Engineering practice exists within the domain of societal interests. Engineering has direct influence on the society; and the society directly dictates the course of engineering practice. This paper focuses on the interaction between engineering and society. It examines the professional responsibilities of engineers and the relationship between engineers and the society. It is this relationship that dictates the direction in which engineers execute their professional responsibilities.
Definition of Engineering
According to the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), engineering is defined as “the profession in which a knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences gained by study, experience, and practice is applied with judgment to develop ways to utilize economically the materials and forces of nature for the benefit of mankind” (CETS, 1985).
Engineering and the Society
Though confusing to those who are neither engineers nor scientists, there is a clear difference between science and engineering. The main role of science is to establish the knowledge and understanding of the physical world (Nichols and Weldon, 1999). Science occurs without consideration of the societal needs. It has no societal implications. Scientific knowledge and research is curiosity-based and is not influenced in any way by the values of the society (Nichols and Weldon, 1999). The values, demands, and priorities of the society do not define the boundaries, directions, or scope of scientific knowledge, research, or curiosity. Science is purely based on the need to know or explore, and it’s usually not possible to establish the relevance of a given field of science to the needs of the society. According to Foley and Leahy (2010), science is the pursuit of knowledge in its purest sense without any concern to the needs of society. It is engineering that connects pure science to society.
Engineering is purely concerned about the needs of the society. It is the application of scientific knowledge for the betterment of the society. As the scientific knowledge is utilized over time, it’s established that some of the knowledge is relevant to the needs of the society while others are of little or no relevance. Society may not realize the relevance of a given scientific knowledge. The intersection of scientific knowledge and societal needs is what engineering is all about. Basically, the application of scientific knowledge to the needs of the society forms the domain of engineering. The central focus of engineering profession is the application of scientific knowledge to meet societal needs (Nichols and Weldon, 1999).
In order to meet the needs of the society, an engineer must apply the scientific knowledge, analytical talent, and creativity. This can be represented in a Venn diagram as shown.
Source: Nichols and Weldon, 1999.
The intersection of analytical talent with the engineering domain represents the engineering science, while intersection of creativity with engineering domain represents engineering art. Engineering science is the ability to model complex systems and predict their response, while engineering art is responsible for the revolutionary advances in technology. Engineering design is the intersection of need and knowledge with both analytical and creative capability. Engineering design is purely for real world problem solving (Nichols and Weldon, 1999). It includes activities such as the development of innovative processes and products and the creation of innovative designs such as buildings and bridges.
Responsibility of engineering practice to the society
Because of the changes in societal needs, the environment in which an engineer plans, designs, builds, manufactures, maintains, and operates continually changes. The engineer must therefore prepare to take responsibility. Such responsibilities include quality, environmental responsibility, legal liabilities, professional ethics, communications, and safety and welfare of the clients and the public at large.
In all the areas of operation, the engineer interacts with the society; the engineering profession, clients, employers, and employees. Ethics must therefore prevail from the perspective of moral agent; not moral judge. Ethics is not separate from engineering; it is part of the engineering responsibilities that an engineer has with the society. In general problem solving, product design, and process design, the engineer should not delay the considerations of economic issues until the design is completed. The economic and performance tradeoffs are essential in analyzing alternative designs, and the engineer must take this into consideration. Besides, the engineer must approach the design process with ethical, safety, quality, liability, environmental, and communication issues in mind. The design should not proceed without the consideration of these issues. This allows the engineer to integrate the societal concerns into the design process and potentially eliminate the problems.
The heart of engineering is the design, and the design must meet the desired needs. The design is a decision making process where the engineer creatively and analytically applies the scientific knowledge to convert resources optimally to achieve the stated objective. Realistic constraints such as social impact, ethics, economic factors, reliability, safety, and aesthetics must essentially be included. Due to the interaction of engineering with the society, engineers must assume responsibility in such interactions. Engineers should not give limited attention to the codes guiding their interaction with the society. Instead, they should view the codes in relation to how they agree to relate to each other.
With the current changes in social, economic, and environmental policies and trends, engineers must not only have the intellectual and technical capabilities; they must follow industry’s lead and work as a team, communicate well, and understand the social, economic, environmental, and international context of their professional responsibilities (Nichols and Weldon, 1999). Engineers need to develop a fundamental understanding of what their profession entails – application of knowledge for the betterment of the society.
Delivery of the most essential services to human life such as clothing, water and sewage networks, electricity networks, communication networks (radio, TV, telephone, internet), transport networks, among others, are products of engineering. These are the physical structures through which the society lives, and works. It is therefore the responsibility of engineers to develop a sustainable world. The biggest challenge therefore, is the risk factors in engineering, which includes planning for the unknown behaviors of human beings and natural systems (Foley and Leahy, 2010). In many cases, reputation of engineers has been soiled due to design failures. Various buildings have collapsed due to poor technical considerations, killing thousands of people; bridges have been swept away and roads destroyed due to poor construction work; and various projects delayed due to poor planning. All these have impacted negatively on the society. It should be noted that, it is the society that pays the cost, shall an engineering design fails. The society, through the education system, must also support the engineering profession by equipping the engineers with the necessary analytical skills, creative skills, and the necessary social, economic, ethics, reliability, safety, aesthetics, and the general societal considerations.
In order to meet the demands of the society, the best mechanism is that, every engineer must personal integrate the safety and welfare of the society, professional ethics, quality, environmental responsibilities, communications, and legal considerations into the methodologies that the engineer uses to approach and solve the problems in his/her course of practice. The technical elements of design and the societal issues must be considered concurrently in the engineering methodology. This would mean that the engineer creates the design for manufacturing, design for safety, design for reliability, design for environment, design for economics, design for assembly, and design for maintainability, among others (Foley and Leahy, 2010).
Engineering is very crucial to the society, and the current society cannot live without engineering. The society should know the roles that engineering plays, and supports these roles at all costs. Basically, every individual in the society (the engineers, the clients, employers, training institutions, and students) who interacts directly or indirectly with the engineering profession must rise and support the roles of engineering in the society. For instance, engineers must give top consideration to the health, safety, and welfare of the society; clients must give realistic requirements in terms of reliability, maintainability, economic, and aspects of quality; and the society must know the effects of engineering activities and perform its responsibilities including protection of intellectual property, product liability, and environmental regulations.
Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems, CETS (1985). Engineering Education and Practice in the United States: Engineering Technology Education. The National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. Retrieved November 20, 2012 from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=588&page=7
Foley, A.M., and Leahy, P.G. (2010). The Role of the Professional Engineer in the 21st Century. 3rd International Symposium for Engineering Education, 2010, University College Cork, Ireland.
Nichols, S.P., and Weldon, W.F. (1999). Professional Responsibility: The Role of Engineering in Society. Retrieved November 20, 2012 from http://www.me.utexas.edu/~srdesign/paper/
