Today's upstream business climate of consolidation, mergers, long-term alliances and total buy-outs has the potential of leaving the engineering community in a quandary of allegiances. This potential turmoil can adversely impact daily decisions for projects and bottom lines if ethics are not firmly observed and practiced company wide.
Professionalism and integrity need to guide the entire upstream engineering community in its decision-making processes. Full application of these principles will deliver increased efficiency and improved operability, thus driving the results that today's engineers and operators seek.
Guided by integrity, rather than diverse company allegiances, engineering contractors will gain client trust and repeat business while nurturing valuable, long-term contractor-client relationships.
How each engineer behaves and communicates within the new environment of a consolidated company is a critical part of this nurturing process. The daily interface of making project recommendations challenges today's engineer to balance the expectations of diverse business cultures with the business goals of a consolidated entity.
Early in the development of a newly combined company, the engineer needs to understand the business goals and recognize how the engineering work impacts the goals. Managers need to convey the company's business goals to engineers and be available for further input and clarity.
Engineers need an improved understanding of the interface among the engineering disciplines - beyond their specific engineering field - to know how their work may impact the balance of a project. Enhanced awareness among the disciplines can improve project efficiency while contributing to the long-term reliable performance of an operating system. This effort requires that engineers improve their communications interface, asking focused and precise questions and providing focused and precise answers.
Importantly, today's consolidated industry needs engineers with a mature, open outlook for considering business options and for effectively integrating efforts among groups that once were competitors and who come from different cultures. No doubt, business discussions overshadowed by cultural indifference or intolerance can disrupt projects, thwarting efficiency and timely delivery.
The global workplace continues to bring together a diversity of languages and cultures, where perceptions of words and tone and daily work practices can impact the project development process. For instance, key concepts such as "optimization" often have different interpretations. These are issues that college degrees do not address. Only experience and a willingness to grow and share can bring an exchange of viewpoint and an improved result.
As an example, one company has adopted a company-wide strategy to deal with the complex ethical challenges that face engineers. The company, which is partly owned by two separate corporations, has as its foundation a written "Ethical Will" that guides employees' daily business interface.
The Ethical Will states each employee "will find ways to perform a project in the most efficient manner, even if it reduces the engineering company's scope of work." The "bottom line" for that company is "doing what's best for the project". While seemingly contradictory with the overall goal of maximizing revenue, this approach fosters long-term client relationships, teamwork and trust.
Further, the Ethical Will clarifies both individual and company-wide responsibilities for company profitability and underscores the company's commitment to its clients' expectations for quality performance. It also sets a standard for ensuring independence and objectivity in instances where one of the company's owners may profit from a project-specific recommendation made by its engineering staff.
Regardless of a company's strategy, at each day's end, customers need to know that the engineering service community values their trust and respects their needs - wherever and whatever the industry challenge.

Thomas F. Cross is director of pipelines at Paragon Engineering Services Inc. in Houston.

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