Professional Ethic and Its Principles, with a focus on engineering

Professional Ethic and Its Principles

Objectives of Unit #4

• Understand de basic principles of Professional Ethics and its implications in Engineering
• Analyze the Principles of Beneficence, Autonomy and Justice
• Analyze Paternalism, Maleficence and its limits
• Understand the errors in professional behavior from the principles perspective

Common Professional Ethic Issues

• Ignoring procedures and policies
• Abusing confidentiality agreements
• Falsifying information
• Making decisions for your own personal gain
• Withholding information
• Poor customer services
• Accepting or giving bribes
• Taking on roles that are not under your job title
• Damaging environment
• Selling harmful products

Main Actors in Professional Ethics

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS:

Main actors involved

Society

(Public Admin.)

Professional

(inside a company)

Customer

(Citizen)

Basic Principles of Professional Ethics

Professional Ethics: A Complex Question

Different levels and agents interacting in the professional

relationship:

• The professional itself, with his/her own moral convictions.
• The professional sector she/he belongs to, with its own
• regulations (professional codes of conduct).
• The institutional context in which the activity is developed
• (companies, public administration, universities ... ) with their own
• objects and orientations.
• The customer and the final user (persons or organization) with
• their own moral principles.

Professional Ethics: Beyond Deontological Norms

PROFFESIONAL ETHICS:

• Wider than purely deontological norms and
• procedures
• Not only based on big principles without consideration
• of the practical situation

The challenge: Quest for the social and

organizational goals, taking into account the

possibilities of the professional exercise, the

organizational context and the material and legal

constraints.

Professional Ethics: Bridge Between Ethical Theories

Discourse Ethics (Apel, Habermas):

The communication procedure among all the affected agents

must guarantee the elaboration of good judgment.

Looks for the decisions that everybody should adopt (Kant), but

on the basis of an inter-subjective agreement about the good

and the happiness (Aristotle). An agreement that is not-

preexisting, but influenced by history and context.

Discourse Ethics does not offer orientations for the decision

making, but a procedure to ensure impartiality in the formation of

judgment.

Ethical Perspectives and Main Principles

Ethical Perspectives

Teleology

Deontology

Main Principles of Professional Ethics

Beneficence

Professional Competence

Integrity

Justice

Fairness

Resource Distribution

Autonomy

Respect

Confidentiality

Responsibility

Individual

Social

Specific Professional Norms and Principles

Ethical Codes

Beneficence in Professional Ethics

BENEFICENCE

Can

Professional

Knows

Beneficial

Action

Cannot

Customer

Doesn't Know

Autonomy in Professional Ethics

AUTONOMY

Informs

Is informed

Professional

Contract

Customer

Offers,

Respect

Accepts (If wish),

Have Rights

Paternalism in Professional Ethics

PATERNALISM

Customer

accepts

Professional

develops the

proposal

and delivers the

product or

service

BENEFICENCE

Customer

understands

the proposal

Customer

does not

accept

Professional

develops the

proposal

and delivers the

product or

service

STRONG

PATERNALISM

Professional

understands

customer

needs and

can respond

(Unacceptable

except special

cases of higher

comment

interest)

Customer

does not

understand

the proposal

…PATERNALISM

Customer

accepts

Professional

develops the

proposal

and delivers the

product or

service

BENEFICENCE

Customer

understands

the proposal

Customer

does not

accept

Professional

develops the

proposal

and delivers the

product or

service

STRONG

PATERNALISM

Professional

understands

customer

needs and

can respond

(Unacceptable

except special

cases of higher

comment

interest)

Can you imagine a case

of Strong Paternalism

that is ethically

acceptable ???PATERNALISM (contd

Customer

does not

understand

the proposal

Customer knows

he cannot

understand and

relies on

Professional

Customer is

not conscious

Professional

acts without

customer's

informed

consent looking

for customer

benefit

Parents, legal

tutors ... are

involved

BENEFICENCE

WEAK

PATERNALISM

STRONG

PATERNALISM

WEAK

PATERNALISM

Beneficence and Autonomy: Is it Enough?

BENEFICENCE

+

Is enough?

AUTONOMY

Breaking

Bad

The Need for Justice in Professional Ethics

BENEFICENCE

+

AUTONOMY

ANARCHY

A "POLITICAL'

PRINCIPLE THAT

ORIENTS TO THE

COMMON GOOD IS

NEEDED

JUSTICE

Justice: Order and Social Harmony

JUSTICE

• Justice: Order, Social Harmony
• Greatest good for the highest number
• (UTILITARIANISM)
• Equality, Positive discrimination
• (CONTRACTUALISM)
• No privileges (SOCIALISM)
• "To each one ... "
• Spheres of Justice / Complex Equality

V A new agent: The Government

v New dimension of NO-Maleficence

The Idea of Justice: Amartya Sen's Flute Example

JUSTICE

Take three kids and a flute. Anne says the flute should

be given to her because she is the only one who

knows how to play it. Bob says the flute should be

handed to him as he is so poor he has no toys to play

with. Carla says the flute is hers because she made it.

(Amatya Sen. The idea of Justice)

PREMIO NOBEL DE ECONOMÍA

Amartya Sen

La idea

de la

justicia

taurus

₸

Government, Professional, and Customer Interaction

Government

Advice

Resource distribution

Set priorities

Asks for

Informs, offer professional services

Professional

Customer

(Citizen)

Accepts, if wish, once is informed

Revisiting Beneficence and No-maleficence

Revisiting Beneficence & No-maleficence

• Beneficence relates to autonomy, it depends on the
• values of each person
• No-maleficence is a must: we must not benefit
• anybody against his will, but are obliged to avoid any
• harm, even if it is requested so.
• Beneficence is teleological, while No-maleficence is
• deontological.
• The final criteria to determine what is harming
• someone is given by the principle of Justice.

No-Maleficence: Avoiding Errors

NO-MALEFICENCE

AVOIDABLE ERRORS

Inefficient organization

Stress, workload

Updated knowledge

Adequate tools

...

Errors in Professional Behaviour from Agent Perspective

ERRORS IN THE PROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOUR

FROM THE AGENTS PERSPECTIVE:

PROFESSIONAL

+

GOVERMENT

PATERNALISM

-

CUSTOMER

PROFESSIONAL

+

CUSTOMER

ANARCHY

-

GOVERMENT

GOVERMENT

+

CUSTOMER

DEMAGOGY

-

PROFESSIONAL

Unethical Behaviours: Corruption

UNETHICAL BEHAVIOURS IN PROFESSIONAL

ACTIVITY:

CORRUPTION

The substitution of the intrinsic

good of the professional activity

by other external benefits (own

profit, influence, ... ).

By several

companies

Members of

the company

A company

against the

community

0

Unethical Behaviours: Corporatism

UNETHICAL BEHAVIOURS IN PROFESSIONAL

ACTIVITY:

CORPORATIVISM

Abusive tendency to internal

solidarity within a professional

sector in defense of their own

interests.

Obstruction in

Investigations

Defense of Own

interests

Showing an

idealized image

of the group

Getting priviledges

Unethical Behaviours: Technocratic Behaviour

UNETHICAL BEHAVIOURS IN PROFESSIONAL

ACTIVITY:

TECNOCRATIC

BEHAVIOUR

Making decisions in the

administration only on the basis of

technical considerations, looking for

efficacy and ignoring political and

social questions

Imposing the

opinion of an

expert

Abdication of

responsibility

(transfered to

experts

1

Consider only

technical aspects