Boundary spanning at work placements: challenges to overcome, and ways to learn in preparation for early career engineering

Asplund, Fredrik; Flening, Elias

doi:10.1080/03043797.2021.1889467

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…One explanation for the relative prominence of this activity derives from the distributed nature of expertise: knowledge is distributed across numerous participants, both engineers and others (Trevelyan, 2010a). Professional engineers frequently engage with others across organisational and discipline boundaries (Asplund & Flening, 2021;Jesiek et al, 2018;Jesiek et al, 2021) and also adopt persuasive communication practices to secure resources and advocate for particular interpretations of evidence (Coso Strong et al, 2022). At the same time, many engineers regard this socio-technical activity as 'non-technical' or 'not real engineering', even as an interruption to their 'real engineering' work (Bailyn & Lynch, 1983;Perlow, 1999;Perlow & Bailyn, 1997).…”

Section: Socio-technical Aspects Of Engineering Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Engineering practices observed in South Asia

2023

SJEE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The development of engineering skills in Africa could be improved by learning from experiences in South Asia where research has exposed significant weaknesses in the engineering education ecosystem. Research has shown how socio-technical interactions that involve collaborations with other people dominate the work of professional engineers. In contrast to wealthy, developed countries, societies in the Global South are often characterised by complex patterns of social behaviour where perceived reputation, socioeconomic status, caste, tribal identity and language strongly mediate power structures and hence collaborative performances such as engineering. In addition, several environmental factors such as the local economy and business practices, labour market, education, weak social security, low trust in strangers, climate and geography all influence the ways that engineers practice in their firms. These factors, coupled with pragmatic responses within firms, and knowledge gaps such as incomplete perceptions on labour costs, make it much harder for engineers in South Asia to generate similar levels of performance as in wealthier countries. Engineers' salaries and the cost of engineered goods and services of equivalent performance and quality may serve as objective indicators of engineering performances. This paper concludes with suggestions for engineering educators in the Global South to help a greater proportion of engineering graduates to become competent novice engineers in local enterprises with these socio-cultural and economic complexities.

show abstract

Section: Socio-technical Aspects Of Engineering Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Engineering practices observed in South Asia

2023

SJEE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Innovation ecosystems are thus likely conducive to collaboration models in which firms e.g., wait with engaging in research and rather set up collaboration suitable for second-cycle capstone or thesis courses [12], [14]. In this way firms combine the best of two worlds as they get tailor-made advice on how to use cutting-edge technology [15], [16] without spending a large effort themselves [17]. While academia ideally wants to engage on research, this way of also enabling second-cycle students to learn from best practice in an industrial context is increasingly appreciated in education [18], [19].…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, not all second-cycle students will have the necessary skills to seamlessly fulfill requirements from both academia and industry. Particularly, when a firm wants to make use of student placements to explore what is, to them, unknown technology, it might require students who are accomplished boundary spanners [17]. In other words, students who are able to bridge boundaries, in this case organisational boundaries between academia and industry, to bring together distinct networks and expectations [22].…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Engaging with the virtuous cycle regarding second-cycle students can both be appreciated by old colleagues and enable SMEs to hunt for talents aligned with growth needs. In fact, if this is based on a strong mutual trust it might enable secondcycle students to learn informal skills [17] and transition more easily to industry [20]. However, given the strong emphasis I and Table II, with technical consultancy highlighted in white.…”

Section: A the Academic Boundary Spannermentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Which skills? A critical perspective on the skills facilitating the transfer of third-cycle students to knowledge-intensive SMEs

Asplund

Magnusson

Törngren

et al. 2022

2022 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This Research Full Paper relates to public-private innovation ecosystems. This loosely knit form of cooperation allows for beneficial activities such as knowledge transfer, dissemination of novel technology, and recruitment. In these contexts students graduating from third-cycle education should be able to find opportunities for transferring to knowledge-intensive positions in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).However, a 3-year study of the reasons why firms approach public organisations within a Europe-wide, public-private innovation ecosystem suggests that students might struggle to find such opportunities. Through a questionnaire provided to all firms approaching the ecosystem we identify recruitment as one of their lowest ranked interests. By interviewing members of the public organisations found in the ecosystem we identify how cooperation is initiated and maintained, and how this influences the opportunities for students to transfer into industry. The results provide nuance to the current emphasis in skill development within third-cycle (engineering) education. It is rarely recognized that fostering technical skill and academic entrepreneurship might not be enough to allow all types and sizes of firms to receive engineering students.Particularly, this study identifies the academic and industrial boundary spanning roles at knowledge-intensive SMEs as important. These roles require a third-cycle education that early on hones skills that typically do not become critical until much later for students that pursue an academic path -e.g., the interorganisational project management skills necessary to effectively seek research funding or to negotiate goal alignment between organisations. We argue that to allow third-cycle students to practice the finer points of such skills, universities need to evolve more distributed support structures for innovation that integrate in-depth engineering knowledge with innovation skills and have an increased focus on human and social capital.

show abstract

“…However, there are still many that there are still many students who lack motivation for many reasons, including students not liking the way their teachers teach at school or their instructors during internships, students who do not like lessons, lack of parental attention, bad associations, etc. Thus, the teacher must always provide motivation as well as be a student role model because this is the main capital for students to determine their careers (Asplund & Flening, 2022;Huo, 2023). Educators who are motivated tend to be able to achieve the expected learning goals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Mediation of Work Motivation in Determining Working Readiness of Vocational School Students

Galih Rakasiwi,

Sukardi,

Indra

et al. 2023

Mimb. Ilmu

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The competency of vocational high school students is still said to be lacking in work readiness. This is caused by a lack of encouragement for oneself, family, school facilities, school environment, etc. This research aims to analyze the mediating role of work motivation in determining vocational school students' work readiness. This research uses an ex-post facto quantitative approach with the path analysis method. Research subjects in 3 vocational schools in machining engineering expertise in class XII with a total sample of 193 people. Data collection uses questionnaires, interviews, and documentation. Hypothesis testing in this study used SmartPLS 3 software. The findings show that work competency and industrial work practice experience can influence work motivation. Work motivation can directly influence students' work readiness. Indirectly, work competency affects work motivation through work readiness. Indirectly, industrial work practice experience affects work motivation through work readiness. It was concluded that work motivation plays a role in determining vocational school students' work readiness, especially in class XII machining engineering, followed by work competency and industrial work practice experience. So it is recommended to the vocational school community always to be motivated so that students are ready to work, have sufficient competence and experience, and always pay attention to the 3 things researchers discovered and discussed because vocational schools aim to work, continue, and become self-employed.

show abstract

Boundary spanning at work placements: challenges to overcome, and ways to learn in preparation for early career engineering

Cited by 6 publications

References 41 publications

Engineering practices observed in South Asia

Engineering practices observed in South Asia

Which skills? A critical perspective on the skills facilitating the transfer of third-cycle students to knowledge-intensive SMEs

The Role of Mediation of Work Motivation in Determining Working Readiness of Vocational School Students

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About