EM6113-Engineering Management

Techniques

Module Introduction & Introduction to

Engineering Management Techniques

1
Intro Time!

Masters in Project Management, Hertfordshire, UK

Saad
Ahmed Masters in Advanced Digital Systems, Hertfordshire, UK
saadisherazi@hotmail.com
0300-8511383 Bachelors in Electronics Engineering, NUST, Islamabad

Core Competencies in Project Management, Risk, Quality

Planning, Change

Introduce Yourself:
1) Name
2) Education & Background
3) Work Experience (if any)
4) Objective of Life (Larger than Life !)
5) Goals & Expectations from Course
6) 1 Lie & 1 Truth about Yourself . Let others
guess!
About EMT
 Class participation
 The first 5-10 minutes of each class dedicated to
you
 You will be responsible to identify contemporary
cases (like the concept of living case studies),
which can be brought to class as examples of
engineering management
 You will be required to come up with relevant news
items from national and international dailies which
you should relate to engineering management
About EMT continued

 The purpose of this exercise is to train our mind to

the related the reality outside of the classroom and
establish linkages between the theoretical
frameworks that govern those realities.
 Simply put any technology/engineering news
related to any management issue
About EMT continued
 Some helpful links
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/science
 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology
 http://edition.cnn.com/tech
 http://techcrunch.com/
 http://www.wired.com/
 http://mashable.com/tech/
 Managing Engineering and Technology
Fifth Edition
Morse and Babcock

Engineering and Management

Chapter 1
 Managing Engineering and Technology

Management Functions Managing Technology Personal Technology

Planning Research Ethics

Decision Making Design Career

Organizing Planning Production Diversity

Controlling Managing Production Time Management

Leading Marketing Global

Project Managment
Chapter Objectives
 Describe the origins of engineering practice
 Identify the functions of management
 Explain what is Engineering Management
 Explain the need for engineers in
management
Engineering Leadership
 Only 26% of CEO’s in the top 1000
companies had their first degrees in
Engineering (more in countries other than
the US)
 Only 10% of US university presidents are
engineers
 Few engineers are in US Congress
 President Jimmy Carter was the only
engineer, but he did not get reelected
Engineering – Its meaning

 Engineer and ingenious both stem from the

Latin ingenium, meaning talent, natural
capacity or clever invention
 Engineering: the application of science and
mathematics by which the properties of matter
and the sources of energy in nature are made
useful to man in structures, machines,
products, systems and processes
What is Engineering?
 Design for customer requirements
 Solve technical problems
 Application of science/principles to solve
problems within constraints
 Trade-offs between safety, economy,
performance, serviceability
 Efficient application of resources
Technology – Its meaning

 From Greek ‘technologia’ - systematic

treatment of an art,
What is Technology?
 Realization of a concept or idea
 Practical application of scientific principles for
some benefit
 The application of practical sciences to
industry or commerce
Career Path of Engineers
Technical Contributors
 Focus on the operational aspects of
technology-based work (design,
analysis development, testing,
evaluation, feasibility study, application,
programming)
 Success Factors - (1) Do things right -
reliable/trustworthy, (2) Solid
engineering fundamentals, (3) Easy to
work with, (4) Motivated to learn, (5)
Mature and professional attitude
Mid-level Positions
 Mid-level positions are equivalent in
ranking, mid-point salary and prestige
 Technical Ladder is capped at the
Corporate Fellow level (SE or XEN)
 Managerial ladder, including Project
Management positions, leads to Executive
level positions (vice president, CTO)
Executive Level Positions

 Positions such as vice president (VP) of

Engineering and chief technology officer
(CTO) demand leadership capabilities in
creating and implementing technological
strategies to capture new business
opportunities
 Teamwork with other high level executives is
a critical success factor
Work Contents

 Change of work contents with engineering

career progression

Technical Mid Top

Contributor Manager Executive
Technical 70% 25% 5%
Managerial 25% 50% 25%
Visionary 5% 25% 70%
Management – Its meaning
 Most ubiquitous and misused word in the
20th century
 Jane Fonda’s “School of Figure
Management” !!!
 Word ‘manage’ comes from Italian
‘maneggiare’ meaning ‘to handle’ especially
to handle and train horses
 Latin word ‘manus’ meaning ‘hand’.
What is management?
 The process of dealing with or controlling
things or people
 Four accepted usages:
 An organizational or administrative process
 A science discipline
 The group of people running an organization
 An occupational career
What is Management?
 An assignment
 Motivating workers
 Facilitating
 Communicating
 Coordinating and organizing resources
(human, capital, tech, money) to accomplish
common goals
Engineer vs. Manager
 Level of detail
 Planning horizon
 Number of tasks (chaos level)
 Time per task
 Typical tasks
 Time communicating
 Job satisfaction
Making the Transition
 Social/people focus
 Relationships
 Communication
 Conflict resolution
 New definition of success
 Leadership
 Motivation
 Strategy (direction)
 Business/customer focus
Making a Successful Transition
to Management

 Mastering relationships
 Seeing the big picture
 Getting things done
 Communicating effectively
 Using assets wisely
 Taking it to the next level
People problem?
 What makes humans unique?
 Bounded rationality?
 Introversion?
 Emotions?
 Motivation?
 (Perceived) sense of injustice
 Egocentric
 Individualistic
 Women and interpersonal dealings?
Why is transition not easy?

 Engineering mindset and attitude not

compatible with management work?
 Education preventing engineers from
becoming great managers?
 Strengths in engineering have become
weaknesses in management?
 Differences in work done by engineers
versus that by managers?
CHARACTERISTICS ENGINEERS MANAGERS

Focus Technical/scientific tasks People (talents, innovation, relationships);

resources (capital, knowledge, process
know-how); projects (tasks, procedure, policy)

Decision Making Adequate technical information Fuzzy information under uncertainty (people's
Basis with great certainty behavior, customer needs, market forecasts)

Involvement Perform individual tasks Direct work of others (planning, leading,

organizing, controlling)

Work Output Quantitative, measurable Qualitative, less measurable, except

financial results, when applicable

Effectiveness Rely on technical expertise Rely on interpersonal skills to get work done
and personal dedication through people (motivation, delegation)

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CHARACTERISTICS ENGINEERS MANAGERS

Dependency Autonomous Interdependent of others

Responsibility Pursue one task at a time Pursue multiple objectives concurrently

Creativity Technology centered People centered (conflict resolution, problem

solving, political alliance, networks building)

Bottom Line "How" (operational) "What" and "Why" (strategic)

Concern Will it work technically? Will it add value (market share, financial,
core technology, customer satisfaction)?

Adopted and revised from P. Morrison, "Making Managers of Engineers," Journal of Management in
Engineering, Vol. 2, No. 4 (1986)
Managerial Levels
 First-line Managers
 Directly supervise non-managers
 Middle Managers
 Indirect managers, as they manage managers
and not non-managers
 Top Managers
 Define mission, vision and objectives of the
enterprise
Katz - Managerial Skills
 Technical
 Engineering, accounting, machining, word
processing
 Interpersonal
 Communication, negotiation, conflict resolution
 Conceptual
 Discerning critical factors, ‘see the forest in spite
of the trees’
 Mintzberg - Managerial Roles
 Interpersonal
 Figurehead (Welcoming dignitaries and signing
official documents)
 Leader (Guiding and motivating subordinates)
 Liaison (Horizontal relationships with peers)
 Informational
 Monitor (Collecting internal and external info)
 Disseminator (Transmission of info internally)
 Spokesperson (Transmission of info externally)
Managerial Roles
Mintzberg, cont.

 Decisional
 Entrepreneurial (Change initiator)
 Disturbance Handler (Dealing with crisis)
 Resource Allocator (Distributing resources)
 Negotiator (Bargaining with suppliers and
customers, subordinates and peers
 Fayol - Managerial Functions
 Planning (Selecting what to do)
 Organizing (Establishing structure)
 Command (Replaced today with
Leading/Motivating/Actuating)
 Coordination (Not separate anymore)
 Controlling (Measuring and correcting
activities)
 Kootz - Managerial Functions
 Planning (Selecting what to do)
 Organizing (Establishing structure)
 Staffing (Filling and keeping filled the structure)
 Leading (Influence people to achieve
organizational goals)
 Controlling (Measuring and correcting
activities)
To Manage or Not to Manage -
Pros
 Financial rewards
 Authority, responsibility and leadership
 Power, influence, social status and prestige
 Career advancement, achievement and
recognition
 Random circumstance
 To Manage or Not to Manage -
Cons
 Long hours and hectic life (overtime, travel)
 High stress level (pressure of deadlines,
constraints of resources, political infighting,
lack of peer cooperation, trivial personnel
conflicts)
 Poor family life (not seeing family much)
 Health hazards (travel, unhealthy foods,
physical stress)
 How to Get Promoted
 Competence in current assignments - master
current duties and responsibilities, gain
respect of co-workers and get favorable
recommendation from the boss
 Readiness and desire to become manager -
handle larger and more challenging
assignments (budget, people, impact)
 Good match with organizational needs
Managerial Competency

Managerial Competency

Knowledge Skills Aptitude

Political Strong
Strong Will Strong Capacity
to Manage Need for Empathy
for Power
Handling Power
& Enterprise Politics
Technical

Conflict Resolution Managerial

Administrative Leadership Motivation Communications Coaching & Appraising

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Engineering Management
• Direction and supervision of engineers and
engineering functions
• The application of quantitative methods
and techniques to the practice of
management
• Management of technical function in
almost any enterprise OR the management
of broader functions (marketing or top
management) in a high-technology
enterprise
Babcock
“Engineering Managers are distinguished
from other managers because they possess
both the ability to apply engineering principles
and skill in organizing and directing people
and projects.”
Prentice Hall, 2006
Assignment No.1
 Question
 Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawkins, all
three have warned from the perils of AI or super-
intelligence. Do you think this could be an
‘engineering management’ problem? If yes, how?
 Session Objectives
 D

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Questions?