Intellectual Property Rights

1. Responsibilities of Engineer
S. VIDHUSHA
AP, IT
AP, IT

2. Session Objectives
• To learn why to respect for authority?
• What is collective bargaining?
• Confidentiality and Conflicts of interest
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3. Session Outcomes
• At the end of this session, participants will be able to
• learn why to respect for authority?
• learn what is collective bargaining?
• learn what is collective bargaining?
• To understand confidentiality and Conflicts of interest
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4. Agenda
• Respect for Authority
• Collective Bargaining
• Confidentiality
Respect for Authority
• Confidentiality
• Conflicts of interest & its types
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5. Respect for Authority
• Salaried engineers have obligations to respect their
employer’s authority.
• Decisions can be taken by a few people, but putting into
• Decisions can be taken by a few people, but putting into
action requires larger participation from different
groups of people, such as operation, purchase, sales,
accounts, maintenance, finance etc
• Transferring decisions to actions, the authority comes
into play a great role.
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6. Respect for Authority
• Institutional Authority
• It is the authority exercised within the organization.
• It is the right given to the employees to exercise power,
• It is the right given to the employees to exercise power,
based on resources of the institution to complete the
task and force them to achieve their goals.
• Managers are given responsibilities to allocate money to
make policy decisions and recommendation,
oversee projects and issue directives to subordinates.
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7. Respect for Authority
• It clearly benefits institutions to give authority to the
individuals best qualified, to serve the institution’s goals in
a given capacity.
•But in practice there is not always a perfect match
•But in practice there is not always a perfect match
between the authority granted and the qualifications
needed to exercise it
•Expert Authority: Expert Authority is (a) the possession of
special knowledge, skills and competence to perform a
job thoroughly (expertise), (b) to give advice on jobs. In this
sense doctors are authorities on health, civil
engineers are authorities on structures and transportation.
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engineers are authorities on structures and transportation.
It is also known as ‘authority of leadership’.
•(c) staff engineers, advisers and consultants carry expert
authority.

8. Collective Bargaining
• It is the bargain by the trade union for improving the
economic interests of the worker members.
• The process includes negotiation,
• The process includes negotiation,
threatening verbally,
and declaration of ‘strike’.
• It is impossible to endorse fully the collective bargaining
of unions or to condemn
• There exist always conflicting views
between the professionalism and unionism.
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between the professionalism and unionism.

9. Collective Bargaining
• Is it possible for engineers to be
professionals, dedicated to the
of professional conduct
and loyal to
highest ethical
standards
their companies while simultaneously
and loyal to
being
their companies while simultaneously
members and supporters of a union?
– It is impossible for an engineer to belong to a union and
at the
same time to maintain the standards of his profession.
•Code of Ethics : Engineers shall not actively
participate in strikesand other collective action
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participate in strikesand other collective action

10. Collective Bargaining
• Non Violent strike : Safety of the worker and public
health is more important.
•Strike is not always unprofessional. one must look
•Strike is not always unprofessional. one must look
at specific unions, specific strikes and specific situations.
•Public service argument:
•Argument against union - paramount duty of engineers
is
to serve the public.
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•Unions – seek to promote the special interests of their
members, not the interests of public. Strike is the
main source of power for unions.

11. Collective Bargaining
• If all engineers and technicians were to go on strike,
imagine what would happen to the economy?
• Engineering societies provide guidelines for
• Engineering societies provide guidelines for
employment, code of ethics and moral support for worthy
whistle blowers but they will not serve as collective
bargaining agents.
•Formation of
new
professionalism
union carries new risks to
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professionalism

12. Confidentiality
• Confidentiality means keeping the information on the
employer and clients, as secrets. It is one of the
important aspects of team work.
• Engineers shall treat information coming to
• Engineers shall treat information coming to
them in the course of their
assignments as confidential.
• Any information thatwould causeharmto the
corporation or client – keep confidential.
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13. Confidentiality
• Privileged information: confidential
“Available only on the basis of special
person working on a special assignment.
information.
privilege” –
person working on a special assignment.
• Proprietary
company
secrets”.
information: is information that a
owns or is the proprietor of. Eg. “Trade
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14. Confidentiality
• Further, the following moral principles also justify the
concept of ‘confidentiality.
• All ethical theories support confidentiality.
• Respect for moral autonomy
• Respect for moral autonomy
• Respecting the freedom and self-determination
of individuals and organizations to identify their
legitimate control over the personal information of
themselves. In the absence of this, they can not keep
their privacy and protect their self-interest.
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15. Confidentiality
Respect for promise
•Giving respect for the promises made between
employers and employees.
employers and employees.
Respect for public well –being
•Based on moral consideration it is important to identify
relationships in professional transactions for the benefit
of public welfare.
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16. Conflicts of Interest
• Employee has more than one interest.
• Professional conflicts of interest occur
when employees fail to serve the interests of the
when employees fail to serve the interests of the
employer or client for whom they work
• Sometimes interest in serving some
other professional
role, say, as a consultant for a competitor’s company.
• Sometimes personal interest –
private investment in a
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private investment in a
competitor’s company

17. Types of Conflicts of Interest
• Actual Conflicts of Interest: This refers to the
situation where the objectivity is lost in decision
making, and the inability to discharge the duty to the
employer. It is the results of weaker judgement and
employer. It is the results of weaker judgement and
service.
• Apparent Conflicts of Interest: Engineer makes the
design more expensive in order to get large commission.
• Engineers interest Vs. Professional judgement.
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18. Types of Conflicts of Interest
• Potential Conflicts of interest: The interest change
into intimacy and subsequent non moral judgements
against the interest of employer.
against the interest of employer.
– Bribe and Gift: The conflict arises when
accepting large gifts
from the suppliers. Bribe is different from a gift.
– Moonlighting: It is a situation when a person is working as
employee for two different companies in the spare time. This
is against the right to pursue one’s legitimate self-interest.
– Insider Information: When using ‘inside’ information to
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– Insider Information: When using ‘inside’ information to
establish a business venture or get an advantage for oneself
or one’s family or friends. The information may be either of
the parent company or its clients or its business partners.
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19. Occupational Crime
An occupational crime may be committed by
(1) wrong actions of a person through one’s lawful
employment or
employment or
(2) crime by an employee
employer’s interest or
(3) theft by the employee
(4) damage to the property
to promote ones own or
or an employee of one
organization
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• White collared crimes.

20. Occupational Crime
Industrial Espionage – spying for personal or company
benefits
1.New products are developed and marketed- computer
chips
2.Illegally acquiring design information from competitors or
2.Illegally acquiring design information from competitors or
open up the computer and produce identical or better device
3.Computer tools are smuggled
4.Selling trade secrets to another company
Price fixing: sharing price information
and fixing for lower cost for a
project
Endangering lives–Employers who expose their employees
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Endangering lives–Employers who expose their employees
to safety hazards usually escape from penalties.
Victims have right tosue companies,
but only toclaim some
monetary compensation

21. Summary
• Conflicts of Interest
• Occupational crime
• Confidentially
• Confidentially
• Respect for Authority
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22. References
1. www.globalethics.org
2. Mike W. Martin and Roland Schinzinger, “Ethics in Engineering”, Tata Mc Graw Hill, New
Delhi,2003.
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