Abstract
Impact of the recent technology advancement on the work settings surrounding engineers, their educational and development programs, and the ways of managing engineering personnelwere examined based on the report provided by 11 firms in Aichi Prefecture. Openendedquestionnaire data were obtained from managers in R&D sections, technical and engineeringstaffs, and personnel managers.
The results revealed that new types of engineers with the following features were requiredin each corporation studied: namely those with multiple professional skills and thosewith multiple personal dispositions, such as creativity, frontier spirit, and strong eagernesstoward information and knowledge. The following problems were also pointed out:(1) whatorganizational structure needs to be built to encourage innovative attempts and activitiesfor the success, (2) how should wage and job qualification systems be redesigned to get theorganization geared to high performance, and (3) how existing educational and developmentalprograms which tend to depend mostly upon OJT should be changed to increase adaptabilityof engineers in the era of rapid technological changes.
