The Engineering-Business Nexus - Symbiosis, Tension and Co-Evolution

Fascinating and compelling in equal measure this volume presents a critical examination of the multilayered relationships between engineering and business. In so doing the study also stimulates ethical reflection on how these relationships either enhance or inhibit strategies to address vital issues of our time. In the context of  geopolitical, economic, and environmental tendencies the authors explore the world that we should want to create and the role of the engineer and the business manager in this endeavor. 

Throughout this volume the authors identify periods of alignment and periods of tension between engineering and business. They look at focal points of the engineering-business nexus related to the development of capitalism.  The book explores past and present movements to reshape, reform, or reject this nexus.

The volume is informed by questions of  importance for industry as well as for higher education. These are: What kinds of conflict arise for engineers in their attempts to straddle both professional and organizational commitments? How should professionals be managed to avoid a clash of managerial and professional cultures? How do engineers create value in firms and corporations? What kinds of tension exist between higher education and industry? What challenges does the neoliberal entrepreneurial university pose for management, faculty, students, society, and industry? Should engineering graduates be ready for work, and can they possibly be? What kinds of business issues are reflected in engineering education curricula, and for what purpose? Is there a limit to the degree of business hybridization in engineering degree programs, and if so, what would be the criterion for its definition?  Is there a place in engineering education curricula for reflective critique of assumptions related to business and economic thinking? 

One ideal of management and control comes to the fore as the Anthropocene - the world transformed into an engineered artefact  which includes human existence. The volume raises the question as to how engineering and business together should be considered, given the fact that the current engineering-business nexus remains embedded within an economic model of continual growth. By addressing macro-level issues such as  energy policy, sustainable development, globalization, and social justice this study will both help create awareness and stimulate development of self-knowledge among practitioners, educators, and students thereby ultimately addressing  the need for better informed citizens to safeguard planet Earth as a human life supporting system.

Christensen, Steen Hyldgaard. MA in Danish Language and Literature, and the History of Ideas from Aarhus University. He holds a PhD in Engineering Education Research from Aalborg University. Since 2014 Adjunct associate professor at Aalborg University. He is the initiator, coordinator, lead editor and contributing author of 6 edited volumes on engineering. Besides he has co-authored a book on science and technology together with Andrew Jamison and Lars Botin. In addition he has published a number of articles on engineering epistemology, culture and higher education.

Delahousse, Bernard. MA in English Language and Literature, Université de Lille, France. Former lecturer of English for Specific Purposes for Engineering students at Université Lille 1 Sciences et Technologies, France. Co-editor and co-author of four books coordinated by S. H. Christensen. Former Chief Editor of Les Langues Modernes,the journal of the French Association des Professeurs de Langues Vivantes.
 
Didier, Christelle. BS in Electrochemistry Engineering, MA in Education, She holds a PhD in Sociology from Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) Paris. From 1993 to 2013 Assistant Professor at Catholic University of Lille, France, Ethics Department. Assistant Professor, University of Lille, Education Department, Member of CIREL-Proféor (EA 4354). Co-author of Ethique Industrielle (1998) and International Perspectives on Engineering Education: Engineering Education and Practice in Context (2015), author of Penser l'éthique des ingénieurs (2008) and Les ingénieurs et l'éthique. Pour un regard sociologique (2008).
 
Meganck, Martin. MSc in Chemical Engineering from Ghent University, PhD in Chemical Engineering and MA Moral Theology both from KU Leuven. Lecturer in Philosophy and Ethics in the Faculty of Engineering Technology at KU Leuven in Ghent. Teaching areas: Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Technology, Professional and Business Ethics, Research Integrity.
 
Murphy, Mike. Mike is currently the Academic Registrar at Dublin Institute of Technology. He is the President (2017-19) of the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI). Previously he was Dean of the College of Engineering & Built Environment at DIT. Mike holds PhD and MEng degrees in electrical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in the United States. He holds an Honours Diploma in Electrical Engineering from Dublin Institute of Technology. He is a Fellow of Engineers Ireland.