1. BUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE JOB?
AN INVESTIGATION OF “FRESHOUTS” PERFORMANCE IN
THE ENGINEERING WORKPLACE
a presentation by
Steven Villachica
SteveVillachica@boisestate.edu
Don Plumlee
Linda Huglin
Amy Chegash
Tony Marker
Download slides at https://sites.google.com/a/boisestate.edu/ieeci/e2r2p
2. Engineering Education Research to Practice
(E2R2P)
2
This material is based upon work
supported by the National Science
Foundation under Grant No. 1037808.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions
or recommendations expressed in this
material are those of the author(s) and do
not necessarily reflect the views of the
National Science Foundation.
3. Agenda
3
Introduction
Literature Review
Method
Findings and Sensemakings
Wrap Up
4. E2R2P
4
Improve engineering education in ways that improve
workplace performance.
Education engineering for engineering education.
Engineering Workplace
Students Skills
Engineering Education Engineering Workplace
Research-to-Practice
Valley of Death
5. A Quick History
Arrows in our Backs
5
Year 1: Faculty workshops alone don’t work.
Year 2: Visible course redesigns alone don’t
work. Subsystem solutions don’t fix systemic
problems.
Year 3: Performance in the engineering
workplace is the gold standard. Create a
community of shared practice and concern to
engineer engineering education.
6. Our Shared Opportunity
Decrease Ramp Up Time to Competent Performance
6
Desired Company Costs
Promotion!
Competency $ Training
$ Errors
Actual
Competency $ Mentoring
Performance
$ Salary
$ Opportunity
New Task/Project $ Other projects
Leave University/Enter Workforce $ Others?
Time
{ }
Increase Starting Skills
- OR -
REDUCE Change Learning Curve
CO$T - OR -
Make Boundaries
Porous
7. Spanning Gaps between Actual and Desired
Engineering Performance
7
Shared Decrease Ramp-up Time to Competent Job
Education Engineering Opportunity Performance in the Engineering Workplace
Problem
Identification
Research Questions
• What are newly graduated and hired “fresh out” engineers
Root Escape doing/not doing in the workplace that they should?
Cause Cause • What are the consequences of performance/non-performance
Analysis Analysis in the workplace?
• What workplace competencies should fresh outs possess?
• In what workplace contexts do fresh outs apply the
competencies?
Escape • What are the root causes of workplace nonperformance?
Corrective
Corrective
Action
Action Focus Groups & Surveys
Problem Inspection • Engineering managers, engineering leads, HR personnel, and
Failures technical scientists who work with fresh out engineers
• Fresh out engineers
8. Review of the Literature
8
Significance
• 64% engineering employers are somewhat satisfied with
quality of new hires (Blom & Sakei, 2011).
• Professional skills for the engineering workplace include
teamwork, communication, data analysis and problem
solving (Hoey & Gardner, 1999; Jonassen, Strobel, &
Lee, 2006; Grant &Dickson, 2006; Korte, Sheppard, &
Jordan, 2008; Borrego & Bernhard, 2011; Passow, 2012).
9. Review of the Literature
9
Boundary Crossing Competencies
Engineers at Work Communication, teamwork, networks, critical thinking, global
(e.g. Bucciarelli, 1994,2003) understanding, perspective, organizational culture, project
management, etc.
Many Disciplines Many Systems
Deep at least one discipline
Deep at least one system
Performance
Organizational
Improvement
Socialization
(e.g. Van Tiem
(Korte, 2010)
et al., 2012)
Onboarding
(e.g. Bradt & Vonnegut, 2009)
(c.f. Brown, 2005)
10. Method
10
Participants
• 7 Focus Groups Company Manager Fresh-Out
Parametrix 5 0
Qualitative design using critical incident
Micron 4 3
technique (Flanagan, 1954) Motive Power 3 4
16 engineering managers, lead CH2MHill 4 3
engineers, supervising engineers,
technical scientists, and HR personnel Total 16 10
that work with freshouts to bring them
up to speed in the workplace
10 freshouts
• Engineering Practice Survey
23 engineers at local ISPE meeting
11. Method
Procedure
11
Identify Company Arrange Focus
Sponsors Groups
Collect Data Collect Data
about Workplace about Causes of
Performance Nonperformance
Share Results Work towards
and Collaborative
Sensemaking Corrective Action
13. Method
Instrumentation
13
• Root Cause Analysis
INFORMATION TOOLS MOTIVATION
ENVIRONMENT
• Data • Resources • Incentives
• Expectations • Software • Rewards
• Feedback • Tools • Consequences
• Standard Operating • Support
Procedures
• Knowledge • Physical Capacity • Motives
PERSON
• Skills • Mental Capacity • Affect
• Flexibility • Work Habits
• Resilience • Drive
14. Findings and Sensemaking
Engineering Practice Survey
14
Time to Competency for "Fresh-Outs"
(in months)
10
3 4 4
2
Six to Nine Ten to Twelve Thirteen to Seventeen to More than
Sixteen Twenty-Four Twenty-Four
16. Findings and Sensemaking
Engineering Practice Survey
16
Typical Independent Assignments
for "Fresh-Outs"
(Client/Customer Interaction)
6
3
Data Collection Persuading/Selling
17. Findings and Sensemaking
Engineering Practice Survey
17
Organizational Support for "Fresh-Outs"
20
15
9 11 10
8
3
Formal Formal Informal Orientation Performance SOPs Other
Training Mentoring Mentoring Feedback
18. Findings and Sensemaking
Problem Identification
18
What Fresh Outs Are and Aren’t Doing on the Job
Communication and Teamwork
Design
12%
Analysis
Technical fundamentals
Other, 23% Software skills
12% Problem solving
Motivation
Positive attitude
2%
2% Leadership
Work Ethic
2% 9%
Circuit debug
2% Trouble shooting and critical thinking
3%
Real world engineering
6%
3% 3% Process Knowledge
3% Programming
6%
3%
5% 5% Business System Knowledge
Other
19. Findings and Sensemaking
Root Cause Analysis
19
19% 17% 18%
17% Env. Info
4% 5% Env. Tool
0% 3% 0%
Env. Mot
15% Ind. Know
Ind. Cap
Ind. Mot
45% 57%
Managers 6% Freshouts
8%
11% 35%
11%
29%
Dean (1997)
20. Next Steps
20
Present problem identification and root cause analysis
findings to company sponsors and participants
Outreach to professional organizations and new company
sponsors
Build to a corrective action forum
Look for colleagues in other universities
21. References
21
[1] A. Blom and H. Saeki, "Employability and skill set of newly graduated engineers in India," The World Bank South Asia Region
Education Team,2011, April.
[2] J. J. Hoey and D. C. Gardner, "Using surveys of alumni and their employers to improve an institution," New Directions for
Institutional Research, vol. 101, pp. 43-59, 1999.
[3] D. Jonassen, J. Strobel, and Chwee Beng Lee, "Everyday problem solving in engineering: Lessons for engineering educators,"
Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 95, pp. 139-151, 2006.
[4] C. D. Grant and B. R. Dickson, "Personal skills in chemical engineering graduates: The development of skills within degree
programmes to meet the needs of employers," Education for Chemical Engineers, vol. 1, pp. 23-29, 2006.
[5] R. Korte, S. Sheppard, and W. Jordan, "A qualitative study of the early work experiences of recent graduates in engineering,"
Proceedings of 2008 American Society for Engineering Education Conference, 2008.
[6] M. Borrego and J. Bernhard, "The emergence of engineering education research as an internationally connected field of
inquiry," Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 100, pp. 14-47, 2011.
[7] H. J. Passow, "Which ABET competencies do engineering graduates find most important in their work?," Journal of Engineering
Education, vol. 101, pp. 95-118, 2012.
[8] L. L. Bucciarelli, Designing Engineers. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994.
[9 L. L. Bucciarelli, Engineering Philosophy. Delft, Netherlands: Delft University Press, 2003.
[10] R. Korte, "‘First, get to know them’: A relational view of organizational socialization," Human Resource Development
International, vol. 13, pp. 27 - 43, 2010.
[10] G. B. Bradt and M. Vonnegut, Onboarding: How to Get Your New Employees Up to Speed in Half the Time. Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley, 2009.
[11] D. M. Van Tiem, J. L. Moseley, and J. C. Dessinger, Fundamentals of performance improvement: A guide to improving
people, process, and performance, 3rd ed. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer, 2012.
[12] T. Brown. “Strategy by Design.” Fast Company, 2005 (June 1). http://www.fastcompany.com/52795/strategy-design
22. Thank You
22
Questions? Comments?
SteveVillachica@boisestate.edu
