Engineering, Business and Professional Ethics

Engineering frequently needs to face up to conflicting ethical considerations. The social benefits of a particular project may need to be balanced against the environmental cost, or the short and long-term impacts of a project might differ widely. As ethical issues become increasingly important in the eyes of the public, so they are also becoming a critical part of the education of engineers. An ethical dimension is now required by the accreditation boards for engineering degree courses in both the UK and the US, meaning that tens of thousands of students every year will be studying engineering ethics as part of their undergraduate education. This book helps to set out the ethical responsibilities of engineers, and a framework for decision-making that will help them to make the right choices in their professional lives.