| Abstrakt: |
A central problem of engineering education is how to equip the young engineer with the means of making good commercial, human, and environmental judgments. As one approach to this problem, this paper models engineering management as a mode of inquiry, with management functions arrayed along a cognitive continuum between analysis and intuition. This points to a possible agenda for research and teaching in engineering management with the aim of improving the quality of management judgments at the intuitive end of the continuum by the injection of a greater proportion of analysis and critical thought. Thus, the analytical abilities of engineers may be utilized to improve the quality of their judgments in nontechnical matters. It is anticipated that this will reveal that two core areas of competence are the minimum requirement for improved management judgment. One is centered on numerical analytical skills, such as economics and finance, and the other on the communicative skills. Enhancing these functions at the undergraduate level would therefore seem essential. |
