PROFESSIONAL ETHICS - Question Bank Professional Ethics 1. Define Engineering Ethics. 2.

Why is it important for engineering students to study engineering ethics? 3. What are the ethical principles for students? 4. List the approaches to engineering ethics 5. Where and how do moral problems arise in engineering? 6. List the types of inquiry 7. What are the moral rights essential for engineers to fulfill their professional obligations? 8. What is a profession and professional? 9. What does it mean when codes of ethics say engineers should protect the safety, health and welfare of the public? 10. Why study engineering ethics? 11. What are moral dilemmas? 12. What do you mean by moral autonomy? 13. Differentiate profession and professionalism. 14. What do code of ethics exhibit? 15. Why does engineering have to be viewed as an experimental process? 16. State some issues on engineering ethics. 17. How do engineering ethics differ from general ethics? 18. What are the objectives of ethics? 19. What are the roles of engineers in engineering societies? 20. What are the characteristics of a good engineer? 21. Explain the scope of engineering ethics. 22. Define morality. 23. How do moral problems arise in engineering? 24. What is the need of moral autonomy in the field of engineering ethics? 25. What are the attributes of a profession? 26. What are the pleasures offered by engineering? 27. What is meant by professional responsibility? 28. How can professionalism be achieved? 29 What is the significance of ethics in engineering profession? 29. What are the basic goals of engineering ethics? 30. Define engineering ethics. 31. What are the applications of engineering ethics in decision making? 32. Define ethics and morals 33. What is the purpose of studying engineering ethics? 34. How ethics in engineering differ from ethics of engineers? 35. Mention the various senses of ethics. 36. Differentiate moral and ethics. 37. What are moral reasons? 38. Give any four technical judgments of an engineer. 39. Give any four moral aspects of an engineer. 40. What are the technical functions of an engineer that require involvement in ethical decisions? 41. Differentiate between Micro-ethics and Macro-ethics in engineering. 42. Explain briefly how moral issues are related to: Organization Environment

 Society 43. Explain how an engineers morality is related to: (i). Finance (ii). Competitor (iii). Government. 44. What are the three types of inquiries in engineering ethics? 45. What is normative inquiry? Give an example. 46. What are conceptual inquiries? 47. Define factual inquiries. 48. Under what situation moral dilemma occurs? 49. What are moral dilemmas? 50. What are the types of moral dilemmas? 51. What is conflicting reasons or role conflict? 52. What do you mean by problems of disagreement? 53. What are the steps for confronting moral dilemmas? 54. What are the factors influencing the moral concern. 55. What is moral autonomy? 56. What are the three levels of moral development in Kohlbergs theory? 57. What is conventional level of moral development? 58. What are the difficulties in Kohlbergs theory? 59. What are the concepts of Pre-conventional level and conventional level in Gilligans theory? 60. How one is able to become morally responsible? 61. What is Gilligan theory? 62. What are consensus and controversy? 63. What is the relationship between moral autonomy and authority? 64. Define profession and professionalism. 65. Mention the two basic criteria for the Professional engineers. 66. What are professional responsibilities? 67. Explain professional organization 68. What are the obstacles or impediments to responsibility in profession? 69. Define engineer as savior. 70. Is professionalism based on virtues? 71. What are the types of virtues? 72. What are the types of theories about virtues? 73. What do you mean by public spirited virtues? 74. What is moral integrity? 75. What are the components of self respect? 76. What is accountability? 77. What do you mean by ethical egoism? 78. What is honesty in beliefs? 79. What is honesty in acts? 80. What is honesty in speech? 81. Differentiate self esteem and self respect. 82. What are the senses of responsibility? 83. Differentiate casual responsibility and legal responsibility. 84. What are the Rawls two principles? 85. What is ethical egoism? 86. What is paradox of happiness? 87. Define ethical pluralism and ethical relativism. 88. Write any three uses of ethical theories.

89. What are self-direction virtues? 90. What are public spirited virtues, team work virtues and proficiency virtues? 91. Who are right ethics followers? 92. Discuss the need for moral autonomy in the field of engineering ethics. 93. Discuss the skills for improving the moral autonomy. 94. What are the steps involved in confronting moral dilemmas? 95. Discuss Kohlbergs theory of moral autonomy. 96. Discuss Gilligans theory of moral autonomy. 97. Discuss Heinzs dilemma with reference to the above theories. 98. Discuss consensus and controversy. 99. Discuss the responsibility of professional as a professional virtue. 100. Discuss the senses of responsibility. 101. Discuss the challenger disaster with reference to O rings. 102. Explain the theories of right action 103. Write a short note on self-interest and ethical egoism. 104. Discuss the uses of ethical theories. 105. What are the salient features of implementing the code of ethics or stressing towards the responsibility of engineers? 106. What are the responsibilities of engineers for serving the society as responsible engineers? 107. What are the conditions that are essential for a valid informed consent? 108. The engineers have the vision as guardians of the public interest-explain. 109. Engineers should have imaginative foresight and thought for the future- discuss. 110. Discuss the conscientious commitment of an engineer to live by moral values. 111. What are the skills required for improving moral autonomy of engineers and professionals? 112. How did Gilligan recast Kohlbergs levels of moral development? Or how did Gilligan view the three levels of moral development initiated by Kohlberg? 113. Discuss the ethical issues faced by the engineers working in industry. 114. Enumerate the steps to resolve problems of disagreement in solving moral problems in engineering companies. 115. Explain the vital role of consensus and controversy while considering moral autonomy in engineering ethics? 116. How can professionalism be achieved? 117. Engineers are obliged to bring integrity and competence to what ever work they undertake-discuss. 118. What are the general types of inquiries involved in engineering inspection? Give details. 119. What are the skills required for improving moral autonomy of engineers and professionals? 120. State the important uses of ethical theories. Engineering as Social Experimentation 121. What are the logics of engineering as social experimentation? 122. How Titanic tragedy could be brought under engineering as social experimentation? 123. What are the basic similarities between engineering experiments and standard experiments? 124. What are the various reasons for the repeated recurrences of tragedies like that of Titanic incident?

125. What are the important differences between engineering and standard experiments? 126. What are the factors that make it appropriate to view engineering projects as experiments? 127. What is monitoring? 128. What is the responsibility of a manager? 129. What is the responsibility of a scientist? 130. How do you describe informed consent? 131. What are the conditions for valid consent? 132. What is the specific role of informed consent in engineering experimentation? 133. What are the salient features of informed consent in engineering experimentation? 134. What are the moral responsibilities of engineers to society? 135. What is conscientiousness in terms of engineers as responsible experimenters? 136. Bring out the role of conscientiousness in professional engineering. 137. How engineering could be regarded as preventive technology? 138. What are the attitudes followed in defensive engineering? 139. What are the general features of morally responsible engineers? 140. What are the possible threats and obstacles to an engineer? 141. What is the responsibility of an engineer? 142. Mention the role or moral autonomy in professional engineering. 143. How professional societies are actively associated with moral autonomy of engineers? 144. What is accountability? 145. What is the primary reason that caused the failure of space shuttle praogramme Challenger? 146. Name the aerospace experts and scientists who were associated with the launching of Challenger. 147. What is the statement of Jerry Mason in the Challenger case? 148. How exactly the tragic collapse of Challenger space shuttle took place? 149. Name some of the safety issues concerned with the launching of Challenger. 150. Mention about the significance of teleconference held before the launching of Challenger. 151. What are the roles played by cods of ethics? 152. What is the responsibility of a stockholder? 153. What are the different types of the industrial standards? 154. What are the advantages of following industrial standards? 155. Define code of ethics. 156. What are the positive aspects of code of ethics? 157. Name some of the important code of ethics published by engineering societies. 158. What are the benefits derived by engineers out of ethics? 159. Mention a few limitations of ethical codes. 160. What is the responsibility of a consumer? 161. Give two examples for learning from the past. 162. What is the significance of industrial codes? 163. What is the proper role of law in engineering?

Engineers Responsibility for Safety 164. What is safety? 165. What is meant by risk? 166. How risk is identified? 167. Is risk accepted? 168. What is an accident? 169. What are the three types of accidents? 170. How do you assess safety? 171. What is safe design? 172. How useful is knowledge of risk to designers? 173. What are the tests for safety? 174. Risk benefit-explain. 175. Is risk accepted by public? 176. Define hazard. 177. How risk is reduced? 178. What is risk management? 179. How the risk evaluation is done? 180. Name the methods to control risk? 181. How is risk accounted? 182. Give an example for improved safety. 183. Name the steps involved in design for safety. 184. What are the ways in which risks are identified? 185. Give any two action plan that would ensure safe design. 186. What is risk retention? 187. Define risk transfer. Responsibilities and Rights 188. Define loyalty. 189. What is collegiality? 190. Mention the core elements of collegiality. 191. What do you understand by respect? 192. What is the meaning of commitment? 193. Define connectedness? 194. What are the two senses of loyalty? 195. What are institutional authority and expert authority? 196. What is obligation of loyalty? 197. What is misguided loyalty? 198. Discuss professionalism and loyalty 199. When an engineer is right in withholding identification loyalty? 200. Differentiate authority and power. 201. What is moral right? 202. Distinguish between human moral rights and special moral rights. 203. What is accepting authority? 204. State the paramount obligations. 205. What is collective bargaining? 206. Who is a faithful agent? 207. What are the consequences of collective bargaining in public service? 208. What is confidentiality? 209. What is trade secret?

210. What is patent? 211. How can one escape from patent violation? 212. What are gifts and bribes? 213. Explain insider information 214. Explain occupational crime. 215. What is price fixing? Is it illegal? 216. Is employees life protected? 217. What are professional rights? 218. What is the basic right of professional conscience? 219. What is institutional recognition of rights? 220. What is right of conscientious refusal? 221. Limited right-explain. 222. How engineers are made happy? 223. What are the two basic rights of professional conscience? 224. Explain rights ethics. 225. What is duty ethics? 226. What is utilitarianism? 227. What is whistle blowing? 228. List the four man features of whistle blowing. 229. Discuss external, internal and open whistle blowing. 230. What re the different views about whistle blowing? 231. What re the moral guidelines for whistle blowing? 232. Are whistle blowers protected? 233. Is whistle blowing a right? 234. What are employee rights? 235. What is employee bill of rights? 236. What is discrimination? 237. What is sexual harassment? 238. Explain the following abbreviations: FAA, BART, NSPE, EPA, AFL, CIO, GATT, WTO, NASA, WIPO. 239. What is IPR? 240. What are the main areas of IPR? 241. What is WIPO? 242. Distinguish between confidential and privileged information. 243. How patents differ from trade secrets? 244. Do you see any special moral issue raised by anonymous whistle blowing? 245. Present your view on collective action by unions aimed at employers and disloyalty on the part of the employees. 246. Write short note on utility patent. 247. Differentiate design patent and plant patent. 248. What is copyright? Whose rights are protected? 249. What is bootlegging? 250. What is meant by occupational crime? Global Issues 251. What are global issues? 252. Distinguish between ethical relativism and descriptive relativism. 253. What are the roles of international rights in multinational companies? 254. Differentiate between technology transfer and appropriate technology. 255. Mention some typical examples for appropriate technology.

256. Mention the causes of Bhopal tragedy. 257. What re the important concepts of environmental ethics? 258. How Cinemas rice oil is associated with the violation of environmental ethics? 259. What is sentient centered ethics? 260. Mention about the salient features of eco centric ethics. 261. What are the characteristic features of human centered environmental ethics? 262. What are the computer abuses? 263. What are the roles of power relationships in computer ethics? 264. What s biased software? 265. What is embezzlement? 266. What are hackers? 267. What re the professional issues that are related with computer ethics? 268. What are the moral values of engineers involved in weapons development? 269. How engineers justify their involvements in weapons works? 270. List out the various problems of defense industry. 271. How do you evaluate that engineers are best suited to be managers? 272. Define an ethical climate. 273. Briefly give the contribution of Martin Marietta Corporation of US in the promotion of ethical climate. 274. Name the special features of an ethical corporate climate. 275. Name the important areas that highlight the responsibilities of consulting engineers. 276. What are the prerequisites of engineers to act as expert witness and advisers? 277. Mention the important responsibilities of engineers as expert witness in the court. 278. Define hired guns. 279. How engineers could act as morally creative leaders? 280. What is honesty in beliefs? 281. What is honesty in acts? 282. What is honesty in speech? 283. What does compromise mean? 284. What are the senses of responsibility? 285. What is sense of dignity? 286. What are moral principles? 287. What are human values? 288. What are the different types of values? 289. What are ethical values? 290. Distinguish values from ethics and culture. 291. What is integrity? 292. Define work ethics. 293. What is service learning? 294. Mention some civic virtues. 295. Write a note on caring and sharing. 296. Write a note on honesty. 297. What is courage as a value? 298. Write a note on time management. 299. Write a note on co-operation and commitment. 300. What is empathy? 301. Write a note on self-confidence. 302. What is character as a human value? 303. What is Spirituality?

GE-1301 MAY / JUNE 2006

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND HUMAN VALUES QUESTION PAPERS PART A (2MARKS)

1. What are the three different levels of moral development suggested by Kholberg? The three different levels of moral development as suggested by Kholberg are; i) Pre-conventional ii) Conventional and iii) Post-conventional. 2. List the different models of professional roles. i) Engineers as saviours. Ii) Engineer as guardians iii) Engineer as bureaucratic servants iv) Engineer as social servants v) Engineer as social eanablers and catalysts and vi) Engineer as game player. 3. Mention the five widely used tests for evaluating ethical theories. The five widely used tests for evaluating ethical theories are: i) The theory must be clear and logical. The concept of the theory should be formulated to enhance applicability. ii) The theory should be consistent with its principles. The principles of the same theory should not contradict each other. iii) The theory and its defense should rely only upon facts, truths and correct information. iv) The theory should be adequately complete so that to provide guidance for our required specific situations. v) The theory should be well-matched with moral convictions such as judgments and intutions about concrete situations. 4. Give the limitation of the code. i)Codes are restricted to general and vague wording. Hence it is impossible to apply for all situations. ii) The codes are different and conflicting and thereby create the moral dilemma which one to apply for a particular situation. iii) The codes cannot serve as a final moral authority for professional conduct. iv) The limitation of codes are due to their proliferation. 5. What reasons lead to many repetitions of past mistakes? Lack of established channels of communication, misplaced pride in not asking for information, embarrassment at failure or fear of litigation and plain neglect often impede the flow of such information lead to many repetitions of past mistakes. 6. Give Lowrances definition for safety and acceptability of mistakes. William Lowrance defined safety as A thing is safe if its risks are judged to be acceptable. That means, a thing is safe for a person if the perceived risk is less. Similarly a thing is unsafe if the perceived risk is high. 7. List the methods that can be applied when testing inappropriate. The methods for testing inappropriate are: 1. Scenario analysis. 2. Failure modes and effects analysis, 3. Fault-tree analysis and 4.Even-tree analysis. 8. Define whistle-blowing and when it occurs. Whistle-blowing is the act by and employee informing the public or higher management of unethical or illegal behaviour by an employer or superviosor.

It occurs to discourage the organization to continue the unethical activity. When repeated information was ignored and no steps were taken to prevent the activity by the management or superiors. 9. List any four international rights listed by Donaldson. Thomas Donaldson in his book The ethics of International Business has listed the following as the International rights: 1. The right to freedom of physical movement 2. The right to ownership of property 3. The right to freedom from torture 4. The right to a fair trial 5. The right to nondiscriminatory treatment 6. The right to physical security 7. The right to freedom of speech and association 8. The right to minimal education 9. The right to political participation 10. The right to subsistence. 10. What you mean by appropriate technology? Appropriate technology refers to the identification, transfer and implementation of the most suitable technology for a new set of conditions. NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2006 11. PART A (2MARKS)

Define moral autonomy. Moral autonomy is the ability to think critically and independently about moral Issues and apply the same to the situations that arise during the professional engineering practices. What you mean by Profession? Profession means The occupation which one professes to be skilled and follow a vocation in which professed knowledge of some branch of learning is used in its application to the affairs of others, or in the practice of an art based upon it. In general it is synonym for job or occupation. What is Safe Exists? When a product fails it will fail safely, the product can be abandoned safely or the user escapes safely from the adversity of the product. All the three conditions are referred as Safe Exists. Define Ethics. The term ethics is derived from the Greek word Ethos, which means customs. Ethics are the study of the characteristics of morals. It concerned with what is wrong and what is right. What is the meaning of Safety? Safety means being in the safe state. i.e. Protected from harm and danger. It is defined by William W. Lowrence as A thing is safe if its risks are judged to be acceptable

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Define Risk. Risk can be defined as a potential that is something unwanted and harmful may occur. It is the possibility of suffering harm or loss. Define Confidentiality. Confidentiality is the obligation of keeping certain information of employer/client secret or confidential. It is one of the external responsibilities of Engineer. What do you mean by external whistle blowing? It is the whistle blowing where in the information is passed outside the organization. List out four examples of Multinational Corporations. Large corporations having investment and business in number of countries are known as Multinational or Transnational corporation. Some of them are : Hindustan Lever, Ford, Toyota, Sony, LG, Smith Kline Beecham, ITC, Ponds etc. Define Computer Ethics. The study of ethical issues that are associated with computer, its peripheral and accessesseries and the computing profession is called as computer ethics.

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MAY / JUNE 2007 21. 22. 23.

PART A

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Define Self Confidence. Having confidence in oneself is called Self Confidence. List the types of Human Values. What are the professional responsibilities? The professional responsibility is an umbrella virtue that can be grouped into four categories. They are: 1. Self-direction virtues that are fundamental in exercising moral autonomy and responsibility. 2. Public-spirited virtues are those focused on the good of clients and the public. 3. Team-work virtues those are essential in enabling the professionals to work successfully with other people an 4. Proficiency virtue is the competence. What is meant by moral autonomy? Moral autonomy is the skill and habit of thinking rationally on ethical issues based on moral concern. What are the functions of code of Ethics? The various functions of code of Ethics are: 1. Inspiration 2. Guidance 3. support for responsible conduct 4. Deterring and disciplining unethical professional conduct 5. Education and promotion of mutual understanding 6. Contributing to positive public image of the profession

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7. Protecting the status quo and suppressing dissent within the profession and 8. Promoting business interests through restraint of trade. 26. What do you understand by the term authenticity? People are morally autonomous hen their moral conduct and principles of action are their own. That is, moral belief and attitude must be held on the basis of crtitical reflection rather than merely on the conviction and convention of the society, church or authority. This is called as authenticity in ones commitment to moral values. What are the faulty assumptions about safety? The faulty assumptions about safety are: 1. The cause of accident is due to the operator error and negligence. 2. Producing safe product always increases the cost. 3. We learn about the safety after a product has been completed and tested. 4. Warning about harms are sufficient. Insurance cover is cheaper than planning for safety. What is meant by voluntary risk? The risk taken by a person knowingly it is unsafe is called as voluntary risk. Define conflict resolution. Conflict resolution is the result based on some objective standard and corporate usually uses general standards for evaluating the results. What is contextualism? In accordance to Gilligan women try hard to preserve personal relationship will all people. This context-oriented emphasis on maintaining personal relationship is called as ethics of care in contrast with ethics of rules and rights.

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MAY / JUNE 2006

PART B

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1. Explain the skills needed to handle problems about moral issues in engineering ethics. (8) Adult moral concern can be evoked on specific occasions by any number of influences such as: friends, politicians, social events, novels, movies, family and role model etc. The main goal of the engineering ethics is to improve the ability to reflect critically on moral issues. This is accomplished by improving various practical skills that will help produce effective independent thought about moral issues. The following skills are needed to handle the moral issues in the engineering ethics: 1. Proficiency in recognizing moral problems and issues to differentiate and relate the problems in law, economics, religious doctrine, description in science etc. 2. Skill in comprehending, clarifying and assessing arguments of the opposing sides of moral issues.

3. The ability to form consistent and comprehensive view points based on the facts. 4. Imagine the alternate responses to the issues and find solutions for practical difficulties. 5. Sensitivity to difficulties and subtleties willingness to undergo and tolerate uncertainty in making troublesome moral judgment. 6. Precise use of common ethical language. 7. Appreciation of the using rational dialogue in resolving moral conflicts and tolerance of differences in perspective of morally reasonable people. 8. Integration of ones professional life and personal conviction in maintaining the moral integrity. 2. Discuss the different models of professional roles. (8) The profession of engineering aims the promotion of public good by taking care of public safety, public health and welfare. There are general models that are followed by the engineers. These models help the engineer to organize thinking and crystallize the attitudes and they are as follows: 1. Service 2. Guardian 3.Bureaucratic servant 4. Social servant 5.Social enabler and catalyst 6. Game player. 3. State the similarities to view engineering projects as experiments. (8) The engineering projects are more or less are experiments. However, there are similarities and differences between engineering projects and experiments. The similarities between the engineering projects and experiments are: 1. The engineering projects like the experiments are carried out in partial uncertainties. They include in the: Design calculations Exact properties of raw materials used Constancies of materials processing and fabrication and Nature of working of the final product 4. How engineering projects differs from standard experimentation? 5. Discuss on the roles played by the codes of ethics set by professional societies. 6. Explain in detail the effects of information on risk assessment with an example. 7. Write notes on: Personal risk, Public risk. 8. Describe the concept of risk benefit analysis. 9. Give any four examples of improved safety and explain. 10. Explain the concept of collegiality and loyalty. 11. Write short notes on Professional rights. 12. Write short notes on employee rights to privacy and choice of outside activities. (8) (8) (8) (8) (8) (8) (8)

13. Describe the moral threats posed by the revolutionized communication using computers to the right to privacy. (8) 14. Describe the concept of environmental ethics with a case study. (8) 15. Discuss the three senses of Relative values. 16. Give the philosophical views of nature and discuss them. NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2006 PART B (4-16 MARKS) (8) (8)

17. Explain the scope of Engineering Ethics 18. Discuss the importance of Duty ethics and Virtues in engineering profession. 19. How do you call an Engineer as a responsible Experimenter? 20. Write short notes on Ethical Relativism. 21. Write short notes on abuses on the codes of ethics. (8) (8)

22. Explain the various measures for assessing and reducing Risk. 23. Discuss the concept of safety exists in the Chernobyl Case Studies. 24. Define the Collective Bargaining. Explain the role of collective bargaining in workplace rights and responsibilities. 25. How will you apply confidentiality for avoiding harmful conflicts of interest in workplace? 26. Is there any relationship among Engineering, Ecology and Economics? Discuss. 27. Explain the issues related to computer ethics and internet with personal experience.

MAY / JUNE 2007

PART B

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28. What is spirituality? How spirituality is promoted in work place? What are spiritual traits to be developed for excellence in corporate activities? 29. Define virtues. List the types of virtues with suitable example for each.? (10)

30. Discuss the term respect for others? 31. Discuss Kohlbergs model of moral development and Glligan theory of moral development? 32. Define Self Respect. 33. List the steps in confronting moral dilemma. 34. In the Challenger Disaster, examine if and how the principal actors behaved as responsible experimenters. 35. Compare and contrast engineering experiments with standard experiments. (10) 36. What is the proper role law in Engineering? (6)

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(4) (12)

37. Discuss the notion of safe exit using evacuation plans for communities near nuclear power plants or chemical processing plants. 38. Discuss on the ways and means of reducing occupational crimes in industries. (8) 39. Discuss the intellectual property plants. 40. Write a brief account on Consulting Engineering 41. Explain Engineers as expert witness and advisors? 42. Discuss an Engineers involvement in weapons work? 43. Discuss on the Professional Societies? (8) (8) (8) (8) (8)

GE-1301 MAY / JUNE 2006

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND HUMAN VALUES QUESTION PAPERS PART A (2MARKS)

1. What are the three different levels of moral development suggested by Kholberg? The three different levels of moral development as suggested by Kholberg are; i) Pre-conventional ii) Conventional and iii) Post-conventional. 2. List the different models of professional roles. i) Engineers as saviours. Ii) Engineer as guardians iii) Engineer as bureaucratic servants iv) Engineer as social servants v) Engineer as social eanablers and catalysts and vi) Engineer as game player. 3. Mention the five widely used tests for evaluating ethical theories. The five widely used tests for evaluating ethical theories are: i) The theory must be clear and logical. The concept of the theory should be formulated to enhance applicability. ii) The theory should be consistent with its principles. The principles of the same theory should not contradict each other. iii) The theory and its defense should rely only upon facts, truths and correct information. iv) The theory should be adequately complete so that to provide guidance for our required specific situations. v) The theory should be well-matched with moral convictions such as judgments and intutions about concrete situations. 4. Give the limitation of the code. i)Codes are restricted to general and vague wording. Hence it is impossible to apply for all situations. ii) The codes are different and conflicting and thereby create the moral dilemma which one to apply for a particular situation. iii) The codes cannot serve as a final moral authority for professional conduct. iv) The limitation of codes are due to their proliferation. 5. What reasons lead to many repetitions of past mistakes? Lack of established channels of communication, misplaced pride in not asking for information, embarrassment at failure or fear of litigation and plain neglect often impede the flow of such information lead to many repetitions of past mistakes. 6. Give Lowrances definition for safety and acceptability of mistakes. William Lowrance defined safety as A thing is safe if its risks are judged to be acceptable. That means, a thing is safe for a person if the perceived risk is less. Similarly a thing is unsafe if the perceived risk is high. 7. List the methods that can be applied when testing inappropriate. The methods for testing inappropriate are: 1. Scenario analysis. 2. Failure modes and effects analysis, 3. Fault-tree analysis and 4.Even-tree analysis.

8. Define whistle-blowing and when it occurs. Whistle-blowing is the act by and employee informing the public or higher management of unethical or illegal behaviour by an employer or superviosor. It occurs to discourage the organization to continue the unethical activity. When repeated information was ignored and no steps were taken to prevent the activity by the management or superiors. 9. List any four international rights listed by Donaldson. Thomas Donaldson in his book The ethics of International Business has listed the following as the International rights: 11. The right to freedom of physical movement 12. The right to ownership of property 13. The right to freedom from torture 14. The right to a fair trial 15. The right to nondiscriminatory treatment 16. The right to physical security 17. The right to freedom of speech and association 18. The right to minimal education 19. The right to political participation 20. The right to subsistence. 10. What you mean by appropriate technology? Appropriate technology refers to the identification, transfer and implementation of the most suitable technology for a new set of conditions. NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2006 31. PART A (2MARKS)

Define moral autonomy. Moral autonomy is the ability to think critically and independently about moral Issues and apply the same to the situations that arise during the professional engineering practices. What you mean by Profession? Profession means The occupation which one professes to be skilled and follow a vocation in which professed knowledge of some branch of learning is used in its application to the affairs of others, or in the practice of an art based upon it. In general it is synonym for job or occupation. What is Safe Exists? When a product fails it will fail safely, the product can be abandoned safely or the user escapes safely from the adversity of the product. All the three conditions are referred as Safe Exists.

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Define Ethics. The term ethics is derived from the Greek word Ethos, which means customs. Ethics are the study of the characteristics of morals. It concerned with what is wrong and what is right. What is the meaning of Safety? Safety means being in the safe state. i.e. Protected from harm and danger. It is defined by William W. Lowrence as A thing is safe if its risks are judged to be acceptable Define Risk. Risk can be defined as a potential that is something unwanted and harmful may occur. It is the possibility of suffering harm or loss. Define Confidentiality. Confidentiality is the obligation of keeping certain information of employer/client secret or confidential. It is one of the external responsibilities of Engineer. What do you mean by external whistle blowing? It is the whistle blowing where in the information is passed outside the organization. List out four examples of Multinational Corporations. Large corporations having investment and business in number of countries are known as Multinational or Transnational corporation. Some of them are : Hindustan Lever, Ford, Toyota, Sony, LG, Smith Kline Beecham, ITC, Ponds etc. Define Computer Ethics. The study of ethical issues that are associated with computer, its peripheral and accessesseries and the computing profession is called as computer ethics.

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MAY / JUNE 2007 41. 42. 43.

PART A

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Define Self Confidence. Having confidence in oneself is called Self Confidence. List the types of Human Values. What are the professional responsibilities? The professional responsibility is an umbrella virtue that can be grouped into four categories. They are: 1. Self-direction virtues that are fundamental in exercising moral autonomy and responsibility. 2. Public-spirited virtues are those focused on the good of clients and the public. 3. Team-work virtues those are essential in enabling the professionals to work successfully with other people an 4. Proficiency virtue is the competence.

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What is meant by moral autonomy? Moral autonomy is the skill and habit of thinking rationally on ethical issues based on moral concern. What are the functions of code of Ethics? The various functions of code of Ethics are: 1. Inspiration 2. Guidance 3. support for responsible conduct 4. Deterring and disciplining unethical professional conduct 5. Education and promotion of mutual understanding 6. Contributing to positive public image of the profession 7. Protecting the status quo and suppressing dissent within the profession and 8. Promoting business interests through restraint of trade. What do you understand by the term authenticity? People are morally autonomous hen their moral conduct and principles of action are their own. That is, moral belief and attitude must be held on the basis of crtitical reflection rather than merely on the conviction and convention of the society, church or authority. This is called as authenticity in ones commitment to moral values. What are the faulty assumptions about safety? The faulty assumptions about safety are: 1. The cause of accident is due to the operator error and negligence. 2. Producing safe product always increases the cost. 3. We learn about the safety after a product has been completed and tested. 4. Warning about harms are sufficient. Insurance cover is cheaper than planning for safety. What is meant by voluntary risk? The risk taken by a person knowingly it is unsafe is called as voluntary risk. Define conflict resolution. Conflict resolution is the result based on some objective standard and corporate usually uses general standards for evaluating the results. What is contextualism? In accordance to Gilligan women try hard to preserve personal relationship will all people. This context-oriented emphasis on maintaining personal relationship is called as ethics of care in contrast with ethics of rules and rights.

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MAY / JUNE 2006

PART B

(4-16 MARKS)

1. Explain the skills needed to handle problems about moral issues in engineering ethics. (8) Adult moral concern can be evoked on specific occasions by any number of influences such as: friends, politicians, social events, novels, movies, family and role model etc. The main goal of the engineering ethics is to improve the ability to reflect critically on moral issues. This is accomplished by improving various practical skills that will help produce effective independent thought about moral issues. The following skills are needed to handle the moral issues in the engineering ethics: 9. Proficiency in recognizing moral problems and issues to differentiate and relate the problems in law, economics, religious doctrine, description in science etc. 10. Skill in comprehending, clarifying and assessing arguments of the opposing sides of moral issues. 11. The ability to form consistent and comprehensive view points based on the facts. 12. Imagine the alternate responses to the issues and find solutions for practical difficulties. 13. Sensitivity to difficulties and subtleties willingness to undergo and tolerate uncertainty in making troublesome moral judgment. 14. Precise use of common ethical language. 15. Appreciation of the using rational dialogue in resolving moral conflicts and tolerance of differences in perspective of morally reasonable people. 16. Integration of ones professional life and personal conviction in maintaining the moral integrity. 2. Discuss the different models of professional roles. (8) The profession of engineering aims the promotion of public good by taking care of public safety, public health and welfare. There are general models that are followed by the engineers. These models help the engineer to organize thinking and crystallize the attitudes and they are as follows: 2. Service 2. Guardian 3.Bureaucratic servant 4. Social servant 5.Social enabler and catalyst 6. Game player. 3. State the similarities to view engineering projects as experiments. (8) The engineering projects are more or less are experiments. However, there are similarities and differences between engineering projects and experiments. The similarities between the engineering projects and experiments are:

1. The engineering projects like the experiments are carried out in partial uncertainties. They include in the: Design calculations Exact properties of raw materials used Constancies of materials processing and fabrication and Nature of working of the final product 4. How engineering projects differs from standard experimentation? 5. Discuss on the roles played by the codes of ethics set by professional societies. 6. Explain in detail the effects of information on risk assessment with an example. 7. Write notes on: Personal risk, Public risk. 8. Describe the concept of risk benefit analysis. 9. Give any four examples of improved safety and explain. 10. Explain the concept of collegiality and loyalty. 11. Write short notes on Professional rights. 12. Write short notes on employee rights to privacy and choice of outside activities. 13. Describe the moral threats posed by the revolutionized communication using computers to the right to privacy. 14. Describe the concept of environmental ethics with a case study. 15. Discuss the three senses of Relative values. 16. Give the philosophical views of nature and discuss them. NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2006 PART B (4-16 MARKS) (8) (8) (8) (8) (8) (8) (8) (8) (8) (8) (8)

17. Explain the scope of Engineering Ethics 18. Discuss the importance of Duty ethics and Virtues in engineering profession. 19. How do you call an Engineer as a responsible Experimenter? 20. Write short notes on Ethical Relativism. 21. Write short notes on abuses on the codes of ethics. (8) (8)

22. Explain the various measures for assessing and reducing Risk. 23. Discuss the concept of safety exists in the Chernobyl Case Studies. 24. Define the Collective Bargaining. Explain the role of collective bargaining in workplace rights and responsibilities. 25. How will you apply confidentiality for avoiding harmful conflicts of interest in workplace? 26. Is there any relationship among Engineering, Ecology and Economics? Discuss. 27. Explain the issues related to computer ethics and internet with personal experience.

MAY / JUNE 2007

PART B

(4-16 MARKS)

28. What is spirituality? How spirituality is promoted in work place? What are spiritual traits to be developed for excellence in corporate activities? 29. Define virtues. List the types of virtues with suitable example for each.? 30. Discuss the term respect for others? 31. Discuss Kohlbergs model of moral development and Glligan theory of moral development? 32. Define Self Respect. 33. List the steps in confronting moral dilemma. 34. In the Challenger Disaster, examine if and how the principal actors behaved as responsible experimenters. 35. Compare and contrast engineering experiments with standard experiments. 36. What is the proper role law in Engineering? (10) (6) (4) (12) (10) (6)

37. Discuss the notion of safe exit using evacuation plans for communities near nuclear

power plants or chemical processing plants. 38. Discuss on the ways and means of reducing occupational crimes in industries. 39. Discuss the intellectual property plants. 40. Write a brief account on Consulting Engineering 41. Explain Engineers as expert witness and advisors? 42. Discuss an Engineers involvement in weapons work? 43. Discuss on the Professional Societies? (8) (8) (8) (8) (8) (8)