Can Codes and Professional Societies Protect Employees?

One important area where professional societies can and should function is as pro- tectors of the rights of employees who are being pressured by their employer to do something unethical or who are accusing their employers or the government of unethical conduct. The codes of the professional societies are of some use in this since they can be used by employees as ammunition against an employer who is sanctioning them for pointing out unethical behavior or who are being asked to engage in unethical acts.

An example of this situation is the action of the IEEE on behalf of three elec- trical engineers who were fi red from their jobs at the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) organization when they pointed out defi ciencies in the way the control systems for the BART trains were being designed and tested. After being fi red, the engineers sued BART, citing the IEEE code of ethics which impelled them to hold as their primary concern the safety of the public who would be using the BART system. The IEEE intervened on their behalf in court, although ultimately the engineers lost the case.

If the codes of ethics of professional societies are to have any meaning, this type of intervention is essential when ethical violations are pointed out. However, since not all engineers are members of professional societies and the engineering societies are relatively weak, the pressure that can be exerted by these organizations is limited.

2.3.7 Other Types of Codes of Ethics Professional societies aren’t the only organizations that have codifi ed their ethical standards. Many other organizations have also developed codes of ethics for various purposes similar to those of the professional engineering organizations. For exam- ple, codes for the ethical use of computers have been developed, and student organizations in universities have framed student codes of ethics. In this section, we will examine how codes of ethics function in corporations.

Many of the important ethical questions faced by engineers come up in the context of their work for corporations. Since most practicing engineers are not members of professional organizations, it seems that for many engineers, there is

28 2.3 Codes of Ethics

little ethical guidance in the course of their daily work. This problem has led to the adoption of codes of ethics by many corporations.

Even if the professional codes were widely adopted and recognized by practic- ing engineers, there would still be some value to the corporate codes, since a corpo- ration can tailor its code to the individual circumstances and unique mission of the company. As such, these codes tend to be relatively long and very detailed, incorpo- rating many rules specifi c to the practices of the company. For example, corporate codes frequently spell out in detail the company policies on business practices, rela- tionships with suppliers, relationships with government agencies, compliance with government regulations, health and safety issues, issues related to environmental protection, equal employment opportunity and affi rmative action, sexual harass- ment, and diversity and racial/ethnic tolerance. Since corporate codes are coercive in nature—your continued employment by the company depends on your compli- ance with the company code—these codes tend to be longer and more detailed in order to provide very clear and specifi c guidelines to the employees.

Codes of professional societies, by their nature, can’t be this explicit, since there is no means for a professional society to reasonably enforce its code. Due to the typically long lengths of these codes, no example of a corporate code of ethics can be included here. However, codes for companies can sometimes be found via the Internet at corporate websites.

Some of the heightened awareness of ethics in corporations stems from the increasing public scrutiny that has accompanied well-publicized disasters, such as the cases presented in this book, as well as from cases of fraud and cost overruns, particularly in the defense industry, that have been exposed in the media. Many large corporations have developed corporate codes of ethics in response to these problems to help heighten employee’s awareness of ethical issues and to help estab- lish a strong corporate ethics culture. These codes give employees ready access to guidelines and policies of the corporations. But, as with professional codes, it is important to remember that these codes cannot cover all possible situations that an employee might encounter; there is no substitute for good judgment. A code also doesn’t substitute for good lines of communications between employees and upper management and for workable methods for fi xing ethical problems when they occur.

A PP

LI C

A TI

O N

CASES Codes of ethics can be used as a tool for analyzing cases and for gaining some insight into the proper course of action. Before reading these cases, it would be helpful to read a couple of the codes in Appendix A, especially the code most closely related to your fi eld of study, to become familiar with the types of issues that codes deal with. Then, put yourself in the position of an engineer working for these companies—Intel, Paradyne Computers, and 3Bs Construction—to see what you would have done in each case.

The Intel Pentium ® Chip

In late 1994, the media began to report that there was a fl aw in the new Pentium microprocessor produced by Intel. The microprocessor is the heart of a personal computer and controls all of the operations and calculations that take place. A fl aw in the Pentium was especially signifi cant, since it was the microprocessor used in 80% of the personal computers produced in the world at that time.

Chapter 2 Professionalism and Codes of Ethics 29

Apparently, fl aws in a complicated integrated circuit such as the Pentium, which at the time contained over one million transistors, are common. However, most of the fl aws are undetectable by the user and don’t affect the operation of the computer. Many of these fl aws are easily compensated for through software. The fl aw that came to light in 1994 was different: It was detectable by the user. This par- ticular fl aw was in the fl oating-point unit (FPU) and caused a wrong answer when double-precision arithmetic, a very common operation, was performed.

A standard test was widely published to determine whether a user’s micropro- cessor was fl awed. Using spreadsheet software, the user was to take the number 4,195,835, multiply it by 3,145,727, and then divide that result by 3,145,727. As we all know from elementary math, when a number is multiplied and then divided by the same number, the result should be the original number. In this example, the result should be 4,195,835. However, with the fl awed FPU, the result of this calcula- tion was 4,195,579 [ Infoworld , 1994]. Depending on the application, this six- thousandths-of-a-percent error might be very signifi cant.

At fi rst, Intel’s response to these reports was to deny that there was any problem with the chip. When it became clear that this assertion was not accurate, Intel switched its policy and stated that although there was indeed a defect in the chip, it was insignifi cant and the vast majority of users would never even notice it. The chip would be replaced for free only for users who could demonstrate that they needed an unfl awed version of the chip [ Infoworld , 1994]. There is some logic to this policy from Intel’s point of view, since over two million computers had already been sold with the defective chip.

Of course, this approach didn’t satisfy most Pentium owners. After all, how can you predict whether you will have a future application where this fl aw might be signifi cant? IBM, a major Pentium user, canceled the sales of all IBM computers containing the fl awed chip. Finally, after much negative publicity in the popular personal computer literature and an outcry from Pentium users, Intel agreed to replace the fl awed chip with an unfl awed version for any customer who asked to have it replaced.

It should be noted that long before news of the fl aw surfaced in the popular press, Intel was aware of the problem and had already corrected it on subsequent versions. It did, however, continue to sell the fl awed version and, based on its early insistence that the fl aw did not present a signifi cant problem to users, seemingly planned to do so until the new version was available and the stocks of the fl awed one were exhausted. Eventually, the damage caused by this case was fi xed as the media reports of the problem died down and as customers were able to get unf- lawed chips into their computers.