Engineering Leadership Development: Contribution of Professional Skills to Engineering Undergraduate Students’ Leadership Self-efficacy
John Jongho Park , Meg Handley , Dena Lang , Mike Andrew Erdman
Corresponding to industry trends and changes in engineering education accreditation criteria, non-technical professional skills training is now seen a.
- Pub. date: February 15, 2022
- Pages: 69-80
- 537 Downloads
- 1178 Views
- 4 Citations
Corresponding to industry trends and changes in engineering education accreditation criteria, non-technical professional skills training is now seen as central to baccalaureate engineering education. Beyond simply developing good managers in the engineering fields, engineering educators have adopted a goal to prepare engineering students to be leaders who can provide vision to their organizations with strong ethical standards. This study investigated engineering undergraduate students’ leadership efficacy development associated with such professional skills as self-awareness, global competence, ethical awareness, creativity, and teamwork skills. Responding to an online survey, 247 engineering undergraduates who were enrolled in an engineering leadership course participated in this study. Results of this study indicated that there are positive associations among the five professional skills (e.g., self-awareness, ethical awareness, global competency, creativity, and teamwork skills), and engineering leadership self-efficacy for engineering undergraduate students. The five professional skills (self-awareness, ethical awareness, global competency, creativity, and teamwork skills) predicted 54% of the overall variance of engineering leadership self-efficacy.
Keywords: Engineering leadership, leadership attributes, leadership development.
References
Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. (2020, November 1). Criteria for accrediting engineering programs, 2016-2017 accreditation cycle. https://tinyurl.com/vxb5puse
Atwood, S. A., & Pretz, J. E. (2016). Creativity as a factor in persistence and academic achievement of engineering undergraduates. Journal of Engineering Education, 105(4), 540-559. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20130
Avery, J. B., Avolio, B. J., & Luthans, F. (2011). Experimentally analyzing the impact of leader positivity on follower positivity and performance. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(2), 282-294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2011.02.004
Avolio, B. J., & Gardner, W. I. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 16(2), 315-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.03.001
Bairaktarova, D., & Woodcock, A. (2017). Engineering student's ethical awareness and behavior: A new motivational model. Science and Engineering Ethics, 23(4), 1129-1157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-016-9814-x
Ball, A. G., Parkinson, A. R., Magleby, S. P., Davies, R., Jensen, C. G., & Zaugg, H. (2012, June 9-13). A comparative evaluation of global virtual teams to traditional study abroad programs in engineering education [Paper presentation]. 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, TX, United States.
Bandura, A. (1993a). Social cognitive theory of self-regulation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 248-287. https:// doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90022-L
Bandura, A. (1993b). Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning. Educational Psychologist, 28(2), 117-148. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep2802_3
Bayless, D. (2013, June 17-20). Developing leadership skills in engineering students- Foundational approach through enhancement of self-awareness and interpersonal communication [Paper presentation]. 2013 Canadian Engineering Education Association Conference, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Bratton, V. K., Dodd, N. G., & Brown, F. W. (2011). The impact of emotional intelligence on accuracy of self-awareness and leadership performance. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 32(2), 127-149. http://doi.org/10.1108/01437731111112971
Carter, D. F., Ro, H. K., Alcott, B., & Lattuca, L. R. (2016). Co-curricular connections: The role of undergraduate research experiences in promoting engineering students’ communication, teamwork, and leadership skills. Research in Higher Education, 57(3), 363-393. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-015-9386-7
Charyton, C., Jagacinski, R. J., & Merrill, J. A. (2008). CEDA: A research instrument for creative engineering design assessment. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2(3), 147-154. https://doi.org/10.1037/1931-3896.2.3.147
Charyton, C., & Merrill, J. A. (2009). Assessing general creativity and creative engineering design in first year engineering students. Journal of engineering education, 98(2), 145-156. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2009.tb01013.x
Choi, J. N., Price, R. H., & Vinokur, A. D. (2003). Self-efficacy changes in groups: Effects of diversity, leadership, and group climate. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 24(4), 357–372. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.195
Chowdhury, T., & Murzi, H. (2019). Literature review: Exploring teamwork in engineering education. In B. Kloot (Ed.), Proceedings of Research, 8th Research in Engineering Education Symposium (pp. 244-252). Curran Associates, Inc.
Church, A. H. (1997). Managerial self-awareness in high performing individuals in organizations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(2), 281–292. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.82.2.281
Comrey, A. L., & Lee, H. B. (2013). A first course in factor analysis. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315827506
Council, B. (2013). Culture at work. The value of intercultural skills in the workplace. British Council.
Cox, M., Cekic, O., Ahn, B., & Zhu, J. (2012). Engineering professionals’ expectations of undergraduate engineering students. Leadership & Management in Engineering, 12, 60-70. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)LM.1943-5630.0000173
Cropley, D. H. (2016). Creativity in engineering. In G. E. Corazza & S. Agnoli (Eds.), Multidisciplinary contributions to the science of creative thinking (pp. 155–173). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-618-8_10
Direito, I., Pereira, A., & de Oliveira Duarte, A. M. (2012). Engineering undergraduates’ perceptions of soft skills: Relations with self-efficacy and learning styles. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 55, 843-851. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.571
Farr, J. V., & Brazil, D. M. (2009). Leadership skills development for engineers. Engineering Management Journal, 21(1), 3-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/10429247.2009.11431792
Fletcher, C. (1997). Self-awareness – a neglected attribute. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 5(3), 183-187. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2389.00058
Ford, J. K., MacCallum, R. C., & Tait, M. (1986). The application of exploratory factor analysis in applied psychology: A critical review and analysis. Personnel Psychology, 39(2), 291-314. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1986.tb00583.x
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & Mckee, A. (2001). Primal leadership: The hidden driver of great performance. Harvard Business Review, 79(11), 42-53.
Handley, M. H., & Berdanier, C. G. (2019). Operationalizing interpersonal behaviours of leadership for early-career engineers. International Journal of Engineering Education, 35(3), 719-732.
Handley, M., Lang, D., & Erdman, A. M. (2016, June 26-29). Identifying engineering leadership potential during the on-campus recruiting process [Paper presentation]. 2016 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, New Orleans, LA, United States.
Harris, C. E. Jr., Davis, M., Pritchard, M. S., & Rabins, M. J. (1996). Engineering ethics: What? why? how? and when? Journal of Engineering Education, 85(2), 93-96. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.1996.tb00216.x
Healey, A. C., & Hays, D. G. (2012). A discriminant analysis of gender and counselor professional identity development. Journal of Counseling & Development, 90(1), 55-62. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1556-6676.2012.00008.x
Herkert, J. R. (2005). Ways of thinking about and teaching ethical problem solving: Microethics and macroethics in engineering. Science and Engineering Ethics, 11(3), 373-385. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-005-0006-3
Hess, J. L., & Fore, G. (2018). A systematic literature review of US engineering ethics interventions. Science and Engineering Ethics, 24(2), 551-583. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-017-9910-6
Higgs, M., & Rowland, D. (2010). Emperors with clothes on: The role of self-awareness in developing effective change leadership. Journal of Change Management, 10(4), 369-385. https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2010.516483
Hochstedt, K. S., Erdman, A. M., & Schuhmann, R. J. (2013, June 23-26). Learning expectations and outcomes for an engineering leadership principles class [Paper presentation]. 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, GA, United States.
Jordan, P., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2006). Emotional intelligence, emotional self-awareness, and team effectiveness. In V. U. Druskat, G. Mount, & F. Sala (Eds.), Linking emotional intelligence and performance at work: Current research evidence with individuals and groups (pp. 145-164). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kirkpatick, S. A., & Locke, E. A. (1991). Leadership: do traits matter? Academy of management perspectives, 5(2), 48-60. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.1991.4274679
Klassen, M., Reeve, D., Rottmann, C., Sacks, R., Simpson, A., & Huynh, A. (2016, June 26-29). Charting the landscape of engineering leadership education in North American Universities [Paper presentation]. 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, LA, United States.
Komarek, R., Bielefeldt, A. R., & Knight, D. W. (2021). Multirater feedback of leadership of underrepresented groups in a civil engineering capstone design course. Journal of Civil Engineering Education, 147(4), 1-10.
Lent, R. W., Schmidt, J., & Schmidt, L. (2006). Collective efficacy beliefs in student work teams: Relation to self-efficacy, cohesion, and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 68(1), 73-84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2005.04.001
Lingard, B. (2010). Policy borrowing, policy learning: Testing times in Australian schooling. Critical studies in education, 51(2), 129-147. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508481003731026
McCormick, M. J. (2001). Self-efficacy and leadership effectiveness: Applying social cognitive theory to leadership. The Journal of Leadership Studies, 8(1), 22-33. https://doi.org/10.1177/107179190100800102
McCuen, R. H. (1999). A course on engineering leadership. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 125(3), 79-82. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1052-3928(1999)125:3(79)
Morgan, L. A. (2000). Is engineering hostile to women? An analysis of data from the 1993 national survey of college graduates. American Sociological Review, 65(2), 316-321. https://doi.org/10.2307/2657444
Morris, L. E., & Williams, C. R. (2012). A behavioral framework for highly effective technical executives. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 18(3/4), 210-230. https://doi.org/10.1108/13527591211241033
Moshavi, D., Brown, F. W., & Good, N. G. (2003). Leader self-awareness and its relationship to subordinate attitudes and performance. Leadership & Organizational Development Journal, 24(7), 407-418. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730310498622
Mostafapour, M., & Hurst, A. (2020). An exploratory study of teamwork processes and perceived team effectiveness in engineering capstone design teams. The International journal of engineering education, 36(1), 436-449.
Newberry, B. (2004). The dilemma of ethics in engineering education. Science and Engineering Ethics, 10(2), 343-351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-004-0030-8
Parkinson, A. (2009). The rationale for developing global competence. Online Journal for Global Engineering Education, 4(2), 1-15. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/ojgee/vol4/iss2/2
Petkus, E. D. (1996). The creative identity: Creative behavior from the symbolic interactionist perspective. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 30(3), 188-196. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1996.tb00768.x
Rottmann, C., Sacks, R., & Reeve, D. (2015). Engineering leadership: Grounding leadership theory in engineers’ professional identities. Leadership, 11(3), 351-373. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715014543581
Schuhmann, R. J. (2010). Engineering leadership education-The search for definition and a curricular approach. Journal of STEM Education: Innovations & Research, 11, 61-69.
Spier, R., & Bird, S. J. (2007). Science and engineering ethics at Springer. Special Issue of Science and Engineering Ethics, 11(3), 323–511. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-007-9001-1
Steffens, N. K., Wolyniec, N., Okimoto, T. G., Mols, F., Haslam, S. A., & Kay, A. A. (2021). Knowing me, knowing us: Personal and collective self-awareness enhances authentic leadership and leader endorsement. The Leadership Quarterly, 32(6), 10-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2021.101498
Tekleab, A. -G., Sims, H. -P. Jr., Yun, S., Tesluk, P. -E., & Cox, J. (2008). Are we on the same page? Effects of self-awareness of empowering and transformational leadership. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 14(3), 185-201. https://doi.org/10.1177/1071791907311069
Waldman, D. A., Ramirex, G. G., House, R. H., & Puranam, P. (2001). Does leadership matter? CEO leadership attributes and profitability under conditions of perceived environmental uncertainty. Academy of Management Journal, 44(1), 134-143. https://doi.org/10.5465/3069341
Warnick, G. M. (2011, June 26-29). Global competence: Its importance for engineers working in a global environment [Paper presentation]. 2011 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Vancouver, Canada.
Zappe, S., Reeves, P., Mena, I., & Litzinger, T. (2015, June 14-17). A cross‐sectional study of engineering students' creative self‐concepts: An exploration of creative self‐efficacy, personal identity, and expectations [Paper presented]. 2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Seattle, WA. United States.