Civil Engineering Student’s Ethical Awareness and Behavior: A Framework

Model
Shafira M Wahid

Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,
5 Malaysia

Abstract
The purpose of this research is to demonstrate a framework to develop ethical awareness and behaviour in
engineering students. The methods explained in this paper is a summarization from two journals which will be
10 able to be used for the future engineering teachings about ethics. This model integrates the theory of planned
behaviour, person and thing orientation. Applying this model will allow educators to build confidence and trust
in their students’ ability to build a professional identity and be prepared for the engineering profession and
practice. Another method which was conducted in The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus consist of
pre- and post-survey, as well as focus group discussions were conducted for this purpose. Survey results show
15 that students’ theoretical knowledge on engineering ethics did not improve significantly but the workshop
motivated them to act ethically. This study has also identified a few possibly more effective methods to conduct
ethics workshop. A key to its effectiveness is to firstly increase engineering students’ awareness on the importance
of engineering ethics as part of their engineering education. An efficient method is to provide role models, by
giving opportunity to the students to meet engineering leaders, particular those who have chosen the ethical career
20 path.
Keywords: Engineering ethics, theory of planned behaviour, workshop, awareness

1. Introduction

There have been numerous scandals involved in the engineering community based on an unethical and illegal
25 engineering practices, which many of them devoted in a renowned engineering companies and agencies. It doesn’t
have to happen any major structure failure first to remind us of the importance of ethical awareness and behavior,
along with supporting the development and practice of ethical behavior in engineering students. Development of
ethical judgment skills in future engineers is a key competency for engineering schools as engineering ethics is
part of the engineering thinking, identity and professional practice of engineers (Harris et al. 1996). Professional
30 engineers have a personal and professional obligation to society to act in an ethical manner (Passino, 1998). Thus,
future engineering employees are not only expected to have technical knowledge, skills and abilities, but also a
foundation of professional and ethical practices (The Engineer of 2020).
With this study, an approach of teaching civil engineering students about the ethical awareness and
behavior of ethical problems using a series of case studies. By applying this method, will allow educators to build
35 confidence and trust in their students so that they will build their identities and prepared for the engineering
profession and practice. engineers have personal and professional obligations to act in an ethical manner, assessing
both positive and negative impacts of a particular engineering solution and resolving or minimising the potential

Email address: shafira_mayfarda@yahoo.com (Shafira Mayfarda Wahid)

 conflicts of responsibility to the society, to employers, to fellow colleagues and to self (Passino, K. M., 1998 and
Brad Stappenbelt, 2013).
40 Before fully implementing ethics education into an engineering programme, a key to its effectiveness is
to firstly increase engineering students’ awareness on the importance of engineering ethics as part of their
engineering education. An efficient method is to provide role models, by giving opportunity to the students to
meet engineering leaders, those who have chosen the ethical career path.
At first, reviewing the current state of ethics education of undergraduate engineering curriculum in
45 Malaysia is hoping that it will prepare students for the ethics portion of the Fundamental Exam than they otherwise
would have been and it is expected that by studying engineering ethics will familiarize students with code of ethics
and principles.

2. Methodology

50 The main approach of this research is to identify the areas where engineering students lack in ethical
awareness and behavior. We start with some general ideas about what codes of ethics are and what
purpose they serve and then examine two professional engineering codes in more detail. Basically, code
of ethics provides the framework for ethical judgements which will then be used for professionals.
Because in the engineering professions, it helps to apply moral principles to the unique situations
55 encountered in professional practice.
One proposed to apply a well-established model of human behavior, Ajzen’s theory of planned
behavior (Ajzen 1985), as a theoretical framework for understanding and predicting ethics in
engineering and for informing engineering ethics teaching. Ethical decisions are complicated, thus
factors that influence ethical awareness is important to be understood properly and to also consider the
60 effect the process of the framework. In the domain of Engineering Education, Harding and colleagues,
as discussed earlier in the paper, have been using the theory of planned behavior to predict students’
academic ethics intentions and behavior (e.g. college cheating).
We suggest concepts used with our new model need to be in alignment with learning objectives
where students will be able to (1) recognize ethical issues; (2) exercise ethical awareness; (3) apply
65 ethical behavior. To give students a more realistic understanding of their moral obligation and
relationship to the real world, as well as minimizing the nature and limitations of the case studies
approach, our proposed model provide opportunity for dialogue as a form of active learning. Dialogue
can be used as a way to give students experience ‘‘engaging in conducting comprehensive research into
the topic, gathering supporting evidence, collaborative learning, delegation of tasks, improving
70 communication skills, and developing leadership and team-skills all at one go’’ (Christudason 2003).
Students can be asked to make an argument maps, discuss it with others and play the role of being an
expert briefing a committee. This will help students to improve their skills in critical thinking,

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 collaboration and problem solving. Additionally, engaging in dialogues will help train students in
developing skills for the resolution of ethical issues, along with preparing future engineers to exercise
75 ethical behavior (Bairaktarova, Diana & Woodcock, Anna. 2016).

Figure 1 Content, Assessment, and Pedagogy

80 According to Ooi, Pei Cheng & Tan, Michelle. (2015), conducting a workshop to improve
students’ awareness on engineering students provides a positive impact in preparing students to be
ethically responsible engineers. This method must be adapted to be as a tool to communicate and
reinforce students’ values and awareness, as well as code of conduct. A one-day workshop on
engineering ethics was conducted to year one and year three electrical and electronic engineering
85 undergraduate students. The invited speakers were professional engineers who had vast experiences
dealing with engineering projects locally and internationally. To gauge the effectiveness of the
workshop, a presurvey and post-survey was conducted before and after the workshop respectively. This
method can be implemented to most engineering courses students.

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 3. Result and Discussion

90 The framework presented in the research is intended as a guideline for future engineering student practices that
would be able to improve the development of ethical awareness and behavior. This framework has been adapted
in universities where they have been thought subject of Ethics and Law for Engineering. By this method, students
can be more aware and can adapt for their future profession.
In real ethical decisions can dramatically contradict moral choices made in hypothetical scenarios
95 (FeldmanHall et al. 2012). While multiple choice questions are the format offered at the Fundamentals Exam,
students must be prepared to face ethical dilemmas for which there is not always a straightforward answer and
that includes diversity of moral codes as a result of diverse cultural, educational, professional backgrounds
(Bairaktarova, Diana & Woodcock, Anna. 2016).
According to Ooi, Pei Cheng & Tan, Michelle. (2015) research about the effectiveness of workshop, A
100 total of 97 students responded to the pre-survey and 56 students responded to the post-survey. Based on the
respondent’s background survey, more than 70% of the students had no working experience of more than six
months and 98% of them had no participation in engineering ethics workshop previously. The result also shows
that case study discussion was the most preferred way of conducting in the workshop. Figure 2 shows student’s
preference methods to conduct the engineering ethics workshop.
105

Figure 2 Student’s preference methods on how to conduct the engineering ethics workshop.

Based on the study, workshop should be made more targeted especially to final year students with proper
110 structure to relate more closely students’ experience to engineering ethics. Focus group discussions also indicate
that final year students found the workshop more relevant and useful, and thus appreciated the workshop more
compared to first year students. The workshop should be designed so that students could be more engaged in the
workshop sessions such as in small group discussions of ethical issues (Ooi, Pei Cheng & Tan, Michelle. 2015).

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 According to (Frank E Falcone, Edward F. Glynn P.E., Mark Edward Graham and Mark Doorley, 2013), students’
115 interest in the discipline of ethics could be stimulated by connecting it directly to the everyday lives of them.

4. Conclusion and Recommendation

The target of this research is not to criticize the approaches that has already been done by the teaching of
engineering ethics, neither to present immediate solution to the question. Rather, it is to offer a different approach
to add to the collective effort of many to improve engineering ethics education. We expect classes with real life
120 scenarios and open-ended questions with the help of discussion will provide students with a more complete
exposure to engineering ethics, while at the same time raising the profile of engineering ethics. Then, when
introduced to real life scenarios, students can exercise ethical behavior influenced by other motivational forces,
such as salience of personal gain, situational cues, and concrete consequences (FeldmanHall et al. 2012).
The overall results from the participants indicate that workshop on engineering ethics bring positive
125 impacts in preparing students to be ethically responsible engineers. The workshop should be used as a tool to
communicate and reinforce student’s values and awareness, as well as code of conduct. This result of the study
points strongly to the need of organizing more structural and interactive sessions (than traditional lecturing), which
can benefit students.
It is recommended that in the future, every universities in Malaysia will implement the framework that
130 has been stated in this paper. Because it will become a great impact for the future engineering students to be
adapted and familiarized with the ethics in engineering which will need to be used in any situation at the working
world.

References

135 [1] Bairaktarova, Diana & Woodcock, Anna. (2016). Engineering Student’s Ethical Awareness and
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[2] Ooi, Pei Cheng & Tan, Michelle. (2015). Effectiveness of Workshop to Improve Engineering Students’
140 Awareness on Engineering Ethics. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 174. 2343-2348.
10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.898.

[3] Canney, Nathan & Bielefeldt, Angela. (2015). A Framework for the Development of Social
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