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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
THE COMMUNICATIVE ENGINEER
Application-oriented communication guidebook designed for engineering students and practitioners to improve their asking, listening, writing, speaking, and use of visuals
Practicing engineers spend about half their time communicating ideas, facts, and feelings but invest only a small part of their formal education learning how to communicate. The Communicative Engineer addresses this gap. When used as a textbook for students or resource for practitioners, this book shows engineers in all disciplines how to use five communication modes—asking, listening, writing, speaking, and visuals—to participate in or lead successful engineering projects and achieve professional success and significance.
Written by a highly qualified author with six decades of relevant experience, The Communicative Engineer:
- Illustrates, using examples, the benefits of communication knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSA) and the costs of poor communication
- Presents communication fundamentals and goes well beyond theory by illustrating numerous applications
- Describes the five modes of communication, including their pros and cons, and offers detailed advice on when and how to use them
- Prepares readers to use or participate in various communication forms such as interviews, letters, meeting minutes, memoranda, oral examinations, proposals, question and answer sessions, reports, resumes, speeches, and texts
- Profiles excellent engineer communicators to serve as exemplars and references memorable speeches from within and outside of engineering to provide examples
- Provides thorough documentation of content for readers who want to dig deeper into selective aspects of communication
Supplementing the scientific and technical education of engineers, The Communicative Engineer offers engineering students and practitioners in all disciplines the parallel communication KSA needed to fully realize their potential. Given technology’s ever-increasing role in society, the communicative engineer will be prepared to fill leadership roles.
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Seitenzahl: 387
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
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Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Preface
PURPOSE
AUDIENCES: STUDENTS AND PRACTITIONERS
ORGANIZATION AND CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
About the Author
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 MOTIVATION FOR AND PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK
1.2 COMMUNICATION
1.3 BENEFITS OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
1.4 COSTS OF POOR COMMUNICATION
1.5 PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
1.6 POISED TO BECOME GOOD TO GREAT COMMUNICATORS
1.7 KEY POINTS
REFERENCES
EXERCISES
CHAPTER 2: ASKING AND LISTENING
2.1 BENEFITS OF QUESTIONS
2.2 QUESTION‐ASKING OBSTACLES
2.3 QUESTION‐ASKING METHODS
2.4 LISTENING
2.5 ASKING AND LISTENING ADVICE
2.6 TIPS FOR SPECIFIC ASKING AND LISTENING SITUATIONS
2.7 KEY POINTS
REFERENCES
EXERCISES
CHAPTER 3: WRITING
3.1 WRITING IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF ENGINEERING WORK
3.2 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WRITING AND SPEAKING
3.3 LEARNING TO WRITE OR WRITING TO LEARN?
3.4 WRITING ADVICE
3.5 TIPS ABOUT SPECIFIC FORMS OF WRITING
3.6 KEY POINTS
REFERENCES
EXERCISES
CHAPTER 4: SPEAKING
4.1 SPEAKING’S ROLE IN ENGINEERING
4.2 LEARNING TO SPEAK AND SPEAKING TO LEARN
4.3 SPEAKING ADVICE: INTRODUCTION
4.4 SPEAKING ADVICE: PREPARING
4.5 SPEAKING ADVICE: PRESENTING
4.6 SPEAKING ADVICE: FOLLOWING UP
4.7 EXAMPLES OF EXCELLENT SPEAKING
4.8 KEY POINTS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 5: USING VISUALS
5.1 VISUALS DEFINED
5.2 VISION: THE MOST POWERFUL SENSE
5.3 EXAMPLES OF VISUALS
5.4 ENGINEERING’S EDGE IN USING VISUALS
5.5 SUGGESTIONS FOR USING VISUALS, EXCLUDING PROPS
5.6 SUGGESTIONS FOR USING PROPS
5.7 YOU ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT VISUAL
5.8 DOING VISUAL ARTS
5.9 KEY POINTS
REFERENCES
EXERCISES
APPENDIX A: ABBREVIATIONS
APPENDIX B: EXAMPLES OF COMMUNICATIVE ENGINEERS
B.1. INTRODUCTION
B.2. JOHN ALEXANDER LOW WADDELL (1854–1938)
B.3. CHARLES P. STEINMETZ (1865–1923)
B.4. HERBERT HOOVER (1874–1964)
B.5. THEODORE VON KARMAN (1881–1963)
B.6. DAVID B. STEINMAN (1886–1960)
B.7. SAMUEL C. FLORMAN (1925‐)
B.8. RICHARD WEINGARDT (1938–2013)
B.9. HENRY PETROSKI (1942–2023)
B.10. MAE JEMISON (1956‐)
REFERENCES
APPENDIX C: EXAMPLES OF QUESTIONS AND WHAT CAN BE LEARNED FROM ASKING THEM
C.1. INTRODUCTION
C.2. QUESTIONS TO ASK SOMEONE YOU JUST MET AT A CONFERENCE OR MEETING
C.3. QUESTIONS FOR A CLIENT OR POTENTIAL CLIENT ABOUT THE MOTIVATION FOR AND BACKGROUND OF A PROPOSED PROJECT
C.4. QUESTIONS FOR A CLIENT OR POTENTIAL CLIENT/CUSTOMER ABOUT HOW YOU AND THEY WOULD COMMUNICATE
C.5. QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF AS YOU ARE ABOUT TO MANAGE A PROJECT [2]
C.6. QUESTIONS TO ASK IF YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT AN ORGANIZATION, INCLUDING YOURS [3]
C.7. QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF IF YOU ARE CONTEMPLATING LEADING MAJOR CHANGE
C.8. QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF IF YOU WANT TO GROW PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY
C.9. EXAMPLES OF FACTS AND FEELINGS ABOUT NEW PROJECTS AS LEARNED FROM ASKING QUESTIONS
REFERENCES
APPENDIX D: EXCERPTS FROM A PROJECT‐SPECIFIC STYLE GUIDE
D.1. INTRODUCTION
D.2. OVERALL STRUCTURE
D.3. WORD PROCESSOR DEFAULT SETTINGS
D.4. ABBREVIATIONS
D.5. SOFTWARE
D.6. MISCELLANEOUS
APPENDIX E: PUNCTUATION GUIDELINES
E.1. INTRODUCTION
E.2. APOSTROPHE GUIDELINES
E.3. COMMA GUIDELINES
E.4. SEMICOLON GUIDELINES
E.5. HYPHEN GUIDELINES
E.6. DASH GUIDELINE
E.7. ITALICS GUIDELINES
E.8. ELLIPSIS GUIDELINE
REFERENCES
APPENDIX F: EXAMPLES OF SPECIFIC FORMS OF WRITING
F.1. INTRODUCTION
F.2. MEMORANDUM
F.3. LETTER
F.4. LETTER TO THE EDITOR
F.5. OPINION
REFERENCE
APPENDIX G: CASE STUDY OF SPEAKER LIABILITIES—EASY TO FIX IF SPEAKERS KNEW ABOUT THEM
G.1. INTRODUCTION
G.2. CLOSING THOUGHT
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 3
Table 3.1 Readers benefit from the active voice because it produces stronge...
Table 3.2 The left column shows typical problematic statements, and the rig...
Table 3.3 Euphemisms in the left column become reality in the right column....
Table 3.4 When first mentioning an object in written text, be specific.
Chapter 5
Table 5.1 Proactively use colors because they convey many meanings and, the...
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 The technically competent communicative engineer meets challenges...
Figure 1.2 The small incremental cost required to write or speak about your ...
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Listening occurs at five levels, the most effective of which is e...
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 Writing is single‐channel and one‐directional.
Figure 3.2 Speaking uses three channels and is two‐directional.
Figure 3.3 The document describing your work will have much more impact on t...
Figure 3.4 This mind map generated content ideas for a cold call presentatio...
Figure 3.5 The recommended parallel approach to documentation reduces writin...
Figure 3.6 This 3‐part document structure, which is applicable to a variety ...
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 This three‐part process, with preparation requiring the most effo...
Figure 4.2 The ideal and common ways to respond to a call for papers, with t...
Figure 4.3 Little changes produce big improvements in speaking effectiveness...
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 Props helped to explain each tip in the presentation “10 Tips for...
Figure 5.2 This frequently used format for slides or other 2D visuals may ai...
Figure 5.3 Effective bulleted PowerPoint slide is used to state the intended...
Figure 5.4 The most understandable and memorable 2D image consists of a shor...
Figure 5.5 Use the title slide to provide your contact information for easy ...
Figure 5.6 These props supported a description of the brain and how to use t...
Figure 5.7 Rescued Sara now has a home.
Figure 5.8 This elephant artwork, done in colored pencil and acrylic paint, ...
Figure 5.9 The Rule of Thirds urges artists to place the principal object of...
Figure 5.10 This slide illustrates all of the composition rules.
Figure 5.11 This book cover uses all four composition rules.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Preface
About the Author
Begin Reading
APPENDIX A: ABBREVIATIONS
APPENDIX B: EXAMPLES OF COMMUNICATIVE ENGINEERS
APPENDIX C: EXAMPLES OF QUESTIONS AND WHAT CAN BE LEARNED FROM ASKING THEM
APPENDIX D: EXCERPTS FROM A PROJECT‐SPECIFIC STYLE GUIDE
APPENDIX E: PUNCTUATION GUIDELINES
APPENDIX F: EXAMPLES OF SPECIFIC FORMS OF WRITING
APPENDIX G: CASE STUDY OF SPEAKER LIABILITIES—EASY TO FIX IF SPEAKERS KNEW ABOUT THEM
Index
End User License Agreement
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The Communicative Engineer: How to Ask, Listen, Write, Speak, and Use Visuals
Stuart G. Walesh, PhD, PE
Copyright © 2024 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per‐copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750‐8400, fax (978) 750‐4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748‐6011, fax (201) 748‐6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.
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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data applied for:
Paperback: 9781394202591
Cover Design: WileyCover Image: © Javier Zayas Photography/Getty Images
To Jerrie, my wife,
always graciously and competently helpful
Preface
PURPOSE
Practicing engineers spend about half of their work time communicating, that is, asking, listening, writing, speaking, and using visuals to convey ideas, information, and feelings from one person to one or more others. They ask colleagues for technical help, answer probing questions from demanding clients, write major reports that urge the implementation of costly recommendations, speak about controversial environmental issues at national conferences, and prepare images to illustrate complex processes. There is some truth in the stereotypical image of engineers; that is, too many engineers communicate poorly. That deficiency can be corrected with this book’s multi‐modal approach—asking, listening, writing, speaking, and using visuals.
Furthermore, while communication knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSA) have always been an essential part of engineering practice, communication’s importance has increased in recent decades. Various forces drive the need for enhanced communication within all engineering disciplines. Some examples include increased public access, via social media and the press, to information about environmental and infrastructure issues; a more informed, concerned, and engaged public; explosion of regulations; societal divisiveness; fear of crime and terrorism; and global uncertainties. This increased complexity trend will continue, and all aspects of it have engineering components and require communicative engineers.
Accordingly, for the benefit of society, more of today’s and tomorrow’s engineers should complement their technical competency with communication competency in order to function and sometimes lead in an increasingly complex socio‐economic‐political environment. That is the motivation for writing this book. More specifically, its purpose is to:
Demonstrate how effective communication results in successful engineering projects and other engineering endeavors:
Engineering students and practitioners should understand the critical role of communication in project success. Miscommunication frequently produces failures resulting in fatalities, injuries, and property and environmental destruction.
Describe effective communication as drawing on six communication modes
: Asking, listening, writing, speaking, visuals, and mathematics—to convey ideas, information, and feelings.
Show how to apply the first five modes, using hypothetical and actual engineering situations:
The intended result: communicative engineers; a safer society; and better‐served clients, customers, and stakeholders.
The book’s premise is that the most highly successful engineers across all disciplines, as measured by value added, societal impact, and personal gain, are those with technical and non‐technical KSA sets. Communication is the prime non‐technical component.
AUDIENCES: STUDENTS AND PRACTITIONERS
I wrote The Communicative Engineer: How to Ask, Listen, Write, Speak, and Use Visuals with the assumption that readers are primarily undergraduate or graduate students in engineering. The secondary audience is engineering practitioners and students or practitioners in similar technical and scientific communities. The book assumes readers are receptive to a proactively build communication competency to complement their evolving technical/scientific competencies.
Instructors might select this book as the text for a comprehensive communication course. Another or supplemental approach would be for faculty to expect students to use the book as a resource for many of their undergraduate and graduate courses, as they proceed through the curriculum from their first year of engineering study on to their ultimate degree goal. This text could be the resource that supports a communication‐across‐the‐curriculum program.
Students, beginning with their first year of college, will find much of the material in this book immediately useful. It will help them complete writing assignments in their engineering and non‐engineering courses; prepare for presentations to classmates and faculty; interact with team members; be more productive during internships and summer jobs; interview with prospective employers; and clarify their thinking about important topics and issues.
I hope students will find the book to be so helpful that they will continue to use it as engineering practitioners. Given the book’s foundation of communication fundamentals, I believe that it will also be applicable outside of engineering—especially to student and practitioner members of the larger scientific‐technical‐business community.
Speaking of practitioners, engineers in practice can use The Communicative Engineer in a just‐in‐time manner. For example, when asked to lead the writing of a report for your project team, go immediately to Chapter 3, “Writing,” or, if offered a speaking opportunity, explore Chapter 4, “Speaking,” for guidance.
Instead of working methodically through the book in a chapter‐by‐chapter manner, students could use the book while in college in a “pop in and pop out” manner. I designed it so students and practitioners can find what they need when they need it. The Communicative Engineer offers a detailed index along with a table of contents that includes many headings and subheadings. The text often refers to other relevant sections, which directs readers to additional useful material.
This book will prove useful in supporting the internal education and training programs of business, public, and academic sector employers of engineers in all disciplines. Engineering societies, such as the five founder societies, which are the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), can confidently use this book as the foundation of their communication programs.
The Communicative Engineer will also strengthen the continuing education programs of associations that include engineers and non‐engineers. Some examples are the American Public Works Association (APWA), the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and the Energy Management Association (EMA). The book’s fundamentals, enhanced with tailored versions of its examples and exercises, will support communication webinars, seminars, and workshops attended by practicing engineers and other technical and non‐technical personnel.
ORGANIZATION AND CONTENT
Chapter 1 defines communication and describes its benefits for individual engineers, their employers, and the individuals and entities they serve. It also illustrates the costs, monetary and otherwise, of poor or failed communication. The chapter introduces the five modes of communication—asking, listening, writing, speaking, and use of visuals—and establishes principles applicable to essentially all modes. The text argues that engineers are poised to be good to great communicators. Finally, as a means of encouraging and inspiring readers, Chapter 1 introduces some exemplary engineer communicators and shares some of their statements.
Chapter 2 addresses the related asking and listening modes, which are the basis for effective interpersonal communication, and offers practical tips. With those two basic modes as a starting point, Chapters 3, 4, and 5 address, respectively, the more complex writing, speaking, and visual communication modes. After describing the fundamentals of a mode, its chapter shows, in pragmatic fashion, how to apply those fundamentals using hypothetical and actual engineering situations. The Communicative Engineer frequently reminds readers that, ultimately, they are responsible for developing their communication KSA.
Each chapter begins with a list of learning objectives—that is, what I hope you will learn and be able to do after working through the chapter. Chapters include many true personal and other stories to illustrate the text’s ideas and content.
Chapters conclude with a list of key points followed by cited references and exercises. The numbering system used with chapter headings and subheadings (e.g., 1.5 and 1.5.2) enables helpful back‐and‐forth references within a chapter or to any other part of the book.
The Communicative Engineer occasionally offers communication guidance and advice specifically for practicing engineers. These practitioner suggestions are also of value to engineering students because they see how the fundamentals presented in the book are ultimately applicable to practice.
Exercises, which appear at the end of all chapters, provide opportunities to use communication fundamentals and techniques presented in the chapters. Many exercises are well suited for modest to major team projects. Teamwork, especially when the teams are composed of cognitively diverse individuals, stimulates using and becoming more proficient with various forms of communication. Therefore, instructors could assign some exercises as team projects. In that way, students will learn more about the subject matter and become even better communicators and team members.
The book’s seven appendices provide supplemental material. Topics: abbreviations, introductions to communicative engineers, suggested questions, style guide ideas, punctuation guidelines, examples of specific types of communication, and illustrations of speaker liabilities.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many accomplished and varied individuals kindly assisted me in meeting the book research and writing challenges by questioning some of my assertions, suggesting and/or providing resources, outlining additional key ideas, offering book organization and format ideas, clarifying and tightening text, and answering questions. Collectively, they reflect the views of engineers and others in the academic, business, and government sectors.
I am indebted to the following for their assistance: Greg Adamson, Tomasz Arciszewki, Rachelle Leigh Beckner, Danielle Boykin, Allen Estes, Marco Fellin, Larry Galler, Robert Green, Neil Grigg, Chip Kilduff, Tom Lenox, Chris Kaufman, Kenton Machina, Maggie Miles, Chad Morrison, Henry Petroski, Steve Polcyn, Simine Short, David Soukup, Kassim Tarhini, and Ted Weidner. Each one helped me in one or more ways write with what I hope is credibility and value to students and practitioners. However, I am totally responsible for the manner in which I have used their contributions.
I acknowledge and appreciate what I have learned from and with students, practitioners, and others who took my university courses or participated in my seminars, webinars, and workshops. Anonymous professionals who reviewed my proposal for this book and reviewed the draft manuscript added value, for which I am indebted. The many and varied sources cited in this book illustrate my debt to many individuals and organizations. I drew ideas, information, and reference materials from a wide range of sources.
The contributions of members of the Wiley team are appreciated, especially Kalli Schultea, Editor, Civil Engineering and Construction; Vishal Paduchuru, Managing Editor; Isabella Proietti, Editorial Assistant; and Kavya Ramu, Content Refinement Specialist.
Finally, Jerrie, my wife, carefully proofed punctuation, spelling, and grammar; critiqued content; told me when I was preaching or beating around the bush—and, as always, provided total support.
Stuart G. Walesh
Valparaiso, IN
12 January 2024
About the Author
Stuart G. Walesh, PhD, PE, Dist.M.ASCE, F.NSPE, practicing as an independent consultant‐teacher‐author, provides management, engineering, and education/training services for business, government, academic, and volunteer sector organizations. He earned a BS in civil engineering from Valparaiso University, a master’s degree in engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD in engineering from the University of Wisconsin‐Madison. He is a licensed professional engineer.
Stu has over five decades of engineering, education, and management experience in government, academic, and business sectors. He served as a project manager, department head, discipline manager, author, marketer, sole proprietor, instructor through professor, and dean of an engineering college. As a member of various organizations, Stu coached junior professionals in areas such as communication, team essentials, project planning and management, and affecting change.
Water resources engineering is Stu’s technical specialty. Over the years, he led or participated in watershed planning, computer modeling, flood control, stormwater and floodplain management, groundwater, dam, and lake projects. His engineering experience includes project management, research and development, design, stakeholder participation, litigation consulting, and expert witness services. Areas in which he provides management and leadership assistance include education and training, mentoring, research, writing and editing, speaking, marketing, meeting planning and facilitation, project planning, and team essentials.
In addition to this book, Stu authored:
Urban Surface Water Management
(Wiley 1989)
Flying Solo: How to Start an Individual Practitioner Consulting Business
(Hannah Publishing 2000)
Managing and Leading: 52 Lessons Learned for Engineers
(ASCE Press 2004)
Managing and Leading: 44 Lessons Learned for Pharmacists
(co‐authored with Paul Bush, American Society of Health‐System Pharmacists 2008)
Engineering Your Future: The Professional Practice of Engineering
(Wiley 2012; the first and second editions were published in 1995 and 2000)
Creativity and Innovation for Engineers
(Pearson 2017)
Engineering’s Public‐Protection Predicament
(Hannah Publishing 2021)
He also authored or co‐authored hundreds of publications and presentations about engineering, education, and management, and facilitated or led workshops, seminars, webinars, and meetings throughout the United States and internationally.
Stu served on or led various professional societies and community groups. Over the past two decades, he has been active in the effort to reform the education and early experience of engineers. During the past decade, Stu has studied, written, and spoken about how to use recently discovered basic brain knowledge to help individuals and their teams work smarter—that is, be more effective, efficient, and creative/innovative. More recently, he challenged the American engineering community to remove the dichotomy between engineering’s ethics codes, which claim public protection is paramount, and the widespread licensure‐exemption laws in which massive amounts of engineering are conducted without the guidance of state‐licensed engineers, thus placing the public at unnecessary risk.
His professional work and service to society have been recognized by the American Society for Engineering Education, the Consulting Engineers of Indiana, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Indiana Society of Professional Engineers, the National Society of Professional Engineers, the University of Wisconsin, and Valparaiso University.
For additional information, go to www.HelpingYouEngineerYourFuture.com or contact him at [email protected].
CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION
Communication is not what is intended,but what is received by others.
—Mel Hensey, consultant
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:
State this text’s three‐part purpose
Explain engineering’s ideology and the related importance of effective communication
Define communication
Describe benefits effective communication provides to individual engineers, engineering organizations, and the public
Provide examples of the monetary and other costs of poor communication
Discuss principles of effective communication
Identify some notable engineer communicators
1.1 MOTIVATION FOR AND PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK
1.1.1 Hyatt Regency Hotel Tragedy
On July 17, 1981, 114 people died and over 200 were injured when two walkways suspended in the atrium of the Kansas City, MO, Hyatt Regency Hotel collapsed. Plans called for the walkways supported by beams, each connected at one end to a rod attached to the ceiling.
During walkway construction, a member of the construction team, on determining that the original beam‐rod connection design was impracticable to construct, called a member of the engineering design team and suggested a modification. The engineer, replying over the phone, indicated that the modification seemed acceptable from a structural perspective and asked for a formal written change order. The contractor either did not submit the change order or did submit it but the engineer did not effectively evaluate it. The net effect of the flawed communication was a doubling of the loads on all of the upper walkway rod‐beam connections, which caused the disastrous collapse [1, 2].
1.1.2 Boeing 737 MAX 8 Disasters
In October 2018 and March 2019, 346 people were killed when two Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft crashed in a similar manner, nose down at over 500 miles per hour. Thus began years of agony for survivors, most of whom had to relive the tragedy as they sought justice and compensation.
During the 737 MAX 8 design and testing process, Boeing engineers determined that the aircraft nose tended to pitch up. Therefore, they added software that would automatically push the nose down when needed. However, Boeing communicated this change neither to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) nor to pilots. Boeing originally described the change in a draft manual but later removed it to avoid the cost of FAA‐required pilot education and training. Accordingly, because of that intentional miscommunication, some pilots did not know what to do when the new system pushed the nose down. They had 10 seconds to react, or the new software would push the nose further down, which it disastrously did in both crashes [3]. (Note: See Appendix A for a list of abbreviations used in this book.)
1.1.3 Undocumented Meeting Conflict
Consider one more communication failure with results not as tragic as the preceding two but still costly in monetary and other ways. An engineering firm designed a flood control project for a community. Soon after the completion of construction, a large rainfall caused flood damage. The community sued the engineering firm claiming negligence.
The law firm that represented the engineering firm in the lawsuit retained me to determine what happened. I eventually discovered the date and subject matter of a meeting at which community and engineering firm representatives discussed design criteria. After that meeting, the engineering firm proceeded with the design. Unfortunately, the engineering firm representatives failed to document the options considered and decisions made at the meeting. Those personnel claimed that, based on decisions made during the undocumented meeting, their engineers designed the facilities for a “moderate” storm, not a “big” storm like the one that occurred. Community representatives contended that, based on the undocumented meeting, the firm should have designed for a “big” storm.
The two parties eventually settled the case at great monetary cost to the engineering firm and a damaged relationship with the community, all for lack of documentation of one meeting.
1.1.4 Book’s Purpose
Why cite engineering failures, including two with massive injuries and deaths, before stating the book’s purpose? Because, based on the ethics codes of essentially all US‐based engineering societies, the ideology of engineering is meeting society’s major infrastructure and environmental needs while holding public protection paramount. For example, the ethics code of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) states, “Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall . . . hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public” [4].
Briefly stated, this book’s purpose is to help you, and those you work with or for, communicate effectively so that you are more likely to protect the public and less likely to cause or be part of failures like the preceding. More specifically, the purpose of this book is to:
Demonstrate how effective communication results in successful engineering projects and other engineering endeavors.
Engineering students and practitioners should understand the critical role of communication in project success. Miscommunication frequently produces failures resulting in fatalities, injuries, and property and environmental destruction.
Describe effective communication as drawing on six communication modes
—asking, listening, writing, speaking, visuals, and mathematics—to convey ideas, information, and feelings.
Show how to apply the first five modes, using hypothetical and actual engineering situations.
The intended result: communicative engineers; a safer society; and better‐served clients, customers, and stakeholders.
Ideally, the medical profession provides medical care without doing harm, and the legal profession seeks justice within the law, while engineering as a profession strives to meet society’s physical and environmental needs while keeping public protection paramount. Medicine’s, law’s, and engineering’s principal reasons for being—their ideologies—are, respectively meeting society’s health, justice, and physical and environmental needs with profession‐specific other requirements [5]. Effective communication will help engineers fulfill their public‐protection‐is‐paramount promise.
1.1.5 Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire
Let’s explore why the book’s purpose suggests that engineers could communicate more effectively. Years ago, I attended an annual conference of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). The keynote speaker told the largely faculty audience that engineers are poor communicators. Is that a fact or a stereotype? The 2004 book Communication Patterns of Engineers[6] summarizes literature from the previous four decades about the topic of how well engineers communicate. Well into the book, the authors state, “Many agree that many, if not most, engineers have trouble writing and speaking clearly.” Again, stating a fact or stereotyping?
In an article titled “Resilient Engineering Identity,” engineering professor Monique Ross states, “In addition to being male, engineer stereotypes include social ineptitude, tinkering, lack of creativity, love of math, poor communication skills, and limited/myopic interests.” Note the mention of communication. She says this image “perpetuates unequal patterns of participation in engineering and computing” and argues for discarding it to reflect “this truly admirable, exciting, and engaging field.” Reducing stereotypes, including engineers are poor communicators, would make engineering more attractive to a broader cross section of society [7].
Because the preceding communication and other stereotypes have persisted for decades, I conclude, in the spirit of where there’s smoke there’s fire, that many engineers could be better communicators. That is why I researched and wrote this book.
1.2 COMMUNICATION
1.2.1 Communication Defined and Its Importance in Engineering
Given that this is a communication book, let’s define that word for frequent use throughout the text. I reviewed communication definitions provided by the Merriam‐Webster, Oxford, and Britannica dictionaries. The essentials of those definitions, combined with my interest in stressing a suite of communication modes, led to the following definition: Communication is the act or process of effectively conveying, from one person to one or more others, ideas, information, and feelings using asking, listening, writing, speaking, visuals, and mathematics.
How much of a practicing engineer’s time is spent communicating? The previously mentioned book presents the results of studying documents from the previous four decades dealing with how engineers communicate. The authors show that engineers spend at least half their time communicating” [6].
Researchers at North Carolina State University used a structured survey and informal interviews to learn how working professionals in various professions, including engineering, viewed communication in the workplace. Engineers reported spending 35% of their workweek writing [8]. They were not asked about time invested in other communication modes. However, one can reasonably assume that adding time spent asking, listening, speaking, and using visuals and mathematics would result in engineers communicating roughly half the time.
For more insight into the importance of communication in engineering practice, listen to engineering professor and author Henry Petroski: “Some of the most accomplished engineers of all time have paid as much attention to their words as to their numbers, to their sentences as to their equations, and to their reports as to their designs” (H. Petroski, personal communication, 6 March 2023).
If any of us—engineering students or practicing engineers—want to improve our effectiveness, we should first examine how we spend large amounts of our time. Clearly, communication is a top candidate for improvement.
Having made arguments for the importance of communication, I suggest we—engineering faculty and students—recognize that some students will not initially accept that proposition. Informed by experience, I believe that a few aspiring engineers decide to study engineering because they think the field is essentially all understanding and using various technologies. Therefore, they can avoid the burden of learning how to write and speak, which is obviously required in many other occupations.
Try to change their view by telling more true stories about the various costs of poor communication, like those in Sections 1.1.1–1.1.3. Search for additional studies that reveal how practicing engineers use their time. Urge students to seek part‐time employment or intern with an engineering organization and observe engineers.
1.2.2 Origin of the Five Modes
Seeing the six modes in the definition and having already noted the use of five of them earlier in this chapter (Section 1.1.4), you may wonder about their origin as used in this book. Let’s go back many decades to a day during the fall semester of my first year in engineering college. Others and I were diligently working on an exercise in an engineering drafting class. The engineering dean abruptly entered our graphics class, apologized for the interruption, and said something like this: “While you are here at the university, develop your communication abilities. Learn how to write and speak and how to use mathematics and graphics.” Then he immediately left.
I do not remember his exact words. However, as if it were yesterday, I vividly remember these three aspects of the dean’s short visit. He, as leader of the engineering college:
Believed that communication ability was vital to the practice of engineering
Viewed effective communicators as being able to draw on multiple modes
Expected engineering students to study communication as part of their university education
That brief experience prompted me to work on my communication knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSA) in the dean’s four areas, and two I added—asking and listening.
Figure 1.1 The technically competent communicative engineer meets challenges by drawing on various combinations of six communication tools.
Figure 1.1 illustrates my view of the communicative engineer—student or practitioner. This technically competent individual can draw on and effectively use up to six communication modes and produce a safer society, more effective organizations, and better‐served clients, customers, and stakeholders.
This book does not discuss mathematics, which the dean mentioned, because engineering curricula address it adequately in mathematics courses and in many courses that apply mathematics. Engineering students know how to use statistics to describe the meaning of data. They can apply probability to provide some insight into the future. Aspiring engineers create digital models of chemical processes.
My commitment to improving my communication KSA has taken me many places, including productive and rewarding positions in academia, business, and government, and travel to countries around the globe. Whatever success and significance I’ve achieved connects, in part, to continuously improving my communication KSA, and I am still a work in progress. I wish a similar career and life experience for you—that is why I wrote this book and, in it, use the multimodal approach.
1.2.3 KSA Explained
Having introduced KSA, let’s illustrate its applicability to the process of improving communication. The NSPE defines knowledge, in KSA, as “comprehending theories, principles, and fundamentals” [9]. Examples of communication knowledge, the understanding of which will enhance your communication effectiveness, are know your audience, whether an individual or group; state your purpose; and accommodate the audience’s preferred ways of understanding.
NSPE defines skills as “abilities to perform tasks and apply knowledge.” Skill examples related to the preceding knowledge examples are how to profile an audience, how to state your purpose, and how to speak to an audience that includes individuals with varied preferred ways of understanding.
Attitudes, according to NSPE, are “the ways in which one thinks and feels in response to a fact or situation.” An example of a constructive communication attitude, based on my many experiences working with editors, would be to receive a heavily edited report back from a professor or supervisor and see it as an opportunity to learn about writing and to improve the document—as opposed to being discouraged or annoyed.
In essence, knowledge means your understanding of powerful fundamentals that change little with time. Skills, which change with time because of technological advances and other forces, are practical things you are able to do with that knowledge. Attitudes describe how you respond to various positive and negative situations.
Looking ahead, the next four chapters provide broad and deep discussions of, respectively, asking and listening presented together in one chapter and writing, speaking, and using visuals each presented in separate chapters.
1.3 BENEFITS OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Consider some benefits to you, your employer, and those you serve when you and others strive to be effective communicators.
1.3.1 Enhanced Public Protection
The most important benefit is public protection. The vast majority of engineering projects are successful, sometimes including giving prime attention to public health, safety, and welfare, partly because of effective communication within engineering teams and between teams and those they serve. As suggested by the two tragedies featured at the beginning of this chapter, miscommunication causes some engineering disasters.
Another cause of unnecessary tragedies in the United States is exemptions to state engineering licensure laws. The District of Columbia and all states, except Arkansas and Oklahoma, allow conduct of some risky engineering projects without the guidance of competent and accountable licensed engineers (Professional Engineers, PEs), whose primary responsibility is public protection. NSPE and some individual engineers work to reduce or eliminate exemptions to licensure laws [10].
1.3.2 Improved Organizational Performance
Recall the previously mentioned book [6] that summarizes four decades of literature, through 2004, about how engineers communicate. The authors concluded that effective communication in engineering organizations increases personnel productivity, produces faster and higher‐quality results, and saves money and other resources. Based on statistics for a wide variety of workplaces—going beyond just engineering organizations—effective communication increases productivity, improves team building and trust, and saves time and money [11]. Note the similar conclusions of these two sources.
1.3.3 Continued Learning and Self‐Reflection
Some people seem to think that when a person writes or speaks about a topic, they are experts and, therefore, they simply write down or speak about what they already know. My experience and observations support a markedly different idea. One of the benefits of communicating, especially writing and speaking, is that both provide continued learning opportunities.
When I write, like me writing this book or preparing a conference presentation, I am studying and learning. Of course, I draw on what I already know, or think I know, about the topic. However, at the outset, I don’t know what I don’t know. Therefore, my preparation always reveals knowledge gaps, so I become a student to close them and to go even further. Sometimes the studying and learning part of writing or presentation preparation causes me to change my mind about something I was “sure of.”
A paperweight in my office offers a thought from the French government official and poet Joseph Joubert, who over two centuries ago said, “To teach is to learn twice.” That is, when you or I prepare to explain, via writing or speaking, something complicated to one or more interested individuals, we will naturally learn more about the topic.
Digging deeper, writing and presentation preparation are effective ways to clarify our thinking, to illuminate the more distant recesses of our minds. They become a powerful means of intrapersonal communication, that is, communication with ourselves. Thinking about our concerns, questions, ideas, theories, and options helps one “part” of us communicate with another “part” of us. Maybe it’s our “brain” communicating with our “heart” or our “intuition” interacting with our “reason.” Perhaps drafting text or preparing a presentation helps our left or logical brain communicate with our right or intuitive brain. Effective intrapersonal communication, achieved through writing or presentation preparation, can help each of us be more self‐aware.
1.3.4 Affecting Change
Some noted engineer authors studied the multi‐century history of the word “engineer,” when used as a verb or noun. They concluded that, as a verb, engineer means to create, and when used as a noun, engineer means one who creates [12]. Therefore, if you are asked what you do as an engineer practitioner, or aspire to do after your student days, you could say, “create.” If asked your occupation or planned occupation, you could say “creator.” A practicing engineer could readily start the workday by saying, “What will I create today?” Briefly stated, creating is the essence of engineering.
Now let’s temporarily shift emphasis to leading. Some of you are already leaders and others, but not necessarily all, will become leaders. I define a leader as someone who enables us, as individuals or more likely as a team, to accomplish great things, some of which we did not know we wanted to do. Leaders know how to envision better futures, assemble appropriate cognitively diverse teams, bring out the best in each team member, facilitate collaborative efforts, and produce “great things.” They lead in a low‐profile manner with the result being nicely defined by the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, who said, “But of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, we did this ourselves.”
Now, in one person, combine the idea that creating is the essence of engineering with leading. The result is the engineer leader. This person is rarely satisfied with the status quo and, therefore, frequently seeks great improvement or creative new approaches. The engineer leader knows how to affect change—how to deal with the inevitable initial, often knee jerk, opposition to change.
The engineer leader knows that converting opponents and neutral individuals to proponents requires persistence. Consider the following examples of now widely accepted and valued products [13–17]. Notice how some ideas were repeatedly rejected and, in other cases, how many years or attempts were required to move from concept to reality, from creative impulse to market.
Electrostatic photography (“Xerox”)—43 companies rejected the idea
Dr. Seuss books—29 publishers showed no interest
S. K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter series book—12 publishers rejected it
WD 40—40 attempts to get the correct composition
Panama Canal—33 years from start of the first construction attempt until its opening
Bar code—26 years from concept to first use, at a supermarket
Golden Gate Bridge—20 years from concept to completed construction
Velcro—10 years or more from concept to market
Vulcanization of rubber—10 years to develop and patent the process
Television—6 years to demonstrate a simple version
The engineer leader recognizes the need to persist and does it with effective communication. That leader uses various communication modes to gradually earn the support of opponents and neutrals. In my view, the most successful engineer leaders are competent communicators.
1.3.5 Personal Success and Significance
To the extent you continue to improve your technical and communication KSA and continue, by word and action, to hold public protection paramount, you will have increased opportunities to achieve success and significance within and outside of engineering. Consider success as that which benefits you and perhaps your family or other dependents. Success indicators include income, net worth, and material possessions. In contrast, view significance as your positive impact on others.
Success is about you, or me, and our “stuff,” while significance is mostly about our positive impact on others. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill described the difference between success and significance by saying, “We make a living by what we get and we make a life by what we give.” Most of us want both success and significance, but we vary widely in the preferred relative amount of each.
Leaders of and decision makers in various engineering organizations—academic, business, government, and volunteer—tend to value good to excellent communicators, especially those who are also technically competent. For example, three‐fourths of practicing engineers participating in the previously mentioned North Carolina State University study rated writing as extremely important or very important in their performance. About 80% indicated that their performance reviews included oral and written communication [8]. Pair technical and communication KSA, and many success and significance doors will open for you.
1.4 COSTS OF POOR COMMUNICATION
The three examples presented at the beginning of this chapter begin to suggest the monetary and other costs caused by poor communication in or related to engineering projects. A more comprehensive list of such costs, along with examples, follows:
Injury and loss of life—The Hyatt Regency Hotel and Boeing 737 MAX 8 disasters killed or injured hundreds of people.
Monetary loss—Boeing paid 2.5 billion dollars in legal settlements, which included five hundred million dollars to compensate the families of the 346 people who perished.
Damaged reputation—Examples are Boeing, Hyatt, and the engineering and construction firms involved in the Hyatt walkway collapse.
Loss of clients—The municipality and engineering firm involved in the undocumented meeting case went their separate ways.
License loss—The state of Missouri revoked the PE licenses of two engineers who worked on the Hyatt project.
Loss of employment—Within nine months after the second Boeing 737 MAX 8 crash, the company board fired the
Chief Executive Officer
(
CEO
).
Resignations—I learned about and communicated with two individuals who left Boeing prior to the two crashes because of their concerns with company engineering policies and procedures.
