Ethics is moral principles that regulate the behavior of people or an organization, depicting how to behave towards other people and the consequences of misconduct. In engineering, ethics is the study of moral issues as well as decisions that face people and organizations working in engineering departments. The engineering profession in Ontario is under the regulation of Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) that directs what to be done and the consequences of negligence. The act determines what professional engineers are dictated to do in their profession, and its principle objective is to shield the public from incompetent, unqualified or unfit practitioners. Therefore, PEO has the power to give licenses to all the qualified engineers as well as punishing individuals with the license but do not meet the qualifications. There are many codes of ethics from Ontario that govern the field of engineering, but this discussion will analyze this article, “A practitioner must co-operate in working with other professionals engaged in a project.” Generally, engineering work is very diverse, and for a single project to come into completion, it requires more than one professional for it to be successful.
What is the need of cooperating with other professional when working for a project? Is there any harm that may result from lack of cooperation? Why did engineering include this code among the codes of ethics? Did the group of engineers who drafted the code of ethics for engineering experienced drawbacks when professionals refused to cooperate when working on a project? Is this article really important or should it be ignored by the engineers? Is this part of the code enforceable? Is it mandatory for engineers to conform to this code? Does conforming to this code change the way of life or the personality of an engineer? Does this code make an engineer inferior while working with other professionals? Does this code violate the rights of engineers? What are the consequences of neglecting this code?
Obviously, no practitioner can work on his or her own. They need other professionals to ensure that whatever project they are dealing with is a success. In most cases, most of the projects involve the incorporation of two or more professions, and it is very hard for a single individual to have the two professions. Most of the people prefer to specialize on one profession so as to gain extensive experience and certainty in what they find worth doing. Therefore, when called upon to do a project, they need other professionals related to the project, and they must cooperate for the project to succeed.
It was too hard to understand why they must cooperate, but I visited and interviewed an architect where my doubts were cleared. During the interview, the architect admitted that cooperation is the most fundamental thing needed in tackling any project. The work of an architect is to design buildings, and most importantly, to create spaces and concepts of a building. Besides designing a family building, they also design hospitals, schools and colleges, as well as the entire neighborhood.
The architect admitted that there were three phases of architectural work, each of which requires a bunch of other professionals to be successful. The first phase is the designing role where an architect is required to bring an idea of a client to reality by creatively producing several designs that may impress the client. This work requires technical knowledge as well as responsibility; therefore, a bunch of other professionals required in this phase is engineers, designers as well as financiers.
An engineer is he who solves problems by the use of science, technology as well as math. They design machinery needed by an architect to turn the designs on the paper to reality (building). They also need to work in a close association with civil engineers who are specialized in supervising the building the architect designed. When the building is complete, an architect needs an electrical engineering to do the wiring as well as fixing electrical equipment in the building. Therefore, an architect must cooperate with engineers because their roles and professions are equally important for the success of the project, otherwise, without such cooperation, a design can be drafted, but no building could be erected.
An interior designer is equally important to work together with an architect. An interior designer is responsible for creating aesthetic rooms as well as spaces. They are specialized in creating indoor spaces that will obviously impress the client as well as meeting the safety and functions wanted. An interior designer decides where furniture will be placed, overall decoration of the house, color palettes, functional décor, creating functional and attractive kitchens, and theater entrance that are safe to the people. They also design lighting, artwork, window treatment as well as flooring, to ensure that the house is appealing to both clients and the passersby. Therefore, when an architect designs the building, he or she cannot do what an interior designer does, meaning that they must cooperate towards the completion of the project.
Financial managers are also important to the architecture. They are responsible for financial matters to do with the project. They give financial reports as well as directing investment activities towards the project. When an architect designs a building, money is needed to execute the design into a building, and therefore, they need a financier to take care of the finances. Architects also turn to the financiers in case they need to implement t something, or in case, they need to purchase something for the project. Therefore, without the financier, a project cannot be executed meaning that the architect and the financier need to cooperate well.
The documentation phase entails the capturing of the design on the paper to produce a detailed drawing. In most cases, detailed drawings are captured by the use of a technology known as computer-aided-design (CAD) which examines the design’s feasibility. Therefore, an architect needs a computer specialist to test the designs, meaning cooperation between the two is needed.
The construction phase requires even more cooperation. Construction materials are issued out, and they give the instructions as well as technical specifications to be followed by construction experts and contractors. This is the most crucial stage, and therefore, the architect needs fruitful cooperation with construction experts, and they occasionally meet to present the progress report and view if there is any amendment required, and solving any problem that may have arisen. This phase also involves workers, and they must cooperate for the success of the project.
As much as teamwork is essential in engineering, conflict is inescapable. Conflicts arise from various sources such as gender, interpersonal as well as cultural differences, but the most important thing is to solve these differences ethically. At one point or another, professionals disagree on the matters to do with personality, criticism as well as working style differences. What is important when working together is to take the time to listen to what other professionals say, and in the case of a disagreement, they should seek the most polite way to explain with conviction why they cannot disagree with others. It is also important to find some instances of agreeing with others even though holding different views because it will lead to a successful working relationship.
Gender and cultural differences should be fully avoided when working together. The only way to avoid such differences is to allow each person to speak their mind and what they think can make the project a success. It is ethical to the professions to treat every other person as important and listens to their opinions for the successful of the project.
At one point or the other, cooperation involves bringing small groups of people with various skills together, to pursue a common goal and purpose. People who come together are mutually accountable because they have the same mission to accomplish. The modern technology has made it impossible and hard for a successful cooperation, and therefore, it becomes necessary to create a team with diverse ways of thinking, and this will help in making a project a success. The team of engineers needed is experts in leadership, creativity, planning and organization, technical knowledge as well as communication. How the team performs is based on the successful incorporation of attributes, working environment, communication, as well as the ability of the team to complete projects successfully.
Interdependence: Engineers are supposed to work with other professions for them to succeed. This means that one individual cannot succeed unless other professional succeed. In the case of an architect, he admitted that he cannot succeed unless the other professionals working together succeed. Working against each other of for personal gains and recognition always lead to undesired outcomes, or the intended projects become a failure
Goal specification: Professional should be propelled by a common goal. In case there is anyone with a different opinion or idea, it should be addressed to the group of professionals to come up with a uniform conclusion
Cohesiveness: Cohesiveness is the engagement of talents, skills, personalities as well as abilities that professional have. For a successful project outcome, each professional in a team must be respected and valued, and what they have and what they can do must be respected by others
Communication: It is crucial for all professional to contribute to group discussion, and raise what each person thinks will lead to a successful project. They should also listen to others as they air out their ideas, suggestions and opinions, knowing that each person is equally important as the others. Again, those who contribute to the ideas of the project should avoid being judgmental, and they should be responsive and friendly
Rules and norms: Normally, recorders, coordinators and leaders are the roles in teamwork, and they help in the execution and analysis on how to tackle a project successfully. Norms are what professionals agree to do for the success of a project, and they should be determined to do as they decide
Professional misconduct section 72 (2m) states that it is a negligence to “permitting, counselling or assisting a person who is not a practitioner to engage in the practice of professional engineering except as provided for in the Act or the regulations.” Engineers should cooperate with other professionals in the engineering work but they should not cooperate with unprofessional may it be close friends or family members for a favor, because it is a sign of misconduct and it will affect the overall work which will degrade engineering works as well as posing threats to the public, and this is unacceptable.
Besides, professional misconduct section 72 (2L) states that it is negligence for “failure to supply documents or information requested by an investigator acting under section 33 of the Act.” The code of ethics endorses cooperation, and therefore, none of the professional in any engineering project should fail to supply the important documents towards the success of the project. For instance, an internal designer should give the information about indoor space to the architect without failure, as lack of giving out the information is termed as misconduct.
In conclusion, the inclusion of this article “A practitioner must co-operate in working with other professionals engaged in a project” on codes of ethics was not a mistake; it was detailed article meant to direct engineers on what to do for a successful project. Again, no one can work alone as people need each other in all that they do. Engineers are one of the most important people in the world, as they make the world attractive and enjoyable to live in. All the buildings and other engineering works were achieved through a successful cooperation of various professionals, and that is what other people should desire for their projects to be a success.
Bibliography
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Professional engineers, Ontario, Canada
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