Ethics of technology

Ethics is the systematic study of what is obligatory, forbidden and permissible. Ethics of Technology is ethics applied to technical domains and domains depending heavily on technology. Ethics of Technology as a research area gives a platform from which we can systematically investigate the constantly emerging ethical issues surrounding technology in a time where the engineering sciences have an increasing impact on society. Especially the rapid development within the computing sciences and the life sciences calls for immediate ethical attention in close contact with the technical sciences. 

The current research within Ethics of Technology at DTU falls under two focus areas: robot ethics and machine ethics and bioethics and food ethics. These areas have great potential for the benefit of society but also have major perceived risks and uncertainties. Therefore, decision support within these areas needs to be based upon a sound ethical foundation, in order to promote transparence, fairness and informed public acceptance. The work within Ethics of Technology has as one of its primary aims to provide such foundation. 

In the following two sections we elaborate on our ongoing research within the two focus areas :-

Robot Ethics and Machine Ethics

Social robots will need to behave in accordance with human values and norms, and in some cases they will have to function ethically. Therefore, there is currently a possibility for ethicists and roboticists to collaborate on the project of devising a robot ethics. Our contribution to this project consists in making logical systems for ethical and deontic reasoning. These formal systems will help clarify the foundations of robot ethics and can be implemented in robots. When we do that it is called machine ethics. Our research into machine ethics (with collaborators from Freiburg University) is being conducted within the HERA project (Hybrid Ethical Reasoning Agents)

  

Bioethics and Food Ethics

Bio-ethics is ethics applied to the biological domain, an area that continues to give rise to ethical dilemmas and the need for clarification. In particular, we have investigated numerous ethical issues related to food and its production, lifestyle diseases, plant breeding techniques, as well as details of the normative foundation of health economics. We have also investigated the concept of taste analytically as a contribution to the establishment of a foundation for a gastronomic science. Current and future work also includes studies of the normative foundation of risk analysis. Aiming at aggregation, we need to find unambiguous formulations of ethical principles, such as the precautionary principle.

Teaching

The Ethics of Technology team at DTU teaches the course in Philosophy of Science in Engineering, and the course in Ethics for teachers at DTU Diploma.

Ethics is the systematic study of what is obligatory, forbidden and permissible. Ethics of Technology is ethics applied to technical domains and domains depending heavily on technology. Ethics of Technology as a research area gives a platform from which we can systematically investigate the constantly emerging ethical issues surrounding technology in a time where the engineering sciences have an increasing impact on society. Especially the rapid development within the computing sciences and the life sciences calls for immediate ethical attention in close contact with the technical sciences.

The research area Ethics of Technology supports meeting DTU’s strategic goals for research and education, in particular:

• We are conducting research within robot ethics and we will continue and strengthen national and international collaboration within the HERA project. We will be able to develop innovative teaching methods within the RATA project.
• We see potential for developing the bio-ethics area further both in research and in teaching in cooperation between Technology of Ethics and e.g. DTU Bioengineering and DTU Food.

In the following two sections we elaborate on our ongoing research within the two focus areas.

 

5 levels of building an ethical culture

How to build and sustain an organization whose employees are happy, motivated, and ethical remains one of the most complex, elusive questions confronting business leaders. Organizational culture is determined by the interaction of systems, norms, and values, all of which influence behavior. 

Much discussion of organizational culture still focuses on structural changes to corporate governance and compliance systems, along with drives to identify “bad apples.” Alternatively, we find glossy brochures, chief happiness officers, bonding exercises, and free beer. Still, public trust in business keeps falling and corporate scandals persist.

The paper explores five levels at which companies should build an ethical culture.

Individual: How individual employees are measured and rewarded is a key factor that sustains or undermines ethical culture. In the face of pressure to meet growth targets by any means necessary—a belief that the ends justify the means—unethical behavior is to be expected. Therefore, the rewards system is an excellent place to start. And diversity and inclusion initiatives enable individual employees to bring their whole selves to work: Employees who feel it unnecessary to hide aspects of their social identity to fit into the dominant culture will experience less conflict between personal and organizational values and will express themselves more confidently—making them more inclined to raise concerns about ethics. 

Interpersonal: Organizations can also focus on how employees interact across the hierarchy. Abuse of power and authority is a key factor that degrades organizational culture. When decisions around promotions and rewards seem unfair and political, employees disregard organizational statements about values and begin pursuing their own agendas. Building an ethical culture from an interpersonal perspective requires meaningful protections that empower all employees and stakeholders, even the least powerful, to raise concerns and express grievances. Meanwhile, leaders must recognize the outsized role they play in setting culture and driving adherence to ethics, and they must learn to exercise influence carefully.

Group: Socialization into group memberships and relationships is a core aspect of human culture. At work, the key determinant tends to be an employee’s group or team. As organizations become more geographically diffuse and loosely aligned, it becomes harder to set and define consistent organizational culture. Focusing on team conditions can empower middle managers to feel responsible for changing culture and group dynamics to foster more effective ways of working. While clarity in roles and tasks is key to a successful team, so is psychological safety. If employees feel secure in taking risks and expressing themselves, teams will be more creative, successful, and ethical.

Intergroup: The quality of relationships among groups is critical to consider in any attempt to build an ethical culture. Celebrating a team whose high performance may stem from questionable conduct gives it power and a mystique that is difficult to challenge, and this can undermine values across the organization. Teams working in sustainability or compliance often need to scrape for power and resources; when members are attached to matrixed working groups, accountability can get watered down.

Inter-organizational: Most discussions of organizational culture focus on internal relationships. Still, employees are keenly conscious of how a company treats suppliers, customers, competitors, and civil society stakeholders, so building and maintaining stakeholder trust will improve organizational culture. Moreover, companies need to ensure that their values and mission statements amount to more than words on a website. Business success and core values are not contradictory concepts. That said, building an ethical culture sometimes means walking away from lucrative opportunities. Companies can be sure their employees will notice.

However enormous the long-term rewards, there is no single, simple formula for building an ethical culture

Creating an ethical organizational culture

“Having an organizational culture that emphasizes ethical behavior can cut down on misbehavior of organizations. Research shows that whether an organization develops a culture that emphasizes doing the right thing even when it is costly comes down to whether leaders, starting with the CEO, consider the ethical consequences of their actions. Leaders with a moral compass set the tone when it comes to ethical dilemmas”.

Robbins and Judge (2009) offer a nice list of what management can do to create a more ethical organizational culture. They suggest a combination of the following practices:

Be a role model and be visible. Your employees look to the behavior of top management as a model of what’s acceptable behavior in the workplace. When senior management is observed (by subordinates) to take the ethical high road, it sends a positive message for all employees.

Communicate ethical expectations. Ethical ambiguities can be reduced by creating and disseminating an organizational code of ethics. It should state the organization’s primary values and the ethical rules that employees are expected to follow. Remember, however, that a code of ethics is worthless if top management fails to model ethical behaviors.

Offer ethics training. Set up seminars, workshops, and similar ethical training programs. Use these training sessions to reinforce the organization’s standards of conduct, to clarify what practices are and are not permissible, and to address possible ethical dilemmas.

Visibly reward ethical acts and punish unethical ones. Performance appraisals of managers should include a point-by-point evaluation of how his or her decisions measure up against the organization’s code of ethics. Appraisals must include the means taken to achieve goals as well as the ends themselves. People who act ethically should be visibly rewarded for their behavior. Just as importantly, unethical acts should be punished.

Provide protective mechanisms. The organization needs to provide formal mechanisms so that employees can discuss ethical dilemmas and report unethical behavior without fear of reprimand. This might include creation of ethical counselors, ombudsmen, or ethical officers.

A good case study of an unethical organizational culture is the now defunct Enron. Sims and 
Brinkmann (2003) described Enron’s ethics as “the ultimate contradiction between words and deeds, between a deceiving glossy facade and a rotten structure behind” (p. 243). Enron executives created an organizational culture that valued profits (the bottom line) over ethical behavior and doing what’s right.

“A business perceived to lack integrity or to operate in an unethical, immoral, or irresponsible manner soon loses the support of customers, suppliers and the community at large".