LIBERAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND THE SMALL COMPANY

Jeffrey A. Jalkio
Vice President of Research
CyberOptics Corporation
Minneapolis, MN
and
Department of Manufacturing Systems and Engineering
University of St. Thomas
St. Paul, MN

ABSTRACT the U.S.1. As such they represent an important customer for

In addition to engineering skills, small companies
require additional skills in their engineers. These
requirements stem from the cultures that are typically found
in successful small companies. In this article, these
requirements are analyzed and it is shown that they can be
satisfied by a coherent liberal arts education.
BACKGROUND
Most people would agree that an electrical engineer
designing computer graphics cards for a large consumer
electronics company in California and a mechanical
engineer designing door locks for a large automobile
manufacturer in Michigan have very different jobs.
However, fewer realize how the size and culture of an
organization affect the nature of its employees’ work. In
this paper, characteristics of a small, entrepreneurial
organization are identified that make engineering there very
different from engineering at a larger company. From these
characteristics, conclusions are drawn about the skills
engineers should possess to work in such organizations.
Finally, it is argued that these skills can be developed
through a well-integrated liberal education.
The author has chosen to focus on the needs of small
organizations for three reasons. First, experience as one of
the founders of a small company provided the opportunity
to interview and hire a number of engineers and the author
was able to notice some trends as to what made some
engineers successful and others less so. Second, small
companies account for approximately 20% of new jobs in
engineering educators. Finally, current trends in industry
indicate that soon the same characteristics that lead to
success in small companies may be required for survival in
large companies as well.
THE CULTURE OF A SMALL COMPANY
In his work on organizational theory, Larry Greiner clearly
described the cultural differences between small companies
and their larger counterparts and offer an explanation as to
why these differences exist2. Small companies are able to
compete and survive in the same environment as larger
companies only if they have creativity and speed of
execution that outweighs the massive resources of their
competitors. Griener identifies four key characteristics of
these companies:
• The founders are externally focussed on the products
and marketplace rather than internally focussed on
management issues.
• Internally, communication is informal and frequent.
• Work is rewarded via stock and/or options rather than
salary.
• The company’s activities are controlled by direct
market feedback.
These characteristics are partly determined by the nature of
the individuals in the company, but the structure and
culture must support them as well. The culture of the
organization (i.e., its decision making processes,
communication style, and values) must encourage
creativity and quick responses to change in the
environment. Not all small companies have this kind of
culture; only the ones that survive.
Greiner goes on to explain how the very attributes that
contribute to the success of a small company might be
detriments to its growth. The informal communication
networks that permitted rapid response to changing
environments when the company was small become
impediments to communication with growth. The number
of possible communication channels between pairs of
employees increases with the square of the number of
employees, quickly becoming an intolerable burden on
people’s time. It becomes more difficult for individuals to
see the connection between their work and the company’s
success, so stock incentives are less likely to motivate. As
the organization acquires a wealth of resources (human,
financial, intellectual) and a large existing customer base
the freewheeling style that is required for survival when
small becomes risky and a more systematic approach is
required in order to use those resources efficiently. As the
old saying goes, “One only becomes conservative when
one has something to conserve."
Greiner describes the characteristics of a successful,
small company and why these characteristics tend to
disappear as companies grow. Many current management
trends are aimed at improving the responsiveness of large
corporations by reintroducing some or all of these
characteristics. As a result of these trends, we may see
large companies requiring the same traits in engineers that
are currently needed by small companies.
THE NEEDS OF A SMALL COMPANY
This leads us to our next question. What skills does the
small company require in its engineers? Clearly,
competence in their chosen field is a prerequisite, but this
alone does not guarantee success. If the success of the
small company depends on its flexibility and rapid response
to new ideas and changes in the market, it requires
engineers who can promote and thrive in such an
environment.
In a rapidly changing environment, the engineer cannot
expect to follow a pre-existing roadmap, job description, or
set of procedures. It is also unlikely that they will have
much guidance from their managers or co-workers since
everyone is focused externally. Thus they must possess
sufficient experience and confidence to perform their tasks
with a degree of autonomy. More importantly, they must
be able to correctly identify when they need help,
determine what sources of assistance to seek out, and
actively seek help to solve the problem.
The changing environment of a small company
generates another requirement for engineers. Engineers
must be able not only to react to rapid change, but also, and
more importantly, to identify it. Because of the external
focus of the organization and the informal nature of
communication, engineers must be able to recognize
changing requirements even when they are not explicitly
described. This requires that they be aware of changes in
the competitive environment and be able to determine the
implications of those changes. These could be changing
market needs, new competitive products, or new
technological components that could be incorporated into a
design. Experience in a field is clearly part of learning
these skills, but experience alone does not guarantee
success. An engineer with years of experience might still
not learn how to observe these changes and determine what
they mean, while another, fresh out of school might possess
that ability.
Communication skills are particularly important in a
small company. Whereas in a large company, a junior
engineer may find that much of their daily communication
is with other engineers, just the opposite is true in a small
company. As Greiner has pointed out, communication in
small companies is frequent and informal. Communication
between functional areas is ever present and occurs at all
levels of the organization (to the extent that the
organization even has functional areas or levels). An
engineer in a small company must be competent and
comfortable communicating with people with very different
backgrounds, levels of experience, and skills. Because of
the informal nature of these interactions, conflict can easily
arise, so they must have the interpersonal skills to manage
conflict and cooperation for the benefit of the organization
and the individuals in it.
Finally, in small companies, individuals typically wear
many hats. An engineer may find themselves on a sales
call or preparing a product for shipment. This kind of
flexibility is difficult to come by and thus is a marketable
quantity. Engineers in particular find themselves in this
situation for two reasons. First, the company as a whole is
focussed on the market and the product, so many important
issues are engineering issues. Second, engineers are trained
as problem solvers, and their skills in this area are prized
throughout a company for dealing with any problems that
arise; technical or not.
So the characteristics required of engineers in small
companies are:
• Ability to work independently, yet identify when
they need assistance and seek it out;
• Ability to recognize the relevance of change in
their environment;
• Communication skills;
• Ability to apply problem solving skills outside of
engineering.
Although I have identified these characteristics as
being required in a small, agile company, recent studies
have shown that similar qualities are desired across the face
of industry.3 The SME has used industry focus groups to
identify key gaps in the education of engineers. These gaps
include:
• Communication Skills
• Teamwork
• Strong Ethics
• Exemplary Work Habits
 • Action Orientation are the third trait desired. Communication skills are
• Leadership Ability generally well developed in a liberal arts program due to
As larger companies compete in an increasingly global the fact that students must communicate clearly regarding a
marketplace, they find that they require similar agility to wide variety of topics to a wide variety of audiences. This
smaller companies and face the problem of regaining their is exactly the breadth of communication skills required in a
agility while maintaining efficient use of resources. In the small company.
long run, these qualities may be more critical for the The fourth trait identified above is the ability to apply
survival of large companies than for the survival of smaller problem solving skills outside of engineering. This
ones. includes decision making regarding ethics, finance,
management, and law. This has been identified as an issue
THE ROLE OF A LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION by many people outside of small companies.4 The ability
of some engineers to apply these skills is a major reason for
How can an education be structured so as to encourage
their success in many walks of life outside engineering and
the development of these traits? We shall examine each
the lack of these skills in many engineers has been indicted
aspect individually to see how it might be learned, and then
as a major reason that engineers are not viewed as leaders
look for common threads among the results.
or decision makers.5 As a skill, problem solving is
The first trait we identified above, was the ability
developed through practice and the ability to solve
to work independently yet identify and seek out assistance
problems in diverse fields requires practice in diverse
when necessary. In my experience, the engineers who have
fields. Again, this fits well with a program of liberal arts
been most likely to demonstrate this level of self-
education.
confidence and yet maintain a clear sense of their limits are
But before we conclude that a liberal arts education is
people who have had some breadth of experience or
a solution to the problem of training an engineer for
training outside of their chosen profession. I would suggest
employment in a small company, we should look at the
two possible explanations for this. First, training in a single
objectives of a liberal arts education to ensure
field provides a level of competence, but nothing for the
compatibility. A liberal arts program has as its goal the
individual to use as a measure of competence. On the other
awakening of a students critical reasoning. This is the
hand, broader training provides the individual with a sense
sense in which it is liberating. The goal is not exposure to a
of the difference between cursory and deep understanding
wide variety of disciplines; rather this is the method by
because different subjects will be understood at differing
which the goal is achieved.
levels. This in turn allows an engineer to accurately judge
Through exposure to the variety of reasoning systems
how well a problem is understood.
used in different disciplines, a student learns that there is
A second possible explanation of this observation is
more than one way to approach life and is forced to
that the self-image of an individual with narrow interests
develop a way to choose among them as appropriate. In the
and skills might be very dependent on their competence in
process, the student learns something of the disciplines to
that area. This may inhibit their ability to seek help as
which they are exposed, and hopefully learns something of
appropriate or act independently for fear of making
the world in which they live. But these objectives are
mistakes.
secondary to the goal of developing a person with broad
The second trait we identified above was the ability to
interest who can reason about the world, develop
recognize the relevance of changes in their environment. In
hypotheses about it, understand hypotheses developed by
other words, small companies need engineers who are
others, and judge those hypotheses for utility and fit.
attentive to their environment, and who reflect on the
It would appear from this that the educational
meaning of what is observed. What makes the difference
objectives of a liberal arts institution are not incompatible
between an engineer who is oblivious to their environment
with the hiring needs of a small company. In fact, the most
and one who is a reflective observer of it? Clearly, part of
likely conflict would seem to be between a bias towards
the answer is motivation: the recognition that changes in
complete analysis on the part of academia vs. a bias
the environment can be important. This can be taught by
towards action on the part of business.
repeatedly pointing out the interconnections between
The department of Manufacturing Systems and
apparently unrelated facts and events. This process also
Engineering at the University of St. Thomas is starting a
helps the student develop the ability to eventually see the
project which we call the factory classroom. The goal of
interconnections on their own. But in order to see the
this project is to provide integration of the technical and
interconnectedness of different topics, the student must first
liberal education components of our program and provide
be exposed to many different topics.
an action orientation that might otherwise be missing. The
So we see a connection between the means for
factory classroom provides a single laboratory facility in
developing these first two traits. A variety of subjects must
which team projects apply concepts learned in math,
be taught and the students’ attention drawn to the
science and engineering courses. The intent is to provide
connections between them. This is precisely the approach
the students with the opportunity to practice the skills they
taken in a coherent liberal arts program. The same
have learned in these technical classes as well as to practice
approach helps to develop the communication skills which
the communication skills they have learned in their liberal REFERENCES
arts training in an action oriented context in which the
desired end result is not a paper but a working piece of
equipment. An example of a factory classroom project
would be a statistical process control project in which a
team of students from statistics and electronics classes
would work together to instrument a molding press, collect
process data, analyze it and adjust the temperature and
pressure to improve performance.

SUMMARY
An engineer’s role in an organization is determined not
only by his or her training, experience, and interests but
also by the size and culture of the organization in which
they work. In many companies each engineer has a clearly
defined job with stable responsibilities and authority. Over
time, engineers may move from one position to another
within the company, but these transitions are clearly
defined and relatively infrequent. Although this model is
common in large organizations, small companies rarely
follow it. Since they provide a disproportionately large
percentage of new jobs, it is profitable to consider how
small companies employ their engineers and how
universities can provide engineers that meet their needs.
Within small, entrepreneurial companies, engineers are
often called upon to play many parts, from marketing,
customer service, and participating in sales calls to
managerial, financial, and administrative responsibilities.
Occasionally, they even design products and processes.
Engineers are often chosen for these roles because of their
demonstrated problem solving abilities, but success in these
arenas requires other skills as well. The engineer in a small
company must be able to explain, persuade, motivate,
facilitate communication, be able to recognize which skills
are required in each situation and adapt rapidly to these
changing requirements.
A well-integrated liberal education can provide the
engineer with this required flexibility. In particular, it
gives the engineer a broad view of problem solving and
design that encompasses the human, organizational, and
societal aspects. Combined with a rigorous program of
scientific and engineering courses, such an education is the
best possible training for leaders in business and society.
1 Dennis, W. J., Phillips, B.D., Starr, E, (1994),“Small business job creation: The findings and their critics”, Business
Economics, Vol. 29, No. 3, p. 23
2 Greiner, L.E. (1972), “Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 50, No. 4,
pp.37-46
3 Society of Manufacturing Engineers, (1997) "Manufacturing Education Plan: Phase I Report", SME
4 MacKinnon, J.C., (1997), “The Engineering Humanities”, American Society of Engineering Education PRISM, Vol. 6,
No. 8, p. 48.
5 Nair, Indra, (1997), “Decision Making in the Engineering Classroom”, Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 86, No. 4,
pp.349-356.