The promotion of professionalism and integrity within the civil engineering industry, and for South Africa’s sustainable development, is a key priority. To highlight the essential ingredients of a professional, credible, and ethical engineer, the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) hosted a webinar titled, The Ethical DNA of a Civil Engineer.
“While hard skills such as technical knowledge, mathematics and science are of course important for being a competent civil engineer, I have to emphasise the importance of soft skills including ethical problem solving,” explains Greg Skeen, Champion of SAICE’s Ethics Portfolio.
“You won’t find the solution to ethical problems in your scientific calculator,” he said. Creativity, problem-solving, collaboration and curiosity are some of the soft skills which Skeen listed as vital. “If you are looking to be a successful engineer, I believe 50% of this success will be attributed to your soft skills as these allow you to communicate better, innovate creatively, think critically and act ethically.”
Skeen highlighted that civil engineers have the power to make a difference in peoples lives, and that high emotional intelligence needs to be present if civil engineers are to help address South Africa’s developmental needs. “Engineers have a custodian and protective role in society. We exercise our knowledge to protect the public, the environment, the profession, and our client and end-user. However, the public good and the environment must come first as our prime ethical obligation.”
A holistic approach goes beyond technical duties
The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) provides guidelines as to the statutory duties of engineers, and goes beyond this in providing a useful code of conduct, a copy of which should be in every engineer's desk drawer. “In order to uphold the dignity and standing of the profession, we must focus on our work holistically – beyond just technical matters,” said Skeen. This includes acting with integrity, independence, impartiality, responsibility, competence and discretion.
He highlighted the importance of ethics as it relates to law. Where law is often “black and white”, ethics are another matter. “What may be legal may not necessarily be ethical. Ethics and legal issues often overlap, and you have to use soft skills here to approach these scenarios.”
Ethics make business sense
Skeen discussed ethics as it relates to the bottom line. “Ethical organisations are actually more profitable and more successful. Making ethical choices results in lower stress for employees, and ethical behaviour reduces the reputational risk for organisations and individuals.” A clear example of how good ethics results in success can be seen in the client-contractor-engineer relationship. “If you take time to build trust and operate with integrity, clients will come to trust you to get the job done and contractors will be motivated to work with you. Breaking that trust with unethical behaviour has disastrous knock-on effects.”
The webinar, which was arranged by the SAICE Academy was facilitated by Karabo Mohlamme – SAICE SoS Champion and Structural Design Engineer, concluded with an audience engaging in a Q&A session, where various ethical dilemmas were presented, with potential recommendations and solutions presented. The overarching advice from Skeen was that when presented with a dilemma, you don’t have to bear it alone. “Talk to your mentor, colleagues or someone you trust to find the right approach,” he concluded.
