In order to effectively manage an engineering organization, one must first fully understand its culture. To get an inside view of engineering cultures, we interviewed members of engineering organizations, Apple Inc., Engineers Without Borders, and Gerecht Lab. The effects of culture on personal and work life depend on its level of professionalism: full-time job versus extracurricular activity. Longevity affects a member's view of culture indirectly through advancement in rank. Furthermore, a lack of longevity in a company creates a homogenous view of culture. Sustainable subcultures rely on autonomous projects without united overarching goals and a lack of open communication between groups.
[...] Alan, who has worked as a consultant for the last 25 years, showed little change in opinion about his company or himself. The static nature of his role coupled with the extreme length in tenure imply that longevity itself isn't the factor but instead the change in role that affects members of a culture. Fred supports Jack's changes also by following a similar path through the Apple. Starting as training staff, Fred found the most joy out of simply being part of Apple; whereas now, Fred highly values the competency of his coworkers. [...]
[...] Both were interviewed and recorded in person. Results and Discussion In order to fully understand the essence of engineering culture of Apple Inc., Engineers Without Borders, and Gerecht Lab, we directed our attention towards the following questions: 1. How culture influences the personal and professional lives of its members 2. How longevity affects members of the culture 3. If subcultures exist and how they are sustained Ascribing an encompassing definition to an abstract term like culture is a difficult task. [...]
[...] Although the various on-going projects differ in their individual scientific approach, members of the Gerecht lab work towards a common goal: to produce, enhance and deliver vascularization to tissues. The fact that the goals of the individual projects overlap allow for the free flow of ideas between researchers. In addition, the small size of the lab allows for individuals to know one another well enough to consider one another “part of the same group”. This is also the case with Apple headquarters, where subcultures do not exist. Fred described Apple Corporate as where each team works [...]
[...] However, EWB concerns itself with non-profit work, applying engineering solutions to serve the need of disadvantaged communities worldwide. Engineers Without Borders volunteers in South Africa, Guatemala, and Ecuador On the other hand of the spectrum, Gerecht Lab focuses its attentions of stem cell research and vascularization techniques. The lab was founded in 2007, and maintains a small pool of twenty researchers, ranging from undergraduate students to post-doctorate researchers In Kunda's book, Engineering Culture, he described the culture of ‘Tech' corporation and its influence To discover the essence of ‘Tech Culture', Kunda assumed the role of a ‘Tech' employee. [...]
[...] Rather, describing it through more tangible adjectives grounds our understanding of it. Members of Apple Inc. describe their company as “competent”, “passionate”, and “intense”. Engineers Without Border's volunteers believe their organization “Builds a better world, one community at a time.” According to its researchers, the Gerecht Lab possesses a “collaborative, diverse and hardworking” atmosphere. The collaborative mindset of the Gerecht lab manifests both inside and outside the workplace. Graduate students commonly occupy a room where scientific ideas flow freely between members from diverse backgrounds. [...]
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