The communication patterns of engineers within an SME in 2012
Year: 2013
Editor: Udo Lindemann, Srinivasan V, Yong Se Kim, Sang Won Lee, John Clarkson, Gaetano Cascini
Author: Gopsill, James Anthony; McAlpine, Hamish Charles; Hicks, Ben James
Series: ICED
Institution: 1: University of Bath, United Kingdom; 2: University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Page(s): 159-168
ISBN: 978-1-904670-50-6
ISSN: 2220-4334
Abstract
The communication patterns of engineers has been well researched over the past decades. However, due to the rise of new communication technologies and their speed of inception within society, it can be argued that this research could be less relevant to modern communication patterns of engineers. In addition, the engineers may have a preference on the communication technology used depending on the subject or purpose of the communication. Therefore, this paper discusses the results from an exploratory study that has investigated the communication patterns of engineers within an SME in 2012. The instances of communication, subject of communication and the purpose of communication were of particular focus. From this, a list of subjects and purposes for the communications was generated, which engineers were able to assign their communication to.
Keywords: Communication, human behaviour in design, information management, design practice, engineering design communication