Leadership and Management in Engineering

This paper was derived from research I conducted at three professional design engineering service firms concerning their perceptions of the “sudden” surfacing of conflict within a project team. The data collection methods included confidential one-on-one employee interviews, employee surveys, interviews with the firms’ clients, and feedback from subconsultants (suppliers) to the firms. A review of workplace conflict literature within the design and construction industry, and also in other workplace settings, was compared to proprietary data from management assessment reports of the three firms. This second part of the trilogy will present practical conflict “navigational” guides, including project team assessment for constructive versus destructive conflict, theoretical basis and practical application of Lewin’s force field analysis, three universal metrics of project success, brief anatomies of project failures, an estimate of the cost of unresolved conflict, and a proactive risk assessment checklist.

This paper provides a summary report of the second senior executive diversity workshop held in Vienna, Virginia, on May 11, 2004. Facilitated by Bill Proudman and Michael Welp, of the consulting firm White Men as Full Diversity Partners, the workshop was attended by senior executive representatives from the private and public sectors, as well as ASCE board members and executive staff. The workshop was developed to reach a broader audience and provide participants with a clearer understanding of why it makes good business sense to approach diversity as an all-inclusive concept. The summary report illustrates the benefits of understanding first the nature, approach, and scope of white male culture as a basis for open and inclusive dialog among all members of the human spectrum in the workplace.

The U.S. highway industry has witnessed increased use of design/build project delivery and best-value procurement in the last decade. The industry is experiencing the growing pains of venturing into territory that was previously left to other sectors of design and construction. Inexperience with the system and the processes behind these systems by all parties, state highway agencies, designers, and contractors has occasionally led to protest filed with the court system. The precedents set by the decisions of the court will have a lasting effect on the industry as the exploration of delivery and procurement systems continue. One state highway agency that utilized a two-step best-value procurement process received a protest from one of the firms that was not successful in passing the qualifications phase of the procurement. The court found evidence to uphold the decision of the state highway agency through the transparent and documented evaluation process established by the state highway agency. Continued exploration of new and different technologies and ideas for procurement and delivery of highway projects will result in legal challenges to the system as all parties involved work to gain an understanding of the processes. This paper is an examination of one state highway agency’s experience with an alternative to the highway industry’s typical low-bid procurement system.

This paper addresses the issue of a crisis in civil engineering. In the past, civil engineers were pioneers of our civilization; today, they are rarely perceived as leaders and innovators. The author urges civil engineers to use the present challenges to change and adapt the profession to new demands in order to regain engineering’s leadership. The process of globalization is briefly discussed as an important component of the present situation. Next, the concept of the twenty-first-century civil engineer as a modern reincarnation of the “Renaissance man” with a focus on engineering creativity, computing, and globalization is proposed. The proposed twenty-first-century civil engineer is characterized by his/her body of knowledge (BOK) with five major components: civil engineering factual knowledge, analytical knowledge and skills, engineering creativity knowledge and skills, computing knowledge and skills, and globalization knowledge and skills. The author recommends that the BOK be balanced in terms of qualitative and quantitative knowledge. The teaching of engineering creativity, computing, and globalization is also discussed. In conclusion, a paradigm change is proposed from the present quantitative teaching paradigm to a new, balanced paradigm, which would provide evenhanded instruction on both qualitative and quantitative knowledge.

This paper describes the personal experiences of the chief executive officer of a small U.S. company working in the global marketplace. It uses these experiences to provide some guidance to those unfamiliar with working outside the United States. This paper contains highlights from a presentation made to the Globalization Roundtable on May 19, 2005, in Boston, Massachusetts. The roundtable was organized and sponsored by Donovan Hatem LLP of Boston.

This article takes a practical look at the challenges and rewards of experienced engineers and educators becoming mentors for students or young practicing engineers. The author recommends an approach to mentoring that is deep in self-evaluation, one that considers the intellectual, social, and professional development needs of students and young professionals, and the need for taking little steps—one person at a time—that make big differences. Such an approach to mentoring, the author states, will help encourage more underrepresented groups, such as women and minorities, to pursue careers in engineering.