Engineering Management develops leaders who have these skills and are comfortable with the language and

methods of engineering, business, and technology

Routine
Common examples include payroll processing, reordering standard inventory items, paying suppliers,
and so on. The decision maker can usually rely on policies, rules, past precedents, standardized
methods of processing, or computational techniques
Non-routine decision- making is quite risky and involves a lot of anxiety and stress. There are a number of factors that
should be taken in to account in order to reach the conclusion. Ground rules or sufficient information to guide through
the process do not exist
Decision Summary
You can make more effective decisions when you know what the key elements are. When you make important
decisions, there are a few key factors to keep in mind. Your decisions should be action-oriented. If you cant act on
your decisions, then its a waste of time. You should also be able to respond to feedback once you implement your
decision. What looks good on paper or sounds good, may not work when you actually test it.
Planning
Planning is a process of looking ahead. The primary object of planning is to achieve better results. It involves the
selection of organizational objectives and developing polices procedures, programmes, budgets and strategies.
Planning is a continuous process that takes place at all levels of management.
Laying down objectives
objectives provide nucleus to the planning process.
Developing Planning premises
(Planning premises means systemic and logical estimate for the future factors affecting planning) It is to find out what
obstacles are there in the way of business during the course of operations.
Establishment of planning premises is concerned to take such steps that avoids these obstacles to a great extent.
Planning premises may be internal or external. Internal includes capital investment policy, management labour
relations, philosophy of management, etc. Whereas external includes socio- economic, political and economical
changes.
Internal premises are controllable whereas external are non- controllable
Examining alternative courses of action
every alternative will be evaluated by weighing its pros and cons in the light of resources available and requirements
of the organization.
consequences of each alternative must be examined before the choice is being made.
Organizing
1.

2.

3.

4.

Staffing

Identification of activities - All the activities which have to be performed in a concern have to be identified
first. For example, preparation of accounts, making sales, record keeping, quality control, inventory control,
etc. All these activities have to be grouped and classified into units.
Departmentally organizing the activities - In this step, the manager tries to combine and group similar and
related activities into units or departments. This organization of dividing the whole concern into independent
units and departments is called departmentation.
Classifying the authority - Once the departments are made, the manager likes to classify the powers and its
extent to the managers. This activity of giving a rank in order to the managerial positions is called hierarchy.
The top management is into formulation of policies, the middle level management into departmental
supervision and lower level management into supervision of foremen. The clarification of authority help in
bringing efficiency in the running of a concern. This helps in achieving efficiency in the running of a concern.
This helps in avoiding wastage of time, money, effort, in avoidance of duplication or overlapping of efforts
and this helps in bringing smoothness in a concerns working.
Co-ordination between authority and responsibility - Relationships are established among various groups to
enable smooth interaction toward the achievment of the organizational goal. Each individual is made aware
of his authority and he/she knows whom they have to take orders from and to whom they are accountable
and to whom they have to report. A clear organizational structure is drawn and all the employees are made
aware of it.

Staffing involves more than just recruitment; staffing also encompasses training and development, performance
appraisals, promotions and transfers. Without the staffing function, the business would fail because the business
would not be properly staffed to meet its goals.
1.

2.
3.
4.

5.

Staffing is an important managerial function- Staffing function is the most important mangerial act along with
planning, organizing, directing and controlling. The operations of these four functions depend upon the
manpower which is available through staffing function.
Staffing is a pervasive activity- As staffing function is carried out by all mangers and in all types of concerns
where business activities are carried out.
Staffing is a continuous activity- This is because staffing function continues throughout the life of an
organization due to the transfers and promotions that take place.
The basis of staffing function is efficient management of personnels- Human resources can be efficiently
managed by a system or proper procedure, that is, recruitment, selection, placement, training and
development, providing remuneration, etc.
Staffing helps in placing right men at the right job. It can be done effectively through proper recruitment
procedures and then finally selecting the most suitable candidate as per the job requirements.

Communicating
Perceptual and Language Differences: Perception is generally how each individual interprets the world around him.
All generally want to receive messages which are significant to them. But any message which is against their values
is not accepted. A same event may be taken differently by different individuals. For example : A person is on leave for
a month due to personal reasons (family member being critical). The HR Manager might be in confusion whether to
retain that employee or not, the immediate manager might think of replacement because his teams productivity is
being hampered, the family members might take him as an emotional support.
Information Overload: Managers are surrounded with a pool of information. It is essential to control this information
flow else the information is likely to be misinterpreted or forgotten or overlooked. As a result communication is less
effective.
Inattention: At times we just not listen, but only hear. For example a traveler may pay attention to one NO PARKING
sign, but if such sign is put all over the city, he no longer listens to it. Thus, repetitive messages should be ignored for
effective communication. Similarly if a superior is engrossed in his paper work and his subordinate explains him his
problem, the superior may not get what he is saying and it leads to disappointment of subordinate.
Time Pressures: Often in organization the targets have to be achieved within a specified time period, the failure of
which has adverse consequences. In a haste to meet deadlines, the formal channels of communication are
shortened, or messages are partially given, i.e., not completely transferred. Thus sufficient time should be given for
effective communication.
Distraction/Noise: Communication is also affected a lot by noise to distractions. Physical distractions are also there
such as, poor lightning, uncomfortable sitting, unhygienic room also affects communication in a meeting. Similarly use
of loud speakers interferes with communication.
Emotions: Emotional state at a particular point of time also affects communication. If the receiver feels that
communicator is angry he interprets that the information being sent is very bad. While he takes it differently if the
communicator is happy and jovial (in that case the message is interpreted to be good and interesting).
Complexity in Organizational Structure: Greater the hierarchy in an organization (i.e. more the number of managerial
levels), more is the chances of communication getting destroyed. Only the people at the top level can see the overall
picture while the people at low level just have knowledge about their own area and a little knowledge about other
areas.
Poor retention: Human memory cannot function beyond a limit. One cant always retain what is being told specially if
he is not interested or not attentive. This leads to communication breakdown.
Motivation
1.

Puts human resources into action

Every concern requires physical, financial and human resources to accomplish the goals. It is through
motivation that the human resources can be utilized by making full use of it. This can be done by
building willingness in employees to work. This will help the enterprise in securing best possible
utilization of resources.
Improves level of efficiency of employees

The level of a subordinate or a employee does not only depend upon his qualifications and abilities. For
getting best of his work performance, the gap between ability and willingness has to be filled which
helps in improving the level of performance of subordinates. This will result intoa.
b.
c.

1.

Increase in productivity,
Reducing cost of operations, and
Improving overall efficiency.

Leads to achievement of organizational goals

The goals of an enterprise can be achieved only when the following factors take place :a.
b.
c.
d.

2.

There is best possible utilization of resources,

There is a co-operative work environment,
The employees are goal-directed and they act in a purposive manner,
Goals can be achieved if co-ordination and co-operation takes place simultaneously which can be
effectively done through motivation.

Builds friendly relationship

Motivation is an important factor which brings employees satisfaction. This can be done by keeping into
mind and framing an incentive plan for the benefit of the employees. This could initiate the following
things:
a.
b.
c.

Monetary and non-monetary incentives,

Promotion opportunities for employees,
Disincentives for inefficient employees.

In order to build a cordial, friendly atmosphere in a concern, the above steps should be taken by a manager.
This would help in:
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
viii.

Effective co-operation which brings stability,

Industrial dispute and unrest in employees will reduce,
The employees will be adaptable to the changes and there will be no resistance to the change,
This will help in providing a smooth and sound concern in which individual interests will coincide
with the organizational interests,
This will result in profit maximization through increased productivity.

Leads to stability of work force

Stability of workforce is very important from the point of view of reputation and goodwill of a concern.
The employees can remain loyal to the enterprise only when they have a feeling of participation in the
management. The skills and efficiency of employees will always be of advantage to employees as well as
employees. This will lead to a good public image in the market which will attract competent and
qualified people into a concern. As it is said, Old is gold which suffices with the role of motivation
here, the older the people, more the experience and their adjustment into a concern which can be of
benefit to the enterprise.
Leadership

1.
2.

Initiates action- Leader is a person who starts the work by communicating the policies and plans to the
subordinates from where the work actually starts.
Motivation- A leader proves to be playing an incentive role in the concerns working. He motivates the
employees with economic and non-economic rewards and thereby gets the work from the subordinates.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Providing guidance- A leader has to not only supervise but also play a guiding role for the subordinates.
Guidance here means instructing the subordinates the way they have to perform their work effectively and
efficiently.
Creating confidence- Confidence is an important factor which can be achieved through expressing the work
efforts to the subordinates, explaining them clearly their role and giving them guidelines to achieve the goals
effectively. It is also important to hear the employees with regards to their complaints and problems.
Building morale- Morale denotes willing co-operation of the employees towards their work and getting them
into confidence and winning their trust. A leader can be a morale booster by achieving full co-operation so
that they perform with best of their abilities as they work to achieve goals.
Builds work environment- Management is getting things done from people. An efficient work environment
helps in sound and stable growth. Therefore, human relations should be kept into mind by a leader. He
should have personal contacts with employees and should listen to their problems and solve them. He
should treat employees on humanitarian terms.
Co-ordination- Co-ordination can be achieved through reconciling personal interests with organizational
goals. This synchronization can be achieved through proper and effective co-ordination which should be
primary motive of a leader.

Controlling
Controlling is an end function- A function which comes once the performances are made in confirmities with
plans.
Controlling is a pervasive function- which means it is performed by managers at all levels and in all type of
concerns.
Controlling is forward looking- because effective control is not possible without past being controlled.
Controlling always look to future so that follow-up can be made whenever required.
Controlling is a dynamic process- since controlling requires taking reviewal methods, changes have to be
made wherever possible.
Controlling is related with planning- Planning and Controlling are two inseperable functions of management.
Without planning, controlling is a meaningless exercise and without controlling, planning is useless. Planning
presupposes controlling and controlling succeeds planning.