Chief executives of organizations often become isolated. Because of information volume and time constraints, they become surrounded by staff that provide them with the information that they use to make important decisions. Regrettably at times, the chief executive is only provided with “filtered” information that staff want them to have, or that they themselves want to hear. Chief executives, if they are not diligent, lose the opportunity to receive information directly from a variety of sources of their own choosing, and as well the ability to ask questions of the source and observe body language.

Senator, Presidential candidate, and subsequently President-elect Barack Obama was known as an individual who used his BlackBerry [www.rim.com] frequently and continued to use it as the bubble around him became tighter and tighter as the Presidential campaign progressed. A topic of considerable discussion was what would happen when he assumed office. Would he be allowed to keep his BlackBerry? The two most important concerns are those of e-mail security and the Presidential Records Act [Zeleny, 16 November 2008]. The President’s use of this technology has been the subject of considerable discussion. The most recent information [Zeleny, 22 January 2009] indicates that President Obama will be allowed to keep his BlackBerry.

Chief executives, including the President of the United States, need multiple information sources to assist them in making the best decisions. They require a diversity of opinions. They need people who will speak frankly and without partisanship. They need opinions that might be contrary to their own, those of their staff, as well as the majority viewpoint. Technology provides the ability to obtain information and thus facilitate effective and correct decisions.

Congratulations Mr. President.

Zeleny, Jeff, "Lose the BlackBerry? Yes He Can, Maybe," The New York Times, 16 November 2008 [www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/us/politics/16blackberry.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=blackberry%20obama%20&st=Search].

Zeleny, Jeff, "Obama Gets a Thumb-up for His BlackBerry," The New York Times. 22 January 2009 [http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/obama-gets-a-thumbs-up-for-his-blackberry/]

Other Bytes

Here are some of the things going on in and around the engineering community:

• Today’s engineers often work in other countries or are employed alongside people who have been trained in other countries. In “Competencies Beyond Countries: The Re-Organization of Engineering Education in the United States, Europe and Latin America”
  [Journal of Engineering Education, 97(4), pp. 433-447, October 2008, www.asee.org/publications/jee/index.cfm], Juan Lucena et al. discuss the importance of extending the competencies that engineers learn beyond that of their nation of origin. Globalization and increased mobility in the workplace is causing educational providers to transform curricula so that graduates possess competencies recognized as necessary to work in other countries and by international employers operating within their own country. The authors of this comprehensive article compare the transformation of engineering education organizations in the United States with those in Europe and Latin America.

• Thomas A. Easton provides a glimpse of the future where technology may soon converge with an innovative business model giving consumers the opportunity to download and print their own products using a “3-D printer” [“The Design Economy: A Brave New World for Businesses and Consumers,” The Futurist, 43(1), pp. 42-47, January-February 2009, www.wfs.org]. It is predicted that within 20 years a consumer would be able to order a product online and have the product printed using multiple materials such as plastics, wiring and silicon at home.

• In 2006 General Electric launched its new management development program “Leadership, Innovation and Growth.” This program is designed to support corporate priorities of achieving growth by expanding businesses and creating new ones [“How GE Teaches Teams to Lead Change,” Harvard Business Review, 87(1), pp. 99-106, January 2009, www.hbr.org]. Steven Prokesch, who has firsthand experience as a participant in the four-day program, discusses the effectiveness of this program that trains all the senior members of a GE business management team as a group.

• Each generation has its own unique style, so it is with learning. In an article by Sara Rimer [The New York Times, 13 January 2009, www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/us/13physics.html?_r=3&pagewanted=print], entitled “At M.I.T. Large Lectures are Going the Way of the Blackboard,” Rimer describes how in the past introductory physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was taught in a vast amphitheatre where as many as 300 freshmen took notes while the professor used multiple blackboards to deliver knowledge. It was the student’s job to figure it out and as shown by failure and attendance rates many students had trouble doing that. M.I.T. has made a striking change replacing the amphitheatre with smaller classes that emphasize hands-on, interactive, collaborative learning. The walls are covered with white boards and huge electronic display screens where teachers and students learn concepts in small groups conducting experiments together. The new approach is known as “Technology Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL).

• Business leaders are engaging coaches to advise them on difficult issues. These “gray eminences” as business tools are evolving in legitimacy as their role becomes more defined. Diane Coutu and Carol Kauffman conducted a survey of 140 leading coaches and invited five experiments to comment on their findings described in “What Can Coaches Do For You?” [Harvard Business Review, 87(1), pp. 91-97, January 2009, www.hbr.org]. Emerging from the study is that the primary reasons that coaches are hired are to develop leadership potential, facilitate transition, and act as a sounding board.

• Entrepreneurship can provide the impetus for economic development and growth. In “Establishing a Culture of Entrapreneurship as a Contributor to Sustainable Economic Growth” [Journal of Global Business and Technology, 4(2), pp. 34-41, Fall 2008,  www.highbeam.com/Journal+of+Global+Business+and+Technology/
  publications.aspx], Leon de Wet Fourie discusses how South Africa can enhance entrepreneurship specifically by the encouragement of entrepreneurship by managers in existing organizations. Competencies that managers need to become managers of entrepreneurship and to establish a culture of entrepreneurship are discussed.

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