Name: Donghun Ha
ECE 390_ Section 001
Essay Assignment #1
Feb 22, 2011

In this case, there are several people who are involved in this ethical dilemma. Firstly, there is Marsha, who is working on the design of a new ground fault interrupt device (GFI) specifically designed for RV trailer. Secondly, there is Tom who is a senior product development engineer and Marsha’s supervisor. Thirdly, there is CEO of XYZ Enterprises who concerns about testing result of GFI. Finally, the last person involved in this case is colleagues who were not concerned Tom’s test result. Broadly looking at this case, there are three alternative options that Marsha can progress. First one is that she might repeat Tom’s testing procedures. Second one is that she can raises concern with the CEO prior to meeting. And the last alternative option is that she can request further testing from colleagues. Through above three options, we are able to expect both good consequences and bad consequences. With first option, repeating test of GFI system by herself, she can get verified results. She already knows that the GFI was just failed under the high humidity and high temperature conditions due to lost data collection. Therefore, she does not need to precede all testing steps. And the biggest good consequence is that Tom’s and CEO’s conflict of interest does not involve. The COI (Conflict of Interest) means that occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other. However, we can also expect following bad consequences; Marsha would have to work extra time and she will become responsible for failure of test. And if she gets failure result from test, she might have question from her supervisor’s research. From this option, test would prove that Tom’s error was an outlier and GFI device is definitely safe. On the other hand, the result of test would conclude that the device is not safe and she will lose her boss’s credibility. The potential benefit is that her collegial relationship will be saved and time spent on extended testing is not necessary. If Marsha chooses second option, reporting the failure result to the CEO, she is able to have following Good Consequences; bosses and colleagues are made aware of possible faulty and the GFI device will not rush into production. On Bad Consequences side, the CEO would become involved with project and he or she may question on Tom’s trust. And also the project would be in danger of being pulled. From this particular circumstance, what she can have the best expected outcomes are that the CEO may warrant further testing under the supervision of Marsha and the project do not need to be rushed. The worst expected outcome is that the CEO would rush project regardless of safety concerns. The potential benefit from this option is that possible safety concerns could be addressed and the project delay can harm company’s bottom line since Tom has indicated that the company is not doing well. The last Marsha’s alternative option is that she may request another testing from colleagues. With this option, they can have verified testing result and she do not need to have responsibility for testing result. Moreover, there is no conflict of interest at all in result. On the other hand, the colleagues might not be well suited for testing because they were not concerned and reiterated that Tom is very careful in his data collection. And also by testing again, the colleagues may confront their supervisor. On this option, I think the expected outcomes are same as first option since they test project. Only difference is that testing herself or with colleagues. After doing this option, we can expect following potential benefit; the colleagues can confirm Tom’s testing result and by testing together she can save more time. I think the best option would to repeat Tom’s testing procedures by Marsha. The reason is that in my view, making no conflict in stake is the most valuable thing in society and engineering area. Ethics in the field of electrical engineering is a pretty broad spectrum. It could be something trivial like a floating wire in a high voltage system, to high power wireless communication. Yes, ethics is extremely important, because as engineers we embrace the fact that we the leaders behind the leaders. We are the people behind the scenes that lead to advancement of society measured on a technological basis. Since the world today is technology driven, what we do will definitely affect the society as a whole. Let us as humans accept a few things. One: Life is not fair, two: there is no such thing as a perfect world, and three: humans never were, never are, and never will be perfect. Now if we are all sane, then we will agree to the 3 aforementioned points. So if we accept those three facts about life, out world, and ourselves, then we can safely conclude that there is no perfect moral theory that can work in a realistic manner in our lives, out worlds, and ourselves. There will always be conflict. A thesis confronts an antithesis which results in a synthesis. This cycle will be repeated until the end of time. The same applies for moral theories. There will always be flaws in the thesis theory, the antithesis theory, and the synthesis theory. The best that we as humans can do is just that: do the best we can with what we have.