May/June 2020

On Ethics
Is Ethics in Engineering Enough?

BY PAUL McCABE, P.E.

Engineering curriculums offer classes in ethics but they’re not always mandated, especially in newer specialties such as electronics and software. Licensed professional engineers encourage ethics training. I agree that engineers need ethics training, but it is a much bigger problem. Engineering is just one piece of an economic system that contains many specialties and decision makers.

Recently, there was an article in Industry Week titled “Is Ethics in Business Possible?” The author, Paul Ericksen, cited examples at Boeing and other industries where the overriding decision to ship a product was based on a profit motive instead of quality, and this has led to bad results. In some cases, the decision to ship a product may be based on a promised date, a penalty clause, or perhaps a financial reward for the decision maker. Ericksen goes on to say that this attitude is more common than we think.

As a young engineer, I worked for a company that seemed more interested in ship dates than quality. The product was planned and designed after the agreement with ship dates was made. After initial tests, it became clear that the product was not performing to specification. When the issue was raised with management, there was disbelief and anger. The product had to ship on time! For the engineer, the “fix” to the design was still 12 months away, with lots of trips to angry customers to keep the system going. For the marketing manager, there was a promotion and a bonus. Fortunately, no one was injured while using the product.

Years later, I was able to work for a company that thought and acted differently. Projects were well planned before work was started, with all departments agreeing to the schedule. If a problem arose, schedules could be adjusted without penalizing anyone. The main emphasis was getting it right before the first shipment. Certainly, profit was important, but reputation and maintaining the highest product quality was even more so. This work experience with ethical decision making was much more pleasant, and our customers really appreciated the end-product. This was the same engineer but with two entirely different experiences. So, the obvious question: How do these different corporate attitudes develop and how do we fix them?

Standing up to management is never a pleasant experience. You don’t expect them to be happy, but you hope for understanding and support. In today’s world, people who try to raise an alarm about a design or manufacturing flaw are called whistleblowers. To some they are heroes; to others they are traitors to the cause. In my first job, I tried to do the ethical thing, but was ignored. The only recourse left was to quit or bite my tongue. The whistleblowers of today are supposed to be protected, but there can be negative repercussions. You may be scorned by your fellow workers if you stay or you may have to look elsewhere for employment, with a reputation in the eyes of some as a troublemaker. So, it is still a scary experience.

In many respects, our love of sports mimics our economic system by rewarding teams that work hard and innovate. Some may remember the quote attributed to Vince Lombardi, “Winning is not a sometime thing...it’s an all the time thing.” In the business world, when you add the opportunity for personal financial gain, you have a very powerful force. In professional sports, there are rules to keep the game fair. Those rules are not always as clear-cut in the business world. An in-at-all-costs attitude exhibited by some today can seem pervasive and systemic. We are becoming so driven and motivated by profit and rewards that it may be easy to ignore any sense of morals and ethics. All that seems to matter is to beat your competition in the market and make higher profits.

In light of this attitude, an education that includes ethical decision making seems justified. Doctors take the Hippocratic oath to do no harm. But what about business, marketing, and investment leaders? We really need to get ethics training started in our public and private schools for everyone at an early age. It needs to be taught to young people right after reading, writing, and arithmetic. Then it needs to be reinforced continuously, all the way through the remaining school years. The professional engineers cannot do it alone.

NSPE member Paul McCabe, P.E., (Ret.), is an electrical/electronics engineer. His experience includes automated vehicles, wireless communication, energy management systems, and motor control systems.