A presentation series of EREKA (Etika REKAyasa), ETHICS ENGINEERING subject, chapter The Responsibilities of Engineers. It was summarized from chapter 1 of book Ethics, Technology, and Engineering: An Introduction, by Ibo van de Poel & Lamber Royakkers, Published by Wiley.

1. Etika REKAyasa – FT 4010
M. Misdianto, M.Sc.

2. W3 – The Responsibilities of
Engineer
M. Misdianto, M.Sc.

3. LO – Learning Objective
1. Passive & Active Responsibilities
2. Four conditions – BLAMEWORTHINESS
3. Profesional Ideals
4. Profesional Responsibilities
5. Social context of technologies vs
responsibilities of engineers
1 OCTOBER 2014 INTRODUCTION 5

4. CHALLENGER CASE
– 25th Launch SS; Jan 28th, 1986
– Christa McAuliffe, Teacher
– Ronald Reagan, US President
–4 C, Cape Canaveral, Florida USA
– Morton Thiokol; Roger Boisjoly – 1985; O-Rings
– 10 C, preceeding night
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5. RESPONSIBILITY
• Held accountable for your actions and
for the effects of your actions.
• Active vs Passive
– Active = Before something has happened.
– Passive = After something (undesirable) has
happened.
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6. Other Responsibility
• Role, based on the role one has or plays in a
certain situation.
• Moral, based on moral obligations, moral
norms or moral duties.
• Professional, based on one’s role as profes-sional
in as far it stays within the limit of what
is morally allowed.
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7. PASSIVE RESPONSIBILITY
Backward-looking responsibility, relevant after
something undesirable occurred; specific forms
are accountability, blameworthiness, and
liability.
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8. A & B
Backward-looking responsibility in the sense of being held to
account for, or justify one’s actions towards others 
ACCOUNTABILITY
BLAMEWORTHINESS Backward-looking responsibility in the
sense of being a proper target of blame for one’s actions or the
consequences of one’s actions. In order for someone to be
blameworthy;
• Wrong-doing
• Causal contribution
• Foreseeability
• Freedoom
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9. WRONG-DOING
• A person, Institution
• Carrying out a certain action
• Violated a norm
• Did something wrong
NASA violated the norm that a flight had to be
proven to be safe.
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10. CAUSAL CONTRIBUTION
• A person
• Held responsible
• Have made a casual contribution
• Consequences
• For he/she is held responsible
Both NASA Project Team & Morton Thiokol – causal
contribution.
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11. FORESEEABILITY
• A person held responsible
• Know the consequences
• His/her action
• Boisjoly, the Morton Thiokol management
team & the NASA rep, could all have expected
the Challenger disaster  erosion O-rings on
low temperature.
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12. FREEDOM of ACTION
• One held responsible
• Had a freedom of action
• He/she must not have acted under compulsion.
NASA is under pressure of present McAuliffe.
Morton too, further co-operation  financial
consequences
Boisjoly is limited.
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13. ACTIVE RESPONSIBILITY
Responsibility before something has happened
referring to a duty or task to care for certain
state-of-affairs or persons.
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14. AR by Mark Boven (Bovens, 1998)
• Adequate perception of threatened violation
of norms.
• Consideration of the consequences.
• Autonomy
• Displaying conduct that is based on a verifi-able
and consistent code; and
• Taking role obligations seriously.
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15. AR of Engineers
IDEALS, ideas or striving which are particularly
motivating and inspiring for the person having
them, and which aim at achieving an optimum
or maximum – 2 characteristics
• Motivating and inspiring 4 d person having
them.
• Aim at achieving an optimum or maximum.
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16. PROF. IDEALS
IDEALS that are closely allied to a profession or
can only be aspired to by carrying out the
profession.
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17. TECH. ENTHUSIASM
The IDEAL of wanting to develop new techno-logical
possibilities and taking up technological
challenges.
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18. EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT
EFFECTIVENESS:
The extent to which an
established goal is
achieved.
EFFICIENCY:
The ratio between the
goal achieved and the
effort required.
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19. 21
HUMAN WELFARE
That of contributing to our
augmenting human welfare.
• ASME – American Society of
Mechanical Engineering
• ASCE – American Society of
Civil Engineers
JOHAN van VEEN
08 Oktober 2014 ACTIVE RESPONSIBILITY

20. SEPARATISM
SEPARATISM, the notion that scientists and engineers
should apply the technical inputs, but appropriate
management and political organs should make the
value decisions.
TRIPARTITE MODEL. A model that maintains that
engineers can only be held responsible for the design of
products and not for wider social consequences or
concerns. Three separate segments : Politicians;
Engineers and Users (ABG).
08 Oktober 2014 ENGINEER vs MANAGERS 22

21. THE TRIPARTITE MODEL
Van de Poel (2001)
POLITICIANS
PRINCIPALS
MANAGERS
(anticipated) customers
Designing Engineers
USERS
Once the rockets go up, Who cares where they come down. “That’s not
my department, “ said Wernher von Braun
08 Oktober 2014 ENGINEER vs MANAGERS 23

22. TECHNOCRACY
TECHNOCRACY, Government by Experts. Not
TECHNO-CRAZY…
PATTERNALISM, the making of (moral) decisions
for others on the assumption that one knows
better what is good for them than those other
themselves.
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23. WHISTLE-BLOWING
• Case Inez Austin, Boisjoly, Nazarudin.
WHISTLE-BLOWING. The disclosure of certain
abuses in a company by an employee in which
he or she is employed, without the consent of
his/her superiors, and in order to remedy these
abuses and/or to warn the public about these
abuses.
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24. SOCIAL CONTEXT
ACTOR. Any person or group that can make a decision
how to act and that can act on that decision.
USERS. People who use a technology and who may
formulate certain wishes or requirements for the
functioning of a technology.
REGULATORS. Organization who formulate rules or
regulations that engineering products have to meet
such as rulings concerning health and safety, but also
rulings linked to relations between competitors.
08 Oktober 2014 SOCIAL CONTEXT 26

25. SOCIAL CONTEXT – 1
INTEREST. Things actions strive for because they are
beneficial or advantageous for them.
STAKEHOLDERS. Actors that have an interest (“a stake”)
in the development of a technology.
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT (TA). Systematic method
for exploring future technology developments and
accessing their potential societal consequences.
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26. TECH DEV MAP of ACTORS
USERS
TECHNOLOGICAL
DEVELOPMENT
REGULATORS
OTHER ACTORS
DEVELOPERS &
PRODUCERS
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27. SUMMARY
• Responsibility of Engineers
• Four conditions of BLAMEWORTHY:
– Wrong-Doing
– Causal Contribution
– Foreseeability
– Freedom
• Two main ground of responsibilities:
– Roles you play in Society
– Moral Considerations
• Engineers have two main role responsibilities:
– As Engineers
– As Employees
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28. SUMMARY - 1
• Three professional ideals were examined:
– Technological Enthusiasm
– Effectiveness and Efficiency and
– Human Welfare
• Three models for dealing with conflicts engineer vs
employee:
– Separatism
– Technocracy
– Whistle-Blowing
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29. REFERENCES
• IBO VAN DE POEL and LAMBÈR ROYAKKERS. (2011).
Ethics, Technology, and Engineering: An Introduction.
Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, UK. John
Wiley & Sons Ltd.
08 Oktober 2014 CLOSING 31

30. Photo Credit
• Challenger Explosion, attribution to By Kennedy Space Center [Public domain], via Wikimedia
Commons
• Space Shuttle – Challenger to See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
• Cape Canaveral to By Soerfm (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
• Space Shuttle Challenger to By NASA (NASA Human Space Flight Gallery (image link)) [Public
domain], via Wikimedia Commons
• STS 121 approach ISS to By NASA [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
• Google Earth on multiple monitors to By Runner1928 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
• Google Earth Logo to By Google [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
• Frederick W. Taylor to By Grap [Public domain], viaWikimedia Commons
• Watersnoodramps 1953 to By Agency for International Development [Public domain], via
Wikimedia Commons
• Northsea Floods 1953 to By Lencer [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/
2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons
08 Oktober 2014 CLOSING 32

31. C U Soon
mokhammad@misdianto.biz