Bribes are Bad

     Whether it be a street market in a third country or Wall Street everything is effected by economics. Economics changes with the times, through the dirty thirties and the internet boom. One of the main driving forces of economics is competition. Marketing, innovation, price dropping are a few different ways to make some one better in a competitive environment. These things all take time and many people are tempted to cut corners to get a similar effect for much less time and effort even if those things involve unethical or even illegal activities. In the field of engineering the act of giving or receiving bribes is both ethically and legally wrong, but they still persist perhaps because some are willing to let or even aid in corruption in order to better themselves.

     Bribery is the act of giving or promising someone compensation in order to sway judgment or try less hard than possible. There are many places in engineering where this takes place. One such place is when biding for a project. In order to “seal the deal” the bidding party may offer the other party a “down payment.” Another instance that this may occur is a manager might offer a lower employee some money to order lower quality parts and split the difference. These examples show situations where bribes intersect engineering.

     Engineers, however, are not unaware that bribes and other dubious actions take place within their fields. Many different branches have composed a code of ethics. Most codes have a section that says something like, “Licensees will neither accept nor offer bribes.” The first point in most codes is usually something like, “Licensees first priority is to the safety and benefit of the public.” Bribes cause people to either produce or settle for work that is less than their best. This action causes the public to potentially be at risk therefore breaking the paramount rule of an engineer.

     Accepting bribes can put both parties, briber and accepter, in legal trouble. Some ways this could occur is if a large scale project, like a bridge, fails and kills lots of people. In some cultures it is OK to bribe if not even expected, however in America it is illegal to bribe because it causes low quality products to be produced. Because of the breach of the code of ethics, one side affect could be the loss of the guilty person’s engineering license most likely never to receive it again.

     Completion is a fine line to success the economy. Stray too far on one end and that person will end up giving and receiving bribes, which will help for while. But in the end if or when he or she gets caught, it will end poorly for him or her and anyone else he or she has “helped” during his or her time in engineering. Not only are bribes dangerous and illegal but also unethical. They break two important parts of the code of ethics. In fact it break the foundational rule of engineering, “You are here to better mankind.”