Professions, Knowledge, and Workplace Change: The Case of Canadian Engineers

Abstract

AbstractIn North America, training in engineering has long been balanced between formal university education and on-the-job training. Over the last few decades, however, Canadian engineering workplaces have changed. In the drive for efficiency and profit, firms are increasingly reluctant to invest in training. This paper’s author draws on interviews with 53 Ontario, Canada, engineers to explore how workplace change impacts professional skills, and to identify the implications for professional knowledge. From her findings, she concludes that engineers have fewer opportunities to learn on the job than in the past. Increasingly, many are asked to learn in their own time, or on an ad-hoc basis to complete pressing tasks. This encourages information gathering, rather than building deep knowledge. Moreover, knowledge benefiting employers is emphasized at the expense of knowledge benefiting society, with potential long-term implications for engineers’ fiduciary responsibilities.