3.007 Design Ethics

Prepared by: Katja Holtta-Otto, Erik Wilhelm, Ricardo Sosa

November 2012

“ ESIGN IS fundamentally a human endeavor. It involves the interactions

among members of a design team, the relationships between designers, clients,

and manufacturers, and the ways that purchasers of designed devices use them

in their lives. […] Since design touches so many facets of people’s daily lives,

we must consider how people interact with each other and how they are acted

upon by the designs we create. To design means to accept responsibility for

creating designs for people. That is, design is not done in a vacuum; design is a

social activity. Designers are influenced by the social milieu in which they

work, and society is influenced by the products of design. Therefore, ethics and

ethical behavior must be considered in our examination of how designs are

created and used.”

D

From: Clive Dym & Patric Little, Engineering Design, Chapter 12

3.007 Design Ethics

Aims - To raise awareness of ethical issues - To identify ethical dilemmas and risks - To share strategies for decision making

Definition

ēthos, character

- A set of principles of right conduct - The moral quality of a course of action

Two boats are filled with explosives: one a prisoner vessel, the other transporting wealthy citizens, they had each other’s detonators. If they

don’t push the button before midnight, the Joker will detonate both boats. What is the right decision?

Would You Kill One Person to Save Five?

http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/05/would-you-kill-one-person-to-save-five-new-research-on-a-classic-debate/#ixzz2CS35zgRy http://gameofroles.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/1.png

~10%

~90% If Flanders were Bart, he would save Homer ~66% of the time.

“Two and a half years after the massive gulf oil spill, BP has agreed to plead guilty to 14 criminal charges and cough up $4.5 billion in fines and other payments”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/opinion/criminality-in-the-gulf-spill.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304887904576395580035481822.html#project%3DP1_BB40020110630_pg

"Several years ago there was a design miss," Patrick Foye, executive director of the Port Authority… the cost of One World Trade Center has soared to $3.8 billion, $700

million more than the last publicly released estimate in 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10070023

http://m.upall.co/g/1/new-world-trade-center-construction-progress-1.jpg

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/news/4307736

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/news/4307736

“With an initial cost estimate of around $2.6 billion, the Boston Globe estimates the final cost of the Big Dig at $22 billion”

http://listosaur.com/science-a-technology/5-structures-famous-for-their-engineering-flaws.html http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/TheBigDig.aspx

“The LTA's Design team “did not view the critical task of recommending the suspension or stoppage of work as a matter within their purview”. They had deemed it the

responsibility of the LTA's Construction Team. The procrastination and lack of decisive action proved to be

catastrophic”

http://www.mindef.gov.sg/content/dam/imindef_media_library/pdf/air_force/Focus66.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nicoll_Highway_MRT_Station,_Construction_site,_Aug_07.jpg

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20121008-376209.html

NTUC fired an assistant director who posted a racist comment on Facebook

Professional

Standards, codes of conduct Plagiarism, patent infringement Confidentiality

Lifecycle, sustainability Fair trade

Product liability Engineering disasters

depts.washington.edu/englib/eld/conf/04/richards_ethics.ppt

CODE OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS

Part of the PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS ACT (http://app.peb.gov.sg/actrules.aspx#)

I.2.1: A professional engineer shall uphold the dignity, standing and reputation of the profession.

I.3.4: A professional engineer shall not accept any trade commission, discount, allowance or indirect payment or other consideration in connection with any professional engineering work in which he is engaged.

I.3.7: A professional engineer shall not disclose confidential information concerning the business affairs or technical processes of his client or employer without the consent of the client or employer.

I.3.10: A professional engineer shall not give professional advice which does not fully reflect his best professional judgment.

I.7.2: The professional engineer previously employed may report the matter to the Board if he has reasonable grounds for not being satisfied with the security, and the Board may forbid the first-mentioned professional engineer in sub-paragraph (1) from proceeding with the work.

II.2. A professional engineer shall not, for the purpose of obtaining any permit, license or approval of any public authority, sign any plans or calculations which neither he nor any member of his staff under his supervision verified, checked or prepared.

SAMPLE PROFESSIONAL CODES IN DESIGN

• “A designer shall not allow his/her name to be associated with the realisation of a design which has been so changed by the client as no longer to be substantially the original work of the designer” Design Institute of Australia: www.dia.org.au

• “A designer shall not work simultaneously on assignments which are in direct competition without informing the clients or employers concerned” ICOGRADA: www.icograda.org

• “We ask all adopters to engage in conversation about social and environmental impact with every client and customer, and integrate sustainable alternatives in their work” Designers Accord: www.designersaccord.org

Case #1

You are part of a team designing a new mall in Singapore. You received information from the structural engineer that certain aspect of the main lobby needs to be redesigned. Your boss brings over a document for you to sign. It is about certifying that the architectural design is complete. The document is needed before moving on to the next phase. The entire project will fall behind if you delay passing on that document but you believe you have time to fix the design problem before construction begins.

Case #2

You are a professional designer working for a design firm. Your boss comes asks you to prepare a presentation on sustainable design for the company meeting on future directions. You are in the middle of an important project that is due in 2 days. Luckily you remember seeing a presentation on similar topic in a workshop last month. You email the workshop organizers to ask for the slides from that event. You say it is for your personal use only. You change the background of the slides to the company template but do not other changes to the slides. You present those at the meeting.

Case #3

You are an engineer designing a bridge to a new man-made island that will open for the holiday season in December. You’ve been working on it, but your do not finish by the deadline. You come to the meeting where the final plans are to be discussed and approved so that construction can begin. You present what you have.

Social

Human Rights

Responsible consumers

Citizenship: Corruption www.cpib.gov.sg Kindness www.kindness.sg

Case #4

As an architectural firm, your income is entirely dependent on securing projects to work on. You are competing for a very large architectural project. If you win it your firm will get a lot of positive media attention, which in turn will lead to more and more projects for several years. To improve your odds, you invite several key members of the deciding panel to a very exclusive country club and treat them for a luxurious day. You end up winning getting the commission.

Case #5

As an engineer testing designs for electronic components, you discover they fail in a particular location. Subsequent investigation shows that the failures are due to a nearby high-powered radar facility. While you can shield your own designs so that they can work in this environment, you also notice that there is an adjacent nursery school. What actions, if any, should you take?

Case #6

“There have long been calls from various segments of society for Foreign Domestic Workers to enjoy a regular day off. More than physical rest, it is an important mental and emotional break from work. Also, a weekly rest day is regarded internationally as a basic labour right. It is time to take a step forward by amending our legislation to improve the employment conditions of FDWs. While some employers may respond to this decision with apprehension, employers also stand to benefit from a weekly rest day…” MOM: FAQs ON WEEKLY REST DAYS FOR FOREIGN DOMESTIC WORKERS

http://www.mom.gov.sg/Documents/foreign-manpower/FAQs%20on%20weekly%20rest%20days%20for%20FDWs.pdf http://twc2.org.sg/2011/06/27/attitudes-towards-granting-regular-days-off-to-migrant-domestic-workers-in-singapore/

Academic

Plagiarism

False statements

False data & evidence

Team and cohort dynamics

Case #7

You forgot that you had to hand in a Solid Works model file in class. You quick ask your friend to send their file to you. You open it on your computer and present it as yours. You pass the assignment.

Case #8

You are used to getting good grades in school. Now in a university, you realize you have to work much harder to get a decent grade. You work hard and get barely any sleep from all the homework and studying. You find that the best way for you to get good grades is to work very little on team projects. You know the rest of the team will pull it off and you will get their grade too. That way you can use that time toward your individual work.

Case #9

You have worked really hard on your project and need some sleep. You wake up and realize you are late for class. You run in without eating breakfast. You make it in for the last 15 minutes of the lecture. At the end of the lecture you go and sign the attendance sheet. You also noticed you have an absence form two weeks ago, you sign that one too.

Lots of Research!

Stanford Prison Experiment

Milgram Experiment

‘Heat of the Moment’ – Ariely & Loewenstein

‘Dishonesty in Everyday Life’ – Mazar & Ariely

depts.washington.edu/englib/eld/conf/04/richards_ethics.ppt

Obedience to Authority

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvSNg0HZwk

Milgram Experiment

We tend to obey authority, even when we know our orders are ‘wrong’. Bonus: think about the ethics of experimentation – was this experiment ethical?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

Stanford Prison Experiment

Cognitive dissonance: two states of reason/ethics/morality existing simultaneously

Key issues

Sometimes the culture of an organisation allows (even incentivises) poor choices

Seemingly unimportant early choices may escalate into later large-scale decisions

Relying on memory, assumptions or incomplete information can lead to disaster

Explore creative ways of re-framing the conundrum; point out extenuating circumstances

Strategies (1)

Avoid temptation

Prepare and anticipate decisions

Develop habits, build a reputation

Speak up: avoid conformism

Strategies (1)

Avoid temptation

Prepare and anticipate decisions

Develop habits, build a reputation

Speak up: avoid conformism

Case #6: Signing attendance sheets without being present

Case #4: Treating decision makers at an exclusive country club to win a project

Heat of the moment

You don’t have the capacity to fully understand the consequences of your actions in the moment. Prepare for this moment!

http://people.duke.edu/~dandan/Papers/PI/Heat_of_Moment.pdf

http://cdn.worldcupblog.org/www.worldcupblog.org/files/2009/12/Zidane_headbutt.jpg

http://images4.mtv.com/uri/mgid:uma:content:mtv.com:1621389?width=281&height=211

Strategies (2)

Learn how to cite and acknowledge

Understand the consequences of your decisions

Make your values explicit

Strategies (2)

Learn how to cite and acknowledge

Understand the consequences of your decisions

Make your values explicit

Case #2: Presenting workshop slides as your own

Case #7: Presenting some one else’s Solid Works drawing as own

Strategies (3)

Reveal hidden costs

Identify trade-offs

Think long-term

Consider entire life cycle

Strategies (3)

Reveal hidden costs

Identify trade-offs

Think long-term

Consider entire life cycle

Case #1: Singing off on final drawings knowing there is a structural problem (that you think you have time to fix)

Case #3: Coming to a meeting about approving final plans without having finalized own work

Case #9: Letting others do the work for you in team projects.

Strategies (4)

Don’t hide anything: Transparency means that actions and choices are open for examination

Don’t make things up: Don’t falsify data and don’t invent facts

Give credit for the ideas and work of others

Empathy: Identify the stakeholders and think about the effect of your decisions on them

Fernandez, John E., Edward M. Greitzer and Sang-Gook Kim.

Course materials for TECH 201, Introduction to Design. MIT-SUTD Collaboration, 2012

Strategies (4)

Don’t hide anything: Transparency means that actions and choices are open for examination

Don’t make things up: Don’t falsify data and don’t invent facts

Give credit for the ideas and work of others

Empathy: Identify the stakeholders and think about the effect of your decisions on them

Fernandez, John E., Edward M. Greitzer and Sang-Gook Kim.

Course materials for TECH 201, Introduction to Design. MIT-SUTD Collaboration, 2012

Case #2: Presenting workshop slides as your own

Case #4: Treating decision makers at an exclusive country club to win a project

Strategies (5)

Question standard decisions

Challenge accepted practices

Avoid narrow and compartmentalized decisions

Talk about ideals and culture

depts.washington.edu/englib/eld/conf/04/richards_ethics.ppt

Strategies (5)

Question standard decisions

Challenge accepted practices

Avoid narrow and compartmentalized decisions

Talk about ideals and culture

depts.washington.edu/englib/eld/conf/04/richards_ethics.ppt

Case #5: Telling about high-power radar facility and its effect on a nearby nursery school

Case #1: Singing off on final drawings knowing there is a structural problem (that you think you have time to fix)

Case #6: Signing attendance sheets without being present

Everyday dishonesty

We are good at fooling ourselves into thinking our acts are not dishonest. We return a wallet, but pirate media.

Remove temptation, make causal links!

http://people.duke.edu/~dandan/Papers/PI/dishonesty.pdf

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JEdgRu0rZvY/T8DznFEW4OI/AAAAAAAAAOY/DM6j3ubYE_g/s1600/honest-cab-driver-return-wallet-to-OFW.jpg

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2009/11/11/1257960522458/Pirate-DVDs-001.jpg

Self-Defeating

• What is the maxim?

• Universalize the maxim

• Is it self-defeating?

Suppose you are tempted to copy the answers for your exam from your neighbor's paper

Think of the world in which copying is universalized. You copy from your neighbor, your neighbor from her neighbor, and so on

Is it self-defeating?

http://cnx.org/content/m17226/latest/?collection=col10552/latest

Whistleblowing

“Employees and outside parties, such as suppliers, customers, contractors and other stakeholders, may use the procedures set out in the Policy to report any concern or complaint regarding questionable accounting or auditing matters, internal controls, disclosure matters, conflict of interest, insider trading, collusion with competitors, serious breaches of Group policy, unsafe work practices or any other matters involving fraud, corruption and employee misconduct…. However, while the Policy is meant to protect genuine whistleblowers from any unfair treatment as a result of their report, it strictly prohibits frivolous and bogus complaints…”

http://www.sph.com.sg/whistleblowing_policy.shtml

Framing and functional failures

• Function: what your designs does as a means of resolving a problem

• Framing: how relevant your design is when addressing a problem

http://socialinformaticsblog.com/2012/11/13/the-ethics-of-design-in-increasingly-complex-situations-the-case-of-a-broken-voting-machine/

“A failing of functionality indicts the designer on charges of poor

craftsmanship, while a failure of procedure points to general

ineptitude”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XiWuxYHivU

“Good Design”

http://www.acquris.se/images/kalashnikov_ak-47_3.jpg

“Good Design”

www.designother90.org/ www.projecthdesign.org http://d-lab.mit.edu/ www.designagainstcrime.com/

www.designtoimprovelife.dk/

http://www.openideo.com

3.007 Design Ethics

Aims - To raise awareness of ethical issues - To identify ethical dilemmas and risks - To share strategies for decision making

Quotes

“A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world” Albert Camus

“Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do” Potter Stewart

“The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings” Albert Schweitzer

“There's been a sea change in our focus on corporate ethics. We've made more progress in the last three years than the previous 30” Steve Odland

Case #

Phua Poh Sim was a Captain with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) with an impressive track record. Yet, life is not always a series of happy endings - this young man started accumulating debts because of a gambling addiction. Phua took the easy way out, when his friend, determined to help him with his debts, introduced him to a Defence Contractor (Richard Yow Wah) who was interested in procuring SAF contracts. Between May 2008 to August 2008, Phua received S$53,100 of loans on 5 occasions from Richard and in exchange, shared information about SAF projects with him.

http://app.cpib.gov.sg/cpib_new/user/default.aspx?pgID=1225

Engineering Ethics Modules for Ethics Across the Curriculum

http://cnx.org/content/col10552/latest/