keeping the information on the employer and clients, as secrets is confidentiality)
28. How do the ethical theories justify confidentiality?
(1. Right based: Right of stakeholders, Right to IP of the company.
2. Duty based: Employees and employers have duty to keep up mutual trust.
3. Utilitarian based: Rule utilitarian thy. holds good when confidentiality produces most good
to most people. Act utilitarian thy. focuses on each situation, when the employer decides on
a matter as confidential)
29. List factors/principles to justify ‘confidentiality’.
(Respect for autonomy, for promises, and for public)
Question Bank 149

Conflict of Interests
30. What is ‘moonlighting’?
(An employee working for two different companies)
31. What is the difference between ‘bribe’ and ‘gift’?
(Test criteria: timing, cost, quality of product, is giver a friend? and motive)
32. What is meant by apparent conflict of interest?
Occupational Crime
33. What is meant by ‘occupational crime’?
(Wrong actions of a person through one’s lawful employment, Crime committed by employee
to promote his interest, and theft by the employee)
34. What is a white-collared crime?
(violation of laws regulating work activities, when committed by office workers or
professionals occupational crime is called a white-collared crime. Antonym: blue-collared
crime)
35. Define ‘price fixing’.
(fixing the bidding rate by companies, in collusion with other companies, for the contract /
services. It is an occupational crime, prevalent in electrical industries)
36. What is ‘bootlegging’?
(Manufacturing selling or transporting liquor and narcotics that are prohibited by law. In
engineering practice, it refers to working on projects which are not properly authorized)
Rights
37. List various provisions under ‘human rights’.
(right to pursue legitimate personal interest, right to make a living, right to privacy, right to
property)
38. List the provisions under professional rights.
(right to form and express professional judgment, right to refuse to participate in unethical
activities, right to warn the public about dangers, right to fair recognition and remuneration
for profnl. services, right to talk publicly about the job and right to engage in the activities
of professional societies.
39. What is meant by ‘right of conscientious refusal’?
(right to refuse to engage in unethical acts e.g., falsifying data, forging documents, altering
test results, lying, giving or taking bribe)
40. List the features of the employee rights.
(Professional rights, Basic human rights, Institutional rights/Contractual employee rights,
and Non-contractual rights)
41. List a few non-contractual employee rights.
(right to choose outside activities, right to privacy, right to due process from employer, right
to equal opportunity)
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42. List the situations when ‘right to choose outside activities’ can be curbed.
(when the activities lead to violating or detrimental to the duties, as in moonlighting, and
when the interest of the employer is damaged)
43. What is the ‘right to due process’?
(right to fair process or procedures in firing, demotion and in taking any disciplinary actions
against the employees. Fairness is in terms of the process rather than the outcomes)
Intellectual Property Rights
44. What is meant by ‘intellectual property’?
(information and original expression that derives its original value from creative ideas, and
has commercial value. It is an intangible asset)
45. Differentiate between ‘Patent’ and ‘Trade secret’.
(Patents protect legally specific products from being manufactured or sold by others, without
permission of the patent holder. TS are on designs, technical processes, plant facilities, and
methods. Limited legal protection, against abuse by the employee or contractor)
46. What is the validity and territory for the patents?
(20 years from the date filing the application for the patent. It is territorial right and needs
registration)
47. What is meant be ‘utility patent’?
(granted to one who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture
or chemical composition of any manner or any useful improvement. Utility time is 20
years)
48. What is meant by ‘industrial design patent’?
(idea or conception regarding features of shape, configuration, and pattern, ornamental with
lines or colors applied to any article, two or three dimensional, made by industrial process.
Patent has a term of 14 years from the date of filing the application, e.g., design applied to
shoes, T.V., textiles)
49. What is meant by ‘copyright’?
(specific and exclusive right for reproduction of original work, i.e., literary material, music,
film, sound recording, broadcasting, software and multimedia. No need for registration and
no need to seek lawyer’s help for settlement. Life of copyright protection is the life of
author plus 50 years)
50. What is meant be ‘trademark’?
(identity of specific good and services. It is a territorial right, which needs registration, but
without any time limit. It may be registered in the form of words, designs, sounds, and
symbols)
Discriminatiion
51. What is meant be ‘discrimination’?
(making difference in one’s treatment of people or giving preference on the basis of sex,
race, and religion)
Question Bank 151

52. What is meant be ‘preferential treatment’?

(giving preference to a group of people, e.g., the reservation is provided for the minority
and women in employment opportunities, as a social prop)
53. List three arguments favoring preferential treatment.
(based on compensatory justice, compensate for sexism and racism and reverse preferential
treatments)
54. List three arguments against preferential treatment.
(violates the rights to equal opportunity, lowers economic productivity, destroys their self-
confidence)
55. What is meant be ‘sexual harassment’?
(continuous annoying and attacks on women, on the basis of sexual considerations. Includes
physical and psychological attack, coercion, misuse of authority or any undesirable and
indecent actions)
Whistle Blowing
56. What is meant by ‘whistle blowing’?
(process by which an employee conveys information about a significant moral problem to a
person in a position to take action on the problem, outside the approved organizational
channel)
57. List four aspects of ‘whistle blowing’.
(disclosure, topic, agent, and recipient)

CHAPTER – 5: GLOBAL ISSUES

1. What are the forms or senses of relative values/relativism?

(ethical relativism, descriptive relativism, moral relationalism or contexualism)
2. List the features of ‘international human rights’.
(freedom of movement of people, ownership of properties, freedom from torture, fair trial
on the products, freedom from discrimination on the basis of race or sex, physical security,
freedom of speech, have minimum education, political participation, to live and exist)
3. Define ‘technology transfer’.
(process of moving technology to a new setting and implementing it there. Technology
includes hardware and techniques (technical, organizational, and managerial skills and
procedures), i.e., moving from lab to the field/factory or one country to another)
4. Define ‘appropriate technology’.
(identification, transfer, and implementation of most suitable technology for a set of new
situations. Appropriate is value based and it should ensure fulfillment of the human needs
and protection of the environment)
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Environmental Ethics
5. Define ‘environmental ethics’.
(Study of moral issues concerning the environment, and the moral perspective, belief, or
attitude concerning those issues)
6. What are the duties of an engineer as an experimenter, in environmental ethics?
(Study how industry and technology affect environment, how to fix tolerable and actual
pollution levels, protective measures for immediate implementation, and how to educate
people)
Computer Ethics
7. Define ‘computer ethics’.
(Study and analysis of nature and social impact of computer technology, and formulation
and justification of policies, for ethical use of computers)
8. W hat is m eant conceptual framework in computer ethics?
(Computer program: Is it an IP? Is copyright applicable to this? Or is it a process protected
by a patent? Is it proprietary information? Here, guidelines are needed)
9. Name different types of problems in ‘computer ethics’?
(Computer as the instrument of unethical act, computer as the object of unethical act, problems
connected with autonomous nature of computer)
10. List the issues in ‘computer ethics’.
(Computer in workplace, computer crime, privacy and anonymity, IP, professional
responsibility)
11. List the ethical problems by computers in workplace.
(elimination of manual jobs, creation of high-skilled and ITES jobs, and health and safety)
12. List the ethical features involved in computer crime.
(physical security, logical security)
13. What are the merits/demerits of anonymity, in the computer communication?
(seeking medical or psychological counseling or discussion on AIDS, abortion, gay rights,
the anonymity offers protection. It is misused by some for money laundering, drug trafficking
and preying upon the vulnerable)
14. Give the reasons for an engineer to involve in weapons development.
(gives high-profile job, helps to guard the nation, engineer reduces the risk of enemy weapons
by research)
15. List two characteristics of ‘engineers as managers’.
(promotes ethical climate, resolving conflicts, social responsibility to stakeholders, customers
and employers)
16. List the principles of conflict resolution.
(people, interests, options, evaluation).
17. List the ethical responsibilities of consulting engineers.
(proper advertising, incompetitive bidding, fixing contingency fee, and the safety of clients)
Question Bank 153

18. List the provision in NSPE codes on the advertisement by consultant.

(following are prohibited: statement containing misrepresentation or omission of a necessary
fact, statement likely to create an unjustified expectation, statement containing prediction of
future success, and Statement likely to attract clients, by the use of slogans)
19. Differentiate between eye witness and expert witness.
(What was seen and, What could have caused and happened)
20. List various abuses of engineers as ‘expert witnesses’.
(hired guns, prejudiced for monitory considerations, ego bias, sympathy bias)
Engineers as Advisors
21. Highlight the issues for engineers as ‘advisors’.
(study the costs and benefits of all alternatives in objective manner, study economic viability,
technical feasibility, operational feasibility and social acceptability, follow honesty, and
technical complicity leading to moral complicity)
22. List various roles or models of engineers as ‘advisors’.
(hired gun, value-neutral analyst, value-guided advocates)
23. List different characteristic of engineers as public planner and policy makers.
(honesty, competence, diligence, loyalty)
24. Define the concept of ‘moral leadership’.
(leading people to achieve goals and objectives, motivate them to move through morally
desirable ways, leading creatively in application, extension and putting values into practice
and sustain professional interest among social diversity and cross disciplinary complexity)
25. How does the code of ethics achieve its goals?
(Creates an ethical environment in a profession, guides the person as to how to act, in any
given situation, supports the individual, who is pressurized by a superior to behave unethically)
26. What is the meaning of the statement, ‘When in Rome do as Roman do’?
(actions of corporation and individuals that are accepted by law, custom and values of a
society can be morally right in that society. It is morally false, if it is illogical. So, corporation
and the engineers functioning in other countries must understand their law, customs, and
beliefs and act in line with those prevailing in that country)