National Academies Press: OpenBook

Engineering in Society (1985)

Chapter: Does the Supply Meet the Demand?

« Previous: 5 Maintaining Flexibility in an Age of Stress and Rapid Change
Suggested Citation:"Does the Supply Meet the Demand?." National Research Council. 1985. Engineering in Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/586.
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Page 66

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MAINTAINING FLEXIBILITY IN AN AGE OF STRESS AND RAPID CHANGE 66 as a basis for estimating the response of the engineering manpower supply system. The results of the scenario evaluations are summarized later in this chapter. HOW WELL IS THE SYSTEM WORKING? The primary questions to ask in judging the adequacy of the engineering manpower supply system as configured today regard its current responsiveness (in both quantity and quality) and its potential for adapting to future conditions. Does the Supply Meet the Demand? In general, the supply of engineers to meet industrial needs and societal goals has proven to be adequate in the past. The response to demand has occurred via three mechanisms. First, engineering schools have accommodated large fluctuations in student throughput; they have also adapted organizationally to pressures for different forms of interdisciplinary engineering study (e.g., environmental engineering). This process has been largely reactive—that is, the institutions tend to be conservative and to make such adjustments only when they are thrust upon them. Consequently, organizational changes and associated changes in curricula have often lagged behind changing demand. Nevertheless, the panel finds that, in general, this element of the system has worked. Second, individual practitioners have adapted to changing technology in their field by acquiring new knowledge and mastering new skills. Often this is a function of exposure to new technology on the job. In other cases it is a matter of individuals extending their capabilities through some form of continuing education, either within the company or by means of formal course work pursued on their own initiative. When rapid technological change does occur in a particular field (e.g., the introduction of integrated circuits), engineers already working in that field are generally better positioned to keep abreast of those innovations than are (for example) students. Third, transdisciplinary movement of engineers has occasionally been of major importance in supplying engineers to meet an emerging demand. There are usually enough generic similarities between a new application (spacecraft, for example) and existing ones (e.g., aircraft, submarines, automobiles, and other vehicles) so that specialists in a particular area can transfer their knowledge into the new field with relative ease. The organizational aspects of R&D and production in

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