Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
young licensed professional engineer who has recently joined the professional staff at Phaust Chemicals,
a United States division of a French multinational corporation. Fred is asked to design a system to
reformulate a paint-stripping product to meet new regulations. A realistic constraint, however, is that
a competing firm has a similar product. In the process, Fred identifies numerous environmental and
technical problems that threaten the health safety of workers and nearby residents. Although Fred tries
to be true to his professional training and his own moral compass, design and construction compromises
lead to failures.
A number of lessons can be found in this story. One is that the changes and shortcutting can be
quite gradual. A fitting analogy is the frog who jumps in fright from boiling water when exposed
instantaneously, but who willingly remains in luke warm water that is gradually increased in temperature
until the frog is boiled. Another lesson is that institutions can have priorities that are different and
opposed to professional responsibilities. The engineer may have a strong core set of beliefs, but these
can be stretched away from the center (Figure 4.3). The elements of groupthink include:
•
Illusion of invulnerability of group
•
“We feeling” very strong (i.e., outsiders are the enemy)
•
Rationalization (mainly to shift responsibilities)
•
Illusion of morality
•
Self-censorship (don't rock the boat)
•
Illusion of unanimity (silence means consent)
•
Direct pressure (against those who disagree)
•
Mind guarding (or gatekeeping)
Unethical behavior
Core values
Figure
4.3
Vectors that influence ethical decisions by the engineer. The white arrow indicates that the engineer's conscience
has been informed by moral development and that the engineering norms articulated in the code of ethics support ethical core
values. Opposing forces (black arrow) include institutional pathologies, such as groupthink, and the individual professional's own
compromises.
