Introduction to Engineering Management

Lecture 1

Ms. Nomica Choudhry

Based on Management. 5th ed. By Ricky Griffin, 1996 and input from Dr. A. A. Elimam.
 Lecture Outline
What is Management?
Management in Organizations.
Management Functions
What is engineering?
What is engineering management?
Levels of Management.
Basic Managerial roles.
Reasons an engineering background can help prepare
for an engineering management position.
 Management
• Is getting work done through others.
• Requires a set of activities (including planning and
decision making, organizing, leading, and controlling) directed
at an organization’s resources (human, financial,
physical, and information), with the aim of achieving
organizational goals in an effective and efficient
manner.

• An organization is a group of people working together in a structured and

coordinated fashion to achieve a set of goals.
Management in Organizations
 Management in Organizations
• Manager: Someone whose primary
responsibility is to carry out the management
process.
• Effective: Making the right decisions and
successfully implementing them.
• Efficient: Using resources wisely in a cost-
effective way.
 Management Functions
• Planning: Setting goals and deciding how best to
achieve them.
• Decision Making: Selecting a course of action from a
set of alternatives.
• Organizing: Grouping activities and resources in a
logical fashion.
• Leading: Processes to get members of the organization
to work together to further the interests of the
organization.
• Controlling: Monitoring organizational progress
towards goal attainment and taking corrective action
when needed.
Management
Functions

Most managers engage in more than one

activity at the same time
 What is Engineering?
The profession in which a knowledge of the
mathematical and natural sciences gained by study,
experience, and practice is applied with judgment to
develop ways to utilize, economically, the materials and
forces of nature for the benefit of mankind. (ABET)

Engineer: A person applying his/her mathematical and

science knowledge properly to solve practical
problems.
 What is Engineering Management?
• Engineering management is a process of leading
and controlling a technical function/enterprise.
• Engineering management is similar to other
definitions of management, but with a slant
toward technical issues.
Management Levels and Areas
 Management Levels
Level Type of Job
 Directly supervise non-managers.
 Carry out the plans and objectives of higher management using
the personnel and other resources assigned to them.
First-line Managers  Short-range operating plans governing what will be done
tomorrow or next week, assign tasks to their workers, supervise
the work that is done, and evaluate the performance of individual
workers.
 Manage through other managers.
 Make plans of intermediate range to achieve the long-range goals
set by top management, establish departmental policies, and
evaluate the performance of subordinate work units and their
Middle Management managers.
 Provide and integrating and coordinating function so that the
short-range decisions and activities of first-line supervisory
groups can be orchestrated toward achievement of the long-range
goals of the enterprise.
 Responsible for defining the character, mission, and objectives of
the enterprise.
 Establish criteria for and review long-range plans.
Top Management
 Evaluate the performance of major departments, and they evaluate
leading management personnel to gauge their readiness for
promotion to key executive positions.
Basic Managerial Skills
Basic Managerial Roles
 Engineering Management
• Direct supervision of engineers or of
engineering functions

• Or, application of quantifiable methods and

techniques to practice of management
 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
 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 systems.
 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.