The Ethical Behavior of Engineers and Engineering Managers: An Analysis of the Space Shuttle Program

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The 1970s saw the first sustained and systematic studies of engineering ethics in the U.S. These studies have been successful at delimiting the normative dimensions of the field, establishing that concerns for safety, due care and responsibility are defining characteristics. Some empirical work has been done, in case studies and surveys; the focus in these studies has been mainly on whistleblowing and documenting the incidence of ethical problems in engineering work. Some current research is examining how cognitive and social values enter into engineering decisionmaking more broadly, to shape design and practice. This project will break new ground by focussing specifically on ethical decisionmaking in the practice of engineering. The interdisciplinary team of investigators will conduct a one-year pilot case study on the design and development of a specific system or subsystem selected from the Space Shuttle Program. This analysis will examine the role that organizational contexts play in this decisionmaking process. Augmented by one or two additional experts as needed, a panel of three consultants, including an expert in engineering ethics, an expert in structural integrity and thermal stress analysis and on the mechanics fracture and adhesion, and an expert in philosophy of science, will assist in the selection of the case and the information to be sought from it. They will continue to evaluate the progress of this effort throughout the term of the award. The project will identify how engineers perceive, articulate and resolve ethical difficulties that arise in the development of complex, advanced technologies. Of paramount interest are design decisions that involve such activities as scale up, extrapolation of performance specification, and mathematical representations of phenomena. Since these design activities involve analysis of uncertainty and risk, they create situations where exercise of engineering judgments, incorporating values, are relied on. This case study will identify where these junctures occurred. By presenting the completed case to practicing engineers and engineering students, the investigators will begin to construct a normative description of how ethical decisions are perceived and resolved. This pilot will be evaluated for use in engineering education, and form the basis for determining whether further retrospective or prospective studies are worthwhile. This project is of intrinsic and practical importance. The investigators and their advisors are very well qualified; institutional support is very good. The phased research design is cost-effective. Results are likely to be widely distributed and of general interest. Support in the amount of $82,788 is recommended.