Lecture 6: Integrity
APEGN Code
1. A professional engineer
or geoscientist shall recognize that professional ethics are founded upon
integrity, competence and devotion to service and to the advancement of human
welfare. This concept shall guide the conduct of the professional engineer
or geoscientist at all times.
Three Aspects
of Integrity
Honesty
Confidentiality
Conflict of Interest
Conflict of interest: not so much an aspect
of integrity as a threat to it
America
Donald McCabe: “students admitting to copying from another student on
an examination doubled from 26% to 52% between 1996 and 1993. … The highest
level of cheating is reported in the more vocationally oriented majors of
business and engineering, the highest level being among business majors.”
(124)
Australia
Forty-one per cent [of the students surveyed] have
cheated in a test or exam and 81 per cent have plagiarised work, according
to the first quantitative study of cheating in Australian universities.”
(theage.com.au, Aug 2002)
Engineering students were more likely to cheat
than students from other faculties, but were less likely to plagiarise.
Survey of 1000 students at 4 universities
Canada
Data is not as good
Study at Mount Allison (NB)
907 students surveyed
18.6% admit plagiarizing
14% admit copying on a test (University Affairs, 2000)
Note: American numbers are better at small
schools. Mount Allison has ~2200 students
Carleton University
“OTTAWA - A group of Carleton University students
has been accused of cheating – on an ethics assignment.
Associate Dean Donald Russell said Tuesday about
30 engineering students had been assigned to write an essay on ethics. Instead
of using original material, they plagiarized work they found on the Internet,
he said.” (CBC News Mar. 27, 2002)
Link to video report:http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/03/26/cheat020326
Reacting to
Carleton
What should happen to those engineering students?
How should it affect their education?
How should it affect their career?
Ways of Misusing
the Truth (119-121)
Lying
Deliberate Deception
Withholding Information
Failing to Adequately Promote the Dissemination
of Information
Failure to Seek Out the Truth
Revealing Confidential or Proprietary Information
Allowing One’s Judgment
to be Corrupted
What’s Wrong with Dishonesty?
Is it always wrong to be
dishonest?
‘Little white lies’
Try keeping a liar’s diary
1961 study revealed that
88% of doctors routinely would not tell terminally ill cancer patients that
they had cancer. Attitudes have changed since.
Deontologists
on Dishonesty
Deontologists typically take a hard line on dishonesty
In general, to lie or
withhold information someone is fail to respect his or her autonomy (122)
3 Elements of
Autonomous Action
Intention
Deliberately done
Freedom of Action
lack of coercion
availability of alternative options
Understanding
informed action
To lie to someone is to interfere with his understanding
and, perhaps, his freedom of action
Consequentialists on
Dishonesty
Consequentialists are generally less stringent than deontologists when it comes
to dishonesty
Verdict depends on circumstances
Rule utilitarianism is less flexible
Confidentiality (pp. 132-4)
A professional engineer
or geoscientist shall: …12. not disclose confidential
information without the consent of his or her client or employer;
What if the confidential information is relevant to public safety?
The Duty to
Report
A professional engineer
or geoscientist shall: …14. present clearly to
his or her clients or employers the consequences to be expected if his or
her professional judgement is overruled by other authorities in matters pertaining
to work for which he or she is professionally responsible. (APEGN Code)
What if the client does not act on this information?
The Limits of
Confidentiality
Legally murky
No analogue to lawyer-client privilege
Comparison to physician’s duty of care
“When a therapist determines, or pursuant to the
standards of his professions should determine, that his patient presents
a serious danger of violence to another, he incurs an obligation to use reasonable
care to protect the intended victim…” (134)
Note: a U.S. ruling, but
may have force in Canada
‘Whistleblower’ legislation
Conflict of
Interest
“A professional engineer or geoscientist shall:
…13. not undertake any assignment which may create
a conflict of interest with his or her client or employer without a full
knowledge of the client or employer;” (APEGN)
How far to take this?
Reveal all gifts, however, small?
