Paper ID #17468Developing Engineering Leaders Using a Reflective Autobiographical Exer-cise ˜ Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyDr. David Nino, David Ni˜no, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in the Bernard M. Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program, where he has a strong commitment to the development of leadership among undergraduates and graduate students across MIT and among engineers, more broadly. In addition to MIT teaching, he is active in an international consortium of engineering leadership centers and a founding officer of the Engineering Leadership Development Division of the American Society of
students themselves reflected that theapproach presents a more “formulaic” method to leadership compared to similar offerings theyhad received. They noted that while the approach is not truly algorithmic, it has aspects that areallow more logical thinkers to implement while developing the soft skills needed to be effectiveleaders. This paper will explore both the reasons for the student’s conclusions and how otherprograms could adapt this approach in a variety of leadership development situations.IntroductionThe approach described in this paper towards engineering leadership development is a single-semester class experience for selected student leaders, all with significant previous leadershipexperiences. Therefore, while the information presented
academic levels, reflecting the different‘constituencies’ the engineering students may see in the workplace.The Western New England University football team consists of 125 players, including a largenumber of first-year students who need to be acclimated to the team and its culture. The team isstructured around eight position groups, representing skill-area specialists-- quarterbacks,receivers, running backs, offensive line, defensive line, linebackers, cornerbacks, and safeties.For each of the sub-groups, there is a designated captain, an experienced, upper-class player whohelps guide the development and performance of that segment of the squad. Last fall, three of thecaptains were upper-class engineers: captains of the offensive line, defensive
were the Engineering Disciplines Team Concept Map, Hand PumpLaboratory Team Report, Simply Supported Beam Laboratory Report, Alpine Tower StaticsLaboratory Wiki and Grand Challenges Video Project.A team leader was designated for each of these five assignments, which provided every studentwith an opportunity for an intentional leadership experience. As the first assignment was given,the instructor led a class discussion on the roles of team members and team leaders. After thedeliverables for team assignments were submitted and in order to reflect individually on theexperience, students were required to submit a Self-Reflection using a journaling tool inBlackboard. The intent of these structured reflections was to reinforce and foster
leadership and teamwork11.Developmental bibliotherapy (guided reading) is a tool that uses fictional written stories to helpdevelop social, emotional, or psychological growth at all levels of development12-13. In 1949,Shrodes identified four stages of developmental bibliotherapy: 1) identification - where thereader identifies with a character in a story; 2) catharsis - when a reader is able to experience theemotions of the character of the story; 3) insight – a deeper understanding which is achievedthrough reflection on the identification that the reader makes with the characters and situations ofthe story; and 4) universalization - when a reader is able to apply the insights the reader hasgained through reflection to situations they encounter in
differential effects of the instructors’ approaches.BackgroundCourse description. The course examined for this study is taught through a combination ofmethods, including directed readings, classroom discussions, activities, reflective writing, andpresentations by guest speakers. Students in both sections learn about self-management, values,centralized and decentralized organizational structures, the leadership vs. management debate,implicit bias, women in leadership, and creating a culture of participative decision-making.Guest speakers from a range of industries and levels of experience present to both sections andhave lunch with students. The students’ learning culminates in a team project.Instructor A’s section emphasizes class discussion
hour experience inwhich they assume roles of leadership in a community, business or an organization. There areseveral major learning objectives of this simulation: i) students are introduced to differentleadership styles and forced to discover that many of the leadership assumptions that hold true inbusiness-as-usual situations are violated in a crisis; ii) students learn how to utilize and allocatelimited resources and make necessary trade-offs; iii) students are exposed to situations in whichthey have to question the ethical implications of their decisions and determine what risks areacceptable and tolerable. Through a post-simulation reflection activity led by volunteer facultyand staff, as well as the local Emergency Services personnel
of the strategic plans of the various engineering schools. Table1 provides a list of leadership-focused objectives and strategies within the strategic plans of theInstitute, College of Engineering and selected engineering schools reflecting the broad focus onthe development of leaders and expansion of global influence. These strategic plan elements arewell aligned with the National Academy of Engineers’ Vision for the Engineer of 2020, whichincludes the following attributes (1): (1) Technical proficiency (2) Broad education (3) Global citizenship (4) Ethical grounding (5) Ability to lead in business and public service.These strategic plans and the NAE vision were foundations for the development of the GELMinor
-contained unit and generated labels to reflect its initial meaning. Third, we identifiedrelationships among labels and generated categories. These categories were constantlycompared to other categories, with the goal of grounding the categories in the data. Weconstantly compared responses for similarities and differences and asked questions: What isgoing on here? What category or what property of category does this incident indicate? Whatis actually happening in the data17? In the fourth phase of analysis, relationships between thecategories were examined and then collapsed under a construct (higher-level category) thatexplained most of the variation in the data3. The above steps led to the development of codebooks for Character, Technical
manifested because it’s the right thingto do, it reflects authentic leadership and not just literature and business cards. This authenticleadership leads to authentic values-driven culture.The values-driven culture is essential for safety because the safety professional or projectengineer is not omnipresent to the workers to direct every behavior. Every individual mustbecome a leader. Authentic leaders can exist at all levels of an organization; a forklift driverdoes not need the title CEO or foreman to manifest his actual values in voluntarily instructing anew employee in the virtues of inspecting the truck’s brakes every day whether the rules requireit or not.Organizational leaders, including those directly responsible for safety, must act
experience, where students are expected to observe, apply, and reflect upon topicscovered academically5. The intent of this study, therefore, is to determine the level of leadershipdevelopment students’ benefit from during such an opportunity to practice their leadership skillsintegrated into their engineering curriculum.Method In the spring of 2015, four E-LEAD students were recruited for the internship with theH.O.T Summer Conference. The E-LEAD students were divided into pairs to prepare andimplement workshops for local minority middle and high school students - one pair focused onthe middle school program and the other on high school. The four male students were ofHispanic ethnicity and they had finished their first year in the E-LEAD
report. Students must report back to the fund indicatinghow the awarded funds were spent and how they brought their experience and knowledge backto campus. All successful applicants must submit a final report afterwards describing the impacton their learning experience, a reflection on their personal and leadership development goals, anda description of their contribution.Impact on the Engineering LeadershipSince its inception ten years ago, the SSAF has provided support for an immense variety andnumber of student activities. These opportunities range from local to international, and provideleadership development possibilities to hundreds of students each year. In 2015, 471 studentsreceived funding to pursue activities and opportunities of their
< 1 hour commute: 20% variable > 1 hour commute: 21%Our sample reflects the population of undergraduate students enrolled in the faculty ofengineering in terms of year, program and sex. No population level data was available in thefaculty’s annual report on our other two demographic variables: ethno-cultural identity andcommuting distance.FindingsOverall, we found that undergraduate engineering students who engaged in a range of non-classroom activities reported significant gains in their engineering skills, leadership skills,engineering identity and leadership identity. We present our findings in greater detail
as the Myers-Briggs TypeIndicator (MBTI), suggest the typical engineer tending towards a preference for introversion asgeneralized below16. “I like getting my energy from dealing with the ideas, pictures, memories, and reactions that are inside my head, in my inner world. I often prefer doing things alone or with one or two people I feel comfortable with The following statements generally apply to me: o I am seen as "reflective" or "reserved." o I feel comfortable being alone and like things I can do on my own. o I prefer to know just a few people well. o I sometimes spend too much time reflecting and don't move into action quickly
social impact-focused programs werethe most likely to emphasize organizational forms of leadership (although not to anextreme), possibly reflecting a broader systems view of engineering’s potentialcontribution to society.Cluster 3 – Influencing core curriculumThe third and final cluster that was observable included the two programs explicitlyfocused on engaging all engineering students in leadership education. This involvesfaculty buy-in and relationships with key administrators that are fundamentally differentto developing small, targeted programs using self-selection mechanisms to recruitparticipants. Given the focus on undergraduate students, both of these programs are usinga wider range of strategies: teaching mandatory courses on leadership
few days later and included the two itemsshe had requested. The salary was not quite the level Sarai had hoped for, but given her interestin remaining in the region and her success in receiving funding for both of her requests, shedecided against negotiating for a higher salary. All in all, the negotiation workshop had, in hereyes, paid off. Without it, she reflected, she would have just accepted the verbal offer withoutarticulating what else she needed to help her succeed in this new position.Administrative Level NegotiationsCase 3: College level budget negotiationState U had just hired a new provost. He was a biologist and one of his platforms was to launch anew STEM program. The university had, however, been weathering budget crises for
professors was not specifically identified, typical estimates are reflected by a recent publication by the National Society of Professional Engineers which stated that … “few engineering faculty today have practical experience in design, analysis, review, or management of engineering projects.”18 22% of authors represent university leadership institutes, indicating these organizations are playing a significant role in contributing to the scholarship in this field. Contributions from authors in nontraditional and nonacademic positions are also substantial with 38% of authors currently working in these areas. Again, this proportion is much higher than anticipated considering a recent study by the
thepotential for engineering leadership behavior. A student who demonstrates engineeringleadership behaviors during the career fair will communicate in ways that show a reflection andunderstanding of their personal leadership development. Experiences are important to have, butan ability to translate those experiences from merely an action to a learning experiencedemonstrates potential for engineering leadership during a career fair.“Engineering students that are able to articulate these experiences as positive and beneficial intheir development and how or why is a plus.”“Potential engineering leaders often present those experiences in a way that often times reflectstheir thirst for more.”“Hands-on senior design projects are important. My industry is