Managerial Mechanism Analysis for Addressing Engineering Management Ethical Issues: A Case Study of the Daxing International Airport Terminal Core Area Project

Ethical issues are prevalent in the engineering practice of China’s construction industry. Engineering managers are expected to serve as the core ethical agents and assume primary ethical responsibilities, but they often lack the necessary ethical sensitivity and relevant experience to identify and address ethical problems effectively. Based on relevant theories, this paper proposes a five-dimensional method for identifying ethical problems in engineering management and constructs an analytic framework for the corresponding managerial measures, which are applied to a case study. Based on the Daxing International Airport Terminal Core Area Project, the elements adjusted of effective managerial measures in the case project are analyzed and seven principles of managerial mechanism design for dealing with ethical issues are proposed. The paper provides theoretical understanding and practical suggestions for engineering managers in the construction industry in response to similar ethical issues through managerial mechanism design, including improving managers’ ethical awareness and competences, adjusting responsibility-power-interest relationships reasonably and fairly, setting appropriate incentives, optimizing management processes and regulations, aligning with macro values, investing in engineering innovation while avoiding consequential risks, and introducing influential subjects as media.