engleski

Communication skills as a prerequisite for the 21st century engineer

Globalization and fierce competitiveness have become the benchmarks of the world labour market. Daily challenges and increasing demands have broadened roles of electrical and computer engineering experts in such a way that technical expertise and experience are insufficient, i.e. engineers have to develop good communication and soft skills in order to maintain relevance with the global business environment. This research aimed to study the employers’ demands regarding communication skills of their potential employees. 61 employers anonymously participated in the survey whose results were processed with SPSS used for descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation tests. The results pointed to the employers’ high expectations of developed communication skills. The employers request active listeners, proficient first language and English language presenters who will unselfishly share relevant information and participate in rule-based constructive discussions. However, the employers can be categorized in two groups – conservative employers who demand the highest level of professionalism in both spoken and written communication and employers more tolerant of mistakes and an informal style. Additionally, employees are expected to adopt e-mail etiquette and exhibit excellent grammar and style in both written and oral communication accompanied by using appropriate nonverbal communication methods. Hence, higher education institutions should design new or revise current curricula by implementing communication skills to meet the employers’ demands.

communication skills, employers, engineering graduates, expectations, SPSS

nije evidentirano