Perspectives on Defining Engineering Leadership

Leadership has been studied for centuries and there are many definitions and theories of leadership that have evolved over time. However, only recently has the term engineering leadership been introduced and there is a lack of a clear definition. A stronger understanding of the different perspectives of this term will help institutions to develop and improve engineering leadership education programs. The aim of this research is to answer the following: from the perspective of engineering students, what is engineering leadership? This paper provides a summary of the results from a pilot study conducted with a group of undergraduate students. Engineering students were surveyed at the beginning and end of their semester to understand their perspective on engineering leadership. The engineering leadership definition responses were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Three main themes of engineering leadership were generated: Strong Character, Team Dynamics and Technical, and each of these three broad areas were equally emphasized by the students. A comparison of the results from the beginning to the end of the semester showed a reduced emphasis on the required technical competence of engineering leaders. The findings from this could be useful to develop and improve engineering leadership education programs, and to provide groundwork for further research.

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