UNSW

GSOE9510
Summer 2025

Ethics & Leadership in Engineering:

the Students’ Guide
Welcome to GSOE9510!
Have you ever thought what it involves to be an engineer with whom other people will
want to work? This course explores that question, considering the behaviours that we
engineers—indeed, any person—should choose when working in a team, considering
sustainability, managing risks, or delivering a project which affects others. And we will also
get to know more a bit more about each other.

Course Staff
Course convener: Dr Waheeda Jabbar, [email protected]. You will
also have other class-room teachers.

Consultations: Students are encouraged to use the on-line discussion tools found on the
course moodle-site.
Matters concerning course content & administration should be referred to the convener.
Class-room teachers have responsibility for arrangements within their respective classes.

Course details
Units of Credit: GSOE9510 is a 6 UoC course; we emphasis that 6 UoC means 6 UoC: the
indicative student workload is 150 hr, i.e. 35 hr/wk, allowing some time for exam and
preparation. Of course, the amount of work you actually choose to do depends upon your
ambition and your ability.

Classes: In Summer Term, GSOE9510 has classes running 2 days each week, for 5 weeks,
starting 6 Jan and ending 3 feb.
You will find a detailed class schedule at timetable.unsw.edu.au/2025/GSOE9510.html
Course Information
Context and aims
This course is part of the non-technical component of your professional education.
GSOE9510 Ethics & Leadership in Engineering: the Students’ Guide 2

Aims: This course is primarily designed to enhance your ability to (i) analyse ethical problems,
determine a plan of action, and articulate this resolution to others, and (ii) make decisions about
technological innovations and, thereby, to engage productively in the leadership of various
groups. In both cases we are primarily interested in the context of engineering, but the skills
apply equally to your wider life.
A further expectation is to provide you with (i) an understanding of the complex,
interlocking organisations that form the wider, non-technical context in which engineers
practice, and (ii) some practical guidance both for interacting professionally with other
engineers, wherever they might be, and for conducting yourselves as engineers, especially
within large organisations under strong commercial pressures. Ethical analyses will be
specifically informed by formal guidance from Engineers Australia (2019).

Prerequisites & assumed knowledge: There is no prerequisite for this course but we
assume that you have worked previously on an engineering project of some description.

Learning outcomes
After the successful completion of this course, the student will be able to

• describe the social, environmental, regulatory, & organisational context of

engineering and identify which of its features are important for an engineering
design;
• identify ethical problems, particularly in the context of engineering practice;
• formulate and communicate consistent, coherent responses to such problems, using
the formal language of ethics, and critically examine the ethical arguments proposed
by others; • use different criteria, including aspects of sustainability, to evaluate
technological innovations;
• help lead, i.e. facilitate the effective working of, a team (be it a technical project team
or those involved in using an innovation); and
• identify ways to assess and reduce risks, especially those associated with human
limitations.
In summary, we expect you will improve your ability to consider problems from multiple
perspectives and make decisions associated with uncertain, inconsistent and imprecisely
defined requirements, as is often the case when people are involved.
Appendix 1 explains how these relate to wider program graduate outcomes.
Additionally, students are expected to improve their skills in gathering and synthesising
information, in the oral and written presentation of arguments, in listening, and in working
GSOE9510 Ethics & Leadership in Engineering: the Students’ Guide 3

with other people, some of whom will have ideas and beliefs very different from your own.
It is clear these objectives can be met only when students actually engage in discussing and
debating (both written and oral) the course of action which should be followed, i.e. the ‘best’
decision.

Teaching strategies
GSOE9510 consists of the following elements: lectures, tutorial-based activities, on-line
activities, and self-paced learning.

Self-paced learning
This is not a conventional lecture course. (Some students do not believe this and complain
when it is different!) Rather than having a set of traditional ‘instructional’ lectures, this
course is structured as a reading course. This means that you will only completely develop
your knowledge of the core material by reading the prescribed resources, not at lectures.

It is an important professional skill to be able to search through information and

identify what you need. You will not advance far in your profession if you cannot
do this. Think: papers, reports and manuals. Text-based documentation is
everywhere. This course is designed to enhance this skill needed for professional
independence.
Of course, no lecture notes will be handed out, but you will receive suggested readings.
Further, being able to organise your own learning will stand you in good stead for the
rest of your lives. It is also important to be able to reflect on what you have learned, for
without doing so you cannot identify what you yet need to learn. (Some students complain
because they want something that requires them to be less independence!)

Key reading resources

Instead of needing to read everything on the list in detail, you can share the task. You can
take advantage of work done by each other. You will each have an assigned reading and
from this develop a learning resource to be placed on moodle and explaining key concepts
of the GSOE9510 syllabus.
Plenary Classes
Formal ‘lectures’ merely introduce the main themes of the course, provide some motivation,
and present the fundamental concepts you must understand.
In other classes we will have visitors who will discuss specific topics, set in a specific
context.
GSOE9510 Ethics & Leadership in Engineering: the Students’ Guide 4

Tutorials
The other classroom activities occur in smaller groups. They provide structured reflection
on some of the ideas explored during the course and will afford you the chance to share
your understandings and experiences with each other, facilitated by a tutor. Once again you
will practise key skills. The syllabus of this course is not such that you can learn without
active engagement with other people.

Moodle
There is an on-line component for this course using moodle. Students are expected to
participate in the activities.

Team projects
As this course explores theory about leadership, it is important to have practical work, too
(just like labs). There are two team projects. These will give you an opportunity to practise
what is learnt about teamwork and leadership as well as develop some of the other learning
objectives of the course.

Note that these ‘teaching strategies’ are supported and guided by Guidelines on learning that
inform teaching (Lee, nd). In particular, “engaging students in learning; contextualise
learning; be inclusive; design curriculum to engage, contextualise, and be inclusive; and
teach to engage, contextualise and be inclusive.”

Assessment
There are several components for the summative assessment in this course.
Your exam mark x counts as 30% of your total mark. You also get an in-session mark y
worth 70%. This consists of two parts: moodle-based team-focused activities
(presentations) weighted at 40% and week-by-week individual classroom-based
“continuous” assessment (quizzes) weighted at 30%. In turn, the classroom mark comes
from 3 quizzes (15%) and class contributions (i.e. participation) (15%). The moodle-based
work comes from two group deliverables—a learning resource (25%) and a simulation
project (15%). Your final, summative course mark m is given by

m = x + y.
However, if x < 15 and y < 35 then you will get a UF grade. In other words, you must get a
satisfactory mark for the combination of final exam and the in-session marks in order to pass
this course.
The “due dates” for all assessment tasks are given in Table 1 below.
GSOE9510 Ethics & Leadership in Engineering: the Students’ Guide 5

Final Examination: The written examination, after classes end, will be of 2 hr duration. It
will test critical thinking and general understanding of the course material in a controlled
setting. It will be a closed-book exam (in person). The final exam will be held on Sat 8 Feb.

Quizzes: You will have THREE short quizzes in the form of homework assignments. Each
will require you to write about 250-300 words. Full details of this task’s requirements are
in the relevant document that will be given out later.

Presentations: The presentations will be in the form of class-room participation. You are
required to participate during classes. This means working on the activities, actively listening
and appropriately contributing to discussions, not simply being physically present. If you do
not do these things, you will not learn what we expect you to learn this session, notably
how to respond when asked a question. Classroom discussion will occur in a small group
context.
There will be no participation marks given for mere presence. Further details explaining
participation are in a separate document. If you do not have a formal, acceptable
explanation for missing a class, your participation mark will be reduced.

Moodle Participation: You are also expected to contribute to the on-line discussions about
the topics introduced by your classroom activities. At the end of session, your best postings
will be reviewed as your marked contribution.

Simulation Project: In this activity, you will work in a team of 3 to 6 students. The teams
will compete against each other to win a simulation game that will be played using moodle
as the interface. The game will run over the course duration, with the first round played
Tuesday 14 Jan. With only one round each day, there will be time between rounds of play
for your team to discuss its strategy. The team will receive a mark on the basis of how well it
functions and also its success in the game. After the game concludes, you will be required to
write a short individual reflection statement about how it went. Full details of this task’s
requirements are in separate documents.
Any student who is repeating this course will participate in a different project (so that
the game is not spoiled for others).

Online Learning Resource: Your team (same team as above) will also develop an on-line
learning resource in form of a video for the class, based on an assigned reading relevant to
this course. This video is expected to use the ideas explored in this reading and, of course,
the learning objectives of this course. Each student will then be required to assess and mark
the videos from 5 other teams (peer-assessment). The resource for a typical chapter is
expected to take a typical student only 15 minutes to work through. A few readings are
longer and will be given to larger teams. The resulting resource will, of course, be longer in
GSOE9510 Ethics & Leadership in Engineering: the Students’ Guide 6

this case. Full details of this task’s requirements are in separate documents. The chapters
for the learning resources will be allocated to teams by Friday 10 Jan. All learning resources
are due Fri 24 Jan.

Table 1 Critical dates for student work.

date activity
Fri, 10 Jan team memberships completed
Fri, 10 Jan resource chapters allocated
Thu, 16 Jan play Round 1 of simulation project
Fri, 17 Jan homework 1 submitted
Thu, 23 Jan submit learning resource
Fri, 24 Jan homework 2 submitted
Fri, 31 Jan homework 3 submitted
Thu, 06 feb complete team project reflection
questionnaires
Sat, 8 Feb exam
Team membership: To form teams, you need to select a team using the team membership
selection tool in moodle. You will be in the same team for both the Key Reading and the
Simulation Projects.

Note these general considerations about your assessment.

(i) All assessed tasks will be graded according to the academic merit (see nominated
learning objectives) of the individual piece of work.
(ii) Being able to formulate and ask appropriate questions is an important skill and,
whererelevant, marks are influenced by the quality of the questions you raise.
(iii) Marks are also influenced by your ability to communicate your ideas clearly and
concisely.

In all assessment tasks, you should read the instructions and pay attention to formal
requirements detailed on any relevant cover-sheet. There is a standard penalty for late
submission of a task: given-mark = raw-mark ×0.8n, where n is the number of days late.

Course Schedule
Please confirm the schedule on moodle, where it can be kept up-to-date.
Resources for Students
As mentioned above, ‘lecture notes’ will not be distributed. However, you will get some
notes associated with the key ideas.
GSOE9510 Ethics & Leadership in Engineering: the Students’ Guide 7

Books
Books are expensive. There is no single prescribed textbook set for this course, however the
best book is probably Martin & Schinzinger, “Ethics in Engineering” which covers the
essential material about ethics, and relates this to engineering practice. Please note that
there are different edition that vary slightly in content. The 1st edition is from 1996, the
current edition is the 5th edition from 2021.
There are also several other goods books: The aspects related to leadership are
supported by Northouse (2007), which is not specific to engineering. A reference generally
useful, and also set in the context of (albeit civil) engineering, is Beder (1998).
There are many, better written and more entertaining books that pose significant,
timeless ethics issues in works of fiction, and yet relevant to engineers, e.g. Asimov (1950),
Clarke (1965), Shelley (1818), Stevenson (1886), and Orwell (1949). Likewise, engaging
writers (not those of textbooks) have explored the nature of leadership, organisations, and
strategy, from the legendary Homer (750 BC, 720 BC) and Lao-Tzu (6th century BC),
through the Renaissance (e.g. Machiavelli 1532), to modern authors (e.g. Tolkien 1954).
Consider the contrasting approaches to leadership shown in Shakespeare’s Richard II and
Henry V. Musings on such things are as old as human society itself.

DVDs
In Week 1, you will watch the story of a celebrated “engineering achievement” (from
Constructing Australia 2007). The Library has copies of other such stories and we
encourage you to view a couple more during the rest of the session, particularly with
friends.

On-line resources
Additional on-line resources relevant to these courses:
The Library: www.library.unsw.edu.au/teaching
The Learning Centre: www.lc.unsw.edu.au
There is a wealth of case studies related to engineering ethics on the internet. We
encourage you to explore it, and think about what you find. Do you agree with it? Why?
Likewise, on the internet, there is plenty of free advice about leadership and strategies. Be
aware, though, that much of this is in the context of businesses.

We invite students who find suitable material, including web-sites, to highlight these to
others using the moodle discussion tools.
The Learning Centre
The Learning Centre is located in the new ’Learning and Careers Hub’ on the Lower Ground
Floor of Morven Brown, opposite CLB. It provides free and confidential academic support
GSOE9510 Ethics & Leadership in Engineering: the Students’ Guide 8

services for students, including assistance with communicating information in both written
& oral forms. Given the nature of assessment tasks in this course, you may find this useful.
You can approach the Centre directly for assistance on an individual (or group) basis, or
you may choose to discuss your needs with Dr Waheeda first.

Other Matters
Administrative Matters
On issues and procedures regarding such matters as special needs, equity and diversity,
occupational heath and safety, enrolment, rights, and general expectations of students,
please refer to the relevant Faculty & UNSW policies.

Academic Honesty and Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of other people’s work, including the copying of
assignments written by other students or material found on The Web. Plagiarism is a very
delicate matter for online submissions and assessments. There is no effective way of
detecting collaborations during the assessment, however there is a very effective way of
detecting similarities between submitted texts and all assessments will be automatically
checked. Please make sure to write your own original text!!!
Plagiarism is considered a serious offence by the University and severe penalties may
apply. Any plagiarism will be referred to the Head of School for further action. For
more information about plagiarism, please see Learning Centre (2021), or ask us.

Continual Course Improvement

Students are invited to provide feedback (positive or negative) to the course convener or a
tutor, at any time. There is a discussion forum (“suggestion box”) on moodle for this
purpose. Note that in 2018 there was a serious problem which we couldn’t’t know about.
No-one informed us until Week 9, when it was too late to fix.

Advice on how to succeed in this course

(i) Learn the key principles so that you can identify ethical issues or problems
withteams and engage in debates. Working through the resources is an excellent way
to start, but only a start.
(ii) Practise these skills in discussions, and not only in your designated tutorial
times.Listen to others.
(iii) Complete all the assessment tasks at the appropriate time, to the required
specifications.
GSOE9510 Ethics & Leadership in Engineering: the Students’ Guide 9

(iv) Above all, make sure you are enjoying yourself and finding points of interest, for
thenthe rest will follow. If you haven’t found anything of interest in this course, then
start asking questions, and please, please tell us.

Be assured that you will find this course more fun than you initially expect. Every year
students are different but every year it is a pleasure to see them get passionate & care about
something. Whatever else, make sure you ENJOY YOURSELF. We enjoy this course, too.

Course References
Asimov, I. 1950, I, Robot, ... New York
Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 2020, Information for Employers, [online]
available: www.humanrights.gov.au/education/employers [accessed 11 Dec 2020].
Beder, S. 1998, The New Engineer: Management and Professional Responsibility in a Changing World,
Macmillan Education, South Yarra.
Clarke, A.C. 1965, “Dial ‘F’ for Frankenstein”, Playboy, Jan, page numbers unknown. (collected and
reprinted 1972, in The Wind from the Sun, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York).
Constructing Australia 2007, television series, Australian Broadcasting Corp, Sydney.
Dowling, D., Carew, A. & Hadgraft, R. 2010, Engineering Your Future, Wiley
Engineers Australia 2019, Our Code of Ethics, [online] available: www.engineersaustralia.org.au/ethics
[accessed 11 Dec, 2020].
Evan, W.M. & Manion, M. 2002, Minding the Machines, Prentice Hall
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) 2006, What is technology?, [online] available:
www.iiasa.ac.at/web/home/research/researchPrograms/TransitionstoNewTechnologies/Whatis-
Technology.en.html [accessed 11 Dec 2020].
Kletz, T. 2001, An Engineer’s View of Human Error, 3rd ed, Inst Chem Eng, Rugby (War)
Kotter, J.P. 1990, A Force for Change, Free Press, New York
Learning Centre (UNSW) 2021, The Learning Centre Welcome, [online] available: www.lc.unsw.edu.au
[accessed 16 Dec 2021].
Lee, A. nd, Guidelines on Learning that inform Teaching, [online] available:
https://teaching.unsw.edu.au/guidelines [accessed: 11 Dec 2020]
Machiavelli, N. 1532, Il Principe (English translation: The Prince), ... Florence.
Martin, M.W., & Schinzinger, R. 2021, Ethics in Engineering, 5th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York. Norman, D.A.
1998, The Invisble Computer, MIT, Cambridge (Mass)
Northouse, P.G. 2007, Leadership Theory and Practice, 4th edn, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks (Calif)
Orwell, G. 1949, Nineteen Eighty-Four, ... London.
Perrow, C. c.1984, Normal Accidents, Basic Books, new York
GSOE9510 Ethics & Leadership in Engineering: the Students’ Guide 10

Schilling, M.A. 2008, Strategic Management of Technological Innovation, 2nd edn, McGraw-Hill Irwin,
Boston
Shelley, M. 1818, Frankenstein, ... London.
Stevenson, R.L. 1886, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, ... Edinburgh.
Tolkien, J.R.R. 1954, The Two Towers, ... London.
UNSW 2020, Graduate Capabilities, [online] available: teaching.unsw.edu.au/graduate-capabilities
[accessed 11 Dec, 2020].

Appendix 1: Graduate Attributes

This course addresses the following Engineers Australia ‘Personal and Professional Skills or Capabilities.’

• team skills and leadership ability

• an understanding of and commitment to the ethical, social, cultural, and environmental
responsibilities of the professional engineer.

This course also addresses a number of UNSW ‘Graduate Capabilities’ (UNSW 2020).

• Scholars who are understanding of their discipline in its interdisciplinary context; capable of
independent and collaborative enquiry; rigorous in their analysis, critique, and reflection; ethical
practitioners; and capable of effective communication.
• Leaders who are capable of initiating as well as embracing change and collaborative team workers.
• Professionals who are capable of operating within an agreed Code of Practice.

• Global Citizens who are capable of applying their discipline in local, national and international
contexts; culturally aware and capable of respecting diversity and acting in socially
just/responsible ways; and capable of environmental responsibility.