In today's environment, business or otherwise, issues surrounding ethical practices often are front-page news. When the end result becomes more important than the means, ethics can be compromised. Maintaining high ethical standards, particularly in a bottom-line-driven business world, is an ongoing challenge. Doing so, however, can be a valuable strategy for managing your company's liability or your own professional liability and credibility.

An Ethical Dilemma

Take the example of a structural engineer, Ms. Adams, who was hired to conduct a structural survey of a historic seven-story granite-faced building that is being sold by the client, Mr. Smith. The attorney representing the buyers, a Mr. Goldsworthy, has requested a structural survey of specific building elements including outdated window casements. Ms. Adams is hired by Mr. Smith to conduct the survey, and the project contract includes a clause that information discovered by the engineer shall become the property of the client and shall not be released to others without the client’s express written consent. In the process of inspecting the building the window casements appeared to be in good condition, but Ms. Adams decided to dismantle three units at random for a better determination. After dismantling the first casement, Ms. Adams used a flashlight to look into the wall cavity to see how the windows were attached. A steel strap for anchoring the windows was clearly visible in the uncovered space.

As she was about to replace the dismantled window unit, Ms. Adams noticed the three-inch exterior granite veneer was attached to the building by clip angles welded to the steel building frame, typical of an early example of stone-cladding on steel-frame construction. She noticed the clip angle within reach appeared to be rusted. When she touched the clip angle, it broke off in her hand with little pressure. Looking closer, it appeared the clip was rusted through the entire cross section.

Immediately, the implication of her discovery dawned on her: If this condition is typical throughout the building, the cost of repairs could approach the value of the building itself. She glanced down to the street level and busy sidewalk below, and involuntarily shuddered, imagining the potential damage and injury that could result if one or more of the granite veneer blocks became dislodged and fell. Realizing that this rusted clip angle may be an isolated situation, she dismantled the other two window units and found the same condition. Based on these findings, it appeared that the exterior granite veneer blocks were merely stacked on each other with little attachment to the building frame.

Ms. Adams immediately called Mr. Smith to inform him of what she found. He told her that he appreciated her concern, but the purchase deal is too far along to do anything about it. Since the buyers and their representative have had access to the building for several months, they could have investigated and determined the condition of the granite cladding themselves. In fact, they may already know about it and have accounted for it in their financial offer of purchase. If not, it will turn up on one of the required periodic building checks in the future, if it is really a substantial problem. In addition, he says that the deal is now ready to close the following afternoon, and her cooperation in seeing things his way will result in additional work on other projects in the future. He also reminded her that inspection of the granite clips was not part of the scope of work.

What, though, are the risks to the engineer and the firm? The decision not to include information about the granite clips has the obvious ethical implications, as well as possible financial consequences. While Mr. Smith has been informed of the situation, it does not appear he wishes to inform Mr. Goldsworthy. Ms. Adams knew the report was going to be used by Mr. Goldsworthy as part of his decision process for purchasing the building. Therefore, they are a foreseeable third party, and Ms. Adams owes a duty of care to Mr. Goldsworthy. But beyond that, there is the potential threat to public safety. If in fact the cladding is no longer firmly attached to the building, there is the potential for portions of the cladding to fall from the building onto the sidewalk below presenting a hazard to the general public. In the end, it means that sometime in the future, this engineering firm and this individual engineer's professional liability could be called into question for failure to warn of potential problems.

Ethics And Effective Risk Management

Making inadequate decisions, skimping on professional standards, looking the other way, "fudging" or inaccurately reporting test results -- all these actions put companies and even individual careers in jeopardy. Unethical practices leave companies vulnerable to severe losses, including the loss of valued clients or damage to a company's reputation. Or, in many cases, financial losses occur from defending claims filed against a company or individual.

Effective risk management, especially for professional design firms, relies heavily on not compromising ethics. This requires always making the "right" decisions or providing good advice or direction for clients.

In developing comprehensive risk management procedures within a company, it is important for firms to give employees adequate tools and education to assist in making "good" decisions that can, in turn, be "good" for business. Educating professionals on the importance of ethical decision making is extremely important in managing a company's liabilities and potential losses as well as an individual's professional liability and integrity. Many firms are including business ethics education as part of the overall professional development training and risk management programs.

Tools To Assist With Making Decisions

Likewise, many educational institutions and professional organizations are looking at specific ethical dilemmas that affect individual professions, and are devising aids or guides to provide help in an individual's thought process. For instance, to assist in the day-to-day decisions that face design professionals, the Professional Engineering Practice Liaison Program at the University of Washington, Seattle, directed by Dr. Ronald E. Bucknam, offers tools to help individuals in the decision-making process. To arrive at the most ethical decision, the program advises a series of actions for individuals, such as:

• Define the ethical problem when it arises.
• Formulate alternative solutions. Avoid "first impulse" solutions without thinking of the implications down the line.
• Evaluate the alternatives. Are they ethical? Who benefits? How would you feel if the roles or circumstances were reversed?
• Seek additional assistance. Look to previous cases, the experiences of peers or even personal experience.
• Choose the best ethical alternative. That means, choose the one that does the most good for all the right reasons.
• Implement the best alternative. No initiative leads to no results.
• Monitor and assess the outcome. Commit to continuous improvement. Always look at how your decision-making process can be improved the next time.

Resources on ethical engineering practices, like the Professional Engineering Practice Liaison Program, are abundant, especially on the Internet. An excellent source to help promote the importance of professional ethical standards in the industry is the Applied Ethics in Professional Practice Internet Program, also established by Dr. Bucknam. The Internet program was designed to help members of the industry derive practical solutions to ethical problems they may encounter in their daily work environment. The site provides visitors with "real life" ethical situations to stimulate discussion of ethical issues.

The bottom line is, if the "means" is a commitment to continuously making the right decisions, achieving more effective risk management will most certainly be the end result.