Diversity in the Workplace Revisited
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- Feb. 5:
- Overview of course topics. Ethics in a pluralistic society agreement on
cases. Moral & Non-Moral Values. Discussion of
mini-project to be given the week of February 18. Moral
problems in engineering and scientific practice.
For Next Class
- Feb. 10:
- Engineering Societies' codes of ethics and other ethical
guidelines. Ethical judgments of the actions of engineers by the Board of
Ethical Review (BER) of the National Society for Professional Engineering
(NSPE)
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
- Feb. 12:
- Professional Responsibility, ethical standards and paradigm cases. Fulfilling the Responsibility for
Safety and for the Integrity of Research Results. Truth, lies, and "self-deception": Why do people
want to believe certain falsehoods? How do truth telling and maintaining
confidentiality bear on professional responsibility?
Use Selection of Data from OBAS.
Distribute videos of Roger Boisjoly to each team.
Assignment for This Class
Assignment for next week (Feb. 18 & 19)
Instructions for mini-project for next week (Feb. 18 or 19)
- Feb. 18: (Monday schedule due to President's Day)
- Present miniprojects.
Assignment for This Class
- Feb. 19:
- Mini-projects Application of ethical concepts from Part 1 & 2 of Introduction on Concepts
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
- Feb. 24:
- Completion of oral presentations of mini-projects, quiz review, and discussion of rights and human rights
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
- Feb. 26:
- 12-minute quiz on ethical concepts in Parts 1 & 2
Discussion of the pressures associated with delivering bad news, or using complaint channels
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
- Mar. 3:
- Discuss the William LeMessurier case and begin discussion of ethical responsibility.
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
- Mar. 5:
- Discuss Parts 3 & 4 of Introduction on Concepts
Discuss responsibility & software.
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
The week of Mar. 10: Each student should send an email proposal for a final project to the instructor.
- Mar. 10:
- 12-minute quiz on Parts 3 & 4 of Introduction on Concepts
- Workplace Rights and Responsibilities: Delivering bad news, engineers to managers, or physicians-in-training to physicians in charge (This topic has been brought froward in the schedule because it bears on the problems that most students will have for their final projects.)
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
- Mar. 12:
- Workplace Rights and Responsibilities: workers rights & relationships in the workplace
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
- Mar. 17:
- Responsibility in Research 1: From Research Misconduct to Research Integrity
A NOVA video, "Do Scientists Cheat?" will be shown in the classroom beginning at 8:45 a.m.
Viewing this video is recommended but not required. The video gives background
and details of some famous cases of research misconduct.
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
Final Projects
- Mar. 19:
- Responsibility in Research 1: From Research Misconduct to Research Integrity, continued
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
SPRING VACATION
- March 31:
- The Treatment of Research Subjects, Humans as Experimental Subjects in Research and Industry, The so-called XYY Syndrome, the Ethical Standard of Informed Consent and the DOE radiation experiments, the responsibilities engendered by relationship
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
Final Projects
- Apr. 2:
- The Brave New World of Genetic & Chromosomal Information
A video, "the Burden of Knowledge" will be shown in class. This video presents interviews with families making a variety of ethical and value judgments to decide how to cope in face of the news with the news that the baby they are expecting will be afflicted with a disabling
condition, a condition with great variation in the degree of disability it produces.
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
- Apr. 7:
- Responsibility for the Environment
Report on your progress on the final project.
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
Final Projects
- Apr. 9:
- Responsibility for the Environment: Environmental risks as health risks and understanding responsibility for endangered species and endangered ecosystems where there is no risk to human health
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
- Apr. 14:
- Fair Credit and the Responsibility in Research
Report on progress on your final project.
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
- Apr. 16:
- Intellectual Property & Patents
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
Final Projects
- Apr. 21:
- Patriot's Day Vacation- No Class
- Apr. 23:
- Intellectual Property & Patents
Report on progress on your final project.
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
Final Projects
- Apr. 28:
- Discussion of Means for the Social Control of Technology.
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
- Apr 30:
- Sexual Harassment & the hostile work environment
Assignment for This Class
For Next Class
- May 5:
- Underrepresented minorities and diversity in the technology work force Asian-Americans the Special Predicament of the "Represented Minority" in Science Policies at MIT and in Industry.
Assignment for This Class
Final Projects
- May 7: No class meeting
- May 12:
- Presentation of final projects.
Final Projects
- May 14:
- Presentation of final projects.
whitbeck@mit.edu