LEADERSHIP AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS FOR ENGINEERS

Ir. Dr. MOHD SHIRAZ ARIS

CHE680

Professional Engineer• IEM / BEM

• Registration required for engineering practice in Malaysia

• Concerns professional registration, management and due diligence

• Defines guidelines on ethics and professional conduct

Definition of ethics in IEM• Hallmark of professions

• Asserting independence from business

• Prioritising the public interest

Ethics in a PE scope• Competent discharge of duties - obligations and responsibilities

• Respect of laws -

• not to injure reputation of fellow professionals

• disclosure of conflict of interest

• maintain confidentiality of professional services

• uphold integrity of professional body

• abide by code of conduct

• not to act on behalf of employers in matters of payments/contracts

• train graduate engineers

Ethical pressure• Medicine

• everyone eventually grows old, suffers various infirmities and dies. The physician fights a battle with fate and inevitably loses

• Engineering

• Failures are visible, accountability is direct and immutable laws of physics and science leave little room for manoeuvring or interpretation

• Law

• adversary proceedings result in the loss of half case, plea bargaining maybe necessary. the truth is relative and depends on the advocacy and strength of personality

Code of EthicsApplying ethics to a profession or discipline

• ICT

• Engineering

• Medicine

• Law

• Journalism

• Psychology

Case study 1: Consulting Engineers

Under normal circumstances, a consulting engineer should not supplant the work of another consulting engineer after knowing that the 1st consulting engineer has already been entrusted with the work. If he has been asked by the same client to take over the work of that 1st consulting engineer, what do you think should be the proper procedure in effecting this change of consultants? How should the matter be dealt with if the 1st engineer refuses to agree to this change because he has not been paid his fees by the client?

Case study 2: Risk Management

Risk is inherent in most engineering work. Discuss the ways in which such risks can effect the employer, engineer and contractor and how such risks can influence the form of contract and the contract price.