Avoiding Ethical Pitfalls in the Tech Industry

Overview

This course focuses on what went wrong. That is, it focuses on the difficulty every manager experiences and how some make the mistake of following an incorrect ethical path. Examined are operating “in the gray”, whether we are driven by rational thinking or intuition, and the possibility of the deliberate infliction of a negative act. Each of these is not an uncommon occurrence. Indeed, operating in the gray is a topic that comes up often in conversations with managers and leaders at every level. The goal of this course is to understand how things can go wrong and how those ethical mistakes affect one’s team, the company, and the society at large. These possible errors are not easily seen and sometimes, for leaders and managers, appear without warning. Stopping them is, many times, a function of ethical awareness and the courage to act. This course can be taken for academic credit as part of CU Boulder’s Master of Engineering in Engineering Management (ME-EM) degree offered on the Coursera platform. The ME-EM is designed to help engineers, scientists, and technical professionals move into leadership and management roles in the engineering and technical sectors. With performance-based admissions and no application process, the ME-EM is ideal for individuals with a broad range of undergraduate education and/or professional experience. Learn more about the ME-EM program at https://www.coursera.org/degrees/me-engineering-management-boulder.

Syllabus

Managing Where “Right” and “Wrong” Become Blurred

This module addresses the difficulties that technical leaders may have with ethical situations – the areas of work where the ethical path is not clearly defined, what may be termed “The Gray”. When operating in such conditions, it is easy to rationalize any path – this too is considered and discussed. Lastly, we discuss how one may find the correct ethical path even in the midst of “The Gray”.