Engineering Management

Spring 2020

Department of Electrical Engineering

INSTITUTE OF SPACE TECHNOLOY
 Critical Thinking

Which one is the best?

The engineering manager with business skills or
the business manager with the technical skill
 Some reasons an engineering background can help
prepare for an engineering management position

1. Engineers: logical, methodical, objective, and make

unemotional decisions based on facts.
2. Use their technical knowledge to check the validity of
information.
3. Can analyze problems thoroughly, look beyond the
immediate ones, and ask good questions to explore
alternative solutions to technical problems.
4. Understand what motivates engineers.
5. Can review and evaluate the work of their subordinates
since they understand what they are doing.
 Some reasons an engineering background can help
prepare for an engineering management position

6. Can engage in future planning with appropriate

consideration for technology and its relationship to
cost effectiveness.
7. Engineering backgrounds help in technical
discussions with customers.
8. Their background increases the manager's
credibility with subordinates, customers, and
superiors. People attribute qualities, abilities, skills,
and knowledge to them, which allows the manager
to influence those who have that perception.
 Role Differences Between Engineers and Managers
Position Engineer
Focus More concerned with
things technical/scientific
Decision making Makes decisions with
much information, under
conditions of greater
certainty
Involvement Works on tasks and
problems solving
personally
Process outcomes Work based on facts with
quantifiable outcomes
Effectiveness Depends on person
technical expertise,
attention to detail,
mathematical/technical
problem solving, and
decision making
Manager
More concerned with
people
Makes decisions often
with inadequate
information, under
conditions of greater
uncertainty
Directs the work of
others to goals
Work based on fewer
facts, less measurable
outcomes
Depends on
interpersonal skills in
communication, conflict,
management, getting
ideas across,
negotiating, and
coaching
Role Differences Between Engineers and Managers
 Engineers Versus Managers
What Engineers Do
Minimize risk
Emphasize accuracy and mathematical
precision
Exercise care in applying sound
scientific methods on the basis of
reproducible data
Solve technical problems based on
their own individual skills
Work largely through their own abilities
to get things done
What Managers Do
Take calculated risks
Rely heavily on intuition, take educated
guesses, and try to be "about right"
Exercise leadership in making
decisions under widely varying
conditions based on sketchy
information
Solve techno-people problems based
on skills in integrating the talents of
others
Work through others to get things done
 Philosophical Similarities Between Engineering and
Management

 Both engineers and managers are trained to

be decision makers in a complex environment.
 Both allocate resources for the operation of
existing systems or for the development of
new systems.
 Both have to recognize, identify and evaluate
the interactions among system components.
(Cleland and Kocaoglu 1981)
 The Scope of Management

 Large businesses: Most knowledge comes

from large profit-seeking organizations.
 Small and Start-Up Businesses: Management
is key as wrong decisions may never be
recovered. This is how most businesses start.
Compaq started by 3 in 1982. In 1994 76th
largest with sales of $7b.
 International management: Most large
organizations derive a significant portion of their
business from international markets.
 The Scope of Management

Nonprofit Organizations
Effective and efficient use of resources
 Government Organizations: Subject to political and
public pressure.
 Educational Organizations: Unique management and
administration problems.
 Healthcare Facilities: Clinics, Hospitals, HMOs. New
educational programs.
 Nontraditional Settings: Religious organizations,
service organizations, households, …, etc.
 Management
Context
• External
Environment:
Everything outside
an organization
the might affect it.
• Internal
Environment:
The conditions
and forces within
an organization.
 The External Environment
• General Environment: The set of broad
dimensions and forces in an organization’s
surroundings that create its overall context
• Task Environment: Specific organizations or
groups that affect the organization.
 The General Environment
• The Economic Dimension: The overall health of the economic
system in which the organization operates.
• The Technological Dimension: The methods available for
converting resources into products or services.
• The Sociocultural Dimension: The customs, mores, values,
and demographic characteristics of the society in which the
organization functions.
• The Political-legal Dimension: The government regulation of
business and general relationship between business and
government.
• The International Dimension: The extent to which an
organization is involved in or affected by business in other
countries.
The External Environment: Example

Ford’s General Environment

 The Task Environment
• Competitor: Competes for resources.
• Customer: Whoever pays money to acquire an organizations
products or services.
• Supplier: Provides resources.
• Regulator: A unit that has the potential to control, legislate, or
otherwise influence the organization’s policies and practices
• Regulator Agency: An agency created by the government to
regulate business activities.
• Interest Group: A group formed to attempt to influence
business.
• Strategic Ally: Another organization working in a joint venture
or a similar arrangement.
The Task Environment: Example

Ford’s Task Environment

Environmental Response
Areas of Social
Responsibility