Engineering communication and the global workplace: Preparing professionals and global citizens

Excellence in communication continues to be important for professional success in engineering. However, the norms associated with communication competence have shifted to include communicating with technology, impacts of the global market and social context on communication, and mutual respect and appreciation for disciplinary and cultural differences. These subtle shifts demand that we reimagine our approach to communication instruction to prepare engineers who can communicate in the global workplace across a diverse, international audience. Our purpose is to show how communication in the disciplines (CID) can be the avenue for preparing engineers for global participation and citizenship. We use the concept of metaphor to show how current CID work emphasizes communication as a tool to serve professional goals. We offer the metaphor of voice for (re)imagining a broader approach to CID that will prepare students for communication in the global workplace by positioning communication competency as a powerful, consequential interaction.