ABSTRACT
The transition from student to engineer requires individuals to adapt to new workplace communication practices. Using interview data from a focus group of early-career engineers, we examine entry-level employees’ narrative experiences with workplace communication to describe what new engineers know about effective communication in their workplace and how they come to know it. These engineers define effective communication as a reflection of personal identity and as a way to mitigate company liabilities. They cite observational experiences on-site as moments of instruction about how to communicate effectively at work.
- Judith Norback, Elke M. Leeds, and Garlie A. Forehand. 2009. Engineering Communication—Executive Perspectives on the Necessary Skills for Students. Int J of Modern Engineering, 10, 1 (Fall/Winter 2009), 11-19.Google Scholar
- Jeffery A. Donnell, Betsy M. Aller, Michael Alley, and April A. Kedrowicz. 2011. Why Industry Says that Engineering Graduates Have Poor Communication Skills: What the Literature Says. In Proceedings of the ASEE 118th Annual Conference and Exhibition. ASEE, Vancouver, BC, Paper ID 222453, 13 pages, https://peer.asee.org/18809Google Scholar
- Lilian Maria de Souza Almeida, Kurt Henry Becker, and Idalis Villanueva. 2019. Understanding Industry's Expectations of Engineering Communication Skills. In Proceedings of the ASEE 126th Annual Conference and Exhibition. ASEE, Tampa, FL, Paper ID 24808, 20 pages, https://peer.asee.org/32343Google ScholarCross Ref
- James Trevelyan. 2019. Transitioning to engineering practice. Euro J of Engineering Ed, 44, 6 (November 2019), 821-837, https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2019.1681631Google Scholar
- Julie Dyke Ford, Marie Paretti, Susannah Howe, and Robin Ott. 2021. New Engineers’ Transfer of Communication Activities from School to Work. IEEE Trans Pro Comm, 64, 2 (June 2021), 105-120. https://doi.org/10.1109/TPC.2019/2893393Google Scholar
- Cark Moustakas. 2011. Phenomenological Research Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
- David R. Thomas. 2006. A general inductive approach for analyzing qualitative evaluation data. Am J Eval, 27, 2 (June 2006), 237-246.Google ScholarCross Ref
Index Terms
- Developing Workplace-Ready Engineers: New Engineers' Experiences Learning Workplace Communication Competencies
Recommendations
Understanding Instant Messaging in the Workplace
Advances in Visual InformaticsAbstractIn the workplace, effective communication plays a vital role. Many work tasks require communication which includes planning, organizing, motivating and controlling. Communication establishes relationship between superiors and their subordinates, ...
Interruptions in the workplace: A case study to reduce their effects
Collaboration is an important aspect for virtually all workplace environments. Workplaces often encourage and foster collaboration in a variety of ways with the purpose to collectively focus the group's attention on a specific problem and solve it as ...
Using practice theory to investigate professional engineers' workplace learning
FIE '12: Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)This paper reports on the first phase of an Australian inter-disciplinary partnership study concerned with professional learning of experienced engineers. It is a theoretically motivated, qualitative paper that aims to produce detailed descriptions of ...
Comments