PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

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PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

• Introduction to the Course

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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

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The Concept of a Profession

• Ethics Professions
• Justification for ethics in profession
• The structure of Professional Ethics and the
  nature of ethical codes.

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• Commitments of a Professional

to reason
to the moral point of view
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• Important Values
• to be Followed by Professionals

Justice
Respect for persons
Integrity
Honesty
Responsibility
compassion
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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

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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.

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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.

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Concerns in Other Professions

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

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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)

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Ethics Scandals Corruption Crisis

• The Context that makes Professional Ethics
  Relevant

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Ethics Scandals Corruption Crisis

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

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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.
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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.

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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.

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My chair
Oh God!
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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.

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Environment Minister Judeo was caught on tape
allegedly taking a bribe
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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.

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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..

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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.

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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 CTEs investigations 28.70 Cr.
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.
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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.

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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
  organizations goals, which are often determined
  by the market and economic pressure.

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Evaluation

• One Quiz 30 marks
• One End Sem Examination (70 marks)

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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

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Attendance

• 100 is compulsory
• Late coming is strictly not allowed.
• Classes will start at 2 PM.

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• 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