Lesson 14: Ethics and Leadership resonates with me because engineers are held to a higher standard of ethics than just a regular person within the community. What we say and do affects public health. There is a code of ethics for engineers and during my time at Penn State we have been taught the Fundamental Cannons and have discussed them in multiple classes. From NSPE.org, they are as follows:

1. Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public
2. Perform services on in areas of their competence
3. Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner
4. Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees
5. Avoid deceptive acts
6. Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession

I think that these cannons can be related to the 5 Principals of Ethical Leadership, Respect, Service, Justice, Honesty, and Community. I think that Respect can be argued for a few of the cannons but I think that it can be seen in 6. Conducting oneself a certain way as described in this cannon, can be considered having respect for the company one may be working for and shows a good example for those affected by one’s work which could be followers. Service is obviously seen in the first cannon as service is ultimately engineers’ main goal. Justice has to do with treating followers in equal manner which can be seen in Cannon 5. Doing dishonest or unjust things when nobody is watching, such as the treatment of followers, falls under these cannons. Honesty can be described by multiple including the one previously mentioned (5) and Cannon 3. It can also be seen in Cannon 2 as though nobody may know one was working outside their area of expertise, this is essentially a lie by omission.

Not discussed in the Five Principals of Ethical Leadership outlined in the lesson, the Fundamental Cannons talks about how to be ethical with public statements and each employer/client. The lesson is aimed more towards how to treat a follower vs how to act as a professional, yet as described, the teachings in the lesson and the Fundamental Cannons are very similar. The 5 Principals from the lesson are an outline which can be applied to anything that requires a code of ethics, while the Fundamental Cannons use all of these principals but applies it very specifically to being a professional in engineering.

Sources

“Code of Ethics.” Code of Ethics | National Society of Professional Engineers, 2021, www.nspe.org/resources/ethics/code-ethics.

Hamel, R. (n.d.). Lesson 14: Ethics and Leadership, 2021