Determination of Leadership Attributes for 4IR Engineering Graduates

Abstract

As new industrial revolution strike in, engineers are required to prepare themselves with relevant skills in order to remain significant in a challenging working environment. Leadership skills have been highlighted as important skills to be perceived by engineers in various engineering reports. While there is a dire need for instilling engineering leadership in the curriculum, limited studies have been done to identify the leadership attributes for engineering graduates. Therefore, this study was done to derive engineering leadership traits/attributes based from engineering leadership programs (ELPs) worldwide. Using a systematic review approach, a crosswalk of engineering leadership criteria from selected five ELPs were shown. Emerging themes from the crosswalk are technical skills; think outside of the box; engage with others; excellence in execution and beliefs and attitudes. Findings of the study will provide a significant set of leadership attributes for 4IR engineering graduates and also will embark the opportunities for further research by the authors.