Engineering Ethics
Balancing Cost, Schedule, and Risk - Lessons Learned from the Space Shuttle

Using the space shuttle programme as the framework, this book examines ethical decision making in engineering.

Rosa Lynn B. Pinkus (Author), Larry J. Shuman (Author), Norman P. Hummon (Author), Harvey Wolfe (Author)

9780521437509, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 May 1997

400 pages, 40 b/w illus. 5 tables
22.9 x 15.4 x 2.3 cm, 0.727 kg

' … wealth of historical and technical information … As a detailed study of ethical issues arising in the space shuttle program, Engineering Ethics is quite successful. The methodology it offers is quite helpful in organizing and analyzing those ethical issues … Engineering Ethics is a good read and a welcome contribution to the growing literature of engineering ethics.' Technology and Culture

How do engineers respond to ethical dilemmas that occur in practice? How do they view their individual and collective responsibilities? How do they make decisions before all the facts are in? Using the space shuttle programme as the framework, this book examines the role of ethical decision making in the practice of engineering. In particular, the book considers the design and development of the main engines of the space shuttle as a paradigm for how individual engineers perceive, articulate, and resolve ethical dilemmas in a large, complex organisation. A series of in-depth case studies show engineers at work on various stages of the project as they balance budgets, deadlines and risks. By documenting the historical development of a single system, the book provides a unique opportunity to explore the complex interactions between political, organisational and technical pressures and engineering and management decisions.

Part I. Theoretical and Practical Background: 1. Low-bid ethics: Decision-making about cost, safety and deadlines
2. Engineering ethics framework
3. Engineering ethics: The common ground between individual whim and legality
4. Satisficing, organizational theory and other theoretical contributions to engineering ethics
5. The decision to build the space shuttle: Pay me now or pay me later
6. The space shuttle main engine: An overview
7. All-up testing versus component testing: Normative practice or flawed judgment?
Part II. The Cases: 8. A. O. Tischler: An 'ethical' engineer (alternatives to whistle-blowing)
9. Cost versus schedule versus risk: The band-aid fix: $3.5 million overrun in test stand construction
10. Back to the drawing board or normal errors: Senate investigations of the SSME development problems
11. A judgment call or negligence: Maiden voyage of the Challenger delayed six months
12. Against the odds: Ethical decisions and organizational goals
13. Engineering ethics and risk assessment
Part III. Postscript: 14. The Challenger accident: Engineering design and performance decisions.

Subject Areas: Engineering: general [TBC]