The Right Reasons

This is from the Letters to the Editor section of the August 2010 issues of Civil Engineering magazine that I had recently published - -

"Laurie A. Shuster's article "Doing Business the Right Way," which appeared in the June issue, provides an excellent overview of contemporary and corporate ethics training. The article, in conjunction with the recent environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, provides a good starting point when discussing the world of ethics and corporate-sponsored ethical training.

I think there are several additional points that need to be discussed and debated, however. One is the difference between what is often referred to as preventative ethics and what I would call virtue-based ethics. A large body of the ethics literature and our ethical body of knowledge, from professional codes and standards to organizational policies, is rule based. The orientation is negative and preventative - - don't do X or the very negative Y will happen. The goal is typically to prevent vice while never speaking to the issue of promoting professional and individual virtue. In a world in which, as the article states, "If they don't pass the quiz, they have to go into remedial training and do it again," the appraised actions are typically measured in terms of consequences or compatibility with deontological rules. What is usually missing (and difficult to measure) - - yet fundamentally important - - is the character of the engineer, the individual. A good character will manifest itself not only in specific actions but also in the reasons for the actions and the methods of relating to the objects of those actions.

The two types of ethics come down to "doing the right thing" versus "doing the right thing for the right reasons." The point of difference is not an action's consequence or adherence to a rule or standard; nor is it embedded in the narrowness of an ethical "cost-benefit analysis." Virtue-based ethics is a more appropriate vehicle for expressing certain aspects of engineering professionalism - - such ideas as discretion, judgment, inner motivation, and commitment. Being a virtuous engineer is having the disposition or character traits that manifest themselves in certain types of behavior when the appropriate circumstances arise (hopefully this happens when either standing on the bank of a levee or the deck of a deepwater drilling platform). Engineering virtue is expansive and more difficult to train and instill in employees when found lacking, and it includes such attributes as honor, integrity, moral fiber, fortitude, and backbone.

All organizations want the right kind of people. Most want the right people doing the right thing. But what a learned profession with a foundation in civic virtue fundamentally needs are the right people doing the right things for the right reasons."