Ethics: The Study of Human Conduct that Lays out the Moral Ground Rules
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The question that being issued is:
“Should a company reveal/replace defective products even if customers won’t recognize the defect?” Discuss this statement based on what are the ethical actions that need to be carried out by a company that faces with this dilemma. Consider the responsibilities of engineers in finding product that have defects before the product being sold, after the product being sold and when the flaw becomes apparent after being sold. Provide examples of case studies.
A product defect is any characteristic of a product which hinders its usability for the purpose for which it was designed and manufactured. Product defects arise most prominently in legal contexts, where the term is applied to "anything that renders the product not reasonably safe".The field of law that addresses injuries caused by defective products is called products liability.
So, based on the problem issued, engineering is not only applying science tic laws and principles to technical problems. It is focused on improving the lot of society, and as such, it brings engineers into the mainstream of business and industry. Almost all entry-level engineers become involved, at least partially, with situations that call for some understanding of the law and situations that call for ethical judgments. Therefore, this case study presents a brief overview of some legal and ethical issues in engineering world. With topics as broad as law and ethics we can only scratch the surface, so we have chosen to focus on those issues that are most pertinent to engineering design. Being an engineer does not mean we only have to know about designing, producing products and others, it also involves laws. The law is a formalized code of conduct describing what society feels is the proper way to behave. In other words, laws reflect what society values. As society evolves, its attitude toward behavior changes, and the laws change as well. Also, the evolution of technology creates
The question that being issued is:
“Should a company reveal/replace defective products even if customers won’t recognize the defect?” Discuss this statement based on what are the ethical actions that need to be carried out by a company that faces with this dilemma. Consider the responsibilities of engineers in finding product that have defects before the product being sold, after the product being sold and when the flaw becomes apparent after being sold. Provide examples of case studies.
A product defect is any characteristic of a product which hinders its usability for the purpose for which it was designed and manufactured. Product defects arise most prominently in legal contexts, where the term is applied to "anything that renders the product not reasonably safe".The field of law that addresses injuries caused by defective products is called products liability.
So, based on the problem issued, engineering is not only applying science tic laws and principles to technical problems. It is focused on improving the lot of society, and as such, it brings engineers into the mainstream of business and industry. Almost all entry-level engineers become involved, at least partially, with situations that call for some understanding of the law and situations that call for ethical judgments. Therefore, this case study presents a brief overview of some legal and ethical issues in engineering world. With topics as broad as law and ethics we can only scratch the surface, so we have chosen to focus on those issues that are most pertinent to engineering design. Being an engineer does not mean we only have to know about designing, producing products and others, it also involves laws. The law is a formalized code of conduct describing what society feels is the proper way to behave. In other words, laws reflect what society values. As society evolves, its attitude toward behavior changes, and the laws change as well. Also, the evolution of technology creates
References: [1] J. Steve Davis, "Ethical Problems in Competitive Bidding: The Paradyne Case," Business and Professional Ethics Journal, vol. 7, 1988, p. 3. [2] Joseph R. Herkert, “Management’s Hat Trick: Misuse of ‘Engineering Judgment’ in the Challenger Incident,” Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 10, 1991, pp. 617–620. [3] Martin, Mike W., and Roland Schinzinger, Ethics in Engineering, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1989. [4] Norbert Elliot, Eric Katz, and Robert Lynch, “The Challenger Tragedy: A Case Study in Organizational Communication and Professional Ethics,” Business and Professional Ethics Journal,vol. 12, 1990, pp. 91–108. [5] Roger Boisjoly, “The Challenger Disaster: Moral Responsibility and the Working Engineer,” in Deborah G. Johnson, Ethical Issues in Engineering, Prentice Hall, 1991, pp. 6–14.