Social Responsibility of Engineers

Engineers!!!

I am noticing from past few years, all my student and the personalities in the society who have completed their graduation /post graduation/ higher educational degree in engineering, have started writing Er before their name just like doctors do. I am sure along with the feeling of pride they must have realization of social responsibility as well.

Yes, social responsibility!!! In terms of human safety, environmental protection and sustainability, pro bono work, social justice, and diversity.

Society trust engineers as they have primary duty to protect public safety, health, and welfare, the failure of which may result in severe injuries or even deaths.

Biomedical engineers promote health.

Environmental and civil engineers provide clean drinking water and prevent the spread of toxic chemicals via air, water, and soil. Civil engineers create infrastructure that will be safe in the face of hurricanes or earthquakes, construction engineering to protect on-site workers, Mechanical engineering of cars take measures to protect occupants during crashes, etc.

Chemical engineers manufacture medicines, as well as pesticides and other chemicals that may have toxic effects. However, they also strive to protect the society from harmful effects of these chemicals.

Other engineering disciplines are also critically important to safety but as sub-systems may garner less attention (such as software engineering for computer controls or electrical engineering). However, public safety broadly applies to all engineering disciplines. 

The environment and ecology has distinct value, beyond that of maintaining human existence. Engineer’s knowledge and skills should be used for the benefit of society and for sustainability. For the same, sustainability is included in the educational requirements for engineers under the Washington Accord outcomes.[1]

In many countries, engineers are also expected to undertake professional work voluntarily and without payment, termed as pro bono activities. In engineering education, pro bono work can take the form of service-learning or Learning through Service, also termed community engagement. [2, 3] As well, engineering faculty believe that students learn about ethics and societal impact issues via community engagement activities [4].

Engineers have to play vital role in social justice relating to the distribution of wealth and privileges in society, as well as issues related to poverty and development. Many countries like US [5, 6], Australia [7], Finland [8] and Colombia [9] believe that engineering social responsibility encompasses social justice issues. 

Studies have shown that individual’s perceptions of their social responsibilities as engineers will develop over time via the process of professional socialization. Many countries have found in their survey that only 10-15 % engineering students are interested in ‘making a difference’ to the world through their learning. A number of studies have explored student perceptions related to elements of social responsibility. Despite bringing students with aspirations toward positive social benefits into engineering, there is evidence that these goals may diminish over time [10, 11].

World is looking at India as one of fastest emerging economies of world. We have to ensure the balance between economic and social progress of the country. It is very healthy, if society’s progress is at the same pace as the economic growth, but mismatch between the two may lead to very grave situation. Public sector companies and government are also taking good initiatives to balance societal and economical growth, to achieve the balance [13]. But this is not sufficient to bring revolutionary changes in social progress. Hence there is urgent need that all stakeholders including corporate and citizens have to act together for this change.  Therefore it also becomes essential for engineers to inculcate social responsibility at their individual level as they play very important and bulky role in the development of country by means of development of technology and in turn economic development.

REFERENCES:

1. International Engineering Alliance (IEA). Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies. Version 3: 21 June 2013. 16 pp. Available from: http://www.ieagreements.org/about-us/key-documents/ [Accessed: 2017-12-13]
2. Swan C, Paterson K, Bielefeldt AR. Community engagement in engineering education as a way to increase inclusiveness. In: Johri A, Olds BM, editors. Chapter 18 Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research. New York: Cambridge University Press; 2014. pp. 357-374,
3. Bielefeldt AR. Chapter 3 - Faculty and student perspectives on community engagement in engineering education. In: Kronick R, editor. Community Engagement: Principles, Strategies, and Practices. Nova Science Publishers, Inc; 2018. (in press October 2017). ISBN: 978-1-53613-023-2
4. Bielefeldt AR, Canney N, Swan C, Knight D. Contributions of learning through service to the ethics education of engineering students. International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering, Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship. 2016;11:1-17
5. Catalano G, Baillie C, Riley D, Nieusma D, Byrne C, Bailey M, Maralampides K. Integrating social justice ideas into a numerical methods course in bioengineering. In: Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference & Exposition; 20-23 June 2010. Louisville KY: ASEE; 2010. p. 7
6. Riley D. Engineering and Social Justice. Morgan & Claypool; 2008. p. 164. DOI: 10.2200/S00117ED1V01Y200805ETS007
7. Baillie C, Levine M. Engineering ethics from a justice perspective: A critical repositioning of what it means to be an engineer. International Journal of Engineering, Social Justice, and Peace. 2013;2:10-20
8. Mladenovic MN, McPherson T. Engineering social justice into traffic control for self-driving vehicles? Science and Engineering Ethics. 2016;22:1131-1149. DOI: 10.1007/s11948-015-9690-9
9. Engineering, Social Justice, and Peace. Conferences. EJSP 2011. July 6-9, Bogota, Colombia. Compilation of Abstracts. Available from: http://esjp.org/esjp-conference/esjp-2011 [Accessed: 2017-12-11]
10. Cech EA. Culture of disengagement in engineering education? Science, Technology & Human Values. 2014; 39(1):42-72. DOI: 10.1177/0162243913504305
11. Bielefeldt AR, Canney NE. Changes in the social responsibility attitudes of engineering students over time. Science and Engineering Ethics. 2016; 22:1535-1551. DOI: 10.1007/s11948-015-9706-5
12. Verma S, Chauhan R, Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Economies International Marketing Conference on Marketing & Society, 8-10 April, 2007, IIMK

About Author

Dr. Namrata Pradnyakar, Dean (Students), is doctorate in Physics. She possesses the experience of one decade in academics. She is instrumental in Students Development and handling other student centric issues. She has published more than 13 Research Papers in National and International Journals.