ECM 521 :Professional Ethics and Liability in Construction

Pokhara UniversityNepal Engineering College

Centre for the Post Graduate Studies

1. General introduction on Morale and Ethics

Course Objective

to develop student’s ability in analyzing and interpreting the real life situation and to enhance the student’s Moral/ Ethical integrity for the practice of Engineering Profession.

Moral: Definitions• 1 Moral – Adjective, Morale - Noun• a : of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour • b : expressing or teaching a conception of right behaviour • c : conforming to a standard of right behaviour• d : sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or ethical

judgment • e : capable of right and wrong action 

• 2: probable though not proved 

• 3: perceptual or psychological rather than tangible or practical in nature or effect

-Merriam Webster Dictionary

Morality• Morality - (Latin moralitas "manner, character, proper

behaviour") • It is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions

between those that are "good" (or right) and those that are "bad" (or wrong).

• A moral code is a system of morality (according to a particular philosophy, religion, culture, etc.) and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code. 

• Morality may also be specifically synonymous with "goodness" or "rightness.“

• An example of a moral code is the Golden Rule which states that, "One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.

• The philosophy of morality is ethics.

Morality and ethics• Ethics (also known as moral philosophy) is that branch

of philosophy which addresses questions about morality. • The word 'ethics' is "commonly used interchangeably with

'morality‘ • Likewise, certain types of ethical theories,

especially deontological ethics, sometimes distinguish between 'ethics' and 'morals':

• "Although the morality of people and their ethics amounts to the same thing, there is a usage that restricts morality to systems such as that of Kant, based on notions such as duty, obligation, and principles of conduct, reserving ethics

• for the more Aristotelian approach to practical reasoning, based on the notion of a virtue, and generally avoiding the separation of 'moral' considerations from other practical considerations

Morality and Ethics

• "Although Morality and Ethics are often used as synonyms, • morals are beliefs based on practices or teachings regarding

how people conduct themselves in personal relationships and in society,

• while ethics refers to a set or system of principles, or a philosophy or theory behind them.

• When comparing morality with ethics, the word ethics is often used to refer to a philosophical analysis of a particular morality, especially when the formal definition is applied.

Morality and Ethics• There are three major areas of moral philosophy:

1. Meta-ethics – Research concerning the nature of morality. It tries to answer question, such as: What does “good,” “right,” or “justice” mean? What makes something good or right? Is moral realism true? Is morality irreducible, cognitive, or overriding? Do intrinsic values exist?2. Normative theory – How do we decide if something is right or wrong?3. Applied ethics – Is x right or wrong? (e.g. Is capital punishment right or wrong?)

Morality and Ethics• Ethics is the “philosophy of morality” and “meta-ethics” is the study of

moral reality, moral knowledge, moral language, and moral psychology.

• It investigates the question, “What's moral philosophy all about?” And many other related question, such as :

1. What does 'good' and 'bad,' 'right' and 'wrong,' or 'justice' refer to?2. Are any moral judgments true?3. Are there moral facts?4. Are any moral beliefs rational or justified?5. Can we attain moral knowledge?6. How do we know when a moral judgment is probably true orrationally justified?7. Does anything have intrinsic value (value just for existing), or areall values based on our personal desires and interests?

Morality and Ethics• Morality involves what we ought to do, right and wrong, good

and bad, values, justice, and virtues. • Morality is taken to be important; moral actions are often taken to

merit praise and rewards, and immoral actions are often taken to merit blame and punishment.

• What we ought to do – What we morally ought to do is what's morally preferable. It's morally preferable to give to certain charities and to refrain from hurting people who make us angry; so we morally ought to do these things.

• Sometimes what we ought to do isn't seen as “optional.” Instead, we often think we have moral duties (obligations). It might not be a moral duty to give to any charities, but it seems likely that we often have a duty not to hurt people.

Morality and Ethics• Right and wrong – • Something is morally right if it's morally permissible, and morally wrong if

it's morally impermissible. Exame.g- it's morally right to help people and give to certain charities,

• Good and bad – “Good” and “bad” refer to positive and negative value. Something is morally good if it helps people attain something of positive value, avoid something of negative vale, or has a positive value that merits being a goal. E.g , food is good because it is necessary to attain something of positive value because it helps us survive; and our survival could have positive value that merits being a goal.

• Something is morally bad if it makes it difficult to attain something of positive value, could lead to something of negative value, or has a negative value that merits avoidance. E.g- , starvation is bad because it could lead to suffering; and suffering could have negative value that warrants its avoidance.

Morality and Ethics• Final ends – • Final ends are goals that we think are worthy. Pleasure, survival, and

knowledge are possible examples of goods that should be taken to be promoted as final ends. Some final ends are also meant to help us avoid something of negative value, such as our goals to avoid pain and death.

• Final ends seem relevant to right and wrong. It seems morally right to try to achieve our final ends because they are worthy. All things equal, it seems morally right to try to attain happiness and survive.

• Intrinsic values –Intrinsic value plays the same role as final ends—we think it's often morally right to try to achieve goals that help people attain intrinsic goods and we morally ought to do so. However, intrinsic values can conflict.

• If pain is intrinsically bad, that doesn't mean we should never allow ourselves or others to experience pain because there might be intrinsic goods that can be attained as a result of our pain. For example, homework and learning is often painful, but the knowledge attained can help us live better lives and could even be intrinsically good for its own sake.

Morality and Ethics• Justice – • Justice refers to our interest in certain ethical issues such as

equality, fairness, and merit.• Virtues – • Some people are better at being moral than others. It‘s important

that we know the difference between right and wrong, attain the skills necessary to reach demanding moral goals, and find the motivation to do what is morally preferable. For example, courage is a virtue that involves knowledge of right and wrong, skills, and motivation.

Morality and Ethics• Praise and blame – • We often think that moral behavior merits praise and immoral

behavior merits blame. It often seems appropriate to tell people who have done good deeds, such as saving lives, that we appreciate it and that what they are doing is good; and it often seems appropriate to tell people who have done something immoral that we don't appreciate it and that they did something morally wrong.

• Reward and punishment – • One way to hold people responsible for their actions is to reward

and punish them for their behavior, and this often seems appropriate. We could give gifts or return favors to people who help us, and break our friendship or ignore those who do something immoral.

Moral and Non-moral Standards

• “Morality” refers to is to compare and contrast it to non-moral things that are sometimes confused with it.

• What we morally or nonmorally ought to do – We don't just talk about right and wrong, good or bad, or what we ought to do in moral contexts. This is because there is both moral and non-moral instrumental value.

Moral and Non-moral Standards

• Moral instrumental value – We ought to do what is necessary to attain moral goals. For example, we morally ought to get a job and buy food to stay alive. It's morally right to get a job and buy food, and food has moral instrumental value insofar as it helps us attain our moral goal of survival.

• Nonmoral instrumental value – Not all instrumental value helps us achieve moral goals. We can also have personal goals that have (almost) nothing to do with morality. For example, I might have a goal of standing on my head and taking gymnastics classes could be what I ought to do to achieve this goal. The right thing to do to be able to stand on your head is to take gymnastics classes, even though it has nothing to do with morality. Additionally, some instrumental values could even be immoral. For example, I might have a goal to murder someone and I could say I ought to use a gun if that's the best way to murder someone. That's not to say that I morally ought to murder anyone.

Moral and Non-moral Standards• Etiquette – Etiquette tells us how to be polite and show respect

within a culture. Etiquette tells us not to chew our food with our mouths open, to open doors for people, and not to interrupt people who are talking. Sometimes being rude and impolite can be morally wrong, but the fact that etiquette and morality sometimes overlap doesn't mean they are identical or that etiquette is always relevant to morality.

• Law – The law tells us what we are or are not allowed to do, and breaking the law often leads to punishment. What's legal is often based on what's moral, but not always. For example, it's illegal and immoral to murder people. However, the fact that legality and morality can overlap doesn't mean they are identical. It was once illegal to free slaves, but that doesn't mean it was morally wrong; and it can be legal for a company to pollute or dump toxic waste, but that doesn't mean it's morally right to do so.

Moral and Non-moral Standards• It's hard to pinpoint what morality is about, but we often

discuss morality with ease anyway. • There are many related ideas concerning morality, such

as what we ought to do, right and wrong, and justice; but these ideas often have a nonmoral counterpart.

• This seems clear when we compare moral and nonmoral instrumental value.

• Moreover, etiquette and law are often confused with morality, but they are not identical to morality.

• What's polite or legal is often moral, but not always. What's bad etiquette or illegal can be moral as well.

The dilemma of moral choice• We all face situations every day that require us to make choices

or decisions. Sometimes these are uncomfortable or awkward and demand difficult decision‐making.

• Situations that generally require asking the age‐old question, “What is the ethically right thing to do?” are called values or moral dilemmas.

• Moral reasoning is a process that helps individuals think through possible implications and consequences of actions in response to values or moral dilemmas.

• The prevalent interpretation poses moral dilemmas as problems to be solved by moral theory.

• If a problem cannot be solved, the failure to solve it reflects the shortcomings of moral theory.

The dilemma of moral choice• What counts as a moral dilemma is difficult to determine with

exactitude, and few philosophers attempt to provide a fixed definition.

• But most philosophers accept that moral dilemmas are those uncertainties in which an agent must choose between two or more mutually exclusive act-choices, each of which is morally required.

• The options might be good courses of action or the avoidance of bad courses of action.

• Moral dilemmas are a subset of the general class of dilemmas, which includes prudential (Judicial), epistemic (acquiring knowledge), religious, legal, and moral dilemmas.

• When different domains support the mutually exclusive combinations of choices, the dilemma is said to be “mixed.”

Moral Conflicts• Moral conflicts are situations in which one's moral outlook may

be reasonably interpreted as imparting guidance to do two incompatible actions.

• There are two major types of moral conflicts:-– the moral values that give support to each option differ in

kind (civic or familial; to honour parents or serve God– moral conflict arises from mere contingencies of a given

situation (for a mother, which of her children will survive into the future; which twin to save from drowning)

• Both options have comparable moral support, but because of the time, location, and other life constraints, both cannot be performed.

Moral and Human and Behavior

Human• Paragon of animals• Featherless biped• A laughing animal• A rational animal

Man is not only a rational animal but also an animal of particular type, with a particular and complicated structure, by which his thoughts, feelings and actions are largely determined

Human….Taoism (about 600 B.C., China)• The individual’s great satisfaction in the life was not enjoyed by

him as a member of society, but as a being isolated from every body and being a law on to himself.

• Laws and social institutions were mere devices to cramp his human development

Thomas Hobbes (1588- 1679)• Man is the part of the universe and is a machine composed of

moving particles like plants and animal• Man is also a creature of activity, he is always doing and can

have no final end where he can rest

Competition, Difference and Glory are the cause of quarrel…

Introduction…John Locke (1632- 1704)• Men were basically-

– Good– Descent– Orderly– Social- minded, and – Capable of moving her/himself

The object of all human action is to substitute pleasure for pain• Human beings are Social, Cooperative and Sympathetic.

However there are some difference in Experience, Strength and Ability which may be due to Education, Experience and Environment

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712- 1778)• Human life is Free but Insecure

Moral: Society and the individual• Man is a social animal lives in social groups in communities and in

society• Human life and society almost go together• Man is biologically and psychologically equipped to live in groups,

in society. • The relationship between individual and society is ultimately one

of the profound of all the problems of social philosophy.• It is more philosophical rather than sociological because it involves

the question of values.• It is in the society that an individual is surrounded and

encompassed by culture, a societal force. • It is in the society again that s/he has to conform to the norms,

occupy statuses and become members of groups

Society and the individual…• The question of the relationship between the individual and the

society is the starting point of many discussions. • Modern social rules encourage individuality and separation. • The rights of the individual often take precedence over society• We are progressively more alone.• But are individuals separate from society or a part of society? Is

either or both an illusion? Individuals in society are not 'free agents' as they are constrained by social rules.

• Much social research still separates the individual and society. Society is seen as a unity of its own, implying boundaries. Individuals are seen as free and independent, acting a closed systems

• In practice, individual and society are closely intertwined and interdependent.

Foundation of individual behavior• Behavior or behaviour is the range of actions and mannerisms made

by organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with their environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment.

• In humans, behavior is believed to be controlled primarily by the endocrine system and the nervous system. It is most commonly believed that complexity in the behavior of an organism is correlated to the complexity of its nervous system.

• Generally, organisms with more complex nervous systems have a greater capacity to learn new responses and thus adjust their behavior.

• Behaviors can be either innate or learned.• Behavior can be regarded as any action of an organism that changes

its relationship to its environment. Behaviour provides outputs from the organism to the environment

Foundation of Individual Behavior• Human behaviour is experienced throughout an individual’s entire

lifetime. It includes the way they act based on different factors such as genetics, social norms, core faith, and attitude.

• Behaviour is impacted by certain traits each individual has. The traits vary from person to person and can produce different actions or behaviour from each person.

• Social norms also impact behaviour. Humans are expected to follow certain rules in society, which conditions the way people behave.

• There are certain behaviours that are acceptable or unacceptable in different societies and cultures.

• Attitude can be defined as "the degree to which the person has a favorable or unfavorable evaluation of the behavior in question

Factors affecting human behavior and actions

• Genetics: Behaviours result from a combination of genes and these genes can be affected by different factors such as genes and environment are included in the growth of any trait. Understanding genetics in relation to behaviour is difficult and there are many things still being studied about this. 

• Social Norms: Social norms are essential in understanding human behavior. Norms is described as an unwritten rule on how society must behave, and what majority of people believe about others and how they should act in a particular social group or culture.

Factors affecting human behavior and actions• Core Faith & Culture: This faith can be through religion,

philosophy, culture or personal belief and often affects the way a person can behave. culture highly affects human behavior. These differences are able to alter the way different cultures and areas of the world interact and act. 

• Attitude: An attitude is an expression of favor or disfavor toward a person, place, thing, or event.  The interesting thing about an attitude and human beings is that it alters between each individual. Everyone has a different attitude towards different things. A main factor that determines attitude is likes and dislikes. Positive attitudes are better than negative ones as negativity can bring on negative emotions that most of the time can be avoided. As humans, it is up to us to make sure our attitudes positively reflect the behaviors we want to show.

Foundation of individual behavior

Mainly three foundations of individual behavior are important in organizations:

• Ability, • Attitudes, and • Learning

How intellectual ability contributes to job performance? How employees’ attitudes about their jobs affect the workplace? How people learn behaviours? What management can do to shape those behaviours?

Ability• Ability refers to an individual’s capacity to perform the various

tasks in a job. It is a current assessment of what one can do.• Managers are less interested in whether people differ in terms of

their abilities and more interested in knowing how people differ in abilities and using that knowledge to increase the likelihood that an employee will perform his or her job well.

• Intellectual ability— which encompasses mental actives such as thinking, reasoning, and problem solving—is one of the best predictors of performance across all sorts of jobs.

• Physical ability - The capacity to do tasks demanding stamina, dexterity, strength, and similar characteristics.

Attitude

• Attitudes are evaluative statements—either favorable or unfavorable—concerning objects, people, or events. They reflect how one feels about something.

• When I say “I like my job,” I am expressing my attitude about work.

• To fully understand attitudes, we need to consider their fundamental properties.

• Main components of attitudes-– Cognitive, Affective, Behavioral

Components of attitudes• Typically, researchers have assumed that attitudes have three

components: cognition, affect, and behavior. Let’s look at each of these components.

• The statement that “discrimination is wrong” is evaluative. • Such an opinion is the cognitive component of an attitude. It sets

the stage for the more critical part of an attitude: its affective component. Affect is the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude and is reflected in the statement “I don’t like Jon because he discriminates against minorities

Components of attitudes• Affect can lead to behavioral outcomes. The behavioral

component of an attitude refers to an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something.

• So, to continue our example, I might choose to avoid Jon because of my feelings about him.

• Viewing attitudes as made up of three components—cognition, affect, and behavior—is helpful in understanding their complexity and the potential relationship between attitudes and behavior.

LearningLearning• Any relatively permanent change in behavior that

occurs as a result of experience

• Theories of Learning– Classical Conditioning– Operant Conditioning– Social-Learning Theory

Learning • Involves change• Is relatively permanent• Is acquired through experience

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Learning…

• Classical conditioning• Behavior depends on consequences (money, smiles,…)– Positive consequences: repeat.–Negative consequences: do no repeat.

• Operant conditioning– slow, rewards, punishment.– Test and fail

• Shaping– By observing what happens to other people.– Quick