Management and Professional Responsibility
in a Changing World

by Sharon Beder

The image and status of the engineering profession is declining as the public identifies engineers with controversial and environmentally damaging technologies. Engineers are too often characterised as being male, socially inept, politically naive and aligned with selfserving developers. They are finding themselves at the centre of controversies they don't fully understand. Increasingly engineers are subjected to law suits because the public, which has an unrealistic perception of the nature of engineering, blames them when things go wrong.

Engineering appears to be at a turning point. It is evolving from an occupation that provides employers and clients with competent technical advice to a profession that serves the community in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. Increasingly engineers themselves and their professional societies aspire to be broadbased professionals. Employers are also requiring more from their engineering employees than technical proficiency.

Engineering in the modern world involves many social skills. There is also an increasing need for engineers to choose technological solutions that are appropriate to their social context and to give consideration to the longterm impacts of their work, if only because the work of engineers can have wideranging effects. Today's technologies can impact on the whole globe and they can impact on future generations. Never before has there been such a moral imperative to consider what may have been thought of as unintended consequences in the past.

This book sets out to provide a resource to help engineering students understand the social dimensions and context of engineering work as well as the social role and responsibilities of the new engineer. Part One canvasses the issues and develops the debates central to a discussion of engineering in contemporary society. Part Two shows how those debates are put into action with a detailed case study highlighting most of the key concerns for the new engineer, while Part Three develops the general discussion about engineers and the environment, engineering ethics, and engineers at risk. It also seeks to stimulate discussion within the profession about the qualities of the new engineer and to provide insights to nonengineers who have an interest in the shaping and implementation of technology in modern society.

Dr Sharon Beder is the author of many articles and books including Toxic Fish and Sewer Surfing (Allen & Unwin 1989), The Nature of Sustainable Development (Scribe 1996), Global Spin (Green Books 1997, 2002 and Scribe 1997, 2000), Selling the Work Ethic (Zed Books 2000 and Scribe 2000) and Power Play (New Press 2003 and Scribe 2003). She has also prepared an array of teaching materials o/l environmental issues including a CDROM based multimedia package and a video package for tertiary students.

Sharon is a chartered engineer. She gained her first class engineering degree at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and worked as a professional engineer for several years before undertaking a PhD on engineering decisionmaking in the development of Sydney s sewerage system with the School of Science and Technology Studies at the University of New South Wales.

Introduction: The New Engineer

Part I: Engineering Past and Present

1. The Traditional Engineer

Science and Status

Choosing Engineering as a Career

2. The Engineering Profession

Career Structure

Professionalism

Professional v's Business Values

Appendix

3. Engineering Design and Philosophy

Preindustrial Design

Modern Design Methods

Engineering as Experimentation

4. Development Of Technology

Technological Choice

Technology as a Social Activity

Technological Paradigms and Trajectories

Part 2: Sewerage Case Study

5. Cleaning Up the Cities

The Battle for Sewers

WaterCarriage vs Dry Conservancy

Government and Social Control

6. From Sewage Farms to Sedimentation Tank

Sewage Experiments

Trends in Sewerage Treatment

A Sewerage Engineering Paradigm?

Prospects for Change

 

 

7. Controversy Sydney's Beaches in Crisis

Ocean Outfall Predictions

Bioaccumulation Studies of Sydney Fish

Manipulating the Media

8. Technology and Regulation

The Basis for Environmental Standards

Influencing Technological' Change

The Cost to Industry

Part 3: The New Engineer and Social Responsibility

9. Engineers and the Environment

Technology as a Cause of Environmental Problems

Appropriate Technology

Clean Technology

Appendices

10. The Role of Experts

The Basis of Expert Authority

Defining Decisions as Technical

Public Participation

11. Engineering Ethics

A Social Contract

Environmental Impact Assessment

Support for Ethical Engineers Appendices

12. Engineers at Risk?

Risk Assessment and Communication

Incinerator Case Study

Conclusions

13. Conclusion- The New Engineer Revisited

Bibliography

Index