ENGINEERING

PRACTICE & ETHICS

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN ENGINEERING (2)
 CHALLENGES IN THE WORK PLACE
• The biggest workplace challenge is said to be the employee‘s work
ethics: showing up to work every day (interest in work and
attendance), showing up to work on time (punctuality), taking pride in
the quality of their work, commitment to the job, and getting along
with others. This situation demands inculcation of good character in
the workplace by employees.
 CHARACTER
• It is a characteristic property that defines the behavior of an individual. It is
the pattern of virtues (morally-desirable features). Character includes
attributes that determine a person‘s moral and ethical actions and responses.
It is also the ground on which morals and values blossom.
• People are divided into several categories, according to common tendencies
such as ruthless, aggressiveness, and ambition, constricting selfishness,
stinginess, or cheerfulness, generosity and goodwill. Individuals vary not
only in the type of their character but also in the degree. Those whose lives
are determined and directed by the prevailing habits, fashions, beliefs,
attitudes, opinions and values of the society in which they live have at best a
developed social as opposed to an individual character.
 CHARACTER
• The character is exhibited through conduct. Character is determined by the
expectations of society. Many act and live within its norms, refusing to fall
below the required social minimum, failing to rise above the maximum
expected of a normal member of the group. On one extreme are those that
do not even conform to the minimum standards, and fail to acquire the
socially- required behaviors, attitudes and values. These individuals have an
unformed social character.
• At the other extreme are those whose beliefs, attitudes and values are
determined internally by the strength of their own convictions. These are
individuals with developed minds and formed characters of their own.
Individuals do not live or act in a vacuum. They exist and act in a human
social environment of other people that constantly act on them and react to
their actions. They also live in a natural environment of physical objects and
material forces such as the winds and rains.
 CHARACTER
• And those with occult and spiritual traditions recognize that there is
also a subtle environment of other planes of existence, both higher
planes of spiritual influence and lower planes of negative forces in
universal nature seeking to act on the lives. All of the social, material
and the occult planes constitute the field of human activity.
• Each of them functions according to its own laws or principles. Each
of them has its own characteristic modes of action and influence on
human life.
• Character is the expression of the personality of a human being, and
that it reveals itself in one‘s conduct.
 The Four Temperaments
• The original endowment or native element in character with which the
individual starts life is practically identical with what the Ancients
recognized as temperament.
• From the times of Hippocrates, they distinguished four main types of
temperaments: the Sanguine,
• the Choleric,
• the Phlegmatic, and the
• Melancholic.
 Types of Character
• From the four fundamental temperaments,
various classifications of character have been
adopted by different psychologists. The
intellectual, the emotional, and the volitional or
energetic are the chief types.
 Ethics and Character
• While psychology investigates the growth of different types of character,
ethics considers the relative value of such types and the virtues which
constitute them. The effect on the person‘s character of a particular form of
conduct is a universally accepted as a test of its moral quality. Different
systems of ethics emphasize different virtues in constituting the ideal moral
character. With the utilitarian, who places the ethical end in the maximum
happiness for the whole community, benevolence will form the primary
element in the ideal character.
• For the stoic, fortitude and self-control are the chief excellences.
• In all conceptions of ideal character, firmness of will, fortitude, constancy in
adhering to principle or in pursuit of a noble aim are held important.
 Education and Character
• The aim of education is not only the cultivation of the intellect but also
the formation of moral character. Increased intelligence or physical
skill may as easily be employed to the detriment or benefit of the
community, if not accompanied by improved will. It is the function of
ethics to determine the ideals of human character. The theory and
science of education are to study the processes by which that end may
be attained.
 Building Character in the Workplace
• Managers have to influence and employ creative means of stressing
the importance of good character in the workplace, in the following
ways
1. Employee Hiring, Training, and Promotion Activities
2. Internal Communication
3. External Communication
4. Financial and Human Resources
5. Community Outreach
 SPIRITUALITY
• Spirituality is a way of living that emphasizes the constant awareness and
recognition of the spiritual dimension (mind and its development) of nature
and people, with a dynamic balance between the material development and
the spiritual development. This is said to be the great virtue of Indian
philosophy and for Indians. Sometimes, spirituality includes the faith or
belief in supernatural power/ God, regarding the worldly events. It functions
as a fertilizer for the soil ‗character‘ to blossom into values and morals.
• Spirituality includes creativity, communication, recognition of the
individual as human being (as opposed to a life-less machine), respect to
others, acceptance (stop finding faults with colleagues and accept them the
way they are), vision (looking beyond the obvious and not believing anyone
blindly), and partnership (not being too authoritative, and always sharing
responsibility with others, for better returns).
 SPIRITUALITY
• Spirituality is motivation as it encourages the colleagues to perform better.
Lack of motivation leads to isolation. Spirituality is also energy: Be
energetic and flexible to adapt to challenging and changing situations.
Spirituality is flexibility as well. One should not be too dominating. Make
space for everyone and learn to recognize and accept people the way they
are.
• Tolerance and empathy are the reflections of spirituality. Blue and saffron
colors are said to be associated with spirituality. Creativity in spirituality
means conscious efforts to see things differently, to break out of habits and
outdated beliefs to find new ways of thinking, doing and being. Suppression
of creativity leads to violence. People are naturally creative. Creativity
includes the use of color, humor and freedom to enhance productivity.
 Spirituality in the Workplace
• Building spirituality in the workplace:
• Spirituality is promoted in the workplace by adhering to the following
activities:
• 1. Verbally respect the individuals as humans and recognize their values in all
decisions and actions.
• 2. Get to know the people with whom you work and know what is important to them.
Know their goals, desires, and dreams too.
• 3. State your personal ethics and your beliefs clearly.
• 4. Support causes outside the business.
• 5. Encourage leaders to use value-based discretion in making decisions.
• 6. Demonstrate your own self-knowledge and spirituality in all your actions.
• 7. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
 Spirituality for Corporate Excellence
• The spiritual traits to be developed for excellence in corporate activities are listed as follows:
• 1. Self-awareness — Realization of self-potential. A human has immense capability but it needs to
be developed.
• 2. Alertness in observation and quickness in decision making, i.e., spontaneity which includes
quick reflexes, no delay but also no hasty decisions.
• 3. Being visionary and value based — This includes an attitude towards future of the organization
and the society, with clear objectives.
• 4. Holism — Whole system or comprehensive views and interconnected with different aspects.
Holistic thinking, which means the welfare of the self, family, organization and the society
including all other living beings and environment.
• 5. Compassion — Sympathy, empathy and concern for others. These are essential for not only
building the team but also for its effective functioning.
• 6. Respect for diversity — It means search for unity in diversity i.e., respect others and their views.
 Spirituality for Corporate Excellence

• 7. Moral Autonomy — It means action based on rational and moral judgment. One
need not follow the crowd or majority i.e., band-wagon effect.
• 8. Creative thinking and constant reasoning — Think if we can do something new
and if we can improve further?
• 9. Ability to analyze and synthesize — Refrain from doing something only
traditional.
• 10. Positive views of adversity — Make adversities one‘s source of power
• 11. Humility — The attitude to accept criticism (it requires courage) and willing to
correct. It includes modesty and acknowledging the work of colleagues.
• 12. Sense of vocation — Treat the duty as a service to society, besides your
organization.