An Assessment of Desired "Business Knowledge Attributes" for Engineering Technology Graduates

Journal of Engineering Technology, Fall 2006 by Fisher, Kenneth J, Lobaugh, Michael, Parente, Diane H

V. Demographic Results

The sample consisted of 56% alumni respondents and 44% from the Fortune 1000 list and advisorv boards. Respondents had an average of 14.5 years of experience, 63% percent had positions more than two levels above the entry-level engineer, anil two-thirds reported that more than half of their job involved non-technical activities. In addition, represented companies had median revenue of $ 150 million. 25 products in the company portfolio, and 3000 employees. A median of 41% ol the respondent's business in the last five years was a result of product development. The represented industry segment is shown in the list below.

The demographics on the respondents' companies compared favorably with SHIiT student placement data. In addition, respondents indicated they were responsible for hiring entry-level engineers and currently held a managerial or supervisory position. Therefore, based on the demographics, it was concluded that the data fairly represented SHHT program constituency.

VI. Analysis of Difference Across Groups

Comparisons were conducted using t-test and ANOVA to explore differences between various groups within the sample.The tests were used to help decide whether sample differences were real or the result of randomly occurring factors. From the analysis, the results from the Fortune 1000 group were not found to be significantly different from the alumni group. Minor variations that did occur were in skill areas of low priority ranking and were not used in the design of program outcomes.This allowed freedom to generalize over the entire sample. Similarly, the responses from individuals with a master's degree were also compared to those having a bachelor's degree. As before, minor variations were found to lie in skill areas of lower priority and the data was used without regard Io the level of education of the respondents.

VII. Identification of Desired Skills

From the survey, the competency anil importance at both the entry and three- to five-year level were identified for each of the 9-3 skills. Using the techniques outlined by Mieier,9' the mean of each response was calculated and transformed to a 100-point scale and calculations were made to determine a priority ranking for each of the skills using the formula (importance (importance - competency))/2. Once calculated, skills were sorted based on decreasing priority.

Skills lying above the midpoint of the ranked order were considered of greatest interest and these rankings were normalized to give the top ranking a value of 100. The individual skills were then arranged into logical groups and those groups having a significant number of skills with a ranking above 65 was noted. When grouped in this manner, the most critical areas to be addressed at the entry level were found to be project management, communications and team skills, business ethics and legal issues, and quality management practices. Of the individual skills, professional conduct had the highest priority at the entry level.