Applying principles of sustainability to create viable systems

(A4)
Sustainability is one of the four professional conducts stated in the Code of
Ethics in Engineers Australia as a guideline of being ethical in the industry as
an engineering professional. It is recognized as a vital norm for sustainable
development. In the process of maintaining the development and progress of
human society, this standard effectively continues the sustainability of growth
for the practitioners involved in restraint engineering. This will not only help to
protect the environment in the development process but will also help to provide
space and resources for future generations. Engineers are required to take
ethical obligations seriously and practice following the Code of Ethics (Hartley
2010). Anyone who breaches the Code is going to be penalized. During this 12-
week internship, supervisors repeatedly emphasized the significance of
sustainability, which all interns must follow throughout the period. One of the
significant events related to sustainability in work experience is described in
detail below.

During the internship, our team was tasked with designing retaining walls for
our clients. I am responsible for selecting the right concrete material. Not only
should we consider the material properties of concrete, such as practicality,
durability, diameter, but also the actual cost of implementation. When they first
met with customers, they made general project requirements. Given the size
and practical benefits of the project, the project budget is also part of the overall
design. This requires us to study the project design sits that we have given.
Analyze the material performance requirements for each section and select
different materials according to different performance requirements. Calculate
the amount of material for each part and select the supplier of the good material
to calculate the overall budget.

At the beginning of the project, I had no idea of the whole project, and the
knowledge I learned from courses was mainly used to calculate the amount of
concrete and material performance, only to meet the structural rationality and
stability requirements, and did not take the actual expenditure of the project as
part of the consideration. Since it is a complete project, you need to complete
the entire project and meet the customer's requirements for the project. As a
consultant, we should include project costs as part of the design. Increase the
project's profits as much as possible, i.e. to reduce costs as much as possible,
without compromising structural performance. The task of material selection
and budgeting was soon completed without difficulties.
The project was relatively smooth, and after looking for information and price
comparisons, we completed the project report. But when it was handed over to
the manager for review. "Do you consider the environmental impact of the
material?" I don't know how to answer that, because we only considered the
customer's request throughout the process. Because of the small size of the
entire project, the choice of materials does not create a particularly large cost
gap. The manager thinks that in this case, the material I chose can reduce the
cost, but it is not conducive to sustainable development. I have carefully
considered the manager's teachings, indeed, because I have not enough work
experience, there are many shortcomings in thinking about decision-making.
So I started preparing to re-make a plan, material selection and budget plan.

By looking for information, I learned that some building materials are

manufactured with the burning of fossil fuels, leading to increased greenhouse
gas emissions, so that global temperatures will rise, leading to rising sea levels,
not only for the natural environment but also for people living near coastlines.
At the same time, the polluted water produced by cement production will pollute
groundwater and increase the shortage of water resources in the world.

Through this experience, I learned a lot about the importance of sustainability.

Some decisions that affect the environment will not be harmful in the short term
but will affect the environment in which we live and the future development and
progress. Sustainability is a significant issue to consider in all industries,
especially in the construction sector, to protect the environment and maintain
our society.

Professional Practice within intercultural and global contexts

(F)
The participants include not only local Australian students but also international
students from different countries, such as China, Vietnam, Nepal, Bangladesh
and India. Therefore, it is important to respect others and collaborate in a
diverse way within the team.

The main purpose of the internship is to simulate the actual working

environment in advance, so that graduates can better adapt and connect the
learning environment and the working environment. Because of the complexity
of the work environment, it is not easy to do this. This requires us to summarize
and analyze how to better adapt ourselves to the work environment during the
internship process. Communication and collaboration with colleagues is an
important part of the actual work. Among them, communication and
collaboration with different cultural backgrounds requires us to pay attention to
more details. Different cultural backgrounds make us think about a lot of things
even differently in the way we deal with them. This requires us to pay attention
to respecting different cultures and understanding and facing up to cultural
differences in the process of dealing with colleagues.

According to the Code of Ethics, engineers are required to demonstrate integrity

of respecting the dignity of all persons, which can be concluded as to treat
others equally with manner without discrimination or harassment (Hartley 2010),
regardless of the race, religion, age, gender, sexual preference, nationality or
mental or physical disabilities of an individual.

Throughout the internship, we were divided into groups that worked together to
complete assigned projects. In practice, team cooperation is a necessary form
of work. Respect for others and their cultural background is an integral part of
the group's collaboration.

There are two Bangladeshi interns, two from Nepal and one from India. We may
know that people from these three countries have similar appearances and
cultures, some of whom share the same language and customs, which is one
of the main factors leading to conflict.

One day, another team intern made fun of my teammates mentioned above,
saying they looked and spoke the same and accusing them of 'helping' each
other in recording attendance. My teammates are offended because they are
still from different countries, and it is inappropriate to make offensive remarks
in an equal and tolerant workplace, which is not only a violation of the code of
ethics but also disrespectful to other people's backgrounds. Supervisor talked
to him after hearing about it. He realized his mistake and apologized to my
teammates. Since then, we have also convened a corporate meeting to
emphasize the importance of respect in the workplace. Before the meeting, I
thought that was just a joke and didn't pay much attention to the impact of the
incident. During the meeting, the manager cited a lot of his own experience in
workplace. Through these things, we have become more acutely aware of the
seriousness of this matter. It also made me more aware of the importance of
respecting cultural differences. A seemingly small act can do harm to others.
And these injuries can be a stumbling block to teamwork, seriously affecting
productivity.

This matter gave me a new understanding of teamwork. In the era of

globalization, there are more and more multicultural teams. Diverse teams can
increase creativity because employees from different cultural backgrounds
have border knowledge and ideas, so creativity is broader. Conflict reduction is
an important guarantee for the smooth running of the project. The root cause
of conflict elimination is confidence-building through communication. To be
excellent, a diverse team need to face cultural differences among team
members. Only in this way could achieve a positive and trusting perspective
team in a workplace. Creating a respectful, harmonious and friendly
atmosphere in the group and building a multi-layered form of communication
can help reduce misunderstandings arising from cultural differences.

Having a diverse culture in the workplace can increase employee engagement.

It is well known that when employees from different backgrounds share their
lifestyle and personal experiences, they build strong and trusting relationships,
and in an environment of mutual respect and trust in teams, members can
collaborate to produce more products. This is very beneficial to the
development of enterprises.

When we're in a diverse team at work, we reduce hate behaviour, and

employees can spend more time in their daily lives with people from different
cultures who they've never been exposed to. This will help to understand
different cultural perspectives and have a broader perspective.
References
Hartley, R. 2010, ‘Our Code of Ethics’, Engineers Australia, viewed 15 March 2019, <
https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2018-
10/EA%20Code%20of%20Ethics%20Final_0.pdf>