Chapter 8: Global Ethics

Overview

Engineering is increasingly seen in a global context. In this chapter we will:

• Draw out and explain the phenomenon of globalization

• Examine ethics in a global context, with a particular emphasis on human rights

• Examine and analyse the global corporate social responsibility of a major engineering company using Anglo American as an example.

• Examine related issues such as the importance of working with NGOs and having a strategy for working across different cultures

Globalization

Globalization is a contested concept in social, economic or moral terms. Steger suggests this all-encompassing definition:

Globalization refers to a multidimensional set of social processes that create, multiply, stretch and intensify worldwide social interdependencies and exchanges while at the same time fostering in people a growing awareness of deepening connections between the local and the distant.
(Steger 2003)

• At the core of this process has been the expansion of capitalism across political boundaries. This has not simply been the intensification of worldwide trade something evident since the fifteenth century. It also involves the organizing of production across national boundaries. This may be the result of critical resources or because of lower labour costs. This has led to the development of huge MNCs, some of which have annual financial turnovers larger than the gross national product of nations.

• Distance has been 'shortened' through rapid technological change, leading to significant increases in speed of communication and transport. The Internet relays information in seconds and news-gathering technology can enable...