Globally Aware…sort of…
The Greeting
I’ve been a professional member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) since 1995. Recently I got an email update from the management division that opens up with…
Dear Colleagues,
As summer comes to a close and the Labor Day holiday behind us, the start of fall and football beckons us. I hope that each of you took time during the summer months to rest and recharge those batteries as we head into the start of a new academic year. It amazes me each year how quickly summer comes and goes.
Source: Withheld
and continues a bit further with…
launching the Global Engineering Management Conference is the greatest initiative the Management Division has taken on in the past decade.
Source: Withheld
Can any of you recognize the disconnect there?
The Disconnect…U.S.-centric
ASME has a…
membership of more than 127,000 mechanical engineers and allied professionals from around the world.
Source: ASME. (2008). ASME At a Glance. Retrieved September 18, 2009 from ASME website: http://files.asme.org/asmeorg/About/13917.pdf
Admittedly most of them are in the United States, and are probably in the northern hemisphere. But, there are enough of them out there that…
summer [has not] come to a close and the [random American holiday means nothing to them], [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][nor are] fall and football [beckoning them]. [And so on.]
I’ve learned, that in a global society, we can’t just refer to summer and fall, morning or afternoon, nor expect people around the world to understand that we mean American-style football.
I find this all quite amusing for a group that’s undertaken a “Global” Engineering Management activity. These are some of the sensitivities I would expect all global engineering managers to understand and be aware of…oh, well.
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As a woman in the engineering profession, I am particularly sensitive to diversity issues, whether it’s based on gender, ethnicity, or country of residence. I agree that engineering managers doing business in the global economy should be mindful of cultural differences and have respect for all people as individuals. Sensitivity to diversity is especially import in direct communications when a person or group of people could potentially be insulted, ridiculed, or otherwise put down. While you may find the newsletter amusingly ironic, I don’t find the comments particularly offensive or alienating.
I have been in the minority long enough to realize that I cannot expect the majority to cater all messages, colloquialisms, and dialogue specifically to my interests. If I dismissed every organization that made a reference to sports, video games, movies, or other topics of which I have no understanding, and quite frankly no interest, I would alienate myself from (almost) my entire profession. I have chosen not to take offense to gender-, or ethnicity-specific comments because I, too, value the diversity of thought from people who do not share common experiences and interests with me. To remove these references, I would miss out on learning about the people and world around me.
In the spirit of full-disclosure, I am an officer in the Management Division and my husband happens to be the author of the newsletter greeting that you dissected here. I know firsthand that he is a very fair and sincere man who just happens to love American football. I’m certain that his decision to use a little local flavor in his opening remarks was an attempt, however flawed you believe it to be, to make an otherwise mundane message a little more interesting. Please understand that the email went to a smaller subset of the ASME population that you sited above. The excerpts you blog about are from a newsletter to members of the Management Division, a technical division with approximately 10,000 members, many of whom are mid-career engineers in the U.S.
The Global Engineering Management Conference (GEMC) is another entirely separate product. In defense of the GEMC, I can attest that the program is the result of years of hard work by a small group of over-worked volunteers and a few dedicated ASME staff members. The members of our committee are indeed globally diverse, and we have worked diligently to design a program that is both exciting and relevant to an international audience. We hope you join us (if you haven’t already written us off entirely).