Engineers in Organizations

Chapter Four
 Main Ideas in This Chapter

 Communication and culture are vital components within the organization, and
employees need to understand them well.
 Employees should take advantage of organizational resources in order to enhance
their own integrity and independence.
 Organizational and management practices may be unchanged for years, which can
result in blind spots, or obstacles to ethical decision-making. Understanding the
obstacles and remedies for these obstacles can improve the organizations
communication and ethical decision-making.
 Many organizations hire an ethics and compliance officer to study inappropriate
policies and procedures and to assist employees in appropriate communication and
daily ethical choices at work.
 Main Ideas in This Chapter

 Engineers and managers have different perspectives, both legitimate, and it is useful to
distinguish between decisions that should be made by managers, or from a management
perspective, and decisions that should be made by engineers, or from an engineering
perspective.
 Differences of opinion can be expected within the organization between engineers themselves
and between engineers and management. Careful verbal and written communication can be
utilized to work through disagreements.
 Whistleblowing sometimes becomes a necessary option for an employee when other avenues
of communication fail. An employee should explore numerous ways of solving an
organizational problem before whistleblowing. However, new federal regulations are in place
to assist employees who believe they have exhausted all other means of solving the workplace
problem.
 INTRODUCTION

 Most engineers are corporate employees rather than self-employed. This means
that their role-responsibilities are a function of relationships they have with, not
only other engineers but also their managers and, ultimately, with the aims and
goals of the organizations within which they work. So, most engineers are not
their own bosses, and they are expected to defer to recognized authority in their
organizations.
 ENGINEERS AND MANAGERS

 Management theorist Joseph Raelin, says, There is a natural conflict between

management and professionals because of their differences in educational
background, socialization, values, vocational interests, work habits, and outlook.
 Raelin notes that engineers often experience a conflict between loyalty to their
employer and loyalty to their profession.
 Most engineers want to be loyal employees who are concerned about the financial
well-being of their firms and who carry out instructions from their superiors
without protest.
 BEING MORALLY RESPONSIBLE IN AN
ORGANIZATION

The Importance of Organizational Culture

 In order to be morally responsible in an organization without suffering the fate of the employees in Jackall
s study, engineers must first have some understanding of the organization in which they are employed.
This knowledge helps them to understand (1) how they and their managers tend to frame issues under the
influence of the organization and (2) how one can act in the organization effectively, safely, and, one
hopes, in a morally responsible way.
 The qualities of the organization we have in mind here fall into the category of organizational culture. It is
generally agreed that organizational culture is set at the top of an organization by high-level managers, by
the president or CEO of the organization, by directors, and sometimes by owners. If the organization
values success and productivity over integrity and ethical principles, these values will powerfully
influence the decisions of members of the organization.
PROPER ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT DECISIONS

Functions of Engineers and Managers

 How should we understand the boundary between decisions that should be made by engineers and those that
should be made by managers? An answer to this question must begin with a delineation of the proper
functions of engineers and managers in an organization and of the contrasting points of view associated with
these differing functions.
 The primary function of engineers within an organization is to use their technical knowledge and training to
create structures, products, and processes that are of value to the organization and its customers. But
engineers are also professionals, and they must endeavor to uphold the standards that their profession has
decided should guide the use of their technical knowledge.
PROPER ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT
DECISIONS

Proper Engineering and Proper Management Decisions

 Proper Engineering Decision (PED): It is a decision that should be made by engineers or at least
governed by professional engineering standards because it either involves technical matters that
require engineering expertise or falls within the ethical standards embodied in engineering codes,
especially those that require engineers to protect the health and safety of the public.
 Proper Management Decision (PMD): It is a decision that should be made by managers or at least
governed by management considerations because it involves factors relating to the well-being of the
organization, such as cost, scheduling, and marketing, and employee morale or welfare; and the
decision does not force engineers (or other professionals) to make unacceptable compromises with
their own technical or ethical standards.
RESPONSIBLE DISSENT

 Sometimes engineers encounter serious difficulties in attempting to be both loyal

employees and responsible professionals. In some instances, they may wonder whether
whistleblowing on their part is called for. What guidelines should a responsible engineer
make use of in deciding whether (and how) to undertake such a course of action?
 What Is Whistleblowing?
 This suggests two characteristics of whistleblowing: (1) One reveals information that the
organization does not want to be shared with the public or some authority; and (2) one does
this outside of approved channels in the organization. A whistleblower is usually defined as
a person who is an insider, one who is a part of the organization. For this reason, the
question of loyalty arises.
WHISTLEBLOWING AND LOYALTY

 When considering whistleblowing, the question of company loyalty needs to be considered because a
whistleblower is an individual who is part of the company. The individual will release information outside of
company channels. Generally, the whistleblower will reveal information that the organization doesn t want
public.
 Whistleblowing: A Harm-Preventing Justification

 Richard DeGeorge has provided a set of criteria that he contends must be satisfied before whistleblowing
can be morally justified.22 DeGeorge believes that whistleblowing is morally permissible provided that
1. the harm that will be done by the product to the public is serious and considerable ;
2. the employees report their concern to their immediate superiors; and
3. getting no satisfaction from their immediate superiors, they exhaust the channels available within the
organization.
 DeGeorge believes that whistleblowing is morally obligatory provided that
1. the employee has documented evidence that would convince a responsible, impartial observer that his
view of the situation is correct and the company policyis wrong ; and
2. the employee has strong evidence that making the information public will in fact prevent the threatened
serious harm.
Whistleblowing: A Complicity-Avoiding View
 Michael Davis proposes a very different theory of the justification of whistleblowing: We might understand
whistleblowing better if we understand the whistleblower s obligation to derive from the need to avoid complicity in
wrongdoing rather than from the ability to prevent harm.
 You are morally required to reveal what you know to the public (or to a suitable agent or representative of it) when
(C1) what you will reveal derives from your work for an organization;
(C2) you are a voluntary member of that organization;
(C3) you believe that the organization, though legitimate, is engaged in a serious wrong;
(C4) you believe that your work for that organization will contribute (more orless directly) to the wrong if (but not only if)
you do not publicly reveal what you know;
(C5) you are justified in beliefs C3 and C4; and
(C6) beliefs C3 and C4 are true.25
 CHAPTER SUMMARY

 Outstanding organizational leaders such as Interface Carpets Ray Anderson have set high
standards for organizational behavior and communication. Anderson expected ethical
employees who value the customer and the communities where they operate. With
thorough communication, small work teams, and other strategies, the culture within an
organization can be agreeable.
 Conflicts between employees, including engineers, and managers often occur in the
workplace. Sociologist Robert Jackall gives a negative account of the moral integrity of
managers, implying that it may be difficult for an employee to preservehis integrity in the
workplace.
CHAPTER SUMMARY

 Given that engineers and managers have different perspectives, problems can be
avoided if organizations make a distinction between decisions that should be made by
managers and decisions that should be made by engineers. In general, engineers should
make the decision when technical matters or issues of professional ethics are involved.
Managers should make the decision when considerations related to the wellbeing of the
organization are involved and the technical and ethical standards of engineers are not
compromised. Many decisions do not neatly fall into either category, and the line-
drawing method can be useful in deciding who should make a decision