ABSTRACT
Balancing Obligation and Opportunity Most design professionals tend to work within an organization and are subject to some form of bureaucracy. For the most part, they do not practice as solo professionals, which is the traditional model of other professions such as medicine and law. The core principles of professionalism are challenged in the real world by virtue of the designer’s place within organizations. Can the designer act as an autonomous professional from within the ranks of a bureaucracy? Where does social responsibility fall in relation to the goals and objectives of the organization? Moral responsibility , like design, is forward looking. How do organizations and individuals balance their duties to employees and employers with ethical obligations to clients and public welfare? It is about what we ought to do to prevent harm and to promote good.
