Sustainable leadership and management of complex engineering systems: A team based structured case study approach

Abstract

Societal goals have been shifting over the last seventy years towards global sustainability concerns, diversity, and equity. As the goals have shifted, societal demands on engineers and organizations have been shifting. This has implications for how we educate engineers. Sustainable engineering leadership and management consider the organizational aspects of the development and operation of complex designs in a sustainable manner with safety and risk management being key elements of sustainable design, operation, and management of engineering projects. This work explores the intersection of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the current outcomes based engineering education accreditation framework, and risk based process safety management. It further elaborates on how these elements can be integrated into a structured case study approach to connect the role of the underlying values, ethics, assumptions, and beliefs of people who lead, manage, and work in complex engineering projects towards the enactment of a sustainability culture or a safety culture or both. The proposed case study structure reinforces engineering education outcomes, the United Nations sustainable development goals, and Risk Based Process Safety (RBPS) management in order to further develop technical and professional skills in undergraduate and graduate students better preparing them for their future roles in a world demanding sustainable solutions.