Product Reliability, Hazard, and Risk A medical instrumentation company develops a patient-monitoring device. Calculations of its failure rate in different increments of time are made. Results indicate whether the product should be used, and consider the effects if it is or is not used.
Software Testing A project team is developing new software for airplane altitude controls combined with navigation. How is the software to be tested? How are the results to be interpreted, and what are the expectations and goals for the quality of the software? Suitable for courses in statistics, software engineering, reliability engineering, levels 3-4.
Probabilistic Software Testing A software product is being tested using a probabilistic approach. The test, WHIZ, is developed for this job. Calculations are made of the software and of the costs of such a test. Interpretation of results raises some problems. Suitable for courses in statistics, software engineering, reliability engineering, levels 3-4.
What You See Is What You Don't Get! While experimenting with a new hand-held computer, a college engineering student discovers an error in a simple computing function. This case study concerns both nature of the error and its ethical implications.
Let the Chips Fall Where They May A chip designed for a new scientific calculator allows it to display and calculate to the 17th significant digit. It is discovered, however, that the new calculator is inaccurate beyond the 13th significant digit. The company is deciding between several solutions, some of which raise ethical concerns.
Allowing Defective Chips To Go To Market A production-line engineer checks chips for quality control. Ethical issues concerning the handling of defective chips (e.g. whether they should be sold, fixed, or thrown out) are discussed in this scenario; strategies for presenting critical information to superiors are also discussed.
Probabilistic Software Testing A software product is being tested using a probabilistic approach. The test, WHIZ, is developed for this job. Calculations are made of the software and of the costs of such a test. Interpretation of results raises some problems. Suitable for courses in statistics, software engineering, reliability engineering, levels 3-4.
Who Benefits From Ethics Support, by Stephen H. Unger. This essay discusses the benefits of support for ethical issues, specifically ethics support by IEEE. In a hypothetical case, an engineer must decide how to act when a defective patient monitoring system is about to be shipped.
New Supervisor Policies. Chief engineer of Axtell's Installation Division, Howard Hanson implements a new policy which may be necessary. A situation arises for two engineers which makes them question how necessary the policy is.
Shortage of Components. Ruskin Manufacturing has guaranteed Parker Products that it will deliver the complete order of small machines by the 10th of the month, a Friday. Parker had already extended its deadline once. This time, it insists, the date must be met. Tim Vinson, head of quality control, had been confident the deadline would be met. But on the 8th he learns that a new component of the machines is in short supply.
Relevant Literature on this Topic
Stephen H. Unger, "Reality Check: Ethics and Air Bags", IEEE Institute, August, 1998, p. 2. Other keywords for this article: conscientious objection, professional societies, ethics support.
K. Miller. Software informed consent: docete emptorem, not caveat emptor. Science and Engineering Ethics, Vol. 4, No. 3 (July 1998), 357-362. Other keywords for this article: computer ethics; consumer/consumption information; contracts.
W. R. Collins, K. Miller, B. Spielman, and P. Wherry. How good is good enough? An ethical analysis of software construction and use. Communications of the ACM, Vol. 37, No. 1 (January 1994), 81-91. Other keywords for this article: computer ethics; consumer safety; professional responsibility.
W. R. Collins and K. Miller. Programming and the public trust. In Computers, Ethics & Social Values. D. Johnson and H. Nissenbaum, eds. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ (1995). Other keywords for this article: computer ethics; professional responsibility.
Herkert, Joseph R., 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 and the law; ethics support; global environmental issues; medical information; negligence; privacy; professional responsibility; professional societies; technical and scholarly societies; professionalism in computing; public safety; risk assessment; safety & performance; system security; whistleblowing.
Herkert, Joseph R. 1999. "Ethics and Professional Responsibility." In John G. Webster, ed., Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (in press). Other keywords for this: engineering ethics courses, ethical codes and guidelines from professional societies, ethics support, pedagogy, professional responsibility, professional societies; technical and scholarly societies, whistleblowing.
Herkert, Joseph R. 1997. "Collaborative Learning in Engineering Ethics." Science and Engineering Ethics 3(4):447-462. Other keywords for this: computer engineering courses; engineering ethics courses; ethical codes and guidelines from professional societies; pedagogy; professional responsibility.
W. Bakker and M. C. Loui, "Can designing and selling low-quality products be ethical?," Science and Engineering Ethics, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 153-170, April 1997. Condensed version: M. C. Loui, "The engineer's responsibility for quality," Science and Engineering Ethics, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 347-350, July 1998. Other keywords for this: ethics and economics; design process; consumer/consumption information; corporate ethics.