Engineering organizations: structure, management, and operations

¶ … Engineering Organizations

The first image displayed on the website for the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, rather eccentrically for an engineering organization, is two hands holding a clump of soil. Yet despite this earthy image, the society also stresses its technical nature, as members in the biological, agricultural, and other food related sciences could engage in virtual web conferences with one another, through web space accorded to the organization. Thus, the technical as well as the agricultural aspects of the organization enable members to improve their professional credentials and connect with other engineering professional in the agricultural field. Members can also make use of the organization's technical library and database of technical experts.

The ASAE also offers such perks for members as a group insurance plan and an e-newsletter. The offer of a group insurance plan illustrates that many members may not be members of a large corporate entity, and may need additional coverage as well as their employer's benefit plan. The organization provides as set of corporate standards for its members to keep in mind when selecting ethical organizations to become a part of, thus showing its student-friendly focus. This focus upon new members and the need to generate a new generation of agricultural engineers is illustrated as well by the organization's maintenance an Internet forums for students of agricultural engineering and current professionals in the field to engage in discussion and debate. For current professionals, the ASAE offers workshops, continuing education programs and conferences (with member discounts) in the real world. (http://www.asae.org/standards/index.html)

IEE

Unlike the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, the Institute of Electrics and of Electrical Engineers, the IEE is an international, rather than a national body. It is an institute or organization rather than a society or conglomeration of members like the American ASAE. IEE provides its members not simply with services, but has a code of ethics, a constitution, and a number of bylaws that the members must uphold. Membership is not about paying a fee; membership is a privilege, not a right that one must obtain not simply through payment, but by upholding certain standards of behavior. By upholding professional standards the IEE hopes to create a more fertile and favorable climate for the professional development of electrical engineers everywhere in the world.

The IEE website includes the full history of the organization. Also, rather than seeking a broad membership base like the ASAE, the IEE stresses the narrow focus of the organization, on light and power and wire communications. It stresses its close ties to corporations, and includes no specifically student-friendly features or fee structure. Simply receiving the membership and participating in the professional connections generated with the organization is enough, the website's overall attitude suggests, although the IEE does publish numerous periodicals for its members. (http://www.ieee.org)