Exam in Engineering Management

1. Engineer managers cannot avoid making management decisions because there will
always be a situation that he or she will have to choose among options to address
certain problems or simply by doing things related to work. On the other hand, if an
engineer manager indeed avoided making a decision, it will still end up as decision itself
and more likely means that he or she is less competent and probably ineffective. I
believe that no matter how difficult a situation is, an engineer manager must capable of
making a decision for he or she holds his or her people’s career and the success of the
things they do.
2. Yes, when a problem becomes apparent and the engineer manager chooses to ignore
it, he is already making a decision. As I have said, a decision has already made whether
the engineer manager chooses not to act, stay silent, or ignores the problems they are
facing. Perhaps others think that ignoring the problem is the solution but I believe that
ignoring a problem is avoiding the solutions.
3. Identifying a problem is mostly the first step not only in the field of engineering but
also in other fields such as medicine and research. Proper diagnosis of a problem is
important because it mirrors the success of the other remaining steps on a decision-
making process. Also, I believe that understanding the root causes of a problem can
help on focalizing the thinking of solutions that can bring us closer to where we want to
be. So, it is always important to diagnose the problem before looking ways to correct it.
As Albert Einstein said “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems
longer”. Let’s always start from the basic and don’t be so impulsive on jumping to
solutions already.
4. Managers who are indecisive may seem harmless but they can be dangerous.
Engineer managers are supposed to be the one who is planning, directing and
responsible for solving any issues that may come up in a project which of course
involves a lot of decision making. So, it is dangerous for a manager to be indecisive
because it’s like paralyzing the whole team on moving forward. And I strongly believe
that any decision is always better than having no decision at all because the only bad
decision is indecision, followed by inaction. On the other hand, indecisive managers
should not be immediately removed from their position. Instead, they must be informed
so they can overcome and realized the danger of them being indecisive. And if not,
necessary actions are to be followed.