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Incident at Morales. Developed and Presented by the National Institute for Engineering Ethics. An Engineering Ethics Story. Acknowledgements. This Project was made possible in part by a Grant from the National Science Foundation Grant NSF SES-0138309 NSF Program Directors:
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Incident at Morales Developed and Presented by the National Institute for Engineering Ethics An Engineering Ethics Story
Acknowledgements This Project was made possible in part by a Grant from the National Science Foundation Grant NSF SES-0138309 NSF Program Directors: Dr. Rachelle Hollander - 2003 Dr. Joan Sieber - 2002
And Financial Support from • Harry E. Bovay, Jr., P.E., Past President, NSPE • Victor O. Schinnerer and Company, Inc. • National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) • American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) • William J. Lhota, P.E., American Electric Power • Steven P. Nichols, Ph.D., P.E., Clint W. Murchison Chair of Free Enterprise, University of Texas at Austin • Robert L. Nichols, P.E., Past President, NIEE & NSPE • Donald L. Hiatte, P.E., Past President, NSPE • Jimmy H. Smith, Ph.D., P.E., Past President, NIEE & TSPE
Developed by the National Institute for Engineering Ethics Murdough Center for Engineering Professionalism, Texas Tech University Presented by <Name of Presenter>
Producer & Writer/Director Great Projects Film Co., Inc.New York CityKenneth Mandel, ProducerPaul Martin, Writer & Director
Executive Producers - Video Team • Jimmy H. Smith, Ph.D., P.E., Texas Tech University, PI & PD • Steven P. Nichols, Ph.D. J.D., P.E., Univ. of Texas at Austin • Michael C. Loui, Ph.D., Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • Vivian Weil, Ph.D., Illinois Institute of Technology • Philip E. Ulmer, P.E., Eagle River, Alaska • Fredrick Suppe, Ph.D., Texas Tech University • Carl M. Skooglund, Texas Instruments, Dallas (Retired) • E. Walter LeFevre, Jr., Ph.D., P.E., University of Arkansas and Patricia Harper, Assistant to Team of Executive Producers
Incident at Morales How the Video Project Evolved&Consideration of Basic Concepts
ETHICS Basic Concept Needs in Engineering Education NSF Funding Private Funding INCIDENT AT MORALES NIEE Video Team Idea for graphic based on Professional Responsibility: The Role of the Engineer, Journal of Science and Engineering Ethics, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1997 by Drs. Steve Nichols and Bill Weldon, UT/Austin
The NIEE Video Team Our Video Team communicated on a frequent basis and met as a group twice during 2002 for 2 days each. We started with basic ideas of: • Sensitivity - To raise awareness of ethical aspects of professional work • Knowledge - To learn about professional standards such as codes of ethics • Judgment - To develop skills in moral reasoning • Commitment - To strengthen personal dedication to exemplary conduct
The NIEE Video Team • Identified a variety of ethical issues they wished to convey in the video. • Developed situations where these issues may be encountered. • Specified critical ethical elements of the video. • Proposed a story line to the producer & writer. • Critiqued two draft scripts. • Reviewed and approved the final script and the “fine cut” of the video.
The NIEE Video Team Wanted Viewers To be Able To: • Identify ethical, technical, and economic issues and problems • Identify affected parties (stakeholders) and their rights and responsibilities • Identify social and political constraints on possible solutions
And to: • Determine whether additional information is needed to make a good decision • Suggest alternative courses of action for the principal characters • Imagine possible consequences of those alternative actions • Evaluate those alternatives according to basic ethical values
Tests That Were Considered(Davis, 1997) • Harm test - Do the benefits outweigh the harms, short term and long term? • Reversibility test - Would I think this choice were good if I traded places? • Colleague test - What would professional colleagues say?
And ... • Legality test - Would this choice violate a law or a policy of my employer? • Publicity test - How would this choice look on the front page of a newspaper? • Common practice test - What if everyone behaved in this way? • Wise relative test - What would my wise old aunt or uncle do?
Evaluation & Assessment • The evaluation and assessment phase will be conducted during 2003 – 2005, lead by Dr. Michael Loui, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Basic Ethical Concepts • Ethical considerations are an integral part of making engineering decisions. • The professional obligations of engineers go beyond fulfilling a contract with a client or customer. • Codes of ethics can provide guidance in the decision-making process.
Basic Ethical Concepts ... • Ethical obligations do not stop at the United States border. • Wherever engineers practice, they should hold paramount the health, safety, and welfare of the public. • How an engineer fulfills those obligations may depend on the social and economic context of engineering practice.
Outline of Story • Phaust is the manufacturer of Old Stripper, a paint remover. • Phaust’s learns that competitor Chemitoil plans to introduce a new paint remover. • To remain competitive, Phaust decides to develop a new paint remover. • To save money, Phaust decides to construct a new plant in Mexico.
Outline of Story ... • Phaust hires a chemical engineer, Fred Martinez, who had been a consultant to Chemitoil. • Chemistré is Phaust’s parent company in France and they insist that budgets be radically cut. • Chuck, a Vice President of Phaust, encourages Fred to reduce construction costs. • Fred confronts several engineering decisions in which ethical considerations play a major role.
The Interactive DVD Version will: • Provide the viewer with interactive control of the action in the sense that they will have a variety of options to more effectively benefit from studying the elements of the video. • Include interviews with and comments by NIEE Video Team Members and others. • Raise and discuss Issues/Concepts/Questions that should be considered by the viewers.
Supporting Materials Supporting Materials that are available on the Internet : • Script • Synopsis of the Story • Study Guide • Power Point Slides • Recommended Uses
Characters & Format Incident at MoralesAn Engineering Ethics Story
Characters in Incident at Morales Dominique - French corporate liaison to Phaust Fred - Chemical engineer hired by Phaust to design a new plant to manufacture a new paintremover Wally - Fred’s supervisor at Phaust Chuck - Vice president of engineering at Phaust Maria - Fred’s wife, an EPA compliance litigator
Characters ... Hal - Market analyst at Phaust Jen - Research chemist at Phaust Peter - Project manager of the construction firm that builds the new plant in Morales Jake - Plant manager for the SwisseChem plant in Big Springs, Texas Manuel - Plant manager for the new Phaust plant in Morales, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
Suggested Assignments • List the ethical issues you observed in Incident at Morales. • From your personal perspective, prioritize these ethical issues from most critical to least critical • Discuss the video from the three following perspectives:
Fred’s Perspective: Assume you are Fred • What specific ethical issues do you (Fred) face? • What are some things that you should consider? • From whom or where would you seek guidance?
Wally’s Perspective: Assume you are Wally • What specific ethical issues does Wally face? • What do you think Wally's motivation was for having “One Rule”? • What do you think about Wally’s “One Rule”? • What decisions would you change if you were Wally?
Responsibility Perspective:If you were in charge and had the authority and the funding to make any changes you wanted to make in company policies: • What specific steps would you take to improve the company culture? • Who would you involve in this process? • How and when would you communicate the company policies to: Your employees? Your clients? The public?
Let’s Watch and Discuss Incident at MoralesAn Engineering Ethics Story