Steven Vi l [email protected]
Don Plumlee
Linda Hugl in
Amy Chegash
Tony Marker
BUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE JOB?
AN INVESTIGATION OF “FRESHOUTS” PERFORMANCE IN THE ENGINEERING
WORKPLACE
Download slides at https://sites.google.com/a/boisestate.edu/ieeci/e2r2p
a presentation by
Engineering Education Research to Practice (E2R2P)
2
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1037808.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Agenda3
IntroductionLiterature ReviewMethodFindings and SensemakingsWrap Up
E2R2P4
Improve engineering education in ways that improve workplace performance.
Education engineering for engineering education.
Research-to-PracticeValley of Death
Engineering Education Engineering Workplace
Resea
rch Faculty
Adoption
EngineeringStudents
WorkplaceSkills
A Quick HistoryArrows in our Backs
5
Year 1: Faculty workshops alone don’t work.
Year 2: Visible course redesigns alone don’t work. Subsystem solutions don’t fix systemic problems.
Year 3: Performance in the engineering workplace is the gold standard. Create a community of shared practice and concern to engineer engineering education.
Our Shared OpportunityDecrease Ramp Up Time to Competent Performance
Desired Competency
Per
form
ance
Time
Actual Competency
Promotion!
New Task/Project
Leave University/Enter Workforce
$$$
Company Costs$ Training$ Errors$ Mentoring$ Salary$ Opportunity$ Other projects$ Others?
{REDUCE CO$T
Increase Starting Skills
Change Learning Curve- OR - }- OR -
Make Boundaries Porous
6
Spanning Gaps between Actual and Desired Engineering Performance
7
Decrease Ramp-up Time to Competent Job Performance in the Engineering Workplace
Research Questions
• What are newly graduated and hired “fresh out” engineers doing/not doing in the workplace that they should?
• What are the consequences of performance/non-performance in the workplace?
• What workplace competencies should fresh outs possess?• In what workplace contexts do fresh outs apply the
competencies?• What are the root causes of workplace nonperformance?
Focus Groups & Surveys
• Engineering managers, engineering leads, HR personnel, and technical scientists who work with fresh out engineers
• Fresh out engineers
Shared Opportunity
Root Cause
Analysis
Escape Cause
Analysis
Corrective Action
Escape Corrective
Action
Problem Inspection Failures
Problem Identification
Education Engineering
Review of the Literature8
Significance• 64% engineering employers are somewhat satisfied with
quality of new hires (Blom & Sakei, 2011).
• Professional skills for the engineering workplace include teamwork, communication, data analysis and problem solving (Hoey & Gardner, 1999; Jonassen, Strobel, & Lee, 2006; Grant &Dickson, 2006; Korte, Sheppard, & Jordan, 2008; Borrego & Bernhard, 2011; Passow, 2012).
Review of the Literature
9
Boundary Crossing CompetenciesCommunication, teamwork, networks, critical thinking, global understanding, perspective, organizational culture, project
management, etc.
Many Disciplines Many SystemsD
eep at least one discipline
Deep at least one system
(c.f. Brown, 2005)
Engineers at Work(e.g. Bucciarelli,
1994,2003)
Organizationa
l Socialization(Korte, 2010)
Onboarding(e.g. Bradt &
Vonnegut, 2009)
Performance
Improvement
(e.g. Van Tiem et
al., 2012)
Method10
Participants• 7 Focus Groups
Qualitative design using critical incident technique (Flanagan, 1954)
16 engineering managers, lead engineers, supervising engineers, technical scientists, and HR personnel that work with freshouts to bring them up to speed in the workplace
10 freshouts
• Engineering Practice Survey 23 engineers at local ISPE meeting
Company Manager Fresh-OutParametrix 5 0
Micron 4 3Motive Power 3 4
CH2MHill 4 3
Total 16 10
MethodProcedure
11
Identify Company Sponsors
Arrange Focus Groups
Collect Data about Workplace
Performance
Collect Data about Causes of
Nonperformance
Share Results and Sensemaking
Work towards Collaborative
Corrective Action
MethodInstrumentation
12
Critical Incident Card
MethodInstrumentation
13
• Root Cause Analysis
• Data• Expectations• Feedback• Standard Operating
Procedures
• Resources• Software• Tools• Support
• Incentives• Rewards• Consequences
• Knowledge• Skills
• Physical Capacity• Mental Capacity• Flexibility• Resilience
• Motives• Affect• Work Habits• Drive
EN
VIR
ON
ME
NT
PE
RS
ON
INFORMATION TOOLS MOTIVATION
Findings and SensemakingEngineering Practice Survey
14
Six to Nine Ten to Twelve Thirteen to Sixteen
Seventeen to Twenty-Four
More than Twenty-Four
2 3 4 4
10
Time to Competency for "Fresh-Outs" (in months)
Findings and SensemakingEngineering Practice Survey
15
Desig
n
Analys
is
Drawin
g Dra
fts
Proje
ct M
anag
emen
t2 2
62
Typical Independent As-signments for "Fresh-Outs"(Large/Complex Projects)
Desig
n
Analys
is
Drawin
g Dra
fts
Proje
ct M
anag
emen
t
19 14 193
Typical Independent As-signments for "Fresh-Outs"
(Small/Simple Projects)
Findings and SensemakingEngineering Practice Survey
16
Data Collection Persuading/Selling
6
3
Typical Independent Assignments for "Fresh-Outs"
(Client/Customer Interaction)
Findings and SensemakingEngineering Practice Survey
17
Formal
Tra
inin
g
Formal
Men
torin
g
Info
rmal
Men
torin
g
Orienta
tion
Perfo
rman
ce F
eedbac
k
SOPs
Other
9 815
11
20
103
Organizational Support for "Fresh-Outs"
Findings and SensemakingProblem Identification
18
12%
12%
9%
6%
6%5%5%
3%3%
3%
3%
3%
2%
2%
2%2%
Other23%
What Fresh Outs Are and Aren’t Doing on the Job
Communication and Teamwork Design
Analysis Technical fundamentals
Software skills Problem solving
Motivation Positive attitude
Leadership Work Ethic
Circuit debug Trouble shooting and critical think-ing
Real world engineering Process Knowledge
Programming Business System Knowledge
Other
35%
29%
11%
11%
8%6%
Findings and SensemakingRoot Cause Analysis
19
17%
4%
45%
15%
19% 18%17%
57%
2%5% Env. Info
Env. ToolEnv. MotInd. KnowInd. CapInd. Mot
Managers Freshouts
Dean (1997)
Next Steps20
Present problem identification and root cause analysis findings to company sponsors and participants
Outreach to professional organizations and new company sponsors
Build to a corrective action forum
Look for colleagues in other universities
References21
[1] A. Blom and H. Saeki, "Employability and skill set of newly graduated engineers in India," The World Bank South Asia Region Education Team,2011, April.
[2] J. J. Hoey and D. C. Gardner, "Using surveys of alumni and their employers to improve an institution," New Directions for Institutional Research, vol. 101, pp. 43-59, 1999.
[3] D. Jonassen, J. Strobel, and Chwee Beng Lee, "Everyday problem solving in engineering: Lessons for engineering educators," Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 95, pp. 139-151, 2006.
[4] C. D. Grant and B. R. Dickson, "Personal skills in chemical engineering graduates: The development of skills within degree programmes to meet the needs of employers," Education for Chemical Engineers, vol. 1, pp. 23-29, 2006.
[5] R. Korte, S. Sheppard, and W. Jordan, "A qualitative study of the early work experiences of recent graduates in engineering," Proceedings of 2008 American Society for Engineering Education Conference, 2008.
[6] M. Borrego and J. Bernhard, "The emergence of engineering education research as an internationally connected field of inquiry," Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 100, pp. 14-47, 2011.
[7] H. J. Passow, "Which ABET competencies do engineering graduates find most important in their work?," Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 101, pp. 95-118, 2012.
[8] L. L. Bucciarelli, Designing Engineers. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994.[9 L. L. Bucciarelli, Engineering Philosophy. Delft, Netherlands: Delft University Press, 2003.[10] R. Korte, "‘First, get to know them’: A relational view of organizational socialization," Human Resource Development
International, vol. 13, pp. 27 - 43, 2010.[10] G. B. Bradt and M. Vonnegut, Onboarding: How to Get Your New Employees Up to Speed in Half the Time. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley,
2009.[11] D. M. Van Tiem, J. L. Moseley, and J. C. Dessinger, Fundamentals of performance improvement: A guide to improving people,
process, and performance, 3rd ed. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer, 2012.[12] T. Brown. “Strategy by Design.” Fast Company, 2005 (June 1). http://www.fastcompany.com/52795/strategy-design
