Leadership and Management in Engineering

By the very nature of their jobs, engineers have a fundamental and ongoing responsibility to report their work and capabilities to a variety of audiences: peer technical audiences, less technically informed but otherwise sophisticated management audiences, and often the general public. Yet many do not have the editorial skills to effectively convey their messages to these audiences to achieve their communications goal. One way to address this problem is to contract for writing and editing services. This article discusses when contracting makes the most sense, types of technical writers and editors, considerations in assessing technical writers and editors, ways to prepare for work with technical writers and editors, and typical steps in publication planning, writing, and production.

It can be difficult for an organization transitioning to a new business model to maintain organizational continuity without discouraging innovation. Any change program must combine the benefits of existing structure, innovative thinking, and sound leadership to relieve organizational tension while adopting new standards. The business environment best suited to accept change is usually one that has a flexible management culture and an independent organizational structure. A federalist organization can provide just such an environment. This paper discusses how organizations that face paradigm shifts in their business operations can minimize the difficulty associated with major change by adopting a federalist organizational structure.

This paper discusses the applied leadership attributes taught in the facilities management program at Arizona State University, highlighting the leadership characteristics and techniques of information measurement theory that enabled the first author to understand and integrate the academic findings for more effective performance in his work environment as a facilities manager. The paper describes the management status quo in the work environment at a semiconductor manufacturing company and the application of leadership principles and performance measurement strategies to implement a predictive maintenance approach that reduced unscheduled corrective maintenance events and increased production availability and profits.

There has been a long-standing debate in the literature as to why and how leadership is similar to, or different from, management. Although several scholars have contributed to the debate, there seems to be an absence of pragmatic evidence. Hardly any study that attempts to differentiate leadership from management provides empirical findings. The purpose of the current paper is to begin to cover this research gap. Interviews were conducted with 49 leaders and senior executives in the construction industry of Singapore. The interviewees were asked how they perceived the differences and similarities between leadership and management. Thematic network analysis was used to analyze the interview data. Findings show that there are clear differences between leadership and management on the basis of how leaders and managers define and conceptualize these terms. Leadership and management are different phenomena and processes in which leaders and managers perform varied functions and play different roles in organizations. The study shows that leaders and managers, at least in the construction industry, apply a mix of both leadership and management to perform their daily jobs and fulfill their organizational responsibilities. The findings also echo the many striking overlaps between the roles of leadership and management.

This paper presents an overview of sustainable construction in civil engineering from the perspective of project management and sustainability assessment through indicators. It discusses the different approaches and requirements of sustainability assessment models that are based mostly on criteria and indicators, the needs that are deemed critical for the application of sustainability indicators in the civil engineering sector, and the challenges that remain to be overcome before they can be applied in general practice. The ultimate goal is indicators that allow comparison not only between alternatives but also between projects in regard to sustainability certification.