23 Do you agree with this statement? Give your reasons.
24 Get acquainted with information below. In groups choose two points from the list and think of the situation concerning (chemical) engineers.
There are several other ethical issues that engineers may face. Some have to do with technical practice, but many others have to do with broader considerations of business conduct. These include:
Quality
Ensuring legal compliance
Conflict of interest
Bribery and kickbacks
Treatment of confidential or proprietary information
Consideration of the employer’s assets
Relationships with clients, consultants, competitors, and contractors
Gifts, meals, services, and entertainment
Outside employment/activities (Moonlighting)
25 Role play this situation.
You are senior managers at medical drugs manufacturing. Your company is losing market share. You strongly suspect your main rival is using unfair methods to promote its products.
For example, you are almost sure that your rival has been:
making cash payments to main dealers
offering expensive gifts to important customers
Hold a meeting to consider how to solve the problem.
PROJECT WORK
‘Code of good practice’
26 You are a president of a chemical company. Create a written ‘Code of good practice’ for your engineers, think of the design and present it to your employees.
WRITING
27 As one of the senior managers at medical drugs manufacturing prepare a written report on the results of the meeting. Put there the following:
problem description in short
ways of problem solving
measures to prevent similar problems in future
CHECKLIST
Assess your progress in this unit. Tick () the statements which are true.
|
I can distinguish ethical engineering activities from unethical ones. |
|
I know what ‘Code of Ethics for Engineers’ performs. |
|
I can talk about professional obligations of engineers. |
UNIT 5
Company Structure and Corporate Culture
STARTING UP
1 Discuss these questions.
What do you think “company” means?
What do you think ‘global company’ mean?
What global companies can you think of?
What industries are they in?
2 Listen and fill in the missing information.
Companies are involved in many activities, for example 1__________, in a range of different industries, such as 2__________. Many well-known companies are 3___________, these are companies which 4__________ in a number of countries.
Multinationals often have a complicated structure. There is usually 5___________. This company owns other companies or parts of other companies. These other companies are called 6___________.
3 Look at the table and match the information from columns a, b and c.
A |
B |
C |
Company logo |
Company activities |
Country |
|
(1) …specialized in processing and machining of small ceramic technical parts. The company is based in Marnay near the Swiss border. It benefits by the famous know how and skills from watch making industry. This traditional experience combined with technology allow to manufacture more than 6 000 000 parts per year mainly used for exportation. |
a) Germany |
|
(2) «National Chemical Company» Group of Companies combines manufacturing complex of raw materials, finished goods and the Company which develops own brands in the non-food market.
|
b) America |
|
(3) … a chemical company converting energy and nitrogen from the air into useful products for farmers and industrial customers and is the leading supplier of mineral fertilizers.Its marketing network covers all continents, with local activities in 50 countries and sales to more than 120 ones. The company employs around 6 800 people worldwide. |
c) Russia |
|
(4) … the world's largest chemical company, ahead of Dow and DuPont. It has more than 150 major manufacturing facilities and does business worldwide through six business segments: plastics (including polyolefins and polystyrene), performance products (value-added chemicals and dyes), chemicals (plasticizers solvents), oil and gas exploration and production (through subsidiary Wintershall AG), functional solutions (catalysts, coatings, and construction chemicals), and agricultural products (additives, herbicides, and fertilizers). |
d) France |
|
(5) …multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan. As of 2007, it is the second largest chemical manufacturer in the world (after BASF).It is a provider of plastics, chemicals, and agricultural products with presence in more than 175 countries and employing 46,000 people worldwide. It is the world's largest producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethanes, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubbers. It is also a major producer of the chemicals calcium chloride, ethylene oxide, and various acrylates, surfactants, and cellulose resins. It produces many agricultural chemicals. |
e) Norway |
