Effective Interpersonal and Team Communication Skills for Engineers

Whitcomb (systems engineering, Naval Postgraduate School) describes the interpersonal field in which all engineering technical and nontechnical exchanges occur, and defines 13 communication microskills for expressing engineering ideas and exchanging complex information efficiently. Microskills involve the proper use of content statements that clarify communication, attending behaviors, paraphrasing and summarizing, reflection of feeling, and conflict negotiation skills. Examples and exercises demonstrate how to put the pieces together to intentionally drive engineering tasks and produce better engineering outcomes. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

CLIFFORD A. WHITCOMB, PhD, CSEP, is Professor and Chair of the Systems Engineering Department at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. He has over thirty years' leadership experience in teaching, research, and implementation of system engineering and product development for government and industry. His current research involves the development and assessment of executable architectures for combatant ship, unmanned vehicle, and information technology systems and systems of systems.

LESLIE E. WHITCOMB, MSc, is an educator and facilitator with twenty-five years' experience in education and counseling. She has developed curricula for and implemented practice of multicultural microskills counseling and education practices in a diversity of settings.