PCs and Occupational Hazards A new safety law requires that companies improve their working conditions if they employ more than 15 employees. Then, many businesses object, claiming that the costs would be too great.
NSPE Ethics Code The National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) is the society of licensed professional engineers. The following is their fundamental canons.
Ethical Standards Play Important Role in Protection of Company Assets A good indicator of high levels of corporate, and hence, employee ethics is how well employees protect their company's assets. TIers who take pride in this company's ethical standards reflect that pride in a respect for TI assets.
Signing Off on Engineering Documents When a document requires the signature of an engineer, only a registered professional engineer may sign. All fifty U.S. states and many other countries have laws establishing requirements and processes for the official registration of those who practice the "engineering" profession.
Use of Personally Owned Software on TI Computers Many of us personally owned software on our TI computing equipment, that is software owned by an individual, not TI. There are several legal and ethical issues to consider.
Copyright Act Ruling While it is quite common for us to make copies of written articles, there are copyright restrictions that each of us must understand.
Judging the Ethical standards Some thoughts and recommendations from the TI Ethics Office and the Josephson Center for the Advancement of Ethics on judging ethical standards.
The David LaMacchia Case What Happened, What Really Happened, What Really Really Happened, and What Finally Happened in the David Lamacchia Case.
Scenario E-- Copying Software You and a Colleague, Pat, are working on a similar problem that will require extensive computation. Each of you own a Little Giant (LG) personal computer. Some questions that may raise legal and ethical issues from this situation.
Sexual Harassment Conflicts With TI's Ethical Culture Ethical-decision making centers around doing what is right and fair when it comes to people dealing with people. Sexual harassment and discrimination conflict with our ethical culture, with TI policy, and with federal law, and are not tolerated at TI.
IEEE Guidelines for Engineers Dissenting on Ethical Grounds. From the Ethics Committee of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)11/11/96. The goal of these guidelines is to provide general advice to engineers, including engineering managers, who find themselves in conflicts with management over matters with ethical implications. Much of this advice is pertinent to more general conflicts within organizations.
NSPE Ethics in Employment Task Force Report. Developed by The National Society of Professional Engineers -NSPE-. This report emphasizes the right and the obligation of engineers to raise ethical concerns in the workplace, and provides guidance on how best to raise such issues. It also guides companies that want to guarantee a working environment where employees can feel free to raise concerns.
Relevant Literature on this Topic
Stephen H. Unger, "Would Helping Ethical Engineers Get Professional Societies into Trouble?", IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, V. 6, No. 3, Sept, 1987, pp. 17-21. Reprinted in Johnson, "Ethical Issues in Engineering", 1991, Prentice-Hall. Other keywords for this article: conscientious objection, professional societies, ethics support, whistleblowing.
Gorman, M. E., Stocker, J., & Mehalik, M. M. (1997). "Using detailed, multimedia cases to teach engineering ethics." Paper presented at the American Society for Engineering Education, Milwaukee, WI. Other keywords for this article: design and the environment; design process; global environmental issues; chemical environmental issues; endangered ecosystems; engineering ethics courses; pedagogy.
Stocker, J. M., Gorman, M. E., & Werhane, P. (1996). Dow Corning A: Breast implant design (Business case E-0104). Charlottesville, VA: Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia. Other keywords for this article: design process; engineering ethics courses; pedagogy.
Joseph R. Herkert, ed. 1999. Social, Ethical and Policy Implications of Engineering: Selected Readings. Piscataway, New Jersey: IEEE Press (in press). Other keywords for this: consumer safety; design and the environment; ethical codes and guidelines from professional societies; ethics and economics; ethics support; global environmental issues; medical information; negligence, privacy; product quality; professional responsibility; professional societies; technical and scholarly societies; professionalism in computing; public safety; risk assessment; safety & performance; system security; whistleblowing.