A student's perception of ethics during his final year project “Ethics on a Construction Project” in the Middle East

The construction industry is known for low ethical performance, and business ethics are rarely taught and emphasised in Middle East academic institutions. The purpose of this study is to show how and why an engineering student’s perception of ethics changed during his undergraduate final year project. The study is based on a case study approach and it analyzes the change of the student’s perception of ethics, measured by emergence and continuation of ethics concepts. It was found that the student considered the topic unimportant at the beginning, but gradually became aware of its significance without a clear conceptual understanding. His final perceptions were, that personal misbehaviour is the core issue, and that clear expectations, a role model, applying the “Golden Rule” and trust between project participants are the primary solutions for a variety of ethics issues on a construction project. Interaction with an ethically minded project manager and a workshop with high ranking project participants had a greater impact than the student’s interviews with the same project participants or literature review. This should be considered when preparing engineering students for ethical dilemmas in the workplace through final year projects and other assignments.