Engineering Ethics: 1. To use the Decision Making Framework to determine a cours

Question

Engineering Ethics:

1. To use the Decision Making Framework to determine a course of action (decision). Write up the first 4 steps of the process. You must use two ethical approaches (tests) including Utilitarian and one more (either Common Good or Virtue).

For STEP 1 – identify the ethical issues involved – cite sections of the ASCE Code of Ethics

For STEP 2 – state what is known and unknown and what you will assume, who are the stakeholders, how could they be affected, what are the potential consequences? List the options for action/decision.

For STEP 3 – here you evaluate each of the options first using the Utilitarian Approach – who/what is affected positively, who negatively, by each option, what is the option that gives the best balance of positive over negative (this is the selected decision)? Then analyze all the options again using a second approach and decide which option it selects.

For STEP 4 – evaluate the results of the two results, if don’t agree, which is most relevant and why? Test the two options selected by STEP 3 using the grandma test and the television/newspaper test – can you live with the decision? Decide and describe your final decision and how you would act it out (what exactly you would do). Consider the final decision from two perspectives:

a. you are 24 years old, two years out of school, not married?

b. you are 48 years old, married, with two children in college?

How would your decisions differ in these circumstances?

Ethics Problem:

You are the chief environmental engineer for a large industry, and routinely receive the test results for the company’s wastewater treatment plant effluent quality. One day you are shocked to discover that the level of cadmium is about 1000 times higher than the effluent permit. You call the laboratory technician, and he tells you that he also thought that was strange so he ran the test several times to be sure. He got similar results each time.

You have no idea where the cadmium came from, or if it will ever show up again. You are sure that if you report this peak to the state, they may shut down the entire industrial operation, since the treated effluent flows into a stream that is used as a water supply, and they will insist on knowing where the source was so it could not happen again. Such a shutdown would kill the company, which is already tottering on the verge of bankruptcy. Many people would lose their jobs and the community would suffer.

Options to choose from:

a. Erase the offending data entry and forget the whole thing.

b. Delay reporting the data to the state and start a massive search for the source, even though you have doubts it will ever be found.

c. Bring this to the attention of your superiors, hoping that they will make a decision, and you would be off the hook.

d. Report the data to the state and accept the consequences.

e. Other: you can make up a better option of your own

Explanation / Answer

As a Chief environmental officer, first of all the effluent should be stopped before mixing it on the stream then a decision have to be taken in such a way that it should not disturb the industry as so many employees livelihoods are dependent on it and neither the decision is to erase the offending data entry and forget the whole thing as suggested in OPTION A as it can cause danger to the life of the marine ecosystem and to the people who consumes it.

So first, consider the source from where this result is showing as there could be any malfunction of entering excess cadmium into the effluent as well as check the lab equipments. If possible the result should retested in any other nearby environmental institute or research institute as soon as possible by sending out the samples to them.

So choosing OPTION B is viable in earlier stages, where if the reason for the problem is found and can rectified, If the reason for the problem is found which could not be rectified with your power or knowledge then OPTION C is viable that is taking advice from your superiors.

If the problem is still not solved then there no other option but to report the data to the state and accept the consequences (OPTION D).

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse E
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.