Reinventing Energy Ethics

abstract: Societies seeking sustainability are transitioning from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy sources to mitigate dangerous climate change. Energy transitions involve ethically controversial decisions that affect current and future generations’ well-being. As energy systems in the United States transition towards renewable energy, American Indian reservations with abundant energy sources are some of the most significantly impacted communities. Strikingly, energy ethicists have not yet developed a systematic approach for prescribing ethical action within the context of energy decisions. This dissertation reinvents energy ethics as a distinct sub-discipline of applied ethics, integrating virtue ethics, deontology, and consequentialism with Sioux, Navajo, and Hopi ethical perspectives. On this new account, applied energy ethics is the analysis of questions of right and wrong using a framework for prescribing action and proper policies within private and public energy decisions. To demonstrate the usefulness of applied energy ethics, this dissertation analyzes two case studies situated on American Indian reservations: the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Navajo Generating Station.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Sustainability 201

Nigerian Building Professionals’ Ethical Ideology and Perceived Ethical Judgement

In recent years, Nigeria is often cited in the international media in connection with corruption and other unethical practices. The professionals in the Nigerian building industry are not immune from the perceived national trend in ethical erosion. Moral philosophy or ethical ideology has been used to explain individuals‘ reasoning about moral issues and consequent behaviour. This study examines building industry professionals‘ ethical ideologies with a view to understanding their ethical behaviour in professional practice. In carrying out this investigation, building professionals in clients‘ organisations, contracting and consultancy organisations within the industry were asked to respond to the Ethics Position Questionnaire (EPQ) designed by Forsyth in order to determine their idealism and relativism level. Subsequently, they were classified into one of four groups, representing different ethical ideologies. The result indicates that the dominant ethical ideology of building industry professionals is situationism. The study predicts that the attitude of building industry professionals in practice, given the current socio-political and economic situation of Nigeria would possibly be unethical because of the extreme influence situational factors have on their behaviour. This finding is a bold step and necessary benchmark for resolving ethical issues within the industry and should be of interest to policy makers. It is also useful for intra professional ethical comparison. Keywords: Professional,

Nigerian Building Professionals’ Ethical Ideology and Perceived Ethical Judgement

In recent years, Nigeria is often cited in the international media in connection with corruption and other unethical practices. The professionals in the Nigerian building industry are not immune from the national trend in ethical erosion. Moral philosophy or ethical ideology has been used to explain individuals’ reasoning about moral issues and consequent behaviour. This study examines building industry professionals’ ethical ideologies with a view to understanding their ethical behaviour in professional practice.  In carrying out this investigation, building professionals in clients’ organisations, contracting and consultancy organisations within the industry were asked to respond to the Ethics Position Questionnaire (EPQ) designed by Forsyth in order to determine their idealism and relativism level. Subsequently, they were classified into one of four groups, representing different ethical ideologies. The result indicates that the dominant ethical ideology of building industry professionals is situationism. The study predicts that the attitude of building industry professionals in practice, given the current socio-political and economic situation of Nigeria would possibly be unethical because of the extreme influence situational factors have on their behaviour. This finding is a bold step and necessary benchmark for resolving ethical issues within the industry and should be of interest to policy makers. It is also useful for intra professional ethical comparison

Assessing Experiential Learning in Construction Education by Modeling Student Performance

abstract: The typical engineering curriculum has become less effective in training construction professionals because of the evolving construction industry needs. The latest National Science Foundation and the National Academies report indicate that industry-valued skills are changing. The Associated General Contractors of America recently stated that contractors expect growth in all sectors; however, companies are worried about the supply of skilled professionals. Workforce development has been of a growing interest in the construction industry, and this study approaches it by conducting an exploratory analysis applied to students that have completed a mandatory internship as part of their construction program at Arizona State University, in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment. Data is collected from surveys, including grades by a direct evaluator from the company reflecting each student’s performance based on recent Student Learning Objectives. Preliminary correlations are computed between scores received on the 15 metrics in the survey and the final industry suggested grade. Based on the factors identified as highest predictors: ingenuity and creativity, punctuality and attendance, and initiative; a prognostic model of student performance in the construction industry is generated. With regard to graduate employability, student performance in the industry and human predispositions are also tested in order to evaluate their contribution to the generated model. The study finally identifies threats to validity and opportunities presented in a dynamic learning environment presented by internships. Results indicate that measuring student performance during internships in the construction industry creates challenges for the evaluator from the host company. Scoring definitions are introduced to standardize the evaluators’ grading based on observations of student behavior. 12 questions covering more Student Learning Objectives identified by the industry are added to the survey, potentially improving the reliability of the predictive model.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Construction Management 201

The impact which ethical decision making has on rework within the construction industry

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Science in Building to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Construction Economics and Management at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017This study examines the lack of application of ethical values by construction project managers towards work activities under their control. At the same time, this study also examines the barriers preventing construction project managers from acting ethically. The non-application of ethical values by the construction project managers is resulting in an increase in the amount of rework during the construction process which is in turn impacting on the timeous completion of construction projects. Interpretivist and positivist research methodology was applied to this study through a single case study which was tested through a later set of interview questions. The case study took place at the Medupi Power Station construction project and composed of interviews and questionnaires distributed to construction project managers working on the Medupi Power Station site. The further interview questions took place in Johannesburg. The further interviews were undertaken to determine supporting evidence for the previous findings established through the initial data collected in the study. The findings of the study established that a failure of the construction project manager’s ethical values is resulting in an increase in the amount of rework occurring on a construction project which is having a negative impact on the successful timeous completion of these construction projects. The findings from this study further established that although there are current barriers in place to prevent construction project managers from acting unethically, the implementation of an ethical code of conduct would have a positive influence on the amount of rework that is currently occurring during the construction phase of construction projects.XL201

Design and development of a new course on Ethics in Aerospace Engineering

The competence to apply ethics in the development of new technologies is currently not addressed in university programs for aerospace engineering at the national level. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to guide future aerospace engineers in making ethical decisions. This project is divided into three different parts. In the first one, different teaching methodologies are studied. Active learning, which includes case studies, is concluded to be the most effective for students. In the second part, using these methodologies, the syllabus for an elective on ethics for the aerospace engineering curriculum has been developed. This syllabus covers important moral concepts in the design, development, testing, and certification processes, as well as the concept of responsibility. Finally, in the third part, a teaching guide has been developed, divided into each session, to carry out the instruction of this course. After all, this project has successfully fulfilled all its initial requirements and developed a course that is ready to be taught

Expert elicitation, professional judgement, and current exposure assessment practices in the field of occupational hygiene

Occupational hygienists work across a diverse range of industrial environments. In the course of their work, hygienists will need to assess and control worker exposure levels by deploying methods based on the science of risk management, exposure assessment and industrial safety. Hygienists will regularly make decisions relating to worker exposure based on professional judgement, usually in the absence of quantitative data and in the presence of high uncertainty. These factors have the potential to lead to heterogeneity between practitioners, bias, error, and practice variation in the form of departure from established guidelines or protocols. The primary aim of this PhD research project was to examine experience and current practices with respect to exposure assessment processes and judgement amongst occupational hygienists

Ethical Issues in the Construction Industry in Kenya: A Critical Analysis of the Professional Conduct in Engineering Technology Management

This research paper addresses the ethical issues facing the construction industry in Kenya. It forms a framework for ethical standards in the construction industry by recommending concrete measures on the cases of collapsing buildings such as Nyamakima building in Nairobi in 2006, sunbeam building and another building at Nyamakima unfinished and poorly constructed roads in 2012 as well as corruption. These have been based on the identification of ethical issues from the results of comprehensive and in depth research carried out through questionnaire survey, interviews and telephonic survey of various stakeholders in sample projects, employees of each of them and also study of related engineering journals. Many Institutes, Societies and Boards of Engineers globally provide guidelines for engineers. In Kenya, the Engineers Registration Board (ERB) has likewise issued strict and professional stipulations for engineers, consultants, contractors and other stakeholders in this field, but in practice these are rarely followed to the letter. The existing standards in this paper have been compared with our socio cultural traditions and with ethical standards and practices of developed countries. Finally, a mechanism has been recommended which can deal with most of the ethical issues confronting construction industry in Kenya. Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to find out ethical issues facing construction industry in Kenya with a greater emphasis being placed on knowledge of ethical codes of conduct, corruption and bribery, favoritism, unfair conduct, strict rules and overriding of the audit process. Methodology: The paper employed a survey research design. A survey of the selected study population in Kenya was carried out by use of questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions (Engineers). The sample size of this research was estimated at 600 participants. Findings: - A major finding was found to be the weakening influence of the engineering institutions to instill ethical concerns on the engineers and other members of the profession on ethical consideration construction industry in Kenya. Conclusion: This study is focused on the ethical considerations in construction industry in Kenya. Taken as a whole, our findings suggest that, there are some shortcomings associated with the current construction and engineering process and thus ethical consideration could help revamp the whole system. Keywords: Construction industry, Professional conduct, engineering, ethical issue

Ethics, narratives and legitimacy in Defence acquisition

Purpose: This research examines the proposition that ethics in business functions as part of legitimising narratives, rather than as a normative framework to guide or assess behaviour. Methodology: The applied ethics context of the acquisition of UK military capabilities is employed as a case study to test the proposition. Adopting a critical realist paradigm, Bourdieu’s theory of practice is applied in two stages. Quantitative (survey) and qualitative (narrative interview) data are collected, from which a Weberian ideal type is developed via narrative analysis. Findings: The results reveal that the public/private sector interface should be understood as a Bourdieusian practice, in which people use narratives involving normative ethical claims as a means of delegitimising options that threaten their field positions and capital accumulations. It is argued that akrasia – acting against one’s best interests – can be explained in these terms, and that even if a normative ethics of Defence acquisition is one day possible, any theory of ethics should – for completion – attempt to take account of how ethics serves to support or delegitimise specific narratives in the business of acquisition. Research limitations/implications: The research builds on the literature on akrasia, suggesting that the options available to people in business are behaviourally as well as cognitively limited. Moreover, potential codes of ethics are overruled by symbolic power within a practice and hence have no effect. The research is not longitudinal and is limited to a case study that necessarily involved unrepresentative populations, although the methodology facilitates generalisation. Further work on public/private sector interfaces is needed to explore how other populations narrate challenges to convention. Originality/value: The research represents a novel application of Bourdieu’s theory of practice to the context of public/private sector integration and uniquely to Defence acquisition, disputing the viability and utility of codes of ethics as part of professionalising the acquisition function. It also offers a sociological explanation of akrasia