PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

Introduction to the Course

Indian & Western Perspectives

• The importance of studying Ethics, basic Ethical concepts: Moral and non-moral actions, Right and wrong, good and bad, moral consciousness, moral integrity, fairness, duty, obligation, responsibility. Related concepts morals, values and ethics.

• Ethical code of conduct: Personal, professional and social

The Concept of a Profession

• Ethics & Professions• Justification for ethics in profession• The structure of Professional Ethics

and the nature of ethical codes.

Commitments of a Professional

to reason

to the

moral

point of view

Important Values

to be Followed by Professionals

Integrity

HonestyResponsibility

Respect for persons

compassion

Justice

Theoretical Foundation

• Kinds of Ethical Thinking: Descriptive, Normative and Meta-ethics. Ethical Theories: hedonism, egoism, Altruism, Deontology, utilitarianism, and virtue ethics.

• Indian Perspective: Non-violence, concept of detached action

Technology and Ethics

• The nature of engineering ethics. Commitment to safety, safety and acceptable risk, personal and public risk, technological disasters.

• Engineering Ethics as Preventive Ethics. On becoming a responsible engineer, Virtues, Honesty, Integrity, Responsibility, and Confidentiality.

Technology and Ethics

• Issues in Biotechnology, Corporate world, computers and internet, practice of science and technology, research etc.

• Issues of safety, privacy, human freedom, human rights etc.

• Moral codes and the law.

Concerns in Other Professions

• Other professions like health care, law, sports, academics, etc.

• Some common concerns.

Morality, Ethics and Professional Ethics

• Morality: Set of beliefs that society, individuals or subgroups of society hold about good and bad, right and wrong, justice and injustice, fairness and unfairness.

• Ethics: Logical examination, critique and study of morality (Rollin)

Ethics Scandals &

Corruption Crisis

The Context that makes Professional Ethics Relevant

Ethics Scandals & Corruption Crisis

• Ethics scandals have proliferated in the world’s of Government, business, medicine and on the site of many other professions, even the clergy. (Thompson. p.1)

Corruption Crisis in Politics

• Rajiv Gandhi's government on the Bofors issue.

The 155mm Bofors, fires away at posts held by the enemy situated across the mountains in the Mukshoh Valley. A Jawan closes his ears.

Corruption Crisis in Politics

• P.V. Narasimha Rao: in 1997, the CBI charge sheeted him and 11 others of bribery and corruption. In September 2000, the special court found him guilty of bribing four JMM MPs with Rs 50 lakh each for voting in favour of his government in July 1993.

Corruption Crisis in Politics

• P.V. Narasimha Rao: in 1997, the CBI charge sheeted him and 11 others of bribery and corruption. In September 2000, the special court found him guilty of bribing four JMM MPs with Rs 50 lakh each for voting in favour of his government in July 1993.

My chair

Oh God!

Corruption Crisis in Politics

• The BJP President, Mr Bangaru Laxman, resigned from the post following the exposure of his alleged involvement in a defense deal by Tehelka.

• Defence Minister George Fernandes offered to resign from the Cabinet. However, Mr Fernandes was persuaded by his Cabinet colleagues not to take any hasty decision.

Environment Minister Judeo was caught on tape allegedly taking a bribe

Corruption Crisis in Politics

• The Army too covered itself in disgrace as a slew of generals were caught grubbing for payoffs.

• Among those nailed are Lieut-Gen Manjit Singh Ahluwalia, Director-General, Ordnance Supply; Major-General P.S.K. Choudhary of Weapon and Equipment; and Maj Gen Murgai, Director, Quality Assurance, who has now retired.

Corruption Crisis in Politics

• Other senior officers who took bribes include Brig Iqbal Singh, Prospective Procurement Officer, through whom all import purchases pass.

• Brg Anil Sehgal, Deputy Director in the DGOS, when first contacted.

• Additional Secretary L.M. Mehta, IAS, the number two bureaucrat in the Defence Ministry.

• The Tehelka website goes on to give details of a total of 27 people to whom it allegedly paid bribes. The amount of gratification ranges from Rs 5,000 to Rs 2 lakh and gold ornaments..

Central Vigilance Commission: Performance during November, 2007

• Commission disposed 388 cases referred to it for advice.

• Recoveries to the tune of Rs. 1.96 crores were effected after Commission

• Conducted technical examination of some departments.

Performance upto November’ 2007

S.No Nature of Advice No. of cases

1 Prosecution advised 118

2 Prosecution sanctioned 152

3 Major penalty proceedings advised 1619

4 Major penalty advised after inquiry 692

5 Major penalty imposed 738

6 Initiation of minor penalty proceedings 788

7 Imposition of minor penalty advised 253

8 Minor penalty imposed 895

9 Exoneration/Closure 1977

10 Vigilance Clearance granted 449

11 No. of Intensive examination by CTE organ 126

12 Recoveries on account of CTE’s investigations 28.70 Cr.

Global Corruption Rankings

• A survey of 133 nations conducted by Transparency International (an anti-graft watchdog), India stood 83rd in the world, alongside Malawi and Romania.

• India recorded a score of 2.8 out of 10. • Last year, India's score was 2.7 out of 10, but it

stood 71st in a list of 102 nations, unlike 83 this time.

• Finland with a score of 9.7 has been ranked first, making it the least corrupt nation on earth.

Global Corruption Rankings

• A score of 10 means a country is seen as being ‘highly clean', and a score of zero means ‘highly corrupt.

• 'Bangladesh had the dubious distinction of being the world's most corrupt nation with a score of 1.3.

• Asia as a whole fared badly in the report on corruption, with many nations in the region being counted amongst the worst in the world for graft among public officials and politicians.

Unethical Practices in Corporations

Enron Fraud in Florida www.floridasecuritiesfraud.com/securities_pgs/suspect_stocks.html

Enron filed for bankruptcy in December 2001. It was undone by accounting fraud and off-the-balance-sheet transactions. Many players were involved in fraud at multiple levels. Investigations have implicated several former high level executives. Enron's accounting firm, Arthur Anderson, LLP, has already been convicted of obstruction of justice because the firm allegedly destroyed documents pertinent to the Enron case.

Unethical Practices in Corporations

• Apologists for corporate wrongdoers have suggested that they were only playing by the rules defined by competitive financial markets and capitalist ideology.

• The public scandals of Enron, WorldCom and others, with their extreme examples of private greed and deception, have caused us to question our assumptions about what values and practices should underlie successful 21st century businesses.

Unethical Practices in Other Institutions

• The Catholic Church.

• The Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi as the prime accused in a brutal contract killing of Sankara Raman.

Corruption and unethical practices are common in all professions;

medicine, engineering, law, academics, politics, corporations etc.

Institutional Turn in Professional Ethics

• A recent development.

• Study of ethical issues that are more salient in institutions than in relations among individuals.

• Institutional turn becomes necessary because of the institutionalization of the professions.

Institutionalization of the Professions

• Shift from social trustee professionalism to expert professionalism.

• Social trustee professionalism: Professionals alone or in small groups serve their patients or clients in accord with a public-spirited goal.

• Expert professionalism: Professionals serve in organizations that value mainly their expertise and expect them to act in accord with the organization’s goals, which are often determined by the market and economic pressure.

Evaluation

• One Quiz 30 marks

• One End Sem Examination (70 marks)

Questions

• Classroom presentations and discussions

• Materials you can download from the net

• Materials will be made available in http://www.hss.iitm.ac.in/courses

Attendance

• 100% is compulsory

• Late coming is strictly not allowed.

• Classes will start at 2 PM.

• Thompson,DennisF, Restoring Responsibility: Ethics In Government, Business And Healthcare, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005.

• Rollin, Bernard E, Science and Ethics,Cambridge Univ. press.2006