ENGINEERING

PRACTICE & ETHICS

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN ENGINEERING
 OBJECTIVES (WHY ENGINEERING
ETHICS?)
• The objectives of this course on ‗Professional Ethics and
Human Values‘ are:
a) To understand the moral values that ought to guide the
Engineering profession,
(b) Resolve the moral issues in the profession,and
(c) Justify the moral judgment concerning the profession. It
is intended to develop a set of beliefs, attitudes, and habits
that engineers should display concerning morality.
 MORALS
• Morals are the welfare principles enunciated by the wise people, based
on their experience and wisdom. They were edited, changed or
modified or evolved to suit the geography of the region, rulers
(dynasty), and in accordance with development of knowledge in
science and technology and with time.
• Morality is concerned with principles and practices of morals such as:
(a) What ought or ought not to be done in a given situation?
(b) What is right or wrong about the handling of a situation? and
(c) What is good or bad about the people, policies, and ideals
involved?
 MORALS
• Morality is different from Ethics in the following ways:
 VALUES
Definition
Humans have the unique ability to define their identity, choose their values and establish
their beliefs. All three of these directly influence a person‘s behavior. People will act
congruent with their personal values or what they deem to be important.

• A value is defined as a principle that promotes well-being or prevents harm.‖ Values are
our guidelines for our success—our paradigm about what is acceptable.‖
• Personal values are defined as: ―Emotional beliefs in principles regarded as particularly
favorable or important for the individual.‖
• Our values associate emotions to our experiences and guide our choices, decisions and
actions.
• ―Values are the scales we use to weigh our choices for our actions, whether to move
towards or away from something.‖
 VALUES
• Not all values have the same weight or priority. Some are more important
than others and must be satisfied before others can be addressed. Dr.
Abraham Maslow illustrated this with his hierarchy of human needs.
Survival has a higher priority than security, which has a higher priority than
social acceptance. A person‘s beliefs, values and identity are usually
acquired unconsciously based on his personal experience or observations of
others‘ experiences as to what produces desirable or undesirable results in
the environment. A baby‘s learning to walk and talk is a clear example of
identifying with human adults, valuing the act of being able to have the
mobility and communication ability of an adult and the belief, based on
unconscious observation, that humans can do walk and do talk with each
other. By positive affirmations, one can modify or create new beliefs about
a person‘s identity and/or what is important to him (values).
 TYPES OF VALUES
• There five core human values are:
1. Right conduct,
2. Peace,
3. Truth,
4. Love,
5. Nonviolence
 TYPES OF VALUES
1. Values related to RIGHT CONDUCT are:

a) SELF-HELP SKILLS: Care of possessions, diet, hygiene, modesty,

posture, self reliance, and tidy appearance

b) SOCIAL SKILLS: Good behavior, good manners, good relationships,

helpfulness, No wastage, and good environment, and

c) ETHICAL SKILLS: Code of conduct, courage, dependability, duty,

efficiency, ingenuity, initiative, perseverance, punctuality, resourcefulness,
respect for all, and responsibility
 TYPES OF VALUES

2. Values related to PEACE are: Attention, calmness,

concentration, contentment, dignity, discipline, equality,
equanimity, faithfulness, focus, gratitude, happiness,
harmony, humility, inner silence, optimism, patience,
reflection, satisfaction, self-acceptance, self-confidence,
self- control, self-discipline, self-esteem, self-respect,
sense control, tolerance, and understanding
 TYPES OF VALUES

3. Values related to TRUTH are: Accuracy, curiosity, discernment, fairness,

fearlessness, honesty, integrity (unity of thought, word, and deed), intuition,
justice, optimism, purity, quest for knowledge, reason, self-analysis, sincerity,
sprit of enquiry, synthesis, trust, truthfulness, and determination.

4. Values related to LOVE are: Acceptance, affection, care, compassion,

consideration, dedication, devotion, empathy, forbearance, forgiveness,
friendship, generosity, gentleness, humanness, interdependence, kindness,
patience, patriotism, reverence, sacrifice, selflessness, service, sharing,
sympathy, thoughtfulness, tolerance and trust
 TYPES OF VALUES
5. Values related to NON-VIOLENCE are:

(a) PSYCHOLOGICAL: Benevolence, compassion, concern for others, consideration,

forbearance, forgiveness, manners, happiness, loyalty, morality, and universal love

(b) SOCIAL: Appreciation of other cultures and religions, brotherhood, care of environment,
citizenship, equality, harmlessness, national awareness, perseverance, respect for property, and
social justice.
• PERSEVERANCE is defined as persistence, determination, resolution, tenacity, dedication,
commitment, constancy, steadfastness, stamina, endurance. Perseverance builds character.
• ACCURACY means freedom from mistake or error; conformity to truth or to a standard or model
and exactness.
• DISCERNMENT means discrimination, perception, penetration, and insight.
 ETHICS
• Ethics is the word that refers to morals, values, and beliefs of the
individuals, family or the society. Basically it is an activity and process of
inquiry. Secondly, it is different from non-moral problems, when dealing
with issues and controversies. Thirdly, ethics refers to a particular set of
beliefs, attitudes, and habits of individuals or family or groups concerned
with morals. Fourth, it is used to mean ‗morally correct‘.
• The study on ethics helps to know the people‘s beliefs, values, and morals,
learn the good and bad of them, and practice them to maximize their well-
being and happiness. It involves the inquiry on the existing situations, form
judgments and resolve the issues. In addition, ethics tells us how to live, to
respond to issues, through the duties, rights, responsibilities, and
obligations.. In ethics, the focus is to study and apply the principles and
practices, universally.
 INTEGRITY
• Integrity is defined as the unity of thought, word and
deed (honesty) and open mindedness. It includes the
capacity to communicate the factual information so
that others can make well- informed decisions.

• Moral integrity is defined as a virtue, which reflects a

consistency of one‘s attitudes, emotions, and conduct
in relation to justified moral values.
 WORK ETHICS
• Industry and Society are the two systems which interact with each other and
are interdependent. Society requires industry/business system which
provides manufacturing, distribution and consumption activities. It needs
investment (capital input), labor (input), supply (raw materials), production
(industries, business organizations), marketing and distribution (transport),
and consumption (public, customer). A lot of transactions (and interactions)
between these sub- systems involving people are needed for the welfare of
the society. It is here, the work ethics plays an essential role.

• Work ethics is defined as a set of attitudes concerned with the value of

work, which forms the motivational orientation.
 WORK ETHICS
• Many complex social problems exist in the industrial/business scenario, because:

1. The people desire to be recognized as individuals and treated with dignity, as living human
beings. Work is intrinsically valuable so far as it is enjoyable or meaningful in allowing personal
expression and self-fulfillment. Meaningful work is worth doing for the sense of personal
identity and the self-esteem it holds.
2. Economic independence: Work is the major instrumental good in life. It is the main source of
providing the income needed to avoid economic dependence on others, for obtaining desired
materials and services, and for achieving status and recognition from others.
3. Pay as well as the pace of work should be in commensurate with the expertise required,
acquired, and utilized in the persons. Exploitation and bargained pay should be discouraged.
4. Privacy (personal freedom) of the employee, including women, is to be protected. At the
same time, confidentiality of the employer is also to be protected. Mutual trust and loyalty both
ways play major roles in this aspect.
5. Security during job and upon retirement: This concept is being accepted only in government
jobs, public limited companies, and corporate organizations. This situation has created tension in
the Indian scene.
 WORK ETHICS
• Many complex social problems exist in the industrial/business scenario, because:

6. Recognition to non-work activities, such as leisure, paid holiday on the day of visit of a
dignitary, social service, and other developmental activities. The workers in prosperous countries
are less willing to consider ‗work‘ as their prime interest in life. They claim that such service
activities give them peace of mind and happiness. However, such a trend is likely to decline the work
ethics.
7. Hard work and productivity are very essential for the success of an industry. The quality of
work life deserves to be improved. Hard labor, undignified jobs (human-drawn rikshaw, people
carrying night soil), and hazardous jobs are to be made less straining, dignified, and safer.
Automation and CNC systems to a large extent have been successful in lessening the human burden.
Still, many a hard work can not be replaced by ‗virtual work‘, in the near future.
8. Employee alienation: Absence of or inadequate ‗recognition and reward system‘ and ‗grievance
redressal system‘, lack of transparency in policy implementation, factions in trade unions etc. lead to
ethical problems, affecting the work ethics. Participative management, quality circles, job rotation,
and flexible working hours are some of the measures to counter this situation.
 WORK ETHICS
• Many complex social problems exist in the industrial/business scenario, because:

9. A different view of work ethics: Work is considered as a necessary evil. It is a

thing one must do in order to avoid worse evils, such as dependency and poverty.
That is a major source of anxiety and unhappiness.

10. As per the Protestant Work Ethics, It is to be obtained rationally, diligently,

and without compromising with other values such as spending time with one‘s
family and not exploiting or harming others

• By work ethics, duties to the self, family, society, and nation are fulfilled. Rights
of the individuals are respected and nourished. Values and virtues are cultivated
and enjoyed by all human beings.
 SERVICE LEARNING
• Service learning refers to learning the service policies, procedures,
norms, and conditions, other than ‗the technical trade practices‘. The
service learning includes the characteristics of the work, basic
requirements, security of the job, and awareness of the procedures,
while taking decisions and actions. It helps the individuals to interact
ethically with colleagues, to effectively coordinate with other
departments, to interact cordially with suppliers as well as the
customers, and to maintain all these friendly interactions.
 SERVICE LEARNING
• Alternatively, the service learning may be defined as the non-paid activity,
in which service is provided on voluntary basis to the public (have-nots in
the community), non-profitable institutions, and charitable organizations. It
is the service during learning. This includes training or study on real life
problems and their possible solutions, during the formal learning, i.e.,
courses of study. In the industrial scenario, adoption, study, and
development of public health or welfare or safety system of a village or
school is an example of service learning by the employees. The engineering
student analyzing and executing a socially-relevant project is another
example of service learning. The service learning is a methodology falling
under the category of experiential education. It is one of the forms of
experiential learning and community service opportunities. It is
distinguished in the following ways:
 SERVICE LEARNING

1. Connection to curriculum: Integrating the learning into a service project

is a key to successful service learning. Academic ties should be clear and
built upon existing disciplinary skills.
2. Learner’s voice: Beyond being actively engaged in the project, trainees
have the opportunity to select, design, implement, and evaluate their
service activity.
3. Reflection: Structured opportunities are created to think, talk, and write
about the service experience. The balance of reflection and action allows
the trainee to be constantly aware of the impact of their work.
4. Partners in the community: Partnership with community agencies are
used to identify genuine needs, provide mentorship, and contribute input
such as labor and expertise towards completing the project.
 VIRTUES
• Virtues are positive and preferred values. Virtues are desirable
attitudes or character traits, motives and emotions that enable us to be
successful and to act in ways that develop our highest potential. They
energize and enable us to pursue the ideals that we have adopted.
Honesty, courage, compassion, generosity, fidelity, integrity, fairness,
transparency, self-control, and prudence are all examples of virtues.
• Virtues are tendencies which include, solving problems through
peaceful and constructive means and follow the path of the golden
mean between the extremes of ‗excess and deficiency‘. They are like
habits, once acquired, they become characteristics of a person. The
virtuous person is the ethical person.
 CIVIC VIRTUES
• Civic virtues are the moral duties and rights, as a citizen of the village or the
country or an integral part of the society and environment. An individual
may exhibit civic virtues by voting, volunteering, and organizing welfare
groups and meetings.
• The duties are:
1. To pay taxes to the local government and state, in time.
2. To keep the surroundings clean and green.
3. Not to pollute the water, land, and air by following hygiene and proper garbage
disposal. For example, not to burn wood, tyres, plastic materials, spit in the open,
even not to smoke in the open, and not to cause nuisance to the public, are some of
the civic (duties) virtues.
4. To follow the road safety rules.
 CIVIC VIRTUES
• On the other hand, the rights are:
1. To vote the local or state government.
2. To contest in the elections to the local or state government.
3. To seek a public welfare facility such as a school, hospital or a community
hall or transport or communication facility, for the residents.
4. To establish a green and safe environment, pollution free, corruption free,
and to follow ethical principles. People are said to have the right to breathe
in fresh air, by not allowing smoking in public.
5. People have inalienable right to accept or reject a project in their area.
One has the right to seek legal remedy, in this respect, through public
interest petition.
 CIVIC VIRTUES
• These virtues are divided into four categories
1. Civic Knowledge
• Citizens must understand what the Constitution says about how the
government is working, and what the government is supposed to do and what
not to do.
• We must understand the basis of our responsibilities as citizens, besides duties
and rights.
• We must be able to recognize when the government or another citizen
infringes upon our rights. It implies that the government requires the
participation of the enlightened citizens, to serve and survive.
 CIVIC VIRTUES
• These virtues are divided into four categories
2. Self-Restraint
• For citizens to live in a free society with limited government each citizen must
be able to control or restrain himself; otherwise, we would need a police
state—that is, a dictatorial government to maintain safety and order.
3. Self-Assertion
• Self-assertion means that citizens must be proud of their rights, and have the
courage to stand up in public and defend their rights. Sometimes, a
government may usurp the very rights that it was created to protect. In such
cases, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish that government (e.g.,
voting rights, rights call back).
 CIVIC VIRTUES
• These virtues are divided into four categories
• 4. Self-Reliance
• Citizens who cannot provide for themselves will need a large government to
take care of them. Once citizens become dependent on government for their
basic needs, the people are no longer in a position to demand that government
act within the confines of the Constitution. Self-reliant citizens are free
citizens in the sense that they are not dependent on others for their basic
needs. They do not need a large provider-government, which has the potential
to become an oppressive government, to meet those needs. Only a strong self-
reliant citizenry will be able to enjoy fully the blessings of liberty.
• These civic virtues, applicable to local, state, and central governments, nourish
freedom and civil liberty at the root of democracy.
 RESPECT FOR OTHERS
• This is a basic requirement for nurturing friendship, team work, and for the
synergy it promotes and sustains. The principles enunciated in this regard
are:

1. Recognize and accept the existence of other persons as human beings, because
they have a right to live, just as you have.
2. Respect others’ ideas (decisions), words, and labor (actions).. Appreciate
colleagues and subordinates on their positive actions. Criticize constructively and
encourage them. They are bound to improve their performance, by learning
properly and by putting more efforts.
3. Show ‘goodwill’ on others. Love others. Allow others to grow. Basically, the
goodwill reflects on the originator and multiplies itself on everybody. This will
facilitate collinearity, focus, coherence, and strength to achieve the goals.
 LIVING PEACEFULLY
• To live peacefully, one should start install peace within (self). Then
one can spread peace to family, organisation where one works, and
then to the world, including the environment.
• One should adopt the following means to live peacefully, in the world:
• Nurture
1. Order in one‘s life (self-regulation, discipline, and duty).
2. Pure thoughts in one‘s soul (loving others, blessing others, friendly, and not
criticizing or hurting others by thought, word or deed).
3. Creativity in one‘s head (useful and constructive).
4. Beauty in one‘s heart (love, service, happiness, and peace).
 LIVING PEACEFULLY
• Get
5. Good health/body (physical strength for service).

• Act
6. Help the needy with head, heart, and hands (charity). Service to the poor is
considered holier than the service to God.
7. Not hurting and torturing others either physically, verbally, or mentally.

• The following are the factors that promote living, with internal and external
peace:
1. Conducive environment (safe, ventilated, illuminated and comfortable).
2. Secured job and motivated with ‗recognition and reward‘.
3. Absence of threat or tension by pressure due to limitations of money or time.
4. Absence of unnecessary interference or disturbance, except as guidelines.
5. Healthy labor relations and family situations.
6. Service to the needy (physically and mentally-challenged) with love and sympathy.
 CARING
• Caring is feeling for others. It is a process which exhibits the
interest in, and support for, the welfare of others with fairness,
impartiality and justice in all activities, among the employees, in the
context of professional ethics. It includes showing respect to the
feelings of others, and also respecting and preserving the interests of
all others concerned. Caring is reflected in activities such as
friendship, membership in social clubs and professional societies, and
through various transactions in the family, fraternity, community,
country and in international councils.
• In the present day context, caring for the environment (including the
fauna and flora) has become a necessity for our very survival
 SHARING
• Primarily, caring influences ‘sharing’. Sharing is a process that
describes the transfer of knowledge (teaching, learning, and
information), experience (training), commodities (material possession)
and facilities with others. The transfer should be genuine, legal,
positive, voluntary, and without any expectation in return. However,
the proprietary information should not be shared with outsiders.
• Through this process of sharing, experience, expertise, wisdom and
other benefits reach more people faster. Sharing is voluntary and it can
not be driven by force, but motivated successfully through ethical
principles. In short, sharing is ‗charity‘
 SHARING
• For the humanity, ‗sharing’ is a culture. The ‗happiness and wealth‘
are multiplied and the ‗crimes and sufferings‘ are reduced, by sharing.
It paves the way for peace and obviates militancy. Philosophically, the
sharing maximizes the happiness for all the human beings. In terms of
psychology, the fear, divide, and distrust between the ‗haves‘ and
‗have-nots‘ disappear. Sharing not only paves the way to prosperity,
early and easily, and sustains it.
 SHARING
• Economically speaking, benefits are maximized as there is no wastage
or loss, and everybody gets one‘s needs fulfilled and satisfied.
• Commercially speaking, the profit is maximized.
• Technologically, the productivity and utilization are maximized by
sharing.
• In the industrial arena, code-sharing in airlines for bookings on air
travels and the common Effluent Treatment Plant constructed for
small-scale industries in the industrial estates, are some of the
examples of sharing. The co-operative societies for producers as well
as consumers are typical examples of sharing of the goods, profit and
other social benefits.
 SHARING
• Here is an anecdote that illustrates the benefits of sharing
• The shouting...the screaming…the fighting. That was the breaking point for me as I
poured out my woes to my mother. “How can I get them to share as well as we did as
kids?”, I pleaded. Laughter was her reply. “Well, thanks a lot, mom,” I said. “I’m sorry,”
she chuckled, “but you didn’t always share.” She went on to explain about the “Box of
Misbehaved Toys.” Every time we fought over a toy, she would quietly take that and put it
into the box. Yes, I did remember that box. I also remember it wasn’t always fair since one
person may have caused all the commotion. But my mother was consistent. No matter
what the reason for the struggle was, the toy disappeared into the box for one week. No
questions asked, and no chance of parole. My siblings and I soon learned that sharing a
toy was better than losing it. Often, one person would decide to just wait for a time when
no one else was playing with the toy, rather than fight and lose it. It was not a perfect
system, but I tried it anyway
• That box was a shock to my kids and it was close to full, within a few days…..As the weeks
progressed, I noticed the box was emptier and the arguing was less. Today, I heard quiet
music to my ears as my son said to his sister, “That’s OK, you can play with it.”

• This story illustrates the worthy joy of sharing as compared to the pain of losing.
 HONESTY
• Honesty is a virtue, and it is exhibited in two aspects namely,
a) Truthfulness and
b) Trustworthiness.

• Truthfulness is to face the responsibilities upon telling truth. One should keep one‘s word
or promise. By admitting one‘s mistake committed it is easy to fix them.
• Reliable engineering judgment, maintenance of truth, defending the truth, and
communicating the truth, only when it does ‗good‘ to others, are some of the reflections
of truthfulness. But trustworthiness is maintaining integrity and taking responsibility for
personal performance. Honesty is mirrored in many ways. The common reflections are:
a) Beliefs (intellectual honesty).
b) Communication (writing and speech).
c) Decisions (ideas, discretion).
d) Actions (means, timing, place, and the goals). and
e) Intended and unintended results achieved.
 HONESTY
• As against this, some of the actions of an engineer that leads to dishonesty are:
1. Lying: Honesty implies avoidance of lying. An engineer may communicate wrong or
distorted test results intentionally or otherwise. It is giving wrong information to the right
people.
2. Deliberate deception: An engineer may judge or decide on matters one is not familiar or
with insufficient data or proof, to impress upon the customers or employers. This is a self
deceit.
3. Withholding the information: It means hiding the facts during communication to one‘s
superior or subordinate, intentionally or otherwise.
4. Not seeking the truth: Some engineers accept the information or data, without applying
their mind and seeking the truth.
5. Not maintaining confidentiality: It is giving right information to wrong people. The
engineers should keep information of their customers/clients or of their employers
confidential and should not discuss them with others.
6. Giving professional judgment under the influence of extraneous factors such as personal
benefits and prejudice. The laws, experience, social welfare, and even conscience are given
a go- bye by such actions.
 COURAGE
• Courage is the tendency to accept and face risks and difficult tasks in
rational ways. Self- confidence is the basic requirement to nurture
courage.
• Courage is classified into three types, based on the types of risks,
namely
a) Physical courage,
b) Social courage, and
c) Intellectual courage.
 COURAGE
• In physical courage, the thrust is on the adequacy of the physical
strength, including the muscle power and armaments.
• The social courage involves the decisions and actions to change the
order, based on the conviction for or against certain social behaviors.
This requires leadership abilities, including empathy and sacrifice, to
mobilize and motivate the followers, for the social cause.
• The intellectual courage is inculcated in people through acquired
knowledge, experience, games, tactics, education, and training.
 COURAGE
• In professional ethics, courage is applicable to the employers, employees,
public, and the press. Look before you leap. One should perform Strengths,
Weakness, Opportunities, and Threat (SWOT) analysis. Calculate (estimate)
the risks, compare with one‘s strengths, and anticipate the end results, while
taking decisions and before getting into action. Learning from the past
helps. Past experience and wisdom gained from self-study or others will
prepare one to plan and act with self-confidence, succeed in achieving the
desired ethical goals through ethical means. Opportunities and threat
existing and likely to exist in future are also to be studied and measures to
be planned. This anticipatory management will help one to face the future
with courage. Facing the criticism, owning responsibility, and accepting the
mistakes or errors when committed and exposed are the expressions of
courage. In fact, this sets their mind to be vigilant against the past mistakes,
and creative in finding the alternate means to achieve the desired objectives.
 COURAGE
• EXAMPLE : Prof. Sathish Dhawan, Chief of ISRO, was reported to have
exhibited his courage and owned responsibility, when the previous space
mission failed, but credited Prof. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (now our revered
President), when the subsequent mission succeeded.
• The courageous people own and have shown the following characteristics,
in their professions:
a) Perseverance (sustained hard work),
b) Experimentation (preparedness to face the challenges, that is, unexpected or
unintended results),
c) Involvement (attitude, clear and firm resolve to act), and
d) Commitment (willing to get into action and to reach the desired goals by any
alternative but ethical means).
 VALUING TIME
• Time is rare resource. Once it is spent, it is lost for ever. It can not be either stored
or recovered. Hence, time is the most perishable and most valuable resource too.
This resource is continuously spent, whether any decision or action is taken or not.
• The proverbs, ‗Time and tide wait for nobody‘ and ‗Procrastination is the thief of
time‘ amply illustrate this point.
• An anecdote to highlight the ‗value of time‘ is as follows:
• To realize the value of one year, ask the student who has failed in the examinations;. To realize
the value of one month, ask the mother who has delivered a premature baby; To realize the
value of one week, ask the editor of weekly;
• To realize the value of one day, ask the daily-wage laborer;
• To realize now the value of one hour, ask the lovers longing to meet;
• To realize the value of one minute, ask a person who has missed the train;
• To realize the value of one second, ask the person who has survived an accident;
• Tto realize the value one milli second, ask the person who has won the bronze medal in
Olympics; Tto realize the value of one micro second, ask the NASA team of scientists;
• To realize the value of one nano-second, ask a Hardware engineer!;
• If you have still not realized the value of time, wait; are you an Engineer?
 COOPERATION
• It is a team-spirit present with every individual engaged in engineering. Co-
operation is activity between two persons or sectors that aims at integration of
operations (synergy), while not sacrificing the autonomy of either party. Further,
working together ensures, coherence, i.e., blending of different skills
required,towards common goals.Willingness to understand others, think and act
together and putting this into practice, is cooperation.Cooperation promotes
collinearity, coherence (blend), co-ordination (activities linked in sequence or
priority) and the synergy (maximizing the output, by reinforcement).
• According to professional ethics, cooperation should exist or be developed, and
maintained, at several levels; between the employers and employees, between the
superiors and subordinates, among the colleagues, between the producers and the
suppliers (spare parts), and between the organisation and its customers.
• The codes of ethics of various professional societies insist on appropriate
cooperation to nourish the industry.
 COOPERATION
• The absence of cooperation leads to lack of communication,
misinformation, void in communication, and undue delay between supply,
production, marketing, and consumption. This is likely to demoralize and
frustrate the employees, leading to collapse of the industry over time and an
economic loss to the society.
• The impediments to successful cooperation are:
1. Clash of ego of individuals.
2. Lack of leadership and motivation.
3. Conflicts of interests, based on region, religion, language, and caste.
4. Ignorance and lack of interest. By careful planning, motivation, leadership,
fostering and rewarding team work, professionalism and humanism beyond the
‗divides‘, training on appreciation to different cultures, mutual understanding
‗cooperation‘ can be developed and also sustained.
 COMMITMENT
• Commitment means alignment to goals and adherence to ethical
principles during the activities. One must believe in one‘s action
performed and the expected end results (confidence). Holding
sustained interest and firmness, in whatever ethical means one follows,
with the fervent attitude and hope that one will achieve the goals, is
commitment. It is the driving force to realize success.
 EMPATHY
• Empathy is social radar. Sensing what others feel about, without their
open talk, is the essence of empathy. Empathy begins with showing
concern, and then obtaining and understanding the feelings of others,
from others‘ point of view. It is also defined as the ability to put one‘s
self into the psychological frame or reference or point of view of
another, to know what the other person feels. It includes the
imaginative projection into other‘s feelings and understanding of
other‘s background such as parentage, physical and mental state,
economic situation, and association. This is an essential ingredient for
good human relations and transactions.
 EMPATHY
• To practice ‗Empathy‘, a leader must have or develop in him, the
following characteristics
1. Understanding others: It means sensing others feelings and perspectives,
and taking active interest in their welfare.
2. Service orientation: It is anticipation, recognition and meeting the needs of
the clients or customers.
3. Developing others: This means identification of their needs and bolstering
their abilities. In developing others, the one should inculcate in him the
‗listening skill‘ first.
4. Leveraging diversity (opportunities through diverse people): This leads to
enhanced organizational learning, flexibility, and profitability.
5. Political awareness: It is the ability to read political and social currents in
an organization.
 EMPATHY
• The benefits of empathy include:
1. Good customer relations (in sales and service, in partnering).
2. Harmonious labor relations (in manufacturing).
3. Good vendor-producer relationship (in partnering.)

• Through the above three, we can maximize the output and profit, as well as
minimizing the loss. While dealing with customer complaints, empathy is
very effective in realising the unbiased views of others and in admitting
one‘s own limitations and failures.
• According to Peter Drucker, purpose of the business is not to make a sale,
but to make and keep a customer.
 SELF-CONFIDENCE
• Certainty in one‘s own capabilities, values, and goals, is self-confidence.
Such people are usually positive thinking, flexible and willing to change.
They respect others so much as they respect themselves.
• Self-confidence is positive attitude, wherein the individual has some
positive and realistic view of himself, with respect to the situations in which
one gets involved. The people with self- confidence exhibit courage to get
into action and unshakable faith in their abilities, whatever may be their
positions. They are not influenced by threats or challenges and are prepared
to face them and the natural or unexpected consequences.
• The self-confidence in a person develops a sense of partnership, respect, and
accountability, and this helps the organization to obtain maximum ideas,
efforts, and guidelines from its employees.
 SELF-CONFIDENCE
• The people with self-confidence have the following characteristics:
1. A self-assured standing,
2. Willing to listen to learn from others and adopt (flexibility),
3. Frank to speak the truth, and
4. Respect others’ efforts and give due credit.

• On the contrary, some leaders expose others when failure occurs, and own the
credit when success comes.
• The factors that shape self-confidence in a person are:
1. Heredity (attitudes of parents) and family environment (elders),
2. Friendship (influence of friends/colleagues),
3. Influence of superiors/role models, and
4. Training in the organization ( e.g., training by Technical Evangelists at Infosys
Technologies).
 SELF-CONFIDENCE
• The following methodologies are effective in developing self-
confidence in a person:
1. Encouraging SWOT analysis. By evaluating their strength and weakness,
they can anticipate and be prepared to face the results.
2. Training to evaluate risks and face them (self-acceptance).
3. Self-talk . It is conditioning the mind for preparing the self to act, without
any doubt on his capabilities. This make one accepts himself while still
striving for improvement.
4. Study and group discussion, on the history of leaders and innovators (e.g.,
Sam Walton of Wal-Mart, USA).