Reflective Writing Task 1: Australian Engineering Practice, ENEG20001

This report, submitted for the Australian Engineering Practice unit (ENEG20001) in Term 2, 2017, provides a reflective analysis of the impact of engineering on society and the importance of engineering ethics and professionalism within the Australian context. The student explores the positive and negative consequences of engineering advancements, highlighting its influence on the global economy and quality of life. The report discusses the significance of ethical conduct, codes of ethics, and the responsibilities of engineers in making informed decisions while considering potential risks to people and the environment. The student also references relevant literature to support their arguments, emphasizing the necessity of engineers to act in a manner that enhances the profession's reputation and contributes to societal well-being. The report covers the role of engineers in modern society, the importance of ethical behavior, and the importance of maintaining industrial relations and ethical practices within the engineering field.

Australian Engineering Practice
Unit code: ENEG20001
Term 2, 2017
Reflective Writing Task 1
Student Name:
Student ID:
Week of Submission: …………..
Date of Submission: dd/mm/yyyy
School of Engineering and Technology
Central Queensland University
© Dr Kalam Azad

Learning Outcomes 1: Explain the historical impact of engineering on
society
What?
Engineering is something which has been associated with the providing of solutions for
continuous improvement of the quality of life, added business value and many more.
Significantly it can be stated that engineering has a great influence over the global economy.
The consequences of engineering can be intended or unintended. The learning outcome is
associated with discussing about the positive and negative effects of engineering.
So What?
There in a major effect of engineering on our society. There are positive as well as negative
impacts of engineering. Engineering can be considered as a turn in science and technology
which has been capable of bringing something Tangible and useful for the society.
Positive impacts of engineering:
There are many positive effects of engineering that impact on society. According to
my understanding I have seen that the engineering courses which are provide across different
sectors are having their own advantage and for understanding this I have studied various
examples like the work of the civil engineers creates various beautiful design and make the
different buildings and roads which are very much useful for the society. So it can be
understood that work of the engineers are very much useful for the society and helps in
advance of the human kind. Along with this the engineering works like the genetic
engineering helps a lot in improving the quality of the life by providing was with better
foods, fruits and vegetables which are very much useful for our health. Every aspect of life is
getting improved due to various type of engineering works. Positive Engineering has been
applied in our society for various purposes like the creation of various structure, home
appliances different infrastructures and many more.
Negative impact of engineering:
Along with understanding the positive effects of the engineering I have also seen that there
exists various types of negative impacts. Like the advancement in technology has led to
development of various harmful weapons which can have a devastating effect over human
kind. With more and more development the environment of the whole planet is getting
effected very badly like the new automobiles or machine which releases harmful pollutants in
the air has a vast impact over the environment. Genetic modification also might lead to
production of food which can be very much harmful for someone. So it the stated that there
exists both positive as well as negative impact of engineering over the society. According to
me engineering should be accepted but it should also be seen that they are being used in a
proper way and does not cause harm to anything or anybody.
What else?
Engineers have been associated with the use of their knowledge, science, mathematics logics
and experiences for finding suitable solutions to various problems. Engineering is also
associated with the initiation of the use of the laid down laws and theories of science which is
attached with extensive amount of practical work as well. There are various field of
engineering which effects our society in different ways (Jones Ruff and Paretti 2013). Every
individual of this world use attest one product from different branches of engineering.
Pollution control for preservation of the environment, medicines for saving life and many
more are all example of the use of engineering which has a great influence over our society.

What Now?
Engineers have made huge contributions for our society. They have been working for decades
for the purpose of improving the quality of life in the society so it becomes increasingly
important that they articulate all their roles and responsibilities in a clear and frim way. In
today’s world it is totally impossible to get more modernized without the help of the
engineers due to the fact that almost every person of today’s word depends on technology
(Noureddine et al. 2012). Engineers are associated with the creation of new innovative stuffs
just by making use of their different thinking and their skills along with huge dedications and
hard work so as to invent or improve a product. As engineers the profession is to be taken
various seriously as a simple mistake can cause a huge impact over the society.

Learning Outcomes 2: Explain engineering professionalism and ethics in
the Australian contexts
What?
Professionalism and ethics for engineers in the practice of engineering weather they are
employees or private practitioners or public or private enterprise have found that in their
profession they have to encounter various problems which are far removed from technical or
interpersonal. Engineering has been closely involved in the relations between humans, in
business as well as in commerce. Many problems might arise due to the personal conduct of
the engineer (Harris et al. 2013).
So What?
Ethics is something which in much more than the law and the morals. It can also be stated
that ethics is something which carries the additional connotation of “rightness”. So it can be
stated that it is not a list of the rules that can be used for governing each problem or a broad
statement of ideals (Hill et al. 2013). But rather than this ethics can be described as the
statement of principles of “rightness”, “of board scope”, and consists of enough details so as
helps someone in deducing the course of professional conduct. Due to the large scale
influence of engineering system, along with the products and utilities for daily use has made
engineering profession a unique profession. Engineering has a great influence in almost every
sphere of life. Reaching far beyond the realm of personal morals is possible by making use of
personal attitudes, relationships and how things are conducted at certain situations. Therefor
the code of ethics is used for the purpose of assuming the particular importance in
engineering by providing certain guidance for conducting things in all aspects of the
professional life.
The main principle of all professional codes states that someone should be worthy
while conducting the work due to the trust placed on that person by the colleagues and the
community. Initially this gives rise to a rule of life for every engineers of Australia who
aspire towards a true professional status that is” to act in every situation in a manner that will
add to the confidence and esteem in which his profession is held by the community”. I have
seen that it is often the responsibility of the engineers to engage themselves in the negotiation
process in order to make the right decision and write the documents and lastly making sure
that the work that is being done is safe. Which is initially followed by looking into the matter
that the various types of risks are minimized which are generally related to the peoples or the
environment. And for each of this criteria’s there exist the need of a clear understanding of
the ethical processes. There might occur various situations which led to ethical issues like
higher authorities are associated with instructing the engineer to tell a lie to the clients even if
that thing is never going to happen. Maintenance of professionalism and ethics is one of the
most important criteria in the career of an engineer.
What else?
It should be ensured that the difficult sphere of industrial relation is represented by an
association which is exclusive of profession engineers. The same thing is to be done even
when the opinions vary from radical to ultra-conservative (Burgess et al. 2013). According to
the key point of APEA policy it is to be stated that industrial situations must be the first prior
to public interest and secondly the decisions that consist of the private conscience and
judgement must be protected.
What Now?
The most notable thing in the profession of engineer is that there are very few cases of breach
of the ethics which requires a disciplinary action against someone. This does not indicate

towards laxity but is a result of the fact that the work of the engineers along with the relations
are so much open which purely proves to be sufficient for the moral sanctions (Baillie and
Levine 2013). Which acts a major reason behind the pride of the engineers. If engineers do
not have their personal attitude and live by the rules of their profession then they would not
be capable of having any type of profession.

References
Baillie, C. and Levine, M., 2013. 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, 2(1), pp.10-20.
Burgess, R.A., Davis, M., Dyrud, M.A., Herkert, J.R., Hollander, R.D., Newton, L.,
Pritchard, M.S. and Vesilind, P.A., 2013. Engineering ethics: Looking back, looking forward.
Harris Jr, C.E., Pritchard, M.S., Rabins, M.J., James, R. and Englehardt, E.,
2013. Engineering ethics: Concepts and cases. Cengage Learning.
Higa, D., Hoppe, M.J., Lindhorst, T., Mincer, S., Beadnell, B., Morrison, D.M., Wells, E.A.,
Todd, A. and Mountz, S., 2014. Negative and positive factors associated with the well-being
of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Youth &
Society, 46(5), pp.663-687.
Hill, S., Lorenz, D., Dent, P. and Lützkendorf, T., 2013. Professionalism and ethics in a
changing economy. Building Research & Information, 41(1), pp.8-27.
Jones, B.D., Ruff, C. and Paretti, M.C., 2013. The impact of engineering identification and
stereotypes on undergraduate women’s achievement and persistence in engineering. Social
Psychology of Education, 16(3), pp.471-493.
Modarres, M., 2016. Risk analysis in engineering: techniques, tools, and trends. CRC press.
Noureddine, A., Bourdon, A., Rouvoy, R. and Seinturier, L., 2012, June. A preliminary study
of the impact of software engineering on greenit. In Green and Sustainable Software
(GREENS), 2012 First International Workshop on (pp. 21-27). IEEE.