Professional ethics and the IET
An introduction to professional ethics.
- How do you balance the commercial pressures of the business environment with the need to treat people fairly and act with integrity?
- Is it ever acceptable to disclose confidential information?
- What do you do when the rules of conduct don't tell you exactly how to act?
Being a professional engineer means that the wider public trust you to be competent and to adhere to certain ethical standards. The trust you derive from being seen as a professional is one of the advantages of being a member of the IET, but it also means you have certain ethical responsibilities.
Like most professional bodies, the IET has a number of Rules of Conduct which set out the standards of behaviour expected of its members. However, a list of rules will never cover every situation that may arise, and there will always be a role for individual judgement in deciding how to apply these rules.
This section of the site is designed to help you to interpret the Rules of Conduct, and to understand the demands of professional behaviour in your own life. You will also find a set of interactive case studies, designed to help you practice exercising your judgement in ethically challenging situations. These cases are based on the experiences of real engineers, and reflect real-life situations where the right thing to do is not always obvious.
You can either get started on a case study about environmental issues in procurement, or look at the full range of case studies available.
Mountbatten lecture on professional ethics
"Solving global challenges demands ethical leadership" a lecture by Richard L Olver, Chairman, BAE Systems was held on 12 November 2009 at Savoy Place.
The Royal Academy of Engineering - engineering ethics survey
"Engineering ethics in business and industry" is an online survey carried out by the The Royal Academy of Engineering. Find out about the results of this survey.
Other Internet resources:
From the IET
From other suppliers