Program

Program Matrix PDF (189k) (requires FREE Acrobat PDF Reader)

Welcome IEEE-USA
Past President Paul Kostek

Conference Overview
Chuck Elliott, Conference Chair and IEEE-USA Career Maintenance & Development

Keynote Speaker
Thomas J. Buckholtz, Ph.D, Clear and Future Value [PDF]

Luncheon Speaker
Harry Brull, Growing Your Own: The "Truth" About Employee Development (1.1Mb Powerpoint)

Session 1A: Using Technology
- John Hoschette, Lockheed Martin

Performance Review
ALF SANFORD, Sears Roebuck & Co

The accuracy of performance appraisal data would be significantly improved by utilizing web-based technology for more frequent formal ratings during the year. With this proposed format, top management would be allowed a "fingertip accurate" assessment of workforce performance. A "real-time" gauge of employee performance in this manner makes as much sense as installing monitoring gauges to accurately validate the performance of any multi-billion dollar mechanical asset. Find out about Sears Roebuck & Co.'s experience and plans for such tools.

How Does Technology Affect the Workplace Today? [PDF]
MICHAEL COHN, M.ED., Promote Awareness

Imagine what it would be like if everyone had to use technological accommodations to perform the tasks that their job requires. Many people with disabilities have to use technological accommodations every day. In the past five years, there seems to be an influx in technology - both in the workplace and in everyday activities. Many of these advancements have enabled people with disabilities to become a part of the working society. With the advancements of the computer, more people are now entering the workplace. Learn about what your options are.

21^st Century Engineers will be Independent Learning Professionals
with Strategic Career Planning Skills [PDF]
VERN R. JOHNSON

An analysis of changes that have occurred in engineering employment during the recent past and a prediction of the future. It is included to indicate the exciting dynamics of careers in engineering and other technical fields, and to outline the career skills that need to be developed to assure participation in the excitement of the future.

E-Recruiting:   Revolutionizing the Hiring Process (PowerPoint)
JIM HAMMOCK, CEO, Hire.Com

Session 1B: Tools for Retention
- Shelly Born, Cinergy Corp.

How To Attract, Retain And Empower Engineers: Play To Their Strengths - The No-Brainer [PDF]
ARTHUR F. MILLER, JR., People Management International, LLC

Because few organizations bother to understand the unique make-up of each engineer, their efforts to attract and provide challenging work assignments and development opportunities are hit-or-miss. Instead of working from the mix of competencies and motivations possessed by each engineer, many organizations build a becoming environment, and rely on a model of persons and behavior which, for most gifted engineers, is false and misleading.

The speaker will demonstrate a system for identifying strengths and motivations that his international network of consultants has used for nearly 40 years, when working with engineers and other technical professionals employed by large hi-tech organizations. Case studies will be used to identify the motivational pattern of several engineers. That data will then be used interactively with those in attendance to elicit a variety of decisions about each engineer.

Development of Certification Programs for the Practicing Professional in Engineering and Manufacturing
JOSEPH TIDWELL, JR., The Boeing Company

The joint efforts of industry and state universities have successfully developed a series of certificates that provide a means for both personal and professional development of the Arizona work force. The certificates are jointly sponsored by companies and provided through the auspices of the state universities of Arizona. The organizational support is part of The Joint Arizona Consortium - Manufacturing and Engineering Education for Tomorrow (JACME2T). The JACME2T Consortium has grown out of a federally funded Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP) through the National Science Foundation (NSF), beginning in 1994. JACME2T is now a self-supporting group devoted to advancing university and industry interactions - especially in life-long learning areas.

The JACME2T network of companies and universities have developed and sponsored the certificate programs as a means for both personal and professional development of the Arizona work force. Find out more about how this partnership works.

Session 2A: Educational Opportunities: Enhance Engineering Careers
- Shelly Born, Cinergy Corp.

Motorola University: Past, Present and Future
DIANE WENDT, Motorola

Learn why Motorola is considered the standard bearer for Corporate University models and hear about future perspectives including critical challenges that face corporate universities in meeting the needs of their constituencies in the high tech fields.

JACME²T:  Joint Arizona Consortium - Manufacturing and Engineering Education for Tomorrow
DON RUEDY, Raytheon Missile Systems

A consortia of universities and companies is actively working to establish a center for engineering career education and training that especially serves small businesses throughout southern Arizona. As part of a broader effort, we will outline how it was developed, current activities and future plans, some major challenges faced so far, and suggestions for how others could provide similar, much needed assistance.

Session 2B: Career Development and Mentoring
- Nigel Bristow, Targeted Learning

Enhancing Employee Retention and Career Development Through Better Job Fit
PHIL ROGERS, Exxon Mobil Global Information Services; MARLYS HANSON, People Management International

Today's international markets and global competitiveness require that each organization get the personal best from each of its workers. Managers are being held accountable for attracting and retaining the best person for the job. Employees are expected to provide progressively significant contributions throughout their career to even remain onboard. The concept of getting the best that each employee has to offer is not new. The key to workplace productivity and employee retention is matching people's motivated strengths with the demands of their tasks. (Motivated means that they perform the task well and enjoy performing the task.)

This presentation will provide a methodology for helping both managers and employees to understand the concept of motivated abilities, and how we get into jobs and careers that do not fit us. Actual case studies from information technology management and employees will be used to illustrate the nature of innate motivations and how these motivations can be aligned to meet business goals and individual needs. Strategies will be suggested for how managers, employees and human resource professionals can more effectively exercise their responsibilities for enhancing job-fit.

Mentoring: A Competitive Advantage for Attracting and Retaining the Best and Brightest Employees
MARGO MURRAY, MMHA The Managers' Mentors

Recent research into why organizations are implementing facilitated mentoring processes reveals that 41.5% of the pairings were to support career development. Another 29.6% were paired to transfer technical skills more reliably and quickly. These findings go hand-in-hand, in that more competent and confident people are more likely to take individual responsibility for their career resiliency. Further, one recruiting manager recently reported that of 124 university graduates interviewed, 87 had asked if the organization had a mentoring process to support employee career development.

Margo Murray originated the concept and operational model for facilitated mentoring processes in the early '70s. Since then, the world-wide team of MMHA Associates have collaborated with all types of industries to improve results by creating more competent, multi-skilled, and experienced work forces - with custom mentoring processes driven by business imperatives. The best practices, and lessons learned, gleaned from more than 100 client organizations in 5 countries will be discussed.

Mentoring at Sandia National Labs
LINDA STOMEI, LINCO
This session details the mentoring
program for the weapon-intern program at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque. This program was the recipient of Sandia's Gold Quality Award - a lab award similar to the Baldridge award, with Gold being the highest level.

Session 3A: Maintaining the Vitality of Your Technical Professionals
- Nigel Bristow, Targeted Learning

Maximizing the Vitality of Knowledge Workers
NIGEL BRISTOW, Targeted Learning

It is ironic that at a time when companies are quick to lay off employees, one category of employee is becoming increasingly valuable. That employee is the knowledge worker - a category that includes engineers and technical professionals of every type.

The purpose of this presentation will be to define knowledge work and show engineers and their managers how to use the notion of knowledge work as a framework for building a successful career; dealing with today's typical career challenges; and creating competitive advantage. Recent research completed by Targeted Learning demonstrated that knowledge work consists of six distinct roles: acquiring knowledge, applying knowledge, creating knowledge, sharing knowledge, leveraging knowledge and challenging knowledge.

In the presentation, we will present results of research involving more than 2,000 employees in 17 different organizations. We will use the results from our research to identify the connection between these six knowledge worker roles and issues that are important to engineers, such as personal job satisfaction, perceived value by the organization, job security and individual employability, employability for the 40-something engineer, and career plateauing.

Customer Inspired Innovation A Customer Focused Process for Maintaining
and Enhancing Organizational and Personal Vitality
JOE INCREMONA, Targeted Learning, Inc.

Many organizations and individuals are very creative yet fail to be highly innovative. Highly creative products are imagined, invented or prototyped, only to be marginalized and often forgotten. These situations usually result from inadequate market research and a lack of upfront customer engagement. Focus groups, written surveys, etc., may be used, but the level of insight and foresight they capture is so superficial as to be competitively unhelpful-and even harmful. In contrast, successful innovation demands a much richer level of customer engagement and exploration. We call this exploratory practice customer inspired innovation.

Customer inspired innovation is a practice and a process that can be learned, customized and internalized by individuals and organizations. The focus of this seminar is threefold: 1. to establish the distinction between customer inspired innovation and customer driven innovation; 2. to overview customer inspired innovation - what it is and how organizations and individuals can move from customer driven towards customer inspired; and 3. to provide examples of breakthrough innovation resulting from customer inspired innovation.

The WIZOCRACY Leadership Brand:   A Process for Attracting,
Motivating, & Retaining Knowledge Workers (PowerPoint)
PETE SORENSON, Holt Sorenson & Colleagues

Session 3B: Alternative Staffing Approaches
- Chuck Elliott, Arizona State University

Recruitment and Utilization of H-1B Workers in America's High Tech Sector -A Panel Discussion
Panelists: PATRICIA MURRAY, Vice President for Human Resources, Intel Corporation and JOHN HAINES, President, Pyramid Consulting Inc.
Moderator: SHANK LAKHAVANI, Past Chair, IEEE-USA Workforce Committee

In the face of increasing demand for skilled workers to fill vacant positions in the rapidly expanding information technology sector and perceived shortages of qualified Americans, many employers are turning to temporary foreign workers - many of them educated in the United States - to meet current and projected workforce needs. Rather than rehashing the public policy controversy surrounding the H-1B Specialty Occupation Visa Program, this session will focus on why and how U.S. based employers recruit and utilize Temporary foreign workers. Speakers will include the human resources director at a major American producer of microprocessors and a senior executive from a respected personnel sourcing firm that provides temporary foreign workers to U.S. employers on a contract basis.

FAA Instructional Systems
MARY E. SAND, Federal Aviation Administration, Instructional Systems Specialist, COURTNEY COX, PowerTrain, Inc. President, and BILLY RUTHERFORD, American Integrated Training Systems, President

The role of electrical and electronics engineers is turning more towards the field of consulting and contracting. Engineers are familiar with developing and using specifications for hardware/software systems and equipment. However installation or modification of software or systems equipment carries with it the need for training. Many times the training mentioned in the contract is general and ambiguous. This language leads to misunderstandings and usually ends in unsatisfactory training because the training specifications in such contracts lack rigor, specifics, and a quantifiable basis for the development of training. The FAA, working with the US Office of Personnel Management, has produced training development standards applicable to a wide range of equipment and delivery media. These standards can be included in contracts for both commercial use and government agencies.

This presentation will cover the general standard for the development of training that can be included in hardware procurements to ensure that the training is satisfactory. Recent training methodologies such as LAN, Web, and teletraining delivery will be highlighted. Sections of the standard including the data item descriptions (DIDs) can be selected for inclusion in any given contract.

Session 4A: Meeting Changing Expectations
- Jim Britt, Entegee Technical Group

Skills for the New Millennium: What They Are and the Best Ways to Learn Them
LORI WARREN, Targeted Learning

During the '50s and '60s, a solid performing engineer was someone who possessed and demonstrated excellent technical skills. As long as the engineer was able to find solutions to the technical challenges of the time, personal career success was assured. In the '70s, however, outstanding engineers needed more than the required technical skills. They also had to exercise effective communication and interpersonal skills. But by the '80s, all engineers (not just the top performers) had to develop and demonstrate both strong technical skills and good communication skills to be effective on the job. The '90s thrust standards even higher.

Targeted Learning recently conducted extensive research involving more than 2,000 employees, and identified key skills demonstrated by top-performing technical professionals: the ability to lead, to handle ambiguity, and to make sound decisions. While these skills are exhibited by top-performers today, as marketplace demands increase, the bar is being raised. These same skills will quickly become standard in the new millennium. The purpose of this presentation will be to share data gathered from our research, which identified five people practices that top-performing organizations use to develop skills within their technical ranks: building ability through a combination of face-to-face coaching and training; providing direction and focus; releasing motivation; and ensuring on-the-job opportunities to grow and contribute. The presentation will explore how people practices can foster the development of the new millennium skills. The research demonstrates a very strong correlation between rewards, employee motivation, employee skills, and organizational success.

New Skills for Engineers (Powerpoint)
JIM BRITT, Entegee Technical Group

In today's work environment, companies are flattening their organizational structures. This environment increases the span of control of the manager, such that each engineer must learn to exert influence or manage the many individuals and groups with which they have dealings. In a lean engineering staff, each engineer will wear many hats and will have to learn many time-management techniques that will allow them to accomplish the agreed upon and required tasks. The presentation will provide real life examples of various different skills and applications. The audience will be encouraged to participate by making comments about their own experiences.

Session 4B: Rewards & Compensation - Nigel Bristow, Targeted Learning

Attracting and Retaining Top-Performing Technology Employees (3.7Mb Powerpoint)
RICK BEAL, Watson Wyatt Worldwide & STEPHEN PATCHEL, Watson Wyatt Worldwide

Attracting and retaining top talent in an organization is crucial in today's market. This session will reveal one-of-a-kind information from the perspective of today's most sought after high performers. Hear the results of Watson Wyatt's fifth annual Strategic Rewards® survey, which analyzed top performers across industry segments, demographics, job function, income, education, age and tenure to determine which rewards and benefits motivate, attract and retain top performers. The session will reveal both traditional and unique motivators that are successful for different demographic and industry groups.  Learning Objectives:

• Which rewards and benefits motivate top performers across the board?
• Which motivators are successful for specific segments?
• What new and creative practices are effective in today's market?
• What gaps exist between high performers and other employees and high performers and management?
• How to exploit the gaps to gain competitive advantage.

Session 5A: Educational Institutions Respond to Changing Engineering Careers
- John Steadman, University of Wyoming

An Action Agenda for Engineering Curriculum Innovation [PDF]
ERNEST T. SMERDON, National Science Foundation

The signals for changes in engineering education that the deans of engineering receive are coming at a dizzying pace. These signals seem to come from everywhere and they are not always consistent. It is good that our colleges of engineering are conservative and don't change on a whim. But the evidence mounts that we need more innovation in our engineering education programs.

This presentation provides an assessment of background studies on engineering education, and summarizes the progress in reform and improvement that is being made. It also discusses challenges for engineering educators within the universities, as well as those involved in the human resource dimension of education and continuous learning within the corporations.

Declining Engineering Enrollment
ROBERT PARDON, Santa Clara University

The interest in undergraduate engineering continues its twenty year decline. We are becoming dependent on immigration for our graduate students. It is possible that engineering is viewed as a low paying, dead-end career. Could an emphasis on engineering management and leadership make us more competitive with the MBA programs? Would the potential of technical leadership in a technology impacted society change our image?

Development of an Undergraduate Curriculum in Engineering and Management (PowerPoint)
JAMES BRYANT, Auburn University

Learn about how a curriculum in Engineering and Management, which will be jointly offered by the Colleges of Business and Engineering beginning in 2001, is being developed. The processes used to develop the curriculum content and program models will be described, and the results of extensive benchmarking studies will be reported.
In this presentation, the benchmark universities present four distinct program models for delivering undergraduate technology management education. The program's objectives and learning outcomes were validated by surveying companies that recruit Auburn engineering and business graduates as well as several engineering and business curriculum advisory committees.

Using the Internet to Maintain Career Vitality
SANDY LANG, NTU and PBS: The Business and Technology Network

Since its inception in 1984, National Technological University has been recognized worldwide as a technological leader and innovator in distance education. Combining the technical resources of the nation's leading engineering universities, NTU became the first in the world to distribute graduate level engineering courses via satellite. NTU recognizes the need to continue to leverage emerging technologies to improve the educational experience and foster increased access and convenience for its students through anytime, anywhere learning - delivered via corporate LAN or the Internet. With four academic degree programs, and a large and growing number of professional development courses available to the desktop, NTU has responded to companies' need for e-learning global training solutions utilizing a wide array of technologies. How are students responding? How are organizations responding to the desktop delivery? How does this compare with industry trends? Find out how you can retain engineering employees or accomplish your personal and professional goals through an e-learning solution.

Session 5B: Older Workers
- Marlin Ristenbatt, University of Michigan

Attitudes Toward the Employability of Mid-Career and Older Engineers
PANEL DISCUSSION
Panelists: Vin O'Neill, Senior Legislative Representative, IEEE-USA, and STEVE RICHFIELD, Consultant

In spite of a booming economy and a growing demand for engineers and computer scientists in the high tech sector, mid-career and older IEEE members are reporting increasing difficulty finding and retaining jobs in their chosen professions.

Rather than continuing to rely on anecdotal evidence of what some consider to be discriminatory treatment in the recruitment, hiring, utilization and retention of mid-career and older engineers, IEEE-USA has recently completed survey research to assess employer and employee perceptions about the continuing employability of such engineers in a rapidly changing, technology driven and increasingly competitive global economy.

One panelist will present the principal findings and conclusions from IEEE-USA's research, compare these results with similar research conducted on a much more diverse population by the AARP and offer preliminary recommendations about the kinds of career maintenance & development programs and services that public and private sector organizations can offer to help ensure the continuing employability of engineers and computer scientists.

The other panelist will share his own perspectives on the personal steps that mid-career and older engineers should be taking to avoid becoming chronically unemployed.

IEEE-USA Older Workers Survey Results (Powerpoint)
VIN O'NEILL, Senior Legislative Representative, IEEE-USA

How to Avoid Becoming a Chronically Unemployed Older Engineer (PDF)
STEVE RICHFIELD, Consultant

Session 6A: Professional Society's Role in Career Development Needs
- Chris Currie, IEEE-USA

Panel Discussion
DAVID A. DORNFELD, Chair, Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Ad Hoc Committee on Lifelong Learning; CHRIS CURRIE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-United States of America (IEEE-USA); and PETER WIESNER, IEEE Educational Activities

This session will focus on how professional societies can help employers in their mutual goal of assisting technical professionals in career and professional development. Learn about various programs established by societies to help engineers find jobs and enhance their careers, and how employers can make use of these programs.

E-Career Development for Manufacturing Engineers [Powerpoint] [also 1.1 Mb PDF]
DAVID A. DORNFELD, Chair, Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Ad Hoc Committee on Lifelong Learning

Enabling Career Development and Technical Vitality: [PDF]
Introducing the IEEE Professional Development Institute (PDI) and the IEEE CareerNavigator
PETER WIESNER, Director of Continuing Education, IEEE Educational Activities

Session 6B: Changing Workforce Environments
- John Hoschette, Lockheed Martin

Career Development for Engineers: The New Social Contract Between Management and Knowledge
GEORGE IWASZEK, Intel Corporation

Hierarchical and directive management structures are breaking down in the new horizontal world of self-managed teams and project oriented companies. In the past, employees gave their loyalty and obedience to managers who developed and interpreted the goals, objectives and values of the corporation. Career advancement was largely earned through loyalty, diligence and creativity in task execution by the employee. There is now a new order. The evolution and implementation of the new order will not be simple, easy or quick. It will be cultural in nature and must involve all the players: managers, employees, specialists and people professionals. In this session, we spell out the roles of each group, and propose an integration of people development functions to implement, grow and maintain career development- now and in the future.

Strategic Thinking in Virtual Companies
RONALD B. SCHILLING, PH.D
RBS Consulting Group

Virtual companies require a management process grounded in anytime/anyplace communications. This session provides a series of tools or frameworks that are used to facilitate this important process. These tools have successfully been used in global situations to rapidly and effectively integrate the inputs of team members from around the world.  One of the most attractive attributes of the strategic thinking tools presented is that they can be used by engineers possessing various levels of business education and experience. The tools are easy enough to be understood and applied by engineers who have had no formal business training. The broad acceptance of these tools comes from the fact that they are easy to learn and highly effective. Essentially, these tools help people at different fundamental levels communicate.

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(Last Update: 1 Dec. 2000)