BUSINESS AND ENGINEERING ETHICS – SIMILARITIES, DIFFERENCES AND CHALLENGES

Issues of applied ethics and its influence on the behaviour of people in the wider social context have been investigated from many different aspects. The aim of this paper is to clarify the fundamental differences and similarities between business and engineering ethics, determine the areas which represent potential source of conflict and explore specific ethical dilemmas that occur with individuals who are engaged in the engineering profession in the business surroundings. Previous research lacks agreement. Practice has proved that the ethical dilemmas are integral part of engineering work due to various challenges such as: relationship between quality and safety, quality and costs, safety and costs; intellectual property issues, etc. Considering that in most cases engineers are employed by business subjects who adopt economic principles, engineering and business aspects of engineering decisions are inseparable. The empirical part of the paper will consist of research of the engineer’s attitudes referring to: different domains of engineering in which ethical issues arise, conditions at work associated with ethical issues; common difficulties encountered and the level of support ensured by firm in dealing with ethical dilemmas, and the attitude toward engineering ethics as professional ethics. Theoretical and empirical research are expected to give an evaluation of key areas that determine the ethical challenges faced by engineers and open questions about guidelines that will assist in solving specific engineering ethical dilemmas