1. CHAPTER III
ENGINEERING PROFESSION AND CODE OF
ETHICS
Presented by : Madhav Prasad Guragain
Email : guragainroshan63@gmail.com
ECM 521:- Professional Ethics and
Liabilities in Construction

2. SYLLABUS
• Introduction.
• Characteristics of a profession.
• Factors affecting morale of a professional.
• Code of ethics of engineering societies.

3. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Professionalism
• What is profession?
• Requirements to be a profession
• Engineering as a profession.
• Aspects of Professional Societies.
Code of Ethics
• What is code of Ethics?
• Importance of Code of Ethics.
• What a code of ethics is not?
• How does code of ethics help achieve goals?

4. PROFESSIONALISM

5. WHAT IS PROFESSION?
Work that requires sophisticated skills, the use of judgment and
the exercise of discretion. Not routine and is not capable of being
mechanized.
Membership in the profession requires extensive formal education,
not simply practical training to set standards for admission to the
profession, to set standards of conduct for members and to
enforce Significant public good results from the practice of the
profession (Martin and Schinzinger 2000)

6. REQUIREMENTS TO BE A
PROFESSION
• Requires extensive skills.
• Judgment: decision based on academic/formal training, gives serous
impact to lives of people .
• Discretion- in performing one’s duty and keeping confidentiality of
patent.
Is carpentry a Profession?

7. REQUIREMENTS TO BE A
PROFESSION
Carpentry
• Require special skills
• But many work can be mechanized
• A little judgment and discretion required
• Training in Carpentry not formal but rather is practical
So Carpentry doesn’t meet the requirements to be a
profession

8. CHARECTERSTICS OF A
PROFESSIONS
There is considerable agreement about defining the
characteristic features of a profession, they have a-
• professional association,
• cognitive base,
• institutionalized training,
• licensing,
• work autonomy,
• colleague control... (and)
• code of ethics

9. THE FUNDAMENTAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF
PROFESSION
• Great Responsibility
• Accountability
• Based on specialized, theoretical knowledge
• Institutional preparation
• Autonomy
• Clients rather than customers
• Direct working relationship
• Ethical constraints
• Merit Based
• Capitalist Morality

10. CODE OF ETHICS

11. WHAT IS MORAL
1 Moral – Adjective, Morale - Noun
a : of or relating to principles of right and wrong in
behaviour :ETHICAL <moral judgments>
b : expressing or teaching a conception of right behaviour <a
moral poem>
c : conforming to a standard of right behaviour
d : sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or ethical
judgment <a moral obligation>
e : capable of right and wrong action <a moral agent>
2: probable though not proved : VIRTUAL <a moral certainty>
3: perceptual or psychological rather than tangible or practical in nature
or effect
-Merriam Webster Dictionary

12. FACTORS AFFECTING MORAL OF
A PROFESSIONAL

13.  The need to control, legislate and regulate, the ethical conduct at
the government, individual, and corporate levels has its roots back
to the ancient world.
 Examples:-
 One of the earliest law codes developed, the Code of
Hammurabi, made Bribery a crime in Babylon during the eighteenth
century B.C.
 Most ancient societies’ shares common ethical codes, such as
against murder, causing injury to fellow human, and attacks on
honour and reputation of an individual.
 In modern world societies, Law and justice to the public are
related to ethics and they enforce certain rights and duties in an
attempt to repress and punish deviations from these standards
1. Legal Interpretations

14.  Leader’s values and character :- Leaders act as role models: their
values and character foster behaviour of people within the organization.
 Vision and exercise of power:- Actions of individual employees in an
organizational context are conditioned by how top executives
and use their power.
 Corporate control systems :- Corporate control system pressures
moral behaviour of people within the organization.
 Internal network ofinfluences :- The network of influences within the
organization, which takes place through links, interdependences and
interactions among individuals and groups, affects individual moral
behaviour.

2. Organizational Factors

15.  Organizational culture :-The organizational culture, which includes shared
beliefs, values, and common
practices, influences individual behaviour.
 Internal and competitive pressures :- Internal pressures –especially those
coming from the top –along with competitivepressures, can have an
in misbehaviours.
 External influences :- External elements of corporate environment influence
managers’behaviour, and indirectly—all people within the organization.
Organizational Factors (cont…)

16.  Stages of moral development :- Moral development is the process
through which children develop proper attitudes and behaviors toward
other in society, based on social and culture norms, rules and laws.
 Personal values and morals :- An individual’s values and morals will
also influence his or her ethical standards. A key variable which affects
ethical behavior is “locus of control”. An individual with an internal locus
of control believes that he/she can control the events in his/her life. An
individual with an external locus of control believes that fate or luck or
other people affect his life.
 Family influences :- Individuals start to form ethical standards as
children in response to their perception of their parent’s behaviour and
are likely to adopt high ethical standards if they see that their family
members adhere to high ethical standard. They develop lower ethical
standards if their family members are involved in unethical behaviours.
3. Individual factors

17.  Peer influences :- Peers are colleagues who are always around us in
conducting our daily work. The behaviors and attitudes of peers
influence an individual’s decisions in their life. They play an important
role in ethical decision making. Thus, an employee must establish
good relationships with colleagues. If there are no good relations
among colleagues, there is no harmonious atmosphere which
leads to failure in achieving one’s goal.
 Life experiences :- Individual’s life experiences analyze key ethical
concepts such as “right”, “wrong,” and “permissible.” It lets us explores
possible sources of moral obligation such as God, human reason, or
the desire to be happy. It seeks to establish principles of right
behavior that may serve as action guides for individuals and groups.
Individual factors (cont…)

18. MORALITY AND ETHICS
"Although Morality and Ethics are often used as synonyms,
morals are beliefs based on practices or teachings regarding
how people conduct themselves in personal relationships and in
society,
while ethics refers to a set or system of principles, or a
philosophy or theory behind them.
When comparing morality with ethics, the word ethics is often
used to refer to a philosophical analysis of a particular morality,
especially when the formal definition is applied.

19. WHAT IS CODE OF ETHICS?
• Framework for ethical judgment for a professional
• No code can be totally comprehensive and cover all possible
ethical situation
• Rather, code serve as a starting point for ethical decision making
• Code also express commitment to ethical conduct shared by
members of a profession.
• Organizations with an established and published code of ethics
have in place review processes and appeals procedures to guard
against malicious or self-serving use of the code for individual
benefit.
• Depending on the context of a given code of ethics, penalties
and/or sanctions may result from a violation.

20. CODE OF ETHICS
Codes of Ethic express
• The right
• Duties
• Obligations of the members of the profession

21. HOW DOES A CODE OF ETHICS
HELP ACHIEVE GOALS?
Help create environment within a profession where ethical
behavior is the norm
Serves as a guide or reminder of how to act in a specific situation
Code provides a backup for an individual who is being pressured
by a superior to behave unethically
A support for a collective sense of correct behavior
Code can indicate to others that the profession is seriously
concerned about responsibility, professional conduct.

22. IMPORTANCE OF CODE
OF ETHICS
Serving and Protecting the public:
• Professionals stand in a fiduciary relationship with the public.
• Code of ethics functions as a commitment by the profession
as a whole that engineers will serve the public health, safety
and welfare.
Guidance:
• Codes provide general guidance on the main obligation of
engineers.

23. IMPORTANCE OF CODE
OF ETHICS
Inspiration:
• Code expresses collective commitment to ethics
• Positive motivation for ethical conduct
Shared standards:
• Profession establishes explicit standards
• Public is assured of a minimum standard of excellence on
which it can depend engineers.

24. IMPORTANCE OF CODE
OF ETHICS
Support for responsible professionals:
• Positive support to professionals to act ethically
• Can serve as legal support for engineers for professional
obligations
Education and mutual understanding:
• Widely circulated and officially approved by professional
societies
• Codes can be used in the classroom to discuss and reflect
moral issue

25. IMPORTANCE OF CODE
OF ETHICS
Discipline:
• Formal basis for investigating unethical conduct
• Some professional societies do suspend or expel members
whose professional conduct has been proven unethical
Contributing to the professional’s image
• Codes can present a positive image to the public
• Can help engineers more effectively serve the public where
the image is warranted

26. WHAT A CODE OF ETHIC
IS NOT?
• Is not a recipe for ethical behavior; it is only a framework for
arriving at good ethical choice
• Is never a substitute for sound judgment
• Is not a legal document?????
• Code of ethics doesn’t create new moral or ethical principles.
These principles are well established in the society, and
foundations of such go many centuries back.

27. CODE OF ETHICS OF ENGINEERS
• Engineers have obligations to the public, their clients,
employers and the profession.
• Many engineering societies have established codes of practice
and codes of ethics to guide members and inform the public
at large.
• Each engineering discipline and professional society maintains
a code of ethics, which the members pledge to uphold.
Depending on their specializations, engineers may also be
governed by specific statute, whistle blowing, product liability
laws, and often the principles of business ethics.

28. CODES FOR INDIVIDUALS
• Individual codes of ethics are most commonly seen as
part of the tenets of a religion but can also be
considered to be those unwritten rules of behavior
instilled in an individual by their upbringing and
environment.
• Society at large assumes that certain ethical behaviors
are defined regardless of religion, geographic location or
nationality.
• Examples of societal ethical behavior can include such
things as:
Respect for another’s property
Refraining from violence against another
Treating others with civility

29. ENGINEERING EDUCATION
• Involve a concentration of study in an engineering specialty,
e.g. both mathematics and the physical and life sciences.
• Many programs also include courses in general engineering
and applied accounting.
• A design course, sometimes accompanied by a computer or
laboratory class or both, is part of the curriculum of most
programs.
• Often, general courses not directly related to engineering,
such as those in the social sciences or humanities, also are
required.

30. REGULATION AND LICENSURE IN
ENGINEERING
In many countries, engineering tasks such as the design of
bridges, electric power plants, industrial equipment, machine
design and chemical plants, must be approved by a licensed
professional engineer.
Most commonly titled Professional Engineer is a license to
practice and is indicated with the use of post-nominal letters; PE
or P.Eng. These are common in North America, European
Engineer (Eur Ing) in Europe.
US- licensure is generally attainable through combination
of education, pre-examination (Fundamentals of Engineering
exam), examination (Professional Engineering Exam),]and
engineering experience (typically in the area of 5+ years). Each
state tests and licenses Professional Engineers.

31. REGULATION AND LICENSURE IN
ENGINEERING
• Canada- the profession in each province is governed by its
own engineering association.
• in the Province of British Columbia an engineering graduate
with four or more years of post graduate experience in an
engineering-related field and passing exams in ethics and law
will need to be registered by the Association for Professional
Engineers and Geoscientists (APEGBC) in order to become a
Professional Engineer and be granted the professional
designation of P.Eng allowing one to practice engineering.
• In Continental Europe, Latin America, Turkey and elsewhere
the title is limited by law to people with an engineering
degree and the use of the title by others is illegal.

32. REGULATION AND LICENSURE IN
ENGINEERING
• In Nepal??
• American, UK or other European system???
• 4 yrs study after higher secondary or certificate level.
• No Professional Examination, but registration in Engineering
Council
• Many Engineering Colleges are having poor physical and
academic environment

33. LICENSURE MODEL AND
CODE OF ETHICS

34. ENGINEERING LICENSURE MODEL
NATIONAL SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL
ENGINEERS(NSPE)
Step 1: Become an Engineer Intern (the first step – toward full
PE licensure)
• Graduate from an engineering program approved by your
state's licensure board
• Successful in completing the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE)
exam
Step 2: Gain professional experience
• All states require that candidates complete four years of
qualifying engineering experience, typically under the
supervision of a professional engineer.

35. ENGINEERING LICENSURE MODEL
NATIONAL SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL
ENGINEERS(NSPE)
• Step 3: Prepare for and take the PE exam
• The final step in attaining licensure is successfully completing
the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam.

36. LICENSURE MODEL
Complete accredited BS Degree
Complete FE Exam
Become PE
Take the PE Exam
Gain 4 Years of Experience
Become EI
Continue professional Competency

37. CODE OF ETHICS OF PROFESSIONAL
ENGINEERING SOCIETIES
• THE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS, INC. (IEEE)
• NATIONAL SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS (NSPE)
• AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS (ASME)
• AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS (ASCE)
• AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERS (AICHE)
• JAPAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS

38. CODE OF ETHICS (NSPE)
The Fundamental Canons
• Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and
welfare of the public in the performance of their
professional duties.
• Engineers shall perform services only in the areas of their
competence.
• Engineers shall continue their professional development
throughout their careers and shall provide opportunities for
the professional and ethical development of those engineers
under their supervision.
• Engineers shall act in professional matters for each employer
or client as faithful agents or trustees, and shall avoid
conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest.

39. CODE OF ETHICS (NSPE)
• Engineers shall build their professional reputation on the merit
of their services and shall not compete unfairly with others.
• Engineers shall associate only with reputable persons or
organizations.
• Engineers shall issue public statements only in an objective
and truthful manner.
• Engineers shall consider environmental impact in the
performance of their professional duties.

40. NEPAL ENGINEERING COUNCIL
Professional Code of Conduct

41. PROFESSIONAL CODE OF CONDUCT
1. Discipline and Honesty :
• The Engineering service/profession must be conducted in a
disciplined manner with honesty, not contravening
professional dignity and well-being.
2. Politeness and Confidentiality:
• Engineering services for customers should be dealt with in a
polite manner and professional information should remain
confidential except with written or verbal consent of the
customers concerned. This, however, is not deemed to be a
restriction to provide such information to the concerned
authority as per the existing laws.

42. PROFESSIONAL CODE OF CONDUCT
3. Non-discrimination :
• No discrimination should be made against customers on the
grounds of religion, race, sex, caste or any other things while
applying professional knowledge and skills.
4. Professional Work:
• Individuals should only do professional work in their field or
provide recommendations or suggestions only within the area
of their subject of study or obtained knowledge or skills. With
regard to the works not falling within the subject of one's
profession, such works should be recommended to be done
by an expert of that subject matter.

43. PROFESSIONAL CODE OF CONDUCT
5. Deeds which may cause harm to the engineering
profession :
• With the exception of salary, allowance and benefits to be
received for services provided, one shall not obtain improper
financial gain of any kind or conduct improper activities of any
kind, which would impair the engineering profession.
6. Personal responsibility:
• All individuals will be personally responsible for all works
performed in connection with his/her engineering profession.

44. PROFESSIONAL CODE OF CONDUCT
7. State name, designation and registration no:
• While signing the documents or descriptions such as the
design, map, specifications and estimates etc, relating to the
engineering profession, the details should include, the name,
designation and NEC registration No. and should be stated in
a clear and comprehensible manner.
8. No publicity or advertisement must be made which may
cause unnecessary effect:
• In connection with the professional activities to be carried out,
no publicity or advertisement shall be made so as to cause
unnecessary effect upon the customers.

45. QUESTIONS
What Is the Difference Between a Code of Ethics and a Code
of Conduct?
A code of ethics is broader in its nature, outlining what is
acceptable for the company in terms of integrity and how it
operates. A code of conduct is more focused in nature and
instructs how a business' employees should act daily and in
specific situations.
Code of ethics is a set of principles which influence the
judgement. Code of conduct is a set of guidelines that
influence employee's actions.

46. QUESTIONS
In your opinion, What revisions are essential in the current
Nepal Engineering Council Act/ Regulation to make the
Nepali Engineers more competent and engineering
profession more respectful.

47. THANK YOU