Engineering Professional Practice Notes

By
Aaditya Raj Bhattarai
073bce003
Chapter 1

HISTORY OF ENGINEERING PRACTICES

1..1 Definition of society
Merriam-Webster defines society as “An enduring and cooperating social group whose
members have developed organized patterns of relationships through interaction with
one another and A part of a community that is a unit distinguishable by particular aims
or standards of living or conduct: a social circle or a group of social circles having a
clearly marked identity.”
According to Ginsberg, “A society is a collection of individuals united by certain relations
or modes of behavior which mark them off from others, who do not enter into those
relations or who differ from them in behavior.”

1..2 Characteristics of society

A comprehensive analysis of society requires a thorough analysis of its characteristics.
Society has following characters:
i. Population: A society must have a group of individuals assigning themselves to
the common behaviors and norms. For establishment of group, population is
necessary.
ii. Likeness: Likeness invites a feeling of mutual recognition of ‘belonging to each
other’ and this is what creates a society.
iii. Differences: MacIver defines a society is only as good as its primary likeness and
secondary differences. Differences are complimentary to social relationship.
iv. Interdependence: Man is a social animal and needs interdependence for survival
and well being of society. No individual is self-sufficient.
v. Cooperation and conflict
vi. Society is a network or web of social relationship
vii. Permanent nature
viii. Society is abstract
ix. Society is dynamic
x. It provides cultural pattern to succeeding generations
xi. Something more than mere collection of individuals. Society refers to the feeling
of well being of every member of society, so it reduces individualism.
xii. Accommodation and Assimilation

1..3 Types of society

The type of society has not been the same everywhere on this planet nor ahs it been
similar throughout the course of human history.
i. Tribal society: Acc to George Peter Murdock, tribe is a social group in which
there are many clans, nomadic bands, villages or other sub groups which usually
 have a definite geographical area, a separate language, a separate and distinct
culture and either a common political organization or a least a feeling of
common determination against the strangers.
ii. Agrarian society: Society I which the dominant type of economic activity is
agricultural whereas in industrial society factory of production is the dominant
type of economic activity. It started since the Neolithic Revolution began in the
Nile valley about 13000 years ago.
iii. Industrial society: After the industrial revolution, the society began to change
with the beginning of Industrial Revolution. After this individualistic capitalist
came into power and defined objectives in a society. He was deemed intelligent,
ambitious man who helps get food for a small section of society, different than
times before when a father provided food only for his family.
1..4 Community
Community is “a human population living within a limited geographic area and carrying
in a common-interdependent life.” It is any circle of people who live together and
belong together in such a way that they do not share this or that particular interest only.

Elements of a community
i. Group of people: Community is a group of people wherever the individuals live
together in such a way that they share the basic conditions of a common life, we
call them forming a community.
ii. Locality: For a community to survive a group must people reside in a particular
locality. The people may change their location of residence.
iii. Community settlement: Community settlement means a feeling of belonging
together. It is ‘we feeling’ among the members. In the modern times the
sentiment vary very much lacks among the people occupying a specific local
area.
iv. Permanency: A community is not transitory like a crowd. It essentially includes a
permanent life in a definite place.
v. Naturality: Communities are not made or created by an act of will but are
natural. An individual is born in a community.
vi. Likeness
vii. Wider ends
viii. Particular name
ix. No legal status
x. Size of community
1..5 Social change
Merril and Elbridge defines social change as “That large no. of persons are engaging in
activities that differ from those which they or their immediate fore-fathers engaged in
time before.”
Factors causing social change:
 i. Natural factors
ii. Geographical factors
iii. Biological factors
iv. Demographic factor
v. Socio-economic facto
vi. Cultural factor
vii. Science and technology

1..6 Activities to be governed by the society for its survival

To survive, every society must successfully address the same fundamental social needs.
Talcott identified six social needs:
i. All societies must organize the activities of the members to obtain the basic
goods and services necessary for survival (food clothing, shelter, fuel, potable
water)
ii. Societies must protect their members from both external and internal threats.
External threats include invasion by other societies and destructive natural
disasters like earthquake, hurricanes and tornados.
iii. All societies must replace members lost by death or emigration.
iv. Whenever societies gain new members, they must transmit knowledge of their
rights, obligations, responsibilities and expectations of appropriate behaviors to
the new members.
v. All society must motivate both new and continuing members to fulfill their
responsibilities and conform to expected behaviors.
vi. Finally, societies must develop mechanisms for solving conflicts.

 Technology and society:

The word technology refers to the making, modification, usage and organization, in order to
solve a problem, improve pre-existing solution to a problem, achieve a goal, handle an
applied input/output relation or perform a specific function.
Characteristics of technology:
i. It is evident in all cultures regardless of their development stage.
ii. It is accumulative.
iii. It is fundamental to humanity.
iv. It is fundamental to survival.
v. It alters culture and society.
vi. Its future oriented

Impact of technology in society has greatly increased. It has impacted women as:
i. Women are considered equal t men in all aspects.
ii. Problem of dowry has been reduced to some extent.
iii. Women in urban areas have got more opportunities in employment.
 Technology creates opportunity in various fields:
i. Families and modern technology
ii. Economy
iii. Politics
iv. Education
v. Religion
vi. It has been the motor of all progress as holding the solution to most of our social
problems.
vii. As the source of permanent prosperity.
viii. In short as a promise of utopia of our time.

History of engineering practice in Eastern society

 During 5000 BC, civilization developed near Yanshao, where people roamed seeking new
soil for animals and agriculture.
 During BC 3500 to 3000 in Sumeria, the location of city is placed in trade routes for easy
access.
 In 132AD, Chinese philosopher Chang Heng incented Seismoscope.
 In 805AD, the forerunners of gun were invented which is called fire lance, resembling
flame throwers.
 In 1040AD, Chinese writer Yseng Kung Liang published the first known Gun-powder
formula for use in three weapons.
 Iranians built many bridges, however only few survived.
 In 515 BS Persian building method with stone instead of wood introduced in to India
when Darius conquered the Punjab.

History of engineering practice in Western society

 In 3000-1000 BC, Stonehenge-a monument consisting of concentric circles of stone
oriented towards the Sun to find summer solstice was constructed.
 In 300-100AD agricultural and power was invented in Mesopotamia.
 In 350 to 900AD, proper calendar was made to plan ceremonies.
 1793 James watt, Mattheu Boulton: Steam engine
 1807 Robert Fulton: Power driven steamboat.
 1548-1620 Simon Stevin: Triangle of forces
 1564-1642 Galileo Galilei: Analysis of steel in beams and accelerated motion.
 Engineering school in France in 1800 AD.

1.5 Key roles of engineering in the developmental activities

 Creating vision: Imagine a useful and beneficial object are product that can be produced
by utilizing the properties of different matters and sources of power for the benefits of
the people.
 Preparing mission: Plan, prepare and produce the same economically for the use of
larger number of people for safe, healthy and protection.
 Execution: Assign the planned activities and or get assigned the jobs that require
engineering skills and knowledge for implementation.
 Monitor and evaluate: Monitor and evaluate and supervise the make for accuracy,
timely, quality and economical products.
 Train: Train new engineers practically, technically and professionally to make
professionals.
 Upgrade profession: Innovate, systematize and produce or make facilities for the people
by keeping up the dignity and ethical values of engineers.
Chapter 2

Profession and ethics

2.1 Profession:
A profession is defined as having a systematic knowledge acquired through specialized
training or education and practicing the same as an occupation. Besides these, professionals
bear morals and ethical behaviors. The content of profession with moral and
ethical behaviors is professionalism.

2.2 Characteristics of Profession:

 A professional acquires a systematic knowledge and enhance skill.
 A professional exercise the knowledge and enhance skill ethically as an expert,
occupational or professional.
 The service or works as an expertise of a professional is evaluated by the public
 Professionals follow code of conducts to keep moral of the profession high.
 Professionals have their own cultures.
2.3 Factors affecting morale of professions
 Today, professions are found losing professionalism due to following cause:
 Inadequate salary.
 Defective social norms or value.
 Low morale of the individual.
 Non-regularities of law and regulations.
 Lack of political commitment.
2.4 Engineering Ethics
Studying Engineering Ethics can achieve
 At least four desirable outcomes:
 Increased ethical sensitivity;
 Increased knowledge of relevant standards of conduct;
 Improved ethical judgment; and
 Improved ethical will-power (i.e., a greater ability to act ethically when one wants to).
Professional Institutions
- Professional institution is an independent body that regulates the practice of professional
engineering and governs its members in accordance with the rules of the body and act of the
country so as to serve the public interest.
- It is the organization that represents the interest of the professional practitioner.
Objectives of Professional Institutions
i. Center of learning through professional interest network
ii. Provide professional status and responsibility
iii. Voice of profession
iv. Facilitates the best practices
v. Maintain and develop standards of knowledge and skills
vi. Maintain standards of qualification and practice

NEC Nepal Engineering Council

The objective of Nepal Engineering Council is to make the engineering profession effective by
mobilizing it in a more systematic and scientific and also to register the engineers as per their
qualifications. It can be said that Nepal entered into a modern phase of development process
after the political change in the sixties. Engineering activities began to contribute to the
development of the country and the engineering profession started to gain importance in the
society.
OBJECTIVES OF NEPAL ENIGINEERING COUNCIL
The objective of Nepal Engineering Council is to make the engineering profession effective by
mobilizing it in a more systematic and scientific and also to register the engineers as per their
qualifications. Its duties and responsibilities are:
A. To prepare policies, plans and programs for the smooth functioning of the engineering
profession and to execute them
B. To set norms and standards for engineering education in Nepal
C. To grant permission and approval to carry out engineering education to those
engineering colleges and institutions that meet the required norms and standards and
to honor their degrees and certificates
D. To monitor and inspect the quality of engineering education provided by the
engineering colleges and institutions
E. To fix the qualification necessary in order to practice engineering profession and to
register their name in the Council
F. To remove their name from the registration of the engineering council if found to
violate the code of ethics.
NEA Nepal Engineering association
Nepal Engineers' Association (NEA) is an independent nonprofit organization of Nepalese
engineers, registered under the Social Service Act of the Government of Nepal. It was
established in 1962. Today, it represents 26,740 engineers, belonging to various engineering
disciplines including architects, civil, electrical, mechanical, electronics etc and coming from
both the public and private sector economies. NEA is governed by an elected executive council
of 15 members, led by the President of the association for a tenure of two years. NEA's
mandates include promoting fellowship goodwill and cooperation assistance among the
Nepalese engineers, safeguarding their rights and interests and promoting development of
science and technology. Lately NEA has established centers for Continuous Engineering
Education (NEA CCEE) and the Business Incubation Center (NEA BIC) to address respectively the
CPD requirements for professional enhancements and to promote entrepreneurship
capabilities among the young engineers.
OBJECTIVES:
A. To promote development of the engineering science and technology in Nepal.
B. To promote fellowship goodwill and cooperation assistance among the Nepalese
engineers and safeguard their rights and interests.
C. By utilizing, to the highest extent possible, the participation of the national engineering
manpower of the country in the national development activities of Nepal, make effort
towards ending foreign dependency in this regard.
D. To continuously enhance the highest professional ideals among the members and widen
it.
E. To develop relations, fellowship and goodwill with international engineering
associations and institutions.
DEFINIIONS:
A. Etiquette
 rules of acceptable personal behavior and courtesy e.g. proper dress,
answering the phone, language, talking about others
B. Laws
 a system of rules and punishments clearly defined e.g. legal driving age
C. Morals
 –personal rules of right and wrong behavior –e.g. derived from a person’s
upbringing, religious beliefs
D. Ethics
 –a code or system of rules defining moral behavior for a particular society.

Engineering ethics
“Ethical responsibility...involves more than leading a decent, honest, truthful life... And it
involves something much more than making wise choices when such choices suddenly,
unexpectedly present themselves. Our moral obligations must... include a willingness to engage
others in the difficult work of defining the crucial choices that confront technological society.”
Examples of Engineering Codes of Ethics
 Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)
 National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)
 Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

Public liability is part of the law of tort which focuses on civil wrongs. An applicant (the injured
party) usually sues the respondent (the owner or occupier) under common law based on
negligence and/or damages.
Claims are usually successful when it can be shown that the owner/occupier was responsible
for an injury, therefore they breached their duty of care.
Chapter 3

Professional Practices in Nepal

Public Sector Practices

 Public sectors in context to Nepal are understood as the organizations that are run by
the budget sanctioned by the government.
 The organizations in which qualified people can compete for participation are public
organizations.
 All the ministries and departments, regional offices, district offices and other sister
organizations are the public sectors wherein any qualified Nepalese citizen can apply
and be nominated for the job.
Sample List of Public/Semi-Public Organizations where engineers are involved/employed
1. Nepal Telecommunication Authority
2. Nepal Airlines Corporation
3. Diary Development Corporation
4. Nepal Industrial Development Corporation
5. Nepal Electricity Authority
6. Nepal Rastra Bank
7. Agricultural Development Bank
8. Rastriya Banijya Bank
9. TU/PU/PU/MWU/FWU/KU
10. University Grants Commission
11. Hetauda Cement Factory
12. Udayapur Cement Factory
13. Nepal Telecom
14. CAAN
15. Diary Development Corporation
16. Investment Board Nepal
17. Salt Trading Corporation
18. Industrial Estates (Balaju, Patan, Pokhara, Hetauda, …)
19. Central Bureau of Statistics
20. Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology.
Private sector practices
In the open market system, there are thousands of private organisations and firms working in
engineering sectors
  Entrepreneurs have used engineers to produce in large quantity in economic
investments,
 Private sector working more efficiently under strict supervision and motivations
 More than 50 private engineering colleges affiliated to 7 universities - governmental and
nongovernmental.
 Numerous consultancies, construction companies and firms
 Many computer institutes, training institutes, e-business organizations, hospitals,
research centers have employed engineers.
General Job description of engineers working in public sectors
The following job description is for the fresh or newly entering engineers on the Gazetted third
class position, abstracted from the office of Rural Infrastructure development Project (RIDP),
HMG/Nepal.
 to perform preliminary and detail survey, design and estimate
 to execute and assign for execution of project works
 to conduct various programs for increasing people’s capacity.
 Report writing of –
o Progress report
o Feasibility report
o Final report
o Monitoring and evaluation report etc.
 To monitor and evaluate ongoing projects
 To facilitate donor agencies is involved
 To execute and perform works and jobs assigned by immediate superiors, and
 To execute other jobs planned specifically for engineers as the nature and case be.

3.3 Roles of Professional Associations

Regulate professional practices through enactment of rules and reward and punishment system

 Develop norms, standards, and codes of professional practices

 Monitor practices and performance
 Orient new professional members
 Enhance professionalism through professional development programs
 Provide platform for knowledge sharing and mutual learning
 Provide suggestions for development and update of policies/ acts/ laws/ rules/
regulations/ codes.
3.3.1 Roles of professional organizations in induction of new entrants into the profession
Another major role of the professional associations is to guide new entrants into the profession
by:

 providing orientation and training,

 guiding on the conventions of the profession,
 providing information on the dos and don’ts of the profession, • potential pitfalls when
the Code of Conduct are not followed,
 linking the new comers with established members of the profession.
 Guiding on general job description and employers’ expectation from new recruits
 Training new entrants for job seekers, proposal writing, bidding, project terms and
conditions negotiation, etc.
3.3.2 Upgrading and maintaining the professional and technical competence of members of
professional association
Professional societies take various steps for upgrading and maintaining the professional and
technical competence of its members by:

 Organizing regular professional development courses and continuing education

programs, like running Engineering Staff College
 Organizing skill development-oriented training programs
 Organizing regular talk programs to share experiences and lessons learned from
different projects • Providing platform for its members to expose their works by
organizing national and international seminars/workshops on regular basis
 Publishing technical journals and news bulletin
 Organizing exposure field visits to different projects
 Providing exposure to national and international experiences by organizing national and
international visits to its members
 Proactively working with academic institutes on development and update of university
curriculums • Proactively working with research institutes for involving its members in
research and development activities
 Proactively working with service providing organizations (consulting companies,
contractors, material suppliers, software developers, equipment operators) to establish
link of its members with established organizations.
Chapter 4

Contract Management

4.1 Methods of work execution

National Competitive Bidding

 All the eligible bidders are invited to participate in bidding.
 Tender noticed is published in national newspaper giving a period of at least 30 days.
 It is necessary if the estimated amount of work is greater than 20 lakhs or estimated
goods is greater than 10 lakhs.

International Competitive Bidding

 Eligible bidders from all over the world are invited if the amount of work can not be
performed by domestic contractors.
 Tender notice should be published in national newspaper giving at least a period of
45 days.

Sealed Quotation
 According to Public Procurement act, the goods and other services valuing up to 1
million rupees and construction work valuing up to 2 million rupees may be
procured by inviting a sealed quotation.
 Sealed quotation means the statement, accompanied by the quoted price, in a
sealed envelope, submitted by an interested person, firm or organization in respect
of provision of any goods or other services in response to a notice of a public entity.

The provision related to sealed quotation are as follows:

1. Before inviting a sealed quotation, a form stating every specifications clearly shall
have to be prepared.
2. A notice shall be published in national or local newspaper giving at least a period of
15 days.
3. The sealed quotation, once submitted, can not be withdrawn or amended.
4. The sealed quotation with the lowest cost estimate shall have to be approved.

Direct Procurement
- Capital goods valuing up to 3 lakhs and construction work valuing up to 5 lakhs rupees
may be directly procured.
- Direct procurement involves procuring the necessary services from the supplier
directly without any bidding or sealed quotation process.
Contract
- Contract is an agreement between two or more than two persons to do or not to do
something, which can be enforceable by law.
- Contract Act is formulated in 2056 BS.
- After entering a contract, if any party breaches the contract, legal action can be taken as
per the contract act 2056.

Elements of a Contract
1. Offer and Acceptance:
 Contract exists whenever a person advances a proposal to a person, who accepts it.
 Offer can be specific or general.
 Contract does not exist if no acceptance is received within the specified period of time.
 The person who offers a proposal cannot bind the person with the statement that if the
notice of rejection is not given then he shall be deemed to accept the offer.
 No contract exists if the offeror dies or become insane before the proposal is accepted.
2. Consideration:
 It includes the cause, motive or impelling influence that induces a contracting party to
enter into contract.
 It is defined as something with value that is exchanged by the contracting parties.
3. Capacity to Contract:
 For a contract to be legal and valid, all the parties entering into contract must be
capable.
 According to contract act, idiots, drunkards, insane and children below 16 years are not
capable of signing a contract.
4. Lawful Purpose:
 The contract is invalid if the two parties agree to perform a job against the law of
country.
5. Possibility of Performance:
 If two parties agree up on impossible jobs, the contract is invalid.
6. Free Consent:
 Contract should not involve fraud, undue influence and deceit.
7. Certainty:
  The contract that cannot be carried out because of various reasons are not valid.
8. Legal Relationship:
 There should be a clear intention of parties to enter into a contract with all the
necessary documents.
9. Written:
 Verbal agreement cannot be considered as a contract.
 Contract should be written agreement.
10. Two or More Competent Parties:
 Contract is made between two or more parties.

Types of Contract
1. Valid Contract:
 If all the elements of contract are present, it is said to be a valid contract.

2. Voidable Contract:
 The contracts that will not be valid if the concerned party desire to make it void are
called voidable contracts.
 The following contracts are voidable:
o Forceful contract
o Contract due to undue influence
o Contract involving fraud or misstatement.

3. Void Contract:
 A contract that is not considered as a valid contract is known as void or null contract.
 The following contract are void:
o Contrary to statutory law
o Impossible job performance
o Contrary to public policy and welfare
o Signed by incompetent parties
Importance of Contract:
 It makes legal agreement between the parties.
 It specifies what the contractor must do and what the owner must pay.
 It specifies what will be done if any party fails to perform.
 It defines what is and what is not included in a contract.
 It specifies how the contract will be terminated.
 It states the responsibilities of all the parties involved.

Tender (Bid)
 Tender is an offer in written by the person who offers the tender to execute some
specified work or to supply some specified goods at a certain rate within fixed time
frame under certain conduction of agreement.
 It is the first step in formulation of contract.

Necessity of Tender
1) Tender is performed to select the best contractor.
2) It helps to achieve quality output.
3) It helps in gaining work at competitive price.
4) It maintains transparency.

Tendering Process
1) Determine tender process
2) Prepare request for tender
3) Invite tender
4) Suppliers respond
5) Evaluation and selection
6) Notification and Debriefing
7) Contract Establishment

Tender Notice

 Tender notice is the information inviting bids from competent contractors.

 It should be published in national newspapers.
 It should include all the necessary detail information about the project.
Bidding Document
 Bidding document is a document prepared by the concerned firm making invitation to
bid for submission by bidders by filling up the price or rate.
 It includes instructions for bidders, specifications, evaluation criteria, conditions of
contract and other similar documents.

Earnest Money
 Earnest money is the amount of money deposited while bidding a tender as a guarantee
of a party's interest in performing the work awarded to him/her.
 Bidder shall have to submit the bid along with bid security of 2 to 3 % of the estimated
amount of the bid in cash or equivalent bid security issued by a commercial bank.
 Earnest money is refunded to the unsuccessful bidders.

Performance Security
 Performance security is the amount of money deposited by a successful bidder as a
security for satisfactory performance.
 Successful bidder should submit 5 % of the contract amount as performance security.
 It is refunded after defect liability period.
 It is forfeited if the contractor fails to perform his/her duty.

Pre Qualification
 Pre qualification is the process in which assessment is done by the implementing agency
to check the suitability of the firms to carry out a particular contract before inviting for a
bid.
 It is the process of short listing of eligible bidder that ensures that the invitation to bids
are provided to only perspective bidders with adequate capability and resources to
perform the contract.
 It includes assessment with respect to experience, past performance, capabilities,
financial position and litigation (process of taking legal action) history.
Chapter 5

Regulatory Management

A) Engineering Council Ain, 2055, Section 37

- Nepal Engineering Council is an autonomous body formed under NEC Act 2055 BS with
the mission of regulating engineering profession effectively and scientifically and also
undertaking licensing of Engineers in accordance with their qualification.
Main Objectives
- to make engineering profession effective
- to systematically and scientific regulation of Engineering Profession
- to register engineers in Engineering Council
Objectives of NEC
 To prepare policies, plans and programs for the smooth functioning of the engineering
profession.
 To set norms and standards for engineering education in Nepal.
 To grant permission and approval to carry out engineering education to those
engineering colleges that meet the required norms and standards.
 To monitor and inspect the quality of engineering education provided by the
engineering colleges.
 To register the name of qualified engineers in the council and provide them the license.
 To remove the name of registered engineers from the registration if found to violate the
code of ethics.
Scope of NE
1. Licensing of Engineers
2. Accreditation of certificates of academic qualification
3. Recognition of the academic institutions
4. Professional code of conduct
NEA vs NEC
1. NEA is an independent non-profit organization registered under Social service act of
Government of Nepal. NEC is an autonomous body formed under Nepal Engineering
Council Act.
2. NEA focuses on safeguarding of rights and interests of the engineers and thus promoting
development of science and technology. NEC focuses on code of ethics that must be
followed by the engineering professionals.
 Labor Law
 Labor law is the law concerned over the rights, interests, facilities and safety of
workers and employees working in the enterprises of various sector.
 The engineer are responsible to understand the welfare activities that influence the
workers to work with efficiency and interest.
 Labor act is formulated in 2048 BS.

Article related to Working Hours

A. For a labor, maximum working hour is 8 hours a day or 48 hours a week, with one day
leave in a week.
B. A labor shall not be forced to work continuously for more than 5 hours. 30 minutes
break shall be provided for tiffin and rest.
C. A labor shall be paid overtime by 50% of the wage if working for more than 8 hours a
day. Overtime shall not be forced and exceed 4 hours a day and 20 hours a week.

Intellectual Property Right

1. Intellectual property right is the rights related to patents, design, trademarks and
copyright.
2. Intellectual property refers to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for
which property rights are recognized.
3. The owners of the intellectual property are granted certain exclusive rights.

Trademark

1. Trademark is defined as a mark that is used by a person for the purpose of

distinguishing goods or services manufactured produced by any firm or individuals.
2. Nobody shall use or copy any trademark in a way if manipulating the people in general
without a written consent of person in whose name the trademark is registered.
3. The ownership of a trademark can be transferred to other with a permission of the
department.

Design Right
 Anybody may have a right on design of any goods under the act, which is made by him and
has been registered in the department.
 Ownership of the design can be transferred.
 Nobody shall make any goods by using other's design without written consent of the person
in whose name the design is registered.
Patent
 Patent is defined as any useful invention invented through a new method.
 Patent right refers to the rights granted to anyone who invents or discovers any
new and useful invention.
 A patent application must include one or more claims defining the invention that
is new, non-obvious and useful.
 It prevents others from making, using, selling or distributing the patented
invention without permission.

Copyright
 Copyright is defined as the sole right to produce or reproduce the work or any
substantial part in any material form whatever.
 Any person registering any of his work shall have the copyright in accordance
with the provisions of the act.
 The copyright ownership can be transferred.

Building Codes and Bylaws

 Building bylaws are the set of guidelines regarding the design of buildings,
orderly and systematic planning of the area and ensure safety standards.
 It is the crucial tool used by the engineer to control improper growth and
development of the cities.
 Building codes and bylaws provides the regulations and standards to be met
while designing, constructing or remodeling the buildings.
 Building codes are the set of rules specifying the minimum acceptable level of
safety for constructed objects.

Objectives of Building bylaws

1. To design and construct the buildings as per the environmental aspects and
standards.
2. To develop necessary physical infrastructure in efficient manner.
3. To ensure safety of the public on building construction.
4. To create comfortable living standard.
5. To conserve cultural and historical values.

Company Registration
Company: A company is an association where the members share a common purpose
and are united to use their skills to achieve specific goals.

Characteristics of a company
1. Legal entity
 2. Perpetual existence
3. Limited liability
4. Common seal
5. Capital collected by distributing shares
6. Transferability of shares
7. Transparency

Types of Business Enterprise

1. Sole business:
- A sole business is the business organization which has a single individual as a
proprietary.
- A single person is responsible to establish, manage, organize and control the whole
business.
- A single person is liable to both profit and loss.
- It is easy to form and dissolve.

2. Partnership business:
- A partnership business is the business organization which involves more than one
people collectively make effort to establish, manage, organize and control the business
processes.
- It involves joint ownership of two or more people.
- All the partners share profit and loss.

3. Company business:
- A company is established under the act of the country and has limited liability.
- Finance is collected through issuance of share.
- It is divided into: private limited company and public limited company.
- A limited company is a company in which the liability of members of the company are
limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company.

Difference between private limited company and public limited company

Private Limited Company Public Limited Company

It should have minimum of 2 It should have minimum of 7 members.

members and maximum of 50 It can subscribe its shares to the public.
members. Shares are transferrable.
It can not subscribe its shares to It can not sell shares in the share market until
the public. minimum subscriptions is collected.
Shares can not be transferred. The company name should contain ltd. at last.
It has no provision to collect There are at least three directors in the board
minimum subscription.
Private Limited Company Public Limited Company

The company name should

contain pvt. ltd. at last.
There are two directors in the
of directors.
board of directors.
The scope is wide and expanding.
The scope is limited to the known
It is financially strong.
people and places nearby.
It must have its own Article of Associations.
It is financially weak.
Many documents and information should be
It does not have its own Articles
submitted to the registrar of Company and to
of Associations.
the shareholders.
Many documents are not
It observes a lot of legal formalities.
disclosed to the shareholders.
It observes a less number of legal
formalities.
Chapter 6

Contemporary Issues in Environment

Globalization
 Globalization refers to the free movement of goods, services, capital and
information across the national boundries.
 It helps in extending social relations across the world.
 It is caused due to advancement in transportation and communication.
 It is an ongoing process by which regional economics, societies and culture are
integrated through a global network of communication and trade.

Benefits of Globalization
i. Increase in innovation
ii. Rich cultural exchange
iii. Improved living standards
iv. High average income
v. Global market

Effects of Globalization
1. Permanent economic shift
2. Increasing homogeneity
3. Job insecurity in developed countries
4. Fluctuation in price due to competitive market
5. Cultural degradation due to influence of modern culture

Cross Culture
 Culture refers to the ideas, customs and social behavior of the particular people
or society.
 Cross culture is defined as the initiative to increase understanding of different
group or society so as to develop effective communication and marketing efforts
to reach out customers outside its traditional market.
 It refers to the forms of interaction between members of different cultural
groups.
 The successful international trade depends upon the smooth interaction of
employees from different cultures and regions. So, positive cross cultural
experience is very important.
 Cross cultural competence helps the individuals to adapt effectively in cross
cultural environments.
Public Private Partnership (PPP)
 Public private partnership is the government service or private business that is
operated and funded through a partnership of government and one or more
private sector companies.
 It involves a contract between a public sector authority and a private party.
 The main aim of PPP is to provide service to the public in more efficient and cost-
effective manner.

Importance of PPP
 PPP helps in the development of public sector infrastructure in more efficient
and cost-effective manner.
 It allows both government and private sector to work for public and generate
timely solutions to the problems.
 It provides a unique collaborative way for public management.
 It also helps in globalization.
 It ensures balance between risk and reward for both government and private
sector through risk sharing mechanism.

Safety, Risk and Benefit Analysis

Safety
 Safety refers to the condition of being protected from physical, social, financial,
emotional, occupational or educational failure, damage, error, accidents or
harm.
 It defines the controlled mechanism to achieve acceptable level of risk.
 Safety is the first thing to maintain while delivering any engineering products.
 For eg: during the development of any software product by an engineer, he/she
must review the risks involved in the project. He/she must guarantee that the
product will not harm any people or society in any way.

Risk
 Risk is the potential that a chosen action will lead to a loss.
 Every project has some sort of risk associated with it.
 Risk management is the process to identify, evaluate and prioritize risks and then
coordinate so as to minimize, monitor and control the probability or impact of
the risks on the projects.
 The sources of risk are financial uncertainty, project failure, legal liabilities,
accidents, natural disasters, and so on.

Risk-Benefit Analysis
  Risk benefit analysis is the analysis made by comparing the risk of a situation to
its related benefits.
 A certain level of risk is acceptable in any project.
 A project is undertaken if the risk in the project is in acceptable level and has
more benefits.

Sustainable Development
 Sustainable development is defined as the development activities that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs.
 It concerns development activity with respect to environment and economic
growth.

Environmental Impact Assessment

 Environmental impact assessment is the assessment of the possible positive and
negative impact that a proposed project may have on the environment.
 It helps to predict environmental impacts at early stage in project planning and
design.
 It helps in finding the proper control solutions to reduce adverse effects of the
project on environment.

EIA Process
1. Screening (Determining whether EIA is needed or not)
2. Scoping (Determining the scope for EIA)
3. Prediction and Mitigation (Prediction and mitigation of various environmental
impacts)
4. Management and Monitoring (Plan for managing and monitoring environmental
impacts)
5. Audit (audit of EIA process is carried out after implementation)

SWOT Analysis
 SWOT stands for Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats.
 SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate strength,
weakness, opportunities and threats involved in a project.
 It helps to identify all the internal and external factors that are favorable and
unfavorable to achieve the objectives of the project.
 Strength and weakness determine the internal factors.
 Opportunities and threats determine the external factors.
 Conflict and Dispute Management
- Dispute occurs when one party claims or demands while the other party contradict the
claim.
- Dispute is caused in engineering profession for the following factors:
1. Cost in time, money and lost opportunities
2. Image and uncertainty
3. Behavior
4. Employment and cash flow

Process to resolve dispute

i. Amicable settlement
ii. Adjudication (An arbiter reviews evidence and argumentation, to come to a
decision)
iii. Dispute resolution board
iv. Arbitration (Method of resolving disputes outside the court; a dispute is
submitted in agreement of both parties, to one or more arbitrators who
make a binding decision on the dispute)
v. Litigation (Court)

 Any dispute should be settled amicably.

 If the dispute can not be solved amicably, adjudicator should be used. (price up to one
hundred million rupee)
 Otherwise, a 3 member dispute resolution committee should be established. (price more
than one hundred million rupees)
 If a person is not satisfied with decision from adjudication or dispute committee, such
dispute should be resolved through arbitration pursuant to prevailing law.

The disputes leading to arbitration includes:

1. Late payment by employer
2. Denial to pay interest on late payment even if provided in contract
3. Instructions given to contractors are unclear
4. Delay in providing design

CASE STUDIES: Done in report, check there