We live in a world where virtually every aspect of life is touched by Mechanical Engineering, one of the oldest and broadest disciplines in engineering. This discipline conjures in our minds the image of people harnessing their numerical and scientific abilities to build solutions that advance the world. Yet, as engineers open up new vistas of innovation through science and technology, sometimes, the action may not always be right. How do we marry the concept of ethics and virtue—seemingly falling in the realm of philosophy—to a factual, logical, and scientific based engineering discipline? Why is this notion of virtue and ethics significant for the engineering profession? For a start, ethics and virtue can be seen as the moral principles that guide engineers’ decision. At its core, the significance lies is in how engineering must be grounded in actions that do not harm others.
Situated in the engineering faculty, block E3, level 6, a quote from James A. Michener reads: “Scientists dream about doing great things. Engineers do them.” Science and engineering are knitted by symbiotic ties, where engineering is built upon a strong scientific foundation.
Science and engineering are knitted by symbiotic ties, where engineering is built upon a strong scientific foundation. The quote on the wall highlights the spirit of how engineers transform ideas into tangible reality through their action.
During my engineering professionalism class (EG2401), I was exposed to the idea of how ethics and virtue could be used to guide decision making as practice the profession. Instead of engaging in the discourse surrounding the fundamental tenets of virtue and ethics, we accept the axioms of ethical theory to build a structured methodology that guides decision making. While this teaching pedagogy did quickly teach me the systematic framework that could guide ethical decision making, I was skeptical and doubtful of how this framework has any relevance in contributing to my readiness as a Mechanical Engineer. The approach seemed like a “fill in the blank” of what I had intuitively understood as ethical or unethical. At the same time, it is unlikely that, as mechanical engineers, we get to put things on the ethical framework in the course of our work.
Take the assignment that I had prepared for my presentation, for instance:
Presentation assignment for the Engineering Professionalism module, where I had to evaluate the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster by evaluating the actions of one of the stakeholder involved, Morton Thiokol, contractor of the solid rocket booster, on an ethics line diagram. The actual actions undertaken and hypothetical situations are placed and evaluated against the negative paradigm—unambiguously morally unacceptable— and the positive paradigm—unambiguously morally acceptable.
Ethics decision flowchart to analyse cases where there is a sequence of events to be considered and a corresponding consequence that arises from each decision.
The turning point only came when I took on the Mechanical Systems Design (ME3103) module, where we are required to build a solution around to solve the problem statement sponsored by the industry partner. We were helping PepsiCo to optimise their heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system—comprising of the chiller, cooling tower, and 17 air handling units (AHUs) serving different location of the industrial plant. Our project goal was to reduce the energy consumption by at least 10%, and we began by working on optimising the AHUs one at room at a time:
This is the air handling unit that serves the 1st floor office in PepsiCo. Air from outside (red ink) is drawn into the AHU, mixed with the recycled air (blue ink), passing through the chilled water supply (CHWS) that cools down the air, which is subsequently blown into the room to cool down the room temperature. Majority of the cool air would be recycled, while the excess would be expelled through the exhaust air duct to maintain a stable internal room temperature. As outside fresh air is hot and humid, the air presents a larger heat load, which would translate to more energy used to cool down the mixed air, and correspondingly, greater energy cost.
We realised that the fastest way to reduce the energy consumption was simply to completely switch off the outside air damper. Drawing close to no hot and humid fresh air would reduce the heat load and the cost of electricity, but comes at a cost of increased carbon dioxide (CO2). While the building and construction authority has an indoor guideline value of 1100ppm, indoor CO2 at the 3000ppm level is still within human tolerable range.
In this case, without accounting for the indoor air quality, we found the fastest way to obtain our goal, and help PepsiCo to save money. It then dawned on me that, in a situation where the stakes are much higher, and when the reward-to-risk ratio is attractive, it is easy to be misguided by our own selective bias. This is the state where we reason ourselves into believing that our actions are ethical and justifiable so that we feel more comfortable doing things for self-interests at the expense of others.
The ethical framework that I had learned, albeit rarely used, came to the forefront of my mind and served as a tool in which I could utilise to understand our project interests, juxtaposed against the interests of the PepsiCo office workers. As future engineers, we have the obligations to conduct ourselves honourably and in an ethical manner to preserve the society’s positive perception, trust, and respect for the profession.
Recounting my previous experience in USP, I took a module entitled virtue and leadership under professor Loy, where we discussed the topic of moral virtue and human leadership. One of the course text I read was the book the Analects of Confucius, where I wrote a short blog post as part of my weekly assignment:
Looking back on this assignment, Confucius’ ethics focus on a practical approach to ethics (similar to EG2401), focusing on the ideal character traits that are required of a virtuous gentleman (君子). How, then, does Confucius ethics guide our decision making as engineers? Firstly, by upholding the code of ethics required of the profession, engineers create a culture that shape other individuals to act in accordance to the rules, which in turn, preserves the ethos of the profession.
Secondly, putting the phrase “devoting his mind to attaining the Way and not to securing food” into the contexts of engineering, it implies how engineers should uphold the moral standards of having integrity, honesty, and professionalism in accordance with the rules of the profession (Way). In other words, engineers need to weigh their benefits against the well-being of society, and try prioritise the latter.
This leads me to the final point, that the fundamental values enshrined within different cultures or religion are always consistent. Even as we examine the Judeo-Christian framework of ethics that portrays human as agents with their own rights, there still exist a God being the moral compass of human existence.
Perhaps, the consistency of the fundamental values is what allows us to adopt the acceptable understanding surrounding ethics, and build a framework around it. Ultimately, the framework in the engineering professionalism module provides us a “playbook” that guides our moral compass. More importantly, the key is to recognise when it is necessary to move away from the cost-benefit analysis, which is controversial and unpalatable in cases where the benefit and cost are not borne by the same party (e.g. HVAC optimisation project).
My takeaway is: we need to realise that there is a way to reconcile the difference between being competent in one’s profession and being human. This has to start by seeing our action as a reflection of our self, and as a reflection of the ethos of the profession. Building ethics and virtue into engineering profession can be done through discourses or systematic framework, but ultimately, it relies and calls upon the learner to form a connection and arrive at an understanding of how these ethics and virtue relate to the well-being of society. Ultimately, engineers’ action needs to be reflective of the socio-cultural and moral values that have shaped society so that we—the society and us—can co-create and live in a world that everyone can continuously dream about. After all, engineering is about collectively building the world, turning ideas into reality, and creating a society that is more liveable, humane, caring, and progressive.