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How Engineers' Views on Issues Change As They Move Up Professional Levels
A profession is a learned specialization requiring systematized information and preparation in addition to a will to a societal good. Engineering is the creative practice of applying technical know-how for the benefit of all humanity and therefore is a profession.
The application of technological knowledge needs to count the commitment to provide highly-valued products and services. This responsibility also deems to imply generating a favorable impact on society and the highly-valued of life. Because engineering is a profession, engineers must see the impact of their designs.
Ethic standards provide guides
Ethic is usually considered as "referring to principles" and ethical as "in accordance with the rules or principles for right conduct or practice, especially the standards of a profession." As moral values may be affected by the mores of the society, each profession therefore has to build its own set of standard rules so that there is a basic accord of what practices are okay and what are not. In this way, not only the members of the profession know which actions are recommendable, others outside the profession will be able to know what to assume from the profession as well.
Inadequacy of ethical standards
However, it is not viable to provide directives to cater to all circumstances. Therefore, there are circumstances when they are shades of gray with no one right answer. In such quandary, engineers must derive their best personal solutions. Many options will have equally major results. Distinct interest groups are impacted differently and to different levels.
Solutions to ethical conditions are seldom straight forward issues. In making decisions when ethical dilemmas arise, engineers need to be responsive to how their decisions will upset distinct groups. What may make the consideration making extra complicated is that the preferences that are more ethical may put the engineers themselves, or their employer, at a very disadvantageous position.
An ethical dilemama situation
We shall explain the tight spots often encountered by engineers by refering to the talked-about Challenger shuttle explosion case.
In order for the space craft to have sufficient speed to escape from the gravitational force to reach the orbit, the shuttle's own rockets are enhanced by two booster rockets that use solid fuel. These solid-fuel rockets were made by Morton Thiokol. As a consequence of the cold environment expected at the launch of the space craft, a teleconference was held the night before the launch between NASA managers and Thiokol managers and engineers. We can deem that all the managers were either engineers or familiar with shuttle technology.
The early recommendation by Thiokol was not to launch the shuttle until the temperature had risen to a higher level so that the O-rings would be able to perform the sealing action. However, because of the displeasure by NASA officials over the recommendation, it was amended to launch recommendation. Unfortunately, the space shuttle exploded soon after launch.
Let us sense the tight spots encountered by each of these three groups in this case:
Group 1 - NASA Officials
Group 2 - Thiokol Officials
Group 3 - Thiokol Engineers
Dilemma of NASA representatives
The NASA officials were under the burden to launch the space shuttle as a result of a few reasons. Further delay in the launch would affect the launches of following missions. Delay in the launch would bring upon more cost and made the space shuttle project less economically attractive. The lauch date was critical as President Reagan would be making the State of the Union talk as the space craft was in orbit. What's more, he was going to talk about education, and what better time for the president to promote education than when a teacher was in orbit?
Nonetheless, NASA representatives were not supplied with data to conclude that the launch would be treacherous as a consequence of low temperature. Besides, they did specify the perfromance of the solid-fuel boosters even at a cold environment, although not as low as what was expected at the time of the launch.
Dilemma of Thiokol managers
Insisting on the no-launch recommendation would antangonize the company's dealings with NASA officers and affects their prospect for further contracts. Furthermore, their engineers could only provide circumstantial evidence of the danger of cold temperature on the perfromance of the O-rings but it was not very complete.
Dilemma faced by thiokol engineers
While they were aware of the unsatisfactory operation of the O-rings at cold temperature, they did not have adequate time to prepare a very convincing case. Although they expressed strong unhappiness to the change in the recommendation from no-launch to launch, they were over-ruled.
Lessons
The viewpoints of a situation depend significantly on the position a professional is in. Particularly, a young professional may be very apprehensive with the techical problems even though as he advances the organizational ladder, he becomes more and more nervous with the business problems of the organization. When we teach engineering ethics, we have to analyze the disquiet encountered by engineers at different levels of their professions.
