ABSTRACT
In the organizations, there are the number of problems that create performance and relation gaps between the employer and the unions. The basic cause of such gaps in the absence of ethical values among the professionals and their management. In the same way, engineering professionals are also required to adopt certain moral values to save themselves from frustration and tension with their concerned client or manager. The management of the industrial sector will have to perform through those ethics, which will help them in better earning and reputation. If they fail to do so they will have to face disturb atmosphere inside their industries. The environment of confrontation will lead to heavy losses to the employer and the employees associated with the unions. Ethics are thus the primary values that can help in sustaining and enhancing the functioning of the organization.
Introduction
Ethics are the system of the moral values possess by the certain organization, field and the community. These principles are adapted to run the organization in an accurate and professional manner. To maintain the discipline and management in the field of works the managers are highly concerned with the moral values. In the same way, engineering requires certain ethical practices, which could set the obligations in order to incorporate and compliance with the rules of the society. In engineering, the ethics are the set of applied morals values, which are generally used to control those unions operating in the sector. Without due oversight on the groups of technology workers, the system of the organization became disturbed and it cannot achieve the desired goals from the concern operations. Certain are the set of aspects for engineers, clients and the professionals working in the respective industries. The scholarly field of engineering has the close connection with the related sciences, philosophies, and the technological ethics.
Methodology
In this research paper, secondary research studies are considered to analyse the issues and practices related to unions and management ethics followed by the engineering industry. The prevailing problems that faced by the Management over their unions have also discussed. The methodology includes the engineering aspects and the ethical standards operating in the engineering sector. The description of the drawbacks and the benefit associated with the operations of the union were also explained by analysing the research material. What are the Relations of the unions with management and engineers is the important point of discussion? How can engineers have better and productive relationship with their higher authorities and with management?
Discussion
In the nineteenth century, the distinct profession of the engineering role in a systematic way. The professionals of the time maintain to work as an independent practitioner or as a worker of the technical branch of the wide range enterprise. Continuous tensions and confrontation were there among the employers and the worker, the former wanted to control over the later. The suppressing of the employees provides the way to develop a massive debate among the scientist of engineering sector as for how to tackle with the property owners and the industrial bosses so that they can have certain limit while overseeing the worker’s class (Nicholas, 2017). The significant issues of the industrialist class with worker continue for a long period. There was a kind of confrontation between both parties over ethical duties, which were linked with the society. The community of nineteen century thus face tensions of incorporating the moral values in the profession of engineering. Various regions of the world face war between the industrialist and workers over the problems of adopting the ethical values. New academies and development also enhance the issues with new complexities and sophistication.
Engineering societies and their development gave rise to the ethical professionalism. In Australia, the number of academies develops and expand their operation with the participation related to industrialist organization. Four communities of the professional engineers developed in the last one century. Among those are the society of Amalgamated engineers, which was developed in eighteen fifty-one. In the years of eighteen eighty-five composition of Australian electrical institute of engineering.
The community of mechanical engineers and the mining professionals also organized in a systematic way in the same decades. These communities of engineers are not only developing but also identified as the professionals and technical workers following the high values of ethical engineering (Balakrishnan, 2015). Despite the fact, that certain institutes were adopting the moral values as the primary concern, nineteen-century society considered ethics as the personal matter not the issue of workers. Low level of education and unknown social knowledge restrict the groups to adopt certain principles. In the same way collapse of the Tay bridge in eighteen seventy-nine has the question on codes of conduct and principles applied by the engineers over their profession. Certain new development occurred in the years after the end of the nineteenth century.
Historical development of Engineering Ethics
The number of structural lapses along with the breaking of different constructed designs and bridges creates issues for the professionals to revisit ethical codes. Fremantle railroad collapse, king street Bridge, the destruction of other Bridges are some of the failures, which unfolded the issues of deficiencies in the field and among the workers serving on these projects. Such kind of failures have the immense effect on the engineers and it has provided them to overcome these lapses in practising construction along with the ethical standards they have set for the designing and operations. The communities of nineteen century when face destruction of human loss with money opined for the formulations of the code of conduct that could align with the ethical professions. Four other societies of the engineers also came up with the same demand for moral rules for the professionals. Two societies’ electrical engineers and mechanical engineering community have adopted those ethical rules to serve the people in a highly professional manner. In the years of ninety fifty, the German engineer association have adopted an oath as primary law with the title of confession of the engineers which reveal the active role of atrocities by engineers in the World War II.
The time of the Second World War is also important for the professionals of Australian engineers. Productions of the industries were increased due to the needs of war. The circumstances provided industrialist to amend the craft rules in order to meet the requirement of skill people. Women along with the workers of other fields entered into the engineering sector. The overtime use by the workforce, which was also increasing in number increase the output of the industrial organizations. The methodology was mostly depended on the skill and contribution of trade persons. The dilutees were not capable of handling the technical and ethical tasks provided to them by the management because it requires effective training, which was more available in the legal and technical personnel of the trade unions (Harris 2013). However, as the production and services of industries increases the deficiency of the competent and skill tradesmen halted the performance of overall industrial units. The industry of the Australian engineers and manages to hold their stance on the opposition of employee having no technical background. Such attitude of the engineers has saved their ethical position not to break the rules, ethics and standards of the traditional industrial order.
The power of the technical engineers and their unions have to remain sharpening issues with radical and leftist union and unskilled staff. Technical knowledge the advantage to the trades engineers over the other professionals. They have successfully restricted the power, which was extended by the other staff at managerial level. With the advancement of the technology, the struggling war between the organisations and their workforce was not according to the straight ethical rules and the standards. The sophisticated relation between a union and their employers that are mostly engineers have low monolithically loyalty with each other. Historical perspective thus provided the actual way of confrontation between the management and the unions, relations and their confrontations. The change in the codes and ethical values occurred with the passage of time and in accordance with the requirements of the modern society.
Recent Development
The struggle for the promotion of ethics are still in progress. Efforts for such kind of promotion is continuing for a long time. Standards and rules line the iron ring of Canada and the engineers’ order of the different state dates back to the destruction of Australian Bridges in nineteen hundred and seven. The members of the engineering community have to take an oath for the upholding of practice related to ethics and wearing of the protected clothes, which reminds engineer not to cross the moral boundaries (Hersh, 2016). The Australian professional engineers have explained their ethical canons and rules of professional services design in nineteen sixty-four. These rules lead to the composition of the board of ethical reviews.
Generally, there was an easy task to answer the ethical issues but the board have the number of experts, which help the engineers that are facing some kind of moral or ethical problem. In the modern engineering era, concepts like bribery and the corruption are considered as most addressing issues. The number of the group and the unions have attacked the issues of corrupt practices by the engineers. Similarly, there are certain new issues that are arising from the ethical perspective like environmental safety, sustainable development and the increasing number of offshoring corporations and industries.
The Unions and the Engineers
Among the particular political movements, unions are the group of people contain certain political human rights ideas and thoughts. The initial emergence of the unions was in the nineteenth century. Numerous were the issues and causes that provide space to the massive grouping in and outside of the organizations. For the workers with low wages, long working time and the lacks in regulation concerning with the safety of labour force provides them to organise and counter organisational hurdles (Kim, 2016). Unions help the worker to get their rights and inputs from the management, which considered themselves as the sole powerful unit of the respective industries. However, in the era of the twenty-first century, the unions became the burden rather than to address the very fundamental rights of the workforce. It became more luxury than to fill up the necessities. Other than the advantages of the union, they can become a problem for the management and the engineers.
Benefits of Unions to Engineers
There are multiple advantages offer by the unions for the engineers and their management. Those engineers that are unionized have the positive of the secure and safe job than those who are not part of it. Job security is important for all the workers and even for the management staff. It is due to fact that unions have the authority to take the final decision about the termination of someone. They also have the privilege of taking disciplinary action through the meeting of unions committee. The grievances and the complaints of the individual person cannot be reached the top management unless the employee uses the channel of the union representative. By this way, the individual can have the privilege of effective move regarding the issue and it can influence the decision of higher authority.
The role unions are laudable when it comes to the situation of working they try to make the environment safe and friendly. Those employees that are part of the unions have the benefit of increased health allowances, leaves and short and long paid vacations. These are few benefits and they have other such privileges. Compensation related to the money and related coverage is decided with the mutual decisions and reinforce on the expiry of the agreement done with the parties. One of the workers of industrial sector Lisa Johnson unfolded his experience with the union by arguing that union offer him the number of advantages along with multiple meetings, interactions and the professional training. He is also representing the unions, which he thinks is a great privilege for him.
Union Disadvantages for Engineers
Problem or the issues associated with the composition of a union are relatively low than that of benefits. The negative aspects of the grouping can be serious for an individual. The most common problem generally faced by the corporate sector is the strikes and protest by the unions on demanding certain rights. When the employer or engineer cannot reach a certain conclusion or dealing then the conduct of protest is the important concern of the engineers. Employees that are not part of the unions have also the right to strike but they lack less bargaining benefits, which might fail them before sitting on the negotiating table (Lester, 2015). With the favour of majority rule employee of the organisation mostly went on strike, which stops the working. However, work and finances of the engineers are highly affected by the collective strikes and protest. Managers stop their pay and privileges along with the imposition of fines on them. Those workers who have the desire of working are strictly prohibited by the unions, which stop them from taking place towards which side, the managers or the union.
Benefits for the Management
There are particular advantages of unions operations and services for the managers and administration staff. The agreement did collectively with the unions and engineering management is not disputable until the time of expiry of the said project. The managerial staff have the idea through suck kind of fix dealing that they can predict the expense and the benefits associated with both entities and programmes. The unions brought security and safety in jobs along with the enhance compensation which results in the less common turnover. The training and the increasing experience of the employee through positive activities of the unions possess worthwhile investment to the organizations.
The management has the advantage of increasing financial investment through the productivity, which is the result of collective and supportive struggle union staff and workers. Through the competitive atmosphere among the members of the group, the industrial sector can have the innovative products and idea, which will not be available to the other institutes that are banning unions (Nicholas, 2017). The improvement in the communication at the workplace can provide essential benefits to the management and the related staff. The economic development is one of the main themes of unions operating in the organisations.
The engineering can simplify its process of negotiating with the workers and through their representatives. The productivity issues and dealings through the trade unions can increase the outcomes along with the increase wages, which benefit the manager and the workforce. Demonstration of the Excellency in practising the employment will be the source of the competition and it will influence the attitudes of stakeholder and enhance the reputation of the organisation. Union are generally engulfed with increase experience regarding the rules, regulations and the law of the respective institution. Their experience can resolve the issue much earlier than normal proceeding. Induction of unions in those cases that are associated with legal ground save the money and time of organisation. It also helps the managers not to move to the expensive and time-consuming processes in the place like courts or service tribunals.
Disadvantages of the Unions for Management
The union are often looked as creating frustrations for the managerial staff. The relation between both if not become amicable then it will serve the problem for both entities to stop the work or to adjust to certain bargaining. The phenomena of the ‘us vs. them’ will be there as a result decisions and the planning of management will face unbearable resistance. The violation of discipline by the members of unions will force the managers to use termination authority, which will agitate the already worse situation. One of the major obstacle, which is observed among the managers, is the aspect that became advantageous for the worker because workers are not given over benefits by the higher management. Managers are mostly imply monitoring and controlling tactics to limit the workers. In a situation where the worker is terminated on the logical and adjustable grounds union often create hurdles for the higher authority to revise the decision. Such kind of the demands made by group leaders to the increasing tension between the union and the managerial staff.
The issue of lockouts are also a problem faced by the managers who wanted to control and monitor for themselves. Management starts the process and lets the unions, which are operating in the certain organisation not at every institute to work on the possible solution. They use certain actions and tools to force the employees to accept those offers best suited to them. In response to such actions, the unions and employees who know the position react in a more coercion and disturb the whole functioning of the organisation. Certain types of the contracts with administrative staff also increase the problem at a time when the authority wanted to amend the laws and rules of the business.
The economic condition or lapses in business, force the managers to reduce employees and cut off the working hours to which severe reactions came from the unions. In the twenty-first century with the advancement, there is a concept of new public management. In other terms, this is a kind of privatisation of institution, which are giving the loss to the state or management. One of the important characteristics of new public management is to reduce the employees form the organisation (Wang, 2015). The union went against the reduction and hold massive campaign along with the protest to save the jobs of the workers. The claim made by the representatives of the group is that worker are poor people, how they will manage food and related needs of their families. They got pity feelings of the people to influence the policy decisions of the management.
Engineering Management Relations with Unions
The relationship between the unions and the management possess importance due to the resolution of disputes in the industrial sectors. The human resource unit of the organization train guide provides certain facilities to the managers working with the groups operating, for the rights of labour. Efforts made by the unions provide space to the workers and managers for better salary and good working. Respect and the dignity of employees at working place are due to the pressure of groups. In an exchange for these struggles, management also tries to normalize their relations with them in order to save interest and revenue of the organization.
The managers are highly concerned with the business and they have the desire for the smooth running of the work. The authorities have the opinion that for the high income they need smooth and productive running and operations. Dignity and respect along with the reputation of the institutions can only save through the positive relations of the union and the higher management. Both will have to show the flexibility. If the parties are not agreeing on certain issues, they will face problems and the loss of the whole organization.
The equal bargaining is essential for both parties the unions and the engineering manager. The traditional concept of overwhelming the power of other will severely affect the performance of institutions. Group of the workers have loud voice and power than individual manager so they are mostly forcing the employer to consider their demands. For example, in the United States, the role played by the unions to abolish the sweatshops and the ending of the teenagers working are highly laudable because with the power of the people they push these acts back to the alternate position. The national labour act provided that workers have the right to get their due issues resolve through collective struggle and approach. Collective pressure sometimes forces the management to maintain their relationship with the unions positively. Employer are often fear of monitoring by the unions on use of unfair means to get cheap objectives. The example to this is best described in a way that union, which was leading Boeing Co. engineers have, raise issues of their employer who was harassing the engineers, which are connected with the activities of unions.
The board has conducted an inquiry and ordered that those who were attacked through unfair means should be compensated. The investigation also recommended the ceasing of the company along with the fines and charges. The main purpose of such actions by the group to force the management to comply with the law and fulfil needs and due privileges of the workers. Such kind of actions by the union halted the relation with managers, but these are necessary to limit the powers of top authority and to balance the relations between both. If the group get silent on violations made by the chief of the organization then it will provide authority to exercise undue power over the employees and suppression will start with the number of penalties. The crux of the discussion is that a balanced approach will have to adopt by the employer because he has the authority over workers. Moreover, the responsibility of what it means the management lies with him.
Cooperative and the coordinated relations can benefit both the engineer and the unions. With the coordinated task, both improve the performance of the organization through enacting the laws and rules. Union help management in legislating the laws according to the rights and the interest of people. They can push the legislators to enact those laws that are easy and beneficial for enforcement. The act of social security, family medical, leave act, and health-related acts are some of the efforts made by the unions to benefit engineers. They do not stop here until the laws are properly enforced into the actions. Engineers can have better opportunities while working with the groups. They are the meetings, interactions and the privileges of representation. Fewer are the people and professionals reach the top or at some height.
Ethical Aspects and Relevance to Engineers
The number of communities that have set codes of conducts for the profession of engineering. Some of these moral values are dates back to the twentieth and ninetieth century. Among these codes and rules, many are adjusted with the industrial laws. Similarly, the statement of the principles also acts as the guide and a way for an engineer to work and operate in the organization. However, the engineers are required interpretations of the certain rules and the codes as for how they can apply the specific law on in hand circumstances. The similarity is there among the codes of various engineering communities all over the world. The general aspects and codes that are relevant to the profession of engineering are important to understanding, without which professionals will not be able to deliver their services in a better position.
The safety, health and the welfare of the public must be the primary focus aspect of the engineers. In performing the duties and function, they will have to consider the sustainability of the work. Engineers are not allowed to exceed towards those areas that do not come under their jurisdiction and competence. They are only limited by their own competence. Issuance of the statements must be in an objective and general method. The consideration of specification in this regard will halt the profession. Loyalty to the client or the manager is the paramount aspect of the profession of engineers. They must avoid any kind of conflict of interest. They should use the channel of merit for making their reputations instead of using unfair competitions with other professionals. There is no place of corrupt practice and bribery for the individual having the field of engineering. Obligations to the particular community will enhance the integrity, honour and reputation of the profession. Throughout their careers, the engineer can develop their profession and must provide same opportunities for progression to those working under their supervision.
Conclusion
Concluding the detail discussion on the ethical aspects of the engineering and their effect on the profession it is the notable point that by adopting standard values engineers can enhance their honour and integrity. Respect and proper management are the key factors in determining the basics of any profession. In the same way, effectively managing the unions with balance approach can improve the performance of engineering organizations. If the engineer fails to make positive relations with the worker, client, and the managers it will severely affect the performance of the organization. The only option left for the professionals to adopt balance approach in negotiating with concerned management.
References
Balakrishnan, B., & Tarlochan, F. (2015, March). Engineering students’ attitude towards engineering ethics education. In Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 2015 IEEE (pp. 16-22). IEEE.
Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Dubin, R. (2017). The world of work: Industrial society and human relations. Taylor & Francis.
Harris Jr, C. E., Pritchard, M. S., Rabins, M. J., James, R., & Englehardt, E. (2013). Engineering ethics: Concepts and cases. Cengage Learning.
Hersh, M. A. (2016). Engineers and the other: the role of narrative ethics. AI & Society, 31(3), 327-345.
Kim, J., Asada, T., & Hirai, H. (2016). Effect of Management Maturity Levels on Inter-organizational Management in Value Chain Relations. Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing, 12(2), 119-126.
Lester, R. A. (2015). As unions mature: An analysis of the evolution of American unionism. Princeton University Press.
Nicholas, J. M., & Steyn, H. (2017). Project management for engineering, business and technology. Taylor & Francis.
Nicholas, J. M., & Steyn, H. (2017). Project management for engineering, business and technology. Taylor & Francis.
Wang, Q., Zhang, W., & Zhu, Q. (2015). Directing engineering ethics training toward practical effectiveness. Technology in Society, 43, 65-68.
