The Role of an Engineer in a Project
I have been working on my team project for several weeks. As I am an engineer, it is my responsibility and duty to understand the role, responsibility and requirement for employing the principles of sustainable development. I have various types of roles and responsibilities in this particular project (Trevelyan, 2014). These roles and responsibilities are directly related to what I have read in the textbook of Trevelyan. The engineer plays the most significant role in the successful completion of any project. I have been working on this project, since the project began in the first. The engineer of a project eventually links the limitations between management of the project and engineering department. I have understood that apart from applying my engineering skills and knowledge in the project, I also have to manage and control the entire team of the project (Trevelyan, 2014). For this particular project, I am the project engineer and I am the project manager as well. The textbook of Trevelyan, which is the “The Making of an Expert Engineer” has helped me immensely in understanding my roles and responsibilities. I was not confident about the project in the beginning. However, after reading the book, I understood and became quite confident about my duties and responsibilities. There are several topics and fields, where the engineers are involved (Trevelyan, 2014). These fields include Work break down structure or WBS, Gantt chart, Critical Path Analysis or CPM, Program Evaluation and Review Technique or PERT and Petri Nets.
How do you understand sustainability in engineering? Discuss one way in which sustainability can lead to a ‘better’ engineering solution? How did you define ‘better’?
Answer: I have understood that sustainable engineering is the procedure for operating or simply designing specific systems just as if they utilize the resources and energy sustainably (Hale & Sadler, 2012). In simple words, sustainability is the rate, which never compromises the normal surroundings, or the capability of the future generations for fulfilling their personal requirements. The frequent focuses of engineering are the supply of water, production of food, shelter and housing, management of waste and sanitation, development of energy, transportation, processing of industries, normal resources development, clearing out up al the impure waste sites, and finally planning of projects for reduction of environment and social impacts and many more (AlWaer & Kirk, 2012). Sustainability can lead to a better engineering solution if the needs and the requirements of common people will be fulfilled with immediate action. I can say that here the term “better” is utilized for providing a good solution to the society that would help in the betterment of the society.
Understanding Sustainability in Engineering
Your values are important in determining how you might respond if you found yourself in a situation of ethical conflict. Try to identify at least two values that you believe have an impact on how you live and work.
Answer: Ethics is the most important and significant factor in any type of job or organization. As I am an engineer, I work or make things that are utilized by other people (Harris et al., 2013). I have often found myself in such situations where I have faced ethical conflicts. There are various types of ethical values. The main examples of ethical values are as follows:
Honesty
Integrity
Trustworthiness and Promise Keeping
Loyalty
Fairness
Concern for Others
Respect for Others
Law Abiding
All the above mentioned ethical values are extremely important for any engineer, who is working for any project. I have often faced various situations, where I have utilized the ethical values (Basart & Serra, 2013). Two such examples of ethical values that have created huge impact on my personal live and on my work life are the honesty and law abiding. Once, I was offered bribe in my work place for supporting an unethical act. I was tempted so that I do not blow the whistle against all types of unethical work. However, as I am an honest and ethical engineer, it does not work upon me and I was not tempted with the bribe. I bluntly refused the offer and blew the whistle (Li & Fu, 2012). The culprits were put behind the bars. This particular incident helped me to understand that I am an honest and ethical engineer and under no circumstances I will take any unethical steps. This created a huge impact on my personal and professional life.
Manage information and documentation.
Having many members of a team work on a project together means that you can achieve a great deal more than if you were working by yourself. However, it also creates some challenges. One challenge is ensuring version control of reports and drawings. What processes has your team put in place to share information and ensure that everyone works on the most recent version of a document?
Answer: I have several members working in my team project. When a project has several members, it means that the project has the high chance of becoming successful. The project will definitely become more successful than if I was working alone on the project as group work leads to success (Holsapple et al., 2012). However, we do face some of the major problems during the team work. One such challenge is ensuring version control of reports and drawings. My team has maintained various processes for sharing information and ensured that everyone works on the most recent version of a document. The main processes followed by my team are as follows:
Identification of tasks: At first, my team identifies and evaluates the tasks or jobs given to them. Then they identify the challenges and resources for that particular task.
The Concept of ‘Better’ Engineering Solution
Specification and prioritization of Goals: Then, we specifies and prioritizes the goals and objectives of the tasks (Byrne, 2012).
Action: Lastly, the task is executed properly and sincerely.
These are the processes that are maintained by my team for the successful completion of my project.
Communicate effectively across a range of contexts.
It is important as a professional that you learn to communicate appropriately with a range of stakeholders and mediums. Email is one medium that is commonly used in current practice. Give an example of an email you have sent to either your team or facilitator that demonstrates your ability to communicate effectively and professionally. What do you think makes this an effective communication? Give an example of an email that you think is unprofessional – it does not need to be a genuine email, you can write a mock email.
Answer: Communication is the most important part of any organization or individual. If an individual is unable to communicate properly, he or she will never be able to say their words in front of others. In case of professional life, the communication is the most significant part of the job (Broadbent, 2013). An engineer will become successful if he or she is able to communicate appropriately to his or her stakeholders or supervisors. When I joined the organization, initially I was not able to communicate with my stakeholders appropriately and thus I was facing certain situations where I had to face various problems due to this. However, mu supervisor helped me to overcome this situation. I understood that without proper communication, I would never be able to tell about my problems to others. There are various ways or mediums of communication, which include emails, telephone, fax, audio conferences, video conferences, face to face meetings and many more (Castells, 2013). Email is the most important and significant way of communication in an organization. Moreover, it is the fastest medium of delivering a message to the receiver. I have sent several emails to my team and or facilitator for my project. One such example of my email is as follows:
Subject: Incorrect date in project report
Dear Mr. XYZ,
The project report I received from your team was dated December 12. This date is incorrect; the date should read December 21. Attached is the report with the incorrect date. Please correct the date and resend the report by the end of the day.
Sincerely,
ABC
The above mentioned email is has an effective communication within it. I feel that it is correct as it has all the factors for a professional letter (Broadbent, 2013). The vocabulary is perfect, and there is no spelling mistakes. Moreover, the email is strictly formal and professional and covers all the necessary factors of the report.
An example of an unprofessional email is as follows:
Dear Boss,
I’m sorry that I was late. Was stuck in traffic and it won’t happen again. J
This is an extremely unprofessional letter as it does not have any type of formality and professionalism within it. The writer has used abbreviations, which are strictly prohibited for a professional letter.
References
AlWaer, & Kirk. (2012, June). Building sustainability assessment methods. In Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Engineering Sustainability (Vol. 165, No. 4, pp. 241-253). Thomas Telford Ltd.
Basart, J. M., & Serra, M. (2013). Engineering ethics beyond engineers’ ethics. Science and Engineering Ethics, 19(1), 179-187.
Broadbent, D. E. (2013). Perception and communication. Elsevier.
Byrne, E. P. (2012). Teaching engineering ethics with sustainability as context. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 13(3), 232-248.
Castells, M. (2013). Communication power. OUP Oxford.
Hale, J., & Sadler, J. (2012). Resilient ecological solutions for urban regeneration. Engineering Sustainability, 165(1), 59-67.
Harris Jr, C. E., Pritchard, M. S., Rabins, M. J., James, R., & Englehardt, E. (2013). Engineering ethics: Concepts and cases. Cengage Learning.
Holsapple, M. A., Carpenter, D. D., Sutkus, J. A., Finelli, C. J., & Harding, T. S. (2012). Framing faculty and student discrepancies in engineering ethics education delivery. Journal of Engineering Education, 101(2), 169-186.
Li, J., & Fu, S. (2012). A systematic approach to engineering ethics education. Science and engineering ethics, 18(2), 339-349.
Trevelyan, J. (2014). The making of an expert engineer. CRC Press.
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