Engineering Practice Ethical Considerations Case Study

Introduction

The case under analysis called Incident at Morale focuses on ethical responsibilities and decisions that are highlighted in engineering practice. In particular, the video demonstrates that good and conscientious people can sometimes face situations, leading to unfortunate and unethical outcomes.

Therefore, the main aspects of the case rely on ethical considerations, overview of codes of ethics affecting the decision-making process, and evaluation of obligations that engineers should fulfill while concluding an agreement with a customer.

Step 1: Determine Facts of the Case

Incident at Morales involves a range of ethical issues that the company confronts while building a plant and launching a new chemical product to sustain a competitive edge. Phaust Chemical manufactures a paint remover that is considered the leader at the market. Chemitoil plans to launch a new product to capture the market dominated by Phaust.

On learning that, Phaust’s executives have decided to work out a new highly competitive product and build a new plant in Mexico. In order to develop a new paint remover, the company employs a chemical engineer that had previously been working for Chemitoil. As the project begins, Phaust’s parent firm located in France reduces budget by 20 %. Under these circumstances, the vice president tells the newly hired engineer Fred to decrease the construction costs.

However, Fred encounters a number of ethical contradictions that play an important role in discussing expenditures, budget plans, environmental issues, management issues. In order to produce paint removal, Fred has to buy pipes and other devices that are made up of either of high pressure alloy or stainless steel.

Due to the fact that the major conception of Phaust’s new product lies in delivering the remover requiring higher pressures and temperatures, it can cause significant problems in terms of technical process and ethics. As a result of reduced terms and challenging conditions, an unfortunate accident occurs, causing serious problems.

Step 2 and 3: Stakeholders and Their Motivations

Both Chuck, the head of engineering department, and Dominique, the head of the parent company in France, were interested in immediate construction of chemical plant in Mexico to produce a new product and capture new markets. Under these circumstances, they also have the opportunity to outstrip to the indices of their competitor – Chemitoil.

The main responsibility imposed on Mr. Martinez lied in designing a new firm within the established deadline and budgeting, which is a serious challenge. These terms, however, prevented the new engineer from taking environmental and safety issues into consideration and considering the responsibility for the personnel and quality of equipment.

Finally, Wally, the official representative of the Mexican department, exposed significant pressure on Fred who attempted to make certain amendments to the construction plan. The role of Wally, therefore, lied in convincing Mr. Martinez of using his own experience in creating the chemical manufacture. Ignorance of safety measures and inspection process could be the main reason for the accident at the plant.

Step 4: Formulate Possible Solutions

While evaluating the main premises of the case, specific emphasis should be placed on such aspects as responsibility distribution, accountability, and corporate culture. To begin with, the Mexican official should have considered the role of responsibility in handling such issues as inspection control, human resources management, and adherence to quality standards.

Negligence of the construction plan procedures was explained by Wally excess attention to the outcomes of the venture. At this point, Wally should have been more careful before choosing the supplier for delivering details to a new plant and accelerating the process by all means.

Aside from the security measures, Fred should have been more strict and accountable for the construction process before making decision. In particular, Mr. Martinez should reconsider the budget and insist on development of new alternatives for construction process. This is of particular concern to purchasing alloys, which the plant could not afford.

Second, the new plant designer was under the pressure of environmental contradictions because most of the regulations were not followed. At this point, the solution here should involve assessment of ecological situation before analyzing the possibility for purchasing new equipment.

Step 5: Evaluate Alternatives

Strict allocation of responsibilities should be introduced to the new team of constructors and engineers. Chuck should be more concerned with moral codes and corporate culture before deciding on the new chemical plant project.

Moreover, the attention also requires external environment evaluation, including social and political challenges that are predetermined by other environmental organizations and governmental authorities. The case with Wally’s power overuse demonstrates increased pressure and serious violation of ethical norms, which can result in negative consequences for the welfare of the personnel

Step 6: Additional Assistance

Environmental protection and social corporate responsibilities should be the pillars of any business organization operating at the global market. Therefore, the company should, first of all, rely on these concepts before launching a new business venture. Second, the head of the engineering department should be aware of the professional obligations that each employee should observe.

Step 7: The Best Course of Action

Adherence to ethical values, such as civility, respect, fairness, and kindness, is crucial for the managers to succeed in monitoring and administering the entire business project. In order to avoid complication and disagreements with environmental organization, the head of the engineering department should take greater control of inspection, testing, and reliability of the plant design to avert damage and ensure security issues.

This is of particular concern to personnel testing, analysis of legality and publicity, as well as common practice test, which identifies the reasonability of the implemented practices.

Step 8: Implementing the Solution

Before implementing the above-proposed solutions, the managerial staff should conduct a performance test to evaluate emotional, psychological, and cultural aspects in the employed environment. All these issues are urgent for ensuring productivity and ethics in the workplace.

In addition, all actions carried out during the construction process should be transparent and, therefore, the public relation department should be more concerned with constant reporting. Information related to the environmental aspects of construction, as well as employees’ ethics should not be concealed because it prevents from fulfilling the main objectives of an international company.

Step 9: Monitoring and Assessing the Outcomes

Open Door policy should be beneficial for introducing amendment to ethical and moral issues of the project. At this point, the manager should constantly monitor the fulfillment of and compliance with existing legal and ethical regulations to avoid complications. Such a policy can contribute greatly to company’s reputation and attract larger customer base.

While assessing the outcomes, the managers and engineers should pay closer attention to testing procedures, including performance procedure and employees’ engagement into the production process.