A Qualitative Study Of Engineering Leadership Capabilities Based On The 4-Cap Leadership Framework

Future engineers should not only serve as technical experts in their respective fields,but also take the leading roles in the age of knowledge economy by possessing multiple skills and attributes,in particular leadership.In response to the new demands for excellent engineers,a number of universities and engineering colleges in different countries have launched engineering leadership programs.A prior extensive comparison of these programs suggests that GordonMIT Engineering Leadership Program appears to have built their program on a comprehensive theoretical framework-the Four Capabilities Model(4-Cap Model),which composes of four dimensions of capabilities,that is,sensemaking,relating,visioning and inventing and a change signature that features leader's core individual values and characteristics.It was suggested that this framework has allowed for a more systematic understanding of leadership essence and guide the training of their engineering students in varied skills and traits encompassed within the framework.To explore the essence of leadership in an industrial context in a systematic manner,this study applied the 4-Cap Model to understand the core capabilities required for engineers from different industrial contexts in China,including information technology,electronics industry,automotive industry and other industries.Twenty-three practicing engineers with varied working experiences were interviewed.Transcripts were analyzed in a qualitative manner guided by the 4-Cap Model.Overall,this study identified an exhaustive list of skills or attributes for engineering leadership within the four dimensions of the 4-Cap Model.Ways of accumulating working experience,studying by oneself,learning form others were used to obtain engineering leadership capabilities.Engineers in different industries showed some different leadership capabilities.To summarize,we expect that an understanding of engineering leadership within different cultural contexts will deepen our current understanding of engineering leadership across different cultural contexts and further facilitate engineers' training to be competent leaders in an increasing global context.These findings can also be used to provide feedback to universities and engineering colleges to promote engineering leadership training among students,and provide constructive suggestions to curriculum design.