Employers, ethics, and novice engineers

Among engineers, their professional status is one of today´s live questions. That question is frequently dismissed with a statement that each engineer must improve his individual status by acting and living in a professional manner—that only thus will the status of the profession as a whole be improved. Some observations of Dean Freund, presented in this brief and thought-provoking article, point out that the above is not the whole story; that most engineers are employees; that their employers can make a real contribution to improving the status of the profession; and that such a contribution would be in the enlightened self-interest of such employers. I commend Dean Freund´s article to the thoughtful consideration of the membership of the Institute.