Discuss this statement in detail within the context of the Malaysian

environment. Conflicts of professional interest frequently arises in the

working environment of an engineer. Discuss the statement and
propose the appropriate solutions for overcoming the problems.

Abstract

Conflicts of professional interest frequently arises in the work environment of an

engineer is one of the situation happened in Malaysian environment. There are a
few factors who cause the situation happened. The main parties that will involve
in the conflict of interest are the developers, contractors and consultant
engineers. In order to overcome the problems, the conflict have to be figured out
and overcome the problems with optimal solution. The conflict should be
decrease as to help the company growth better.

Introduction
Conflict always happen on our surrounding, especially in the world which is
full of sophistication and complexity. We face many kinds of conflicts in daily life
which involves our family, friends and colleagues in learning or working
environment or even the boss. Everyone has his/her opinion and interest on a
certain issue or thing. When one is disagree with another persons point of view
and interest, conflict will occur. In Malaysias working environment, to work as an
engineer in the related field, these conflicts cant be avoided. However, the
conflict of professional interest is a current issue in the career of an engineer. If
this type of working environment does not improve or changed, it will bring
negative effects to the employer, employees who are working in the company
and also the companys own reputation.
A true profession is an occupation which requires skills and knowledge in a
specified field that was for the benefit of the society. A professional able to
demonstrate their knowledge and skills which they done by training and it was
used to provide service which is unique and it was used to serve the community.
A professional was a person who can distinguish others from all the occupational
groups by showing their expertise in the particular area of which utilizes the
knowledge and skill which he already had.

The knowledge and skills which an engineer has was a result of training,
researching and experience. Through these processes, an engineer was able to
develop more critical knowledge and professional ideas. What they learnt was
tested, examined and evaluated before they are qualified as a professional
engineer. Through disciplined academic training and experience, they will obtain
a certain level of knowledge in their area of practice. It required certain level of
standards, also with rules and regulations to ensure that the person can be
called as a professional engineer.

Problem Statement
As mentioned in the earlier section, conflict occurs as a result of different
opinions and interests in one from that of others. Engineers involved themselves
in the industry which is a wide, fast-growing and competitive profession. The
main parties that will involve in the conflict of interest are the developers,
contractors and consultant engineers.
Objectives
To figure out the conflict happen among the engineers with professional.
To overcome the conflict between professional and the engineers.

Discussion
A construction project needs a quite big amount of funds. A construction
developer mostly was an organization involved in the act of acquiring, buying
goods, services which works for a land and also the construction activity of the
land. There are also wealthy individual developers which can build construction
project by having considerable amount of funds, but it is more common for a
group containing all wealthy individuals which forms a development company to
separate the lost and risk of a construction project. They are usually considered
as business men that do investment in the property to build building to gain
more profit. As an engineer, it is important to think what others think. The
developer side will only consider about the cost and profit issue. An engineer
should be reporting about the amount and cost of the material used in the
construction project. Besides that, any raise of price of material well also affect
the distribution of developers funds to each sectors regarding the construction
project.
The next party would also have conflict of interest with the engineers was the
contractors. Contractors will also have concerns on the cost of the project but it
is not the main issue for him. The main task for him was to ensure the progress
of building the project within the timeframe and will be completed at the
expected date. It is important that engineers let the contractors know how to
arrange the human resources available at the construction site. Contractor also
would needed to be suggested to follow the schedule for the construction project
as any delay in time will cause a lost in the construction cost.

Another side which has the conflict of interest was the consultant
engineers. Consultant engineers job was to ensure the construction were carried
out in relevant and was following the engineering codes and complying with
international best practices. The main responsible for the consultant engineers
was to keep an eye on the quality of working activities in the construction site. It
is important that the safety measurements of a construction site are following
the protocols set by the local government. Workers or anyone authorized to enter
the construction site must wear safety helmets and gloves as prevention to any
incident that may happen when they are in the construction site. A first aid
emergency centre should be at standby condition with simple medical assistance
and staffs on site. If any accident occurs, the casualty was able to get treated at
instant.

One of the types of conflict in the working environment was conflicting

client interests. The classic case involving conflicting client interests occurs when
a forest professional is required to serve a client whose interests directly clash
with those of another current client. Obviously, a forester representing a
landowner in a timber trespass case cannot also work for the logger who
allegedly committed the trespass, but many more subtle situations can also
present conflicts.
 Another type of conflict which will be occur was financial conflicts.
Financial conflicts of interest are not always as clear-cut as one might assume.
For example, when a forester who owns a partial interest in a wood-using
manufacturing plant sells wood on behalf of a forest landowner, the forester has
an obligation to make the landowner aware of this other business interest.
The solution was first, the engineer must recognize, before accepting an
assignment from the second party, that there is a potential conflict of interest. A
prudent engineer will explain to the municipalitys representative that a report
was prepared for one of the land developers. The municipality may well deem
this to be a conflict and select another engineer for the assignment, thereby
ending the potential conflict. Alternatively, the municipality could decide that
there is no conflict and be willing to continue with the engineer. However, this
does not resolve the engineers potential conflict, because the developer, who is
the first client, is not party to this decision. The engineer should advise the
municipality that the assignment will be accepted only if the developer agrees in
writing that there is no conflict. Once that written agreement is obtained, the
second assignment can be accepted. If no waiver is provided, the municipality
may agree to retain the professional engineer generally but obtain a different
one for this specific land owner.

Solution of to this issue was first to create mutual respect. Building trust
between the engineers is key in this case. We should know that everyone who
works in the company has his/her own vision and commands on the company in
terms of the companys policy, the organization of the company and the
companys future prospects. We also should understand that engineers might
perceive a conflict of interest, and that the perception would damage mutual
understanding and credibility. The lack of trust by engineers might be extended
to the entire management of the company. The loss to the company might be
substantial, but we need to put the interests of the companys employer and its
employees before their personal interests. We should able to understand the
concerns of the engineers to the company and try to acknowledge and respect
the suggestion given by them. Avoiding the conflict would guarantee continued
mutual respect between the engineers.

Establishing common goals and objectives of the company are vital. The
common goal can unite all the staffs of the company which allows them to fight
together to achieve the goals set by the company. The objective of a company is
to establish a foundation or the base for the company. Shared objectives can
help engineers to be motivated in their work and became more innovative to
produce better and useful solutions which make sure that they can reach the
objectives. If the engineers have positive relationships and work together as a
strong team, it will reduce the conflict of professional interest as they are moving
in the same direction for sake of the company. The company was able to obtain
more benefit and profit. More than that, the company was able to improve its
performance and will be having a better future.

In a company, effective communication has a very important role to avoid

conflict of interest. It is nice to see engineers having meeting each week
discussing about the issue of the company. However, if the outcome of the
meeting was still unable to solve the problem, this was considered an ineffective
communication. Another example was only one of the sides was giving opinion
and suggestions but does not receive any feedback from others. It was known as
a one way communication, which was also ineffective. The strategy of having an
effective communication was information should always be clear and easy to
understand for everyone involved. It may have different communications plans
for different sides in a meeting such as the administration board, the engineers
and the technicians. Just go straight to the point, expect what information they
want to hear and present to them. A two-way communication should be build up.
Both sides listen, discuss and debate the opinions and suggestion given and
came out with a best solution as the outcome of the meeting between the
engineers.

To decrease the gap of conflict of interest between two parties, each

person needs to be considerate. It should be a good practice if one was able to
put himself/herself in their shoes. As an engineer, it was good to provide your
own ideas and opinions. But, what is more important was to consider what they
will feel and think if they accept the opinion and ideas given by your side. As an
example, if one of the engineers proposed the idea of a new product, there will
be concerns on the design, cost, building material, target customers, and
functionality. Therefore, before proposing an idea of your own, try also to
consider the problems and difficulties which will be faced by the other engineers
or departments. However, it was impossible to take consideration for all the
sides, but at least you tried your best to reduce the burden of the other
engineers and departments when the proposed product was approve to be mass
produced. It was a challenge to an engineer to optimize all the resources of a
company and produced a solution which can benefit the company and give good
reputation to the company.

Developing a positive relationship between the engineers is important. If

the trusts were built in the organization, they will be more likely to compromise
and work towards goals. Therefore, having good working relationship among
engineers will reduce the conflict of interest. In a working environment,
engineers meet different peoples from different department. Everyone has
his/her standards and restrictions towards their position. As an engineer, building
good relationship will help to develop your working practices and were able to
understand the point of view of your colleagues and able to know how they think
and how they solve problem in different ways. What you practice will influence
others to practice the similar approach in the whole working environment.
Having good relationship also improves your networking skills, which able
yourself to have wider access to more information. It will also be a stepping
stone for your career development.

Engineers faced a lot of issues and decision making moments in the

working environment. There should be having frequent discussion for a quick
solution. Engineers solve issues by providing solutions to solve the problem.
Discussion can be made during meeting to find out the best way to overcome a
problem. The discussion also can be done in small groups which involve
members from the same department. The outcome of the discussion was to
solve the problem in only one way which was effective, reasonable and
acceptable by all the members of the group. If no discussion was been done
between the engineers, everyone will do their routine job in their own way. When
problems arise, there will be conflicts on the method used was not good enough
which may lead to argument. To avoid the conflicts and argument, engineers
should make discussions often.

Conclusion
As a conclusion, the conflict of professional interest should be decrease to
a minimum in the working environment of Malaysia. This would help companies
grow stronger and better. It allows the employees to imagine the future of the
companys plans and visions. It will also help the development of an engineers
personal value and career. It is important to change the working environment of
a workplace which can produce a more effective but still competitive
environment.

Reference:
http://nazrulanuar.com/author/?page_id=1234