COMM Exclussive

Report on the importance of communication in the engineering industry,

5th of February 2021

TERMS OF REFERENCE

On the 5th of February 2021 department manager of COMM Exclusive Mr Dale Nkosi has instructed
one of his engineering consultant to investigate on the importance of verbal communication, How
body language plays an effective role in communication amongst engineers and weaknesses present
in communication amongst engineers in the workplace. All the necessary information will be
gathered from employees by organising a zoom meeting and giving out online questionniares. After
collecting all the necessary information, all the results from the findings will be presented using a
different visual elements. The will then be recommendations on how to improve communication and
the likely outcomes of implementing this recommendations, The due date of the report is on the 3 rd
of August 2021.

Procedures

An investigation was conducted to find the following

 The importance of communication amoungst engineers, how body language plays a role in
an engineerring industry, weakness present in communication amoungst engineers in the
workplace ,
 The meeting was conducted using microsoft teams
 A certain group of qualified engineers from different work occupations within the industry
were questioned using a series of the questionaires.
Questionaire
Section A
1. Why,
2. how and what ways are we using communication in the engineering field?

 Communication is a prominent and vital skill to have if an organization will grow, execute
its work objectives, the technical skills are tantamount to communication skills in the
engineering idustry

Body Languages That Engineers Should Be Mindful Of How we communicate
non-verbally also has an impact in the workplace.
Communication is critical in any engineering work. It is that component which allows for the effective
implementation of tasks and smooth flow of work operations. But more often than not, the term is
limited to verbal and written means, forgetting that there is a third category which is equally
important.
Nonverbal communication is one which expresses messages through facial expressions, gestures, and
body language. It also includes how we modulate the tone and pitch of our voice and how we place
ourselves relative to others. But why is this important? For one, nonverbal communication can give
clues and additional information and meaning over and above verbal communication. It helps people
to reinforce or modify what is said in words, convey information about our emotional state, define or
reinforce our relationship with others, provide feedback to the other person, and regulate the flow of
communication. Body language, being the best form of nonverbal communication, is manifested
through different expressions as listed below. Engineers should be careful in making these
expressions because they can affect impressions:

Posture
When in meetings or casual conversations, engineers should always appear confident. One way to
do this is to move around with a good posture. “In business, you’ve got to remember that when you
walk into a boardroom, people have already made a decision about you by the time you sit down,”
Eliot Hoppe, an author and expert on body language, told CNBC. “Stand upright, have a brisk walk,
you want to convey that you want to be there and are confident. If you slump your shoulders–what
message will that give?” he said.

Handshake
There is also politics in handshakes, Hoppe implied by saying that there is “power play” that can take
place. If the handshake is firm, if the other person tries to turn the handshake so that his or her hand
is on top, or if he or she uses the second hand to shake your hand and pat your arm, there is a
meaning: the one you are shaking hands with is trying to be dominant or aggressive towards you. If
you subconsciously do this, it could also leave the same impression to others.

Touch
 “When you see someone touch their face you instantly distrust them or feel uneasy about them,”
Hoppe said. This is why you should never touch your face when talking with others: it conveys deceit,
insincerity, and mistrust.

Tonality
According to Hoppe, there are two things that you should be mindful about the tone of your voice.
“When you’re making a statement, command or directive, your voice goes down at the end of the
sentence. So if you’re trying to convince someone of something, make sure it goes down.”
Meanwhile, a person who is trying to deceive someone will tend to raise the voice at the end of a
sentence – trying to convince either himself or you.

Dress
Think twice about wearing anything red and yellow as they are considered to be colors of power.
They can either be interpreted as confidence or arrogance by your boss.

Feeling vulnerable
“When we feel vulnerable we protect our neck area. When another person feels vulnerable too they
will try to protect themselves–holding a book or papers over their chest or touching their neck–these
are all self-assurance techniques,” Hoppe said.

Standing position
Hoppe said that there is research indicating 75% of the people being more comfortable when they
talk to a person with the right eye directly facing his or her colleague’s right eye. For this, he
recommends that you take a small step to your left for a higher chance of the other end to
experience comfort while having a conversation with you.
Engineering Communication Challenges
While engineers can be considered erudite and intelligent, when it comes to putting their ideas
publicly, they can be perceived as uncertain and apologetic, in such a way their message can be
misunderstood or even ignored (Scott & Billing, 1998).Engineers are typically not gifted
communicators, which can impact their ability to produce high-quality work (Tenopir & King, 2004).
According to Gunn (2013), simply complaining about the lack of communication skills demonstrated
by engineers is not productive, while it is important that interested parties in engineering
departments investigate the actual deficiencies and concerns of those affected. By trying to
understand in more detail the inadequacies of communication skills from both engineering students’
and faculty perspectives, Gunn (2013) found the main areas of concern were grammar, spelling, lack
of organization, unclear expression of ideas, poor verbal skills, difficulty with writing introductions
and conclusions, and weak logic. The results of a four-year development program using the capstone
design course as a driver for developing engineers’ communication skills revealed several deficiencies
in students’ performance. It was observed they had challenges presenting a big-picture view of their
projects, thinking and talking about technical specifications, and appropriating material for their
audience. In particular, students showed difficulty in selecting content and paring down information
to fit within a 15-minute presentation, establishing a context at the beginning of the presentation,
and organizing the presentation’s components (Ford & Teare, 2006). In a recent study comparing the
writing performance of engineering students and practitioners, Conrad (2017) concluded students
had more complicated sentence structures, less accurate word choice, more errors in grammar and
punctuation, and less linear organization. Another set of problems found in the study included
ignorance about genre expectations, weak language skills, and failure to appreciate that written
descriptions of calculations are needed. According to Wren (2018), students’ difficulties are normally
related to lack of writing experience in general, including text knowledge, such as genre, structure of
the text, what belongs to the introduction and conclusion, and differences between description and
interpretation. Some common challenges related to engineering students’ communication skills were
also observed by Soto-Cabanare, Selvi, and Avila-Medina (2011) during in-class presentations of
research and design projects. Observations such as lack of preparation or rehearsal, ineffective use of
presentation software and tools, excess of information on a single slide, reading from the screen or
handouts, and inadequate use of graphics and images. These common mistakes found during the
engineering students’ presentations

provided insights about what engineers still need to learn to better communicate in this context. In
addition to understanding the communication challenges faced by engineers and engineering
students, it is important to identify the communication requirements they will encounter in the
professional setting. Future engineers require more than technical skills and must have the creativity
and communication abilities to innovate across disciplines (Benson et al., 2010).

Engineering Communication Requirements

From the perspective of executives, the communication competencies expected from engineers
include effective description of tasks and ideas expression, successful interaction with high-level
management, preparation and delivery of effective presentations including high-quality written
materials, selection of the most effective medium to communicate the message, effective dyadic
face-to-face communication, and appropriate communication with individuals with different cultural
backgrounds (Norback et al., 2010). Wisniewski (2018) summarized characteristics of effective
engineering communication from the perspective of managers:

1. ability to interact with varied audiences (upstream, midstream, downstream, external) by

addressing audience needs and using audience preferred medium (memo, reports, e-mail, text,
phone, face-to-face, visuals).

2. ability to apply communication strategies by using appropriate structure and message focus, using
clarity, concision, and a professional tone.

3. ability to apply interpersonal skills by delivering information confidently and working as a team.
Wisniewski (2018) also provided insights about engineering communication skills that could be
improved from the perceptions of managers. The areas of communication improvement indicated in
this study included:

1. provide a big picture context before describing technical details in both written and oral
communication: engineers should tell a story to provide a larger picture of the project.

2. develop clear, appropriate written and visual material: this includes awareness of the audience,
conciseness, direct communication, and the use of appropriate jargon and conventions of the
profession.

3. provide confident, timely content to the audience: demonstrate interpersonal skills, confidence
and assertiveness at meetings, initiative when seeking and sharing information, and initiate
conversations with others using proper etiquette in-person and via e-mail.
4. increase interactions with downstream audiences such as technicians and operators: since
engineers will interact with all levels of professionals, they must learn strategies to deal and solve
interpersonal conflicts. When it comes to the communication skills engineers will be required to use
during their professional careers, different modalities can be addressed. Modern engineers are
expected not only to produce technically appropriate designs, but to communicate these designs in
written, oral, and graphical form to a variety of audiences ranging from their technical peers to the
general public (Troy, Essig, Jesiek, Boyd, & Trellinger, 2014). While engineers are professionally
exposed to different communication methods, a significant part of their communication activities
may be clustered in two main groups (Knisely & Knisely, 2015): technical writing (e-mails, white
papers, site visit reports, operating manuals, literature reviews, feasibility studies, business letters,
memos, project proposals, design reports, engineering specifications) and oral communication
(meetings, telephone conversations, one-to-one conversations, presentations to technical and
nontechnical audiences). Read more at: https://gineersnow.com/leadership/7-body-languages-
engineers-mindful