Student perceptions of teamwork, conflict, and industry preparedness in engineering interdisciplinary capstone design

Interpersonal skills related to teamwork, communication, and conflict resolution are recognized as essential skills for engineers. However, employers indicate that recent engineering graduates are not adequately prepared with the professional skills needed for the workplace. Although engineering students work in teams throughout their academic careers, many are not explicitly taught how to work in teams and face challenges with teamwork and handling conflict with the collaborative nature of engineering. Capstone design courses are the culmination of the engineering curriculum with a team design project and serve a critical role in preparing students for the workforce. This exploratory study seeks to answer the following research questions: RQ1) What are senior-level engineering students' experiences with teamwork and conflict in their capstone design teams? RQ2) How do students perceive their preparedness for industry from courses such as capstone design? Three focus groups were conducted with senior-level engineering Interdisciplinary Capstone Design students at a large, public university and consisted of a mix of student design teams in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Mechanical Engineering (ME). By exploring student experiences in this context, we can gain a better understanding of engineering students' experiences with teamwork and conflict to better prepare students for the engineering workplace. Results indicate that communication and project management are the most prominent challenges for students, especially for those on large competition teams consisting of more than ten students. Teams received conflict management training through a workshop in their course, which helped students recognize and manage conflict in their teams and emphasized the need for this intervention as early as possible. Students highlight their perceptions of the differences between academia and the workplace, including different dynamics with team composition and organizational hierarchy. Additionally, students pushed for more autonomy in the classroom that caters to their unique project team needs - questioning the alignment of course assignments with competition requirements and with the nature of work in the engineering workplace. This work indicates that there is still work to be done by educators to improve capstone design courses and development of students' professional skills related to teamwork and project management. Implications for research and practice are provided, including considerations for team size, course structure, and the need for leadership and conflict management training in the classroom to help prepare students for the engineering workforce.