DP2

DecisionPoint
http://proethica.org/ontology/cases#DecisionPoint

DP2

Once appointed, how should Engineer A attempt to discharge the county surveyor's oversight duties given his lack of domain competence in surveying and highway engineering?

After accepting the county surveyor position, Engineer A — lacking competence in surveying and highway engineering — must decide how to discharge the non-delegable oversight duties of the role. The position explicitly excludes direct preparation of engineering or surveying documents, but requires Engineer A to oversee qualified surveyors who prepare those documents. Engineer A must choose between attempting to perform oversight personally, delegating oversight functions to qualified subordinates, or invoking Section II.2.c to retain specialists — recognizing that each path may itself constitute an ethical violation.

Engineer A personally reviews and approves surveying reports and highway improvement projects using his chemical engineering background, without specialist assistance, thereby exercising the statutory oversight function but without the domain competence necessary to identify errors or exercise meaningful professional judgment in those fields.

Engineer A effectively transfers the substantive oversight and judgment functions to qualified surveyors on staff, treating the non-delegable statutory oversight duty as dischargeable through subordinate action, on the theory that qualified staff presence cures his own competence deficit.

Engineer A recognizes that every available course of action within the accepted position — direct oversight, delegation, or specialist retention — results in an ethical violation, and therefore resigns from the county surveyor position, acknowledging that the inescapability of ethical violation upon acceptance signals that acceptance itself was impermissible.

Engineer A (Appointed County Surveyor Lacking Domain Competence)