BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

ENGINEERS IN AN
ORGANISATION
CHAPTER THREE

BDD/FKAAS/UTHM

BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

ENGINEERING FIRMS

• Engineers may work in the public or private

engineering firm.
• Engineering firms come in all sizes, ranging
from one-person consultancies operating
out of their home to huge multinational
companies that deal not only in engineering
but also the construction, operation, and
maintenance of facilities.
• Not every engineer in a firm needs to be
licensed, but a licensed engineer is required

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ENGINEERING FIRMS

to supervise every project. If they only

offer their services to other businesses,
and not the public, they do not need to be
licensed.
• This falls under what is known as an
industry exclusion, which says that
engineers that work for industry do not
have to be licensed.

BDD/FKAAS/UTHM

BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

ENGINEERING FIRMS

• Such firms typically engage in mechanical design work and act as an extension of a
company’s in-house engineering department.
• Companies often bring in an outside firm when they are short on staff, or when they
get a new project but do not want to hire staff and then lay them off when the
project ends.
• Consulting firms get hired to perform engineering work for many entities and types
of clients, both in the private and public sectors. These include:
• Land and property developers • Construction firms
• Government agencies and municipalities • Large engineering firms
• Industrial and commercial companies • Architects
• Hospitals • Private individuals
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ENGINEERING FIRMS

• Government agencies often hire engineering firms for major projects such as a new
facility or structure being built.
• Many municipalities such as city and town governments hire a firm on a permanent,
on-going basis to serve as a municipal engineer and handle engineering-related
projects and services as they come up in the jurisdiction.
• Large engineering firms often serve as the prime firm to handle the overall
engineering effort on a major project and then hire smaller specialty firms as
subcontractors to carry out individual parts of the design work. These often include
mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP), geotechnical, structural, and
environmental engineering firms.

BDD/FKAAS/UTHM

BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

ENGINEERING FIRMS

• Architects operate in similar fashion and hire structural and MEP engineering firms
to work as subs on a building project they designed.
• However, engineering firms also often work side by side with each other and
architects on a building project, all reporting to the building owner.
• When a private individual hires an engineer, it usually involves a house or building
inspection or investigating a structural problem.

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 BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

GROUP EXERCISE 2

• Form a group consisting of five (5) members.

• The following is a perception of engineers working in the public sector. Debate on
this topic and discuss what can be done to avoid this perception in the future.

Truth or misconception?

Engineers working in government agencies

are unqualified, lazy and overpaid. They
spend all day taking coffee breaks and
browsing the internet.

BDD/FKAAS/UTHM

BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

WORKING IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

• There are many reasons why an engineer might want to work in the public sector.
For starters, the government is responsible for running a number of engineering
projects.
• Due to the array of projects tied to government work, there are lots of
opportunities for engineers of all disciplines to work within the public sector.
• Reported benefits of working in the public sector include:
• Security and stability – Although the private sector is prone to market shifts and
periods of instability, the public sector enjoys much more stability due to
government-backing. As a result, engineers who work for the public sector have
a much higher degree of security and can enjoy a certain level of protection

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WORKING IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

against closures and hostile financial conditions. Another substantial advantage

of public sector jobs is a guaranteed pension scheme, the benefits of which far
outweigh those in private sector jobs.
• Service – Perhaps one of the most satisfying parts of working in the public sector
as an engineer, or indeed in any job role within a government organisation, is
being able to directly affect your local area and even the wider area, by
producing top quality work.
• Shorter working hours – Hours within the public sector tend to be a lot less
demanding than in the private sector. Many government organisations also offer
flexitime working hours, as well as accommodate for engineers who may

BDD/FKAAS/UTHM

BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

WORKING IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

work part-time, taking into account the different circumstances of employees.

• Training opportunities and career development – Employees within the public sector
are frequently encouraged to expand their existing skillsets by attending training
programmes or gaining extra qualifications. Government organisations are
dedicated to helping staff realise their potential and further their career.

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 BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

WORKING IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR

• Employment in the private sector consists of any work outside of local, state, and
federal agencies.
• The private sector is more focused on revenue than the public sector.
• An engineer may want to work in the private sector because it has more flexibility in
just about every aspect of employment. Hiring of employees is less stringent without
some of the strict guidelines of the public sector, and salaries tend to be more higher
and negotiable than the public sector.
• One of the major benefits of working in the private sector is that it allows you more
room to move around from one position to another. Though every organisation has
its own set of rules, they tend to be a little more flexible in this sector than in public
service.
BDD/FKAAS/UTHM

BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

WORKING IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR

• Pay raises are also easier to obtain, as the decisions can be made from within the
company, instead of being based on central rules and regulations followed
throughout the entire state or government.
• Another benefit for working in the private sector is the ability to move up quickly in
an organisation.While this is not impossible to do in the public sector, it can often
prove more difficult, as there are tight restrictions placed on the entire process.

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REVELATIONS OF A PUBLIC SECTOR ENGINEER

WHO USED TO WORK IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR
Government work does not match the stereotype. We don't sit around all day drinking coffee and
browsing the web. I work with some amazingly talented engineers and we work hard. I've worked in
the Land Development Division, am now in the Capital Projects Division, and I work closely with the
Transportation Engineering Division. All hard workers.

The pros are excellent benefits. I'll be honest, the benefits are too generous in my opinion. Other pros
are, while you still need to be budget conscious, there isn't that stress of being billable and ensuring
company profit. I do still have some late nights, taking work home, and even the occasional all-nighter
for certain deadlines but it seems to be far less than when I was in private.

The cons are it could be hard to get into a public sector job. Also, I think the pay is typically a little
less than private sector. What I miss is the hardcore designing. You may get to do design in the public
sector, depending on how much design your agency does in-house but in my situation, we outsource
anything medium and above and keep only the smaller in-house. It becomes a lot more managing than
design.

BDD/FKAAS/UTHM

BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

ENGINEERS IN ORGANISATIONS

Organisational Culture
• Organisational culture is a vital component within the organisation. An
organisation’s culture is defined as the norms, expectations, patterns and unwritten
rules inside a company, which shape our experience and determine if we are inside
or outside the company.
• The value of an organisation’s culture is not the identity of those inside the
organisation looking out, but how that identity captures the mind and heart of the
customers we serve.
• We need to recognise and deliver value to the customers and investors who give us
the right to exist as a company and we make sure our personal values ensure a
legacy of goodness.
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 BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

ENGINEERS IN ORGANISATIONS

• Engineers must have some understanding of the organisation in which they are
employed. This knowledge helps engineers to understand:
• How they and their managers handle issues under the influence of the
organisation.
• How one can act in the organisation effectively, safely and in a morally
responsible way.
• In order to understand the organisational cultures in which engineers work, we first
must understand the types of companies:

Engineer-Oriented Customer-Oriented Finance-Oriented

Companies Companies Companies

BDD/FKAAS/UTHM

BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

ENGINEERS IN ORGANISATIONS

Engineer-Oriented Companies
• In these firms, there is general agreement that quality takes priority over others,
except safety.
• Engineers often described their relationship to managers in these firms as one in
which negotiation or arriving at consensus was prominent.
• Managers would rarely overrule engineers when there was a significant engineering
issue, although they might make the final decision when issues as cost or marketing
are involved.

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ENGINEERS IN ORGANISATIONS

Customer-Oriented Companies
• Decision making is similar to that of engineer-oriented firms, but with four significant
differences:
• Managers think of engineers as advocates of a point of view different from their
own. Managers focus on business factors such as timing and cost, while
engineers focus on quality and safety.
• More emphasis is placed on business considerations.
• While safety is the main priority, quality can be sacrificed to get the product
sold.
• Communication between engineers and managers may be somewhat more
difficult.
BDD/FKAAS/UTHM

BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

ENGINEERS IN ORGANISATIONS

Finance-Oriented Companies
• These firms are more centralised. As such, engineers may receive less information for
making decisions.
• Consequently, engineers’ decisions are given less weight by managers.
• Managers are less inclined to try to reach consensus and engineers are seen as
having a staff and advisory function.

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 BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

ENGINEERS IN ORGANISATIONS

Functions of Engineers and Managers

• The primary function of engineers within
an organisation is to use their technical
knowledge and training to create
structures, products and processes that
are of value to the company and its
customers.
• But engineers are also professionals and
they must uphold the standards that their
profession has decided.

BDD/FKAAS/UTHM

BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

ENGINEERS IN ORGANISATIONS

• Thus, engineers have a dual loyalty – to their organisation and to their profession.
• These obligations include meeting the standards associated with good design and
accepted engineering practice.
• Engineers also attribute key importance to safety and therefore are more inclined to
be cautious.
• The function of managers is different, in the sense that they direct the activities of
the organisations, including the activities of engineers.
• Rather than being oriented towards technical standards, they are more likely to be
governed by organisational standards, and in some cases by their own personal
moral beliefs.

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 BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

ENGINEERS IN ORGANISATIONS

• The perspectives of managers and engineers differ. Managers view themselves as

custodians of the organisation and are primarily concerned with its current and
future well-being (economic terms, public image, employee morale, etc.).
• Engineers, on the other hand, tend to assign a serial ordering to the various
considerations relevant to the design so that minimal standards of safety and quality
must be met before any other considerations are relevant.
• Proper engineering and management decisions are described as follows:
• Proper Engineering Decisions (PED) – A decision that should be made by engineers
because it involves technical matters that require engineering expertise, or falls
within the ethical standards embodied in engineering codes, especially those to
protect the health and safety of the public.
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BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

ENGINEERS IN ORGANISATIONS

• Proper Management Decisions (PMD) – A decision that should be made by

managers because it involves factors relating to the well-being of the
organisation, such as cost, scheduling and marketing, and employee morale or
welfare. The decision does not force engineers to make unacceptable
compromises within their own technical and ethical standards.
• The PMD makes it clear that management standards should never overrule
engineering standards when the two are in substantial conflict, especially with regard
to safety and even quality.
• The PMD also specifies that a legitimate management decision must not force
engineers to violate their professional practices and standards.

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 BFC 32202 – ENGINEERS & SOCIETY

ENGINEERS IN ORGANISATIONS

• Engineers are expected to give advice, even in decisions properly made by managers.
Management decisions can often benefit from the advice of engineers, such as
advising on improvements in design, alternative designs and ways to make a product
more attractive.
• Furthermore, engineers may be in the best position to anticipate the sorts of
problems products could have down the road. Engineers forewarn managers of
future problems and advise them of available alternatives.

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