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"8" PAPER - The Engineer in Society - March 2013

THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS, SRI LANKA

PROFESSIONAL REVIEW EXAMINATION

SECTION "8" -THE ENGINEER IN SOCIETY

Date: 19th March 2013 Time allowed: 3 hours

Instructions to Candidates

Before answering the question paper, please read the instructions given below.

o Answer four questions only. Answer at least one question from section 1

o Each question will carry 25 marks.

o Answers to each question should be written on a separate answer sheet, as

e~ch will be marked by a separate examiner.

o Write your Index Number and relevant Question Number clearly on top of
each answer sheet.

o It is important that you write question numbers to which you have answered
in the cage provided on the cover page.

o Pay attention to legibility, grammar, spelling and punctuation marks, in

addition the relevance, organization and style of presentation.

o Answer to all questions should be in essay form, unless otherwise specified

in the relevant question.

o Rough work (if any) may be embodied in the answers, but should be struck
out with a single line. No marks will be given for rough work. Do not tear any
pages from answer books.
"8" PAPER - The Engineer in Society- March 2013

Section 118" Question Paper - March 2013

SECTION 1

Question 1:

Clause 3 of the IESL Code of Ethics states that "Engineers shall build their reputation on
merit and shall not compete unfairly."

This requirement is to ensure that engineers shall not seek to gain a benefit by improper
means. Of the eight ways in which this is to be observed, describe four and providean
example foreach one of the four cases,to describe how the Code of Ethics may be violated
and what steps must be taken to avoid such violations.

Question 2:

Recognition as a Chartered Engineer is open to any engineer who can demonstrate

competence to perform professional work to the necessary standards. Engineers become
competent through a mixture of education and professional development.

List the five Core Competences expected of a Chartered Engineer and describe which
aspects of an Engineer's development are covered by these Competences.

SECTION 2

Question 3:

How could the activities and eventual decisions of the United Nations (UN) Organisation,
includingat sessions of the UN Human Rights Organisation, affect Sri Lanka's national
interests and implementation of its foreign policy, owing to measures taken by

a) Other UN member-states;
b) Non-governmental human rights organisations; r
c) Remaining elements of armed groups as well as its criminal element; and
d) Sri Lanka's diaspora.

Question 4:

'Sustainable Consumption and Production is the key to Sustainable Development, and

Millennium Development Goals can only be achieved if we set our Millennium Consumption
Goals correctly.'
"8" PAPER - The Engineer in Society - March 2013

Discuss the above statement, explaining the underlined terms, and describe how you can
contribute to Sustainable Development by making changes to conducting 'business as usual'
in your home, office, your work site/ factory/ workshop, and to your own lifestyle.

Question 5:

'Most executives are promoted to management roles as a routine in their career path.
However, only a few of them become leaders'.

Critically evaluate the above statement, highlighting the roles and competences of the
leaders and managers.

Question 6:

Almost 80% of our country's demand for mobility is met through the mode of road
transport, and the country is spending heavily for improvements and as well as for
construction of new road transport infrastructure. Yet these interventions have not been
able to effectively address urban traffic congestion. What affordable and sustainable
demand management strategies would you propose to mitigate the urban trafficcongestion
in our country? Explain your answer with examples from countries you have visited or
information on efficient urban transportation systemsand demand management strategies
you have read about.

Question 7:

With the increase of urbanisation, change of life style and increased use of appliances, the
demand for electricity is on the increase. At present, Sri Lanka needs anadditional
generating capacity of about 300MW each year. Construction of electric power plants need
a largecapital and the Sri Lankan government finds it difficult to allocate such capital for
power generation, owing to compelling needs for investments in other important services
such as education and healthcare. In this scenario, Independent Power Producers (IPPs)
have been encouraged since 1996 to construct power plants, and power utilities have to
purchase power from such IPPs under Power Purchase Agreements(PPAs). Discuss the long
term advantages/disadvantages of the twomethods, ieGovernment-assisted investments
and private investments, and recommend with reasons a strategyfor financing future power
plants in Sri Lanka.

Question 8:

a) Examine the features characterising "Import-Substitution" oriented development

policies.

b) Since independence, the Sri Lankan economy underwent different spells of governance,
where import substitution policies were prominent to various degrees. Discuss the
national economic policy evolution in Sri Lanka, identifying different periods with their
 B" PAPER - The Engineer in Society- March 2013

underlying policy orientations, relative successes achieved and difficulties faced by

pursuing such policies.
c) "Import substitution strategies and export promotion strategies are not necessarily
mutually exclusive". Criticallyanalyse this statement vis-a-vis a developing economy
with a relatively small market size such as Sri Lanka.

Question 9:

a) Discuss the role played by infrastructure in the course of development of the Sri Lankan
economy, while highlighting its relevance to investor attractiveness and inter-regional
equity.
b) The Sri Lankan Government has recently launched an intensive physical infrastructure
development strategy reflected by mega development projects such as ports, airports,
power plants, highways and railways, most of which are implemented using borrowed I :'

capital on bilateral negotiations. Such projects are executed through contractors

nominated by such lenders. Examine (a) the rationale and (b) the pros and cons to the
national economy of such an infrastructure-driven mega investment strategy as well as
its financing and implementation mechanisms.

What alternative policies could you possibly recommend to the Sri Lankan policy
. makers with aview to deriving highernational benefits in implementing such mega
development projects?

Question 10:

a) Discuss the role and the scope covered by the three main International Standards
Bodies. What are the benefits of ISO Standards?
b) Justify the statement /1150 Standards make trade between countries easier and
fairer". Explain your response with suitable examples of ISO standards and typical
trade activities between countries.

Question 11:

Non-technical senior managers, at times, assume that formulating business strategy and, in
particular, formulating technology strategy is too important a matter to be left to engineers.
Such managers tend to feel that those deeply involved in the equipment or system- specific
day to day technical matters cannot comprehend the complex issues that govern long term
competitiveness of a business. They also think that engineers are not aware of the true
business potential of technology.
Do you agree? If so why? If not, why not?
"8" PAPER-The Engineer in Society-September 2013

THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS,SRI LANKA

Date: rs" September

PROFESSIONALREVIEW EXAMINATION

SECTION liB" - THE ENGINEER IN SOCIETY

2013
•
Time allowed: 3 hours
'I'
I E S L

Instructions to Candidates

Before answering the questions, please read the instructions given below.

o Answer four questions only. Answer at least one question from section 1.

o Each question will carry 25 marks.

o Answers to each question should be written on separate answer sheet, as

each will be marked by a separate examiner.

o Write your Index Number and relevant Question Number clearly on top of
each answer sheet.

o It is important that you write question numbers to which you have

answered in the cage provided on the cover page.

o Pay attention to legibility, grammar, spelling, and punctuation marks, in

addition the relevance, organization and style of presentation.

o Answers to all questions should be in essay form, unless otherwise

specified in the relevant question.

o Rough work (if any) may be embodied in the answers, but should be struck
out with a single line. No marks will be given for rough work. Do not tear
any pages from answer books.
Section "B" Paper - The Engineer in Society - September 2013

Section "8" Question Paper - September, 2013

SECTION 1

Question 1:

Clause 1 of the IESLCode of Ethics is;

"Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public and proper utilization of
funds in the performance of their professional duties. It shall take precedence over their responsibility
to the profession, to sectional or private interests, employers or to other engineers"
a. What do you understand by the sentence " ....It shall take precedence over their
responsibility to the profession, to sectional or private interests, employers or to other
engineers?"
b. The engineers union of an engineering organization responsible for the provision of utilities
for the community resorts to trade union action to secure benefits for themselves. This
causes severe inconvenience to the public.
i. Is this acceptable in terms of the IESLCode of Ethics?
ii. What action should the IESL take if there is deemed to be a violation of the IESL
Code of Ethics. Justify your reasoning.

Question 2:

The IESL Act NO.17 of 1968 declares ten Objects of the Institution, six of which are given below.
Choosing any four, comment on whether IESLhas met these Objectives, whether they have fallen short
of the Objective and why, how the Engineering profession can be developed/strengthened by these
Objectives and whether the selected Object is relevant today, and if not, how can it amended to be
significant in the present context.

a) to promote and advance the science and practice of engineering in all its branches in Sri Lanka;

b) to help in the acquisition and interchange of technical knowledge by reading of original

communications and discussions thereon, by establishing and maintaining technical libraries,
publications on matters of professional interests and any such other means;

c) to conduct examinations qualifying for membership of the Institute, to test the competence of
persons engaged in engineering and to grant certificates of competence;

d) to regulate the professional activities and to assist in maintaining high standards in the general
conduct of its members;

e) to give the Government and other public bodies and others the facilities for conference with and
ascertaining the views of engineers as regards matters directly or indirectly affecting
engineering;

1
 Section "B" Paper - The Engineer in Society - September 2013

f) to foster co-ordination with similar institutes in Sri Lanka and other countries in furthering the
objects of the Institute;

SECTION 2

Question 3:

The rich countries have done heavy damage to the natural resource base on earth during their
development, and now have to invest heavily on mitigation of their impacts on the environment, the
poorer countries have the chance of 'Making Development More Sustainable via Tunneling'. This is a
concept introduced by Prof. Mohan Munasinghe through many of his publications. Explain this concept
using appropriate figures, and describe the role of engineers in helping this process of "Tunneling".

Question 4:

(a) What similarities and differences do you observe between manufacturing sector driven and service
sector driven economic development?
(b) Sri Lankan economy evolved from its predominantly agricultural base at independence, towards
being largely service sector driven economy by now. However, the country's manufacturing sector
never matured beyond being a mere low-value added garment industry-dominated setting.
Founding your arguments on the patterns of sectoral evolution in the Sri Lankan economy, critically
examine the rationale of this opinion.
(c) "Sri Lankan manufacturing sector failed to keep phase with technological innovation and thus lost
international competitiveness in its exports, which has led the economy to get trapped in unskilled
labour based industries". Discuss as to what extent you agree and disagree with this statement.

Question 5:

Electricity generation in Sri Lanka is heavily dependent on fossil fuels. It is a known fact that the cost of
generation of electricity is very high owing to this dependency. It is also known that excessive use of
fossil fuels h~s adverse effects on the environment. Most environmentalists lobby for the use of Non
Conventional Renewable Energy (NCRE) sources and believe that it is a panacea for all energy related
problems. Further, they blame the engineers for not harnessing such resources in the country. As a
practicing engineer, explain and give your reasons for not harnessing such resources, to an
environmentalist who is campaigning for the expedient development and use of NCRE.

Question 6:

"Engineering is not a profession similar to medicine and law. Hence it does not have the same social
responsibilities, and engineering is not given the same privileges as other professions. Accordingly, there
is no social obligation that promotes social responsibility".

Do you agree with this statement? Discuss your opinion in a broader sense by comparing the
responsibilities of other professions against the engineering profession.

2
 Section "8" Paper - The Engineer in Society - September 2013

Question7:

Discuss the broader benefits of ISO Standards. Elaborate your answer giving special attention to
developing countries.

Question 8:

"Most organizations are over-managed and under-led". Critically analyze this statement referring to the
basic differences in management and leadership principles, taking any organization you are familiar
with, as an example.

Question 9:

Provide an example of how established companies in a given industry were successfully challenged by a
relative newcomer through the development of a Disruptive Technology.

If you were the Chief Executive Officer of a small Sri Lankan manufacturing firm operating in an industry
of your choice, explain how you would develop a Disruptive Technology so that you would not have to
build economies of scale usually necessary to compete head-on with large and established players in the
industry.

Question 10:

The Indian Ocean is a major area across which much trade and global economic connectivity is
conducted. In this context, how do Sri Lanka's bilateral relations with China and India influence our
national interests?

Question 11:

Sri Lanka has a rich water heritage. Its history and civilization was, and still is intrinsically connected to
water resources and environmental sustainability. The annual rainfall of Sri Lanka varies between
971 mm (South Eastern coast) to 5450 mm (Western slopes of the Highlands). The 'annual average
rainfall in Sri Lanka is 1900 mm and this is well above the global average rainfall of 750 mm.

The demand for irrigated agriculture, water supply for drinking and industries are rapidly increasing, and
water in Sri Lanka is truly becoming "everybody's business". Integrated Water Resource Management
(IWRM) and partnership approaches are gaining wide acceptance for optimizing water use. Political
leadership and champions to promote IWRM and national water policy are also emerging.

In this context, how does IWRM and national water policy impact economic growth and pattern of
sustainable development in developing countries like Sri Lanka?