ENGINEERING
MANAGEMENT
IE 256
Chapter 1
Dr Mohammed Balubaid
Chapter outline
What is Engineering?
 What is Management?
 Management Levels
 Managerial Skills
 What Managers Do?
 Functions of Managers
 Management Art or Science?
 What is Engineering Management?

Engineering and Management
What is an Engineer?
Ingenium: Talent, natural capacity, or clever
invention.
Early applications of Clever Inventions
based on Military
Builders of Ingenious military machines??
Engineering and Management
Engineering as a Profession
The art of directing the great sources of power
in nature, for the use and convenience of man.
Engineers provide a public service not only
in the goods and services they create for the
betterment of society, but also by placing the
safety of the public high on their design criteria
Is it an art or profession?
Engineering and Management
Modern Definition of Engineering By
ABET (Accrediting Board for
Engineering and Technology)
The profession in which a knowledge of the mathematical and natural
sciences gained by study, experience, and practice which is applied with
judgment to develop ways to utilize, economically, the materials and
forces of the nature for the benefit of mankind.
Engineer: A person applying his mathematical and science
knowledge properly for mankind
It is a discipline not an art.
Types of engineers
Many engineering applications require
Cross-pollination or integration of multiple disciplines
e.g Aerospace Engineers require knowledge of:
•Material science
•Electronic control
•Computers
•Production limitation
•Finance
•Logistic
•Customer service
Engineering Employment
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The corporations and firms of the past no longer
exist.
Employment opportunities Lie with companies of
all sizes.
Engineers of the future should expect to be
Constantly improving their skills and
marketability.
Continuing education, flexibility, and a
willingness to shift employment will be required
of successful engineers
Engineering and Management
What is Management?
McFarland identifies management as
•
an organizational or administrative process
•
a science, discipline or art
•
the group of people running an organization
•
an occupational career
• Directing the actions of a group to achieve a goal in
most efficient manner
• Getting things done through people
• Process of achieving organizational goals by working
with and through people and organizational resources
Engineering and Management
Management Levels
Top-level management
(president, executive vice president)
Middle managers
(chief engineer, division head etc.)
First-line managers
(foreman, supervisor, section chief)
Engineering and Management
Level
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First-line Managers
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Middle Management
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Top Management
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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.
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
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.
Evaluate the performance of major departments, and they evaluate
leading management personnel to gauge their readiness for
promotion to key executive positions.
Engineering and Management
Managerial Level
Lowest
Middle
Top
Skills required versus management
Engineering and Management
Managerial Skills:
Managers need three types of skills:
Technical:
Specific subject related skills such as engineering,
accounting, etc…
Interpersonal: Skills related to dealing with others and leading,
motivating, or controlling them
Conceptual:
Ability to discern the critical factors that will determine
as organization’s success or failure.
Ability to see the forest in spite of the trees.
Engineering and Management
Managerial Roles (What Managers Do)
• Interpersonal roles
• Informational Roles
• Decisional Roles
Engineering and Management
Managerial Roles (What Managers Do)
• Interpersonal roles
Outward
Figurehead role: Outward relationship
Leader role: Downward relation
Liaison role: Horizontal relation
Horizontal
Downward
Engineering and Management
Managerial Roles (What Managers Do)
• Informational Roles
Monitor Role: Collects information about internal
operations and external events.
Disseminator Role: Transforms information
internally to everybody in organization (like a
telephone switchboard)
Spokesman Role: Public relations
Engineering and Management
Managerial Roles (What Managers Do)
• Decisional Roles
Entrepreneurial Role: Initiates changes, assumes
risks, transforms ideas into useful products.
Disturbance Handler Role: Deals with unforeseen
problems and crisis.
Resource Allocator Role: Distributing resources
Negotiator Role: Bargains with suppliers, customers
etc. in favor of enterprise
Engineering and Management
Functions of Managers
•Planning: Selecting missions and objectives.
Requires decision making.
•Organizing: Establishing the structure for the
objective.
•Staffing: Keeping filled the organization structure
•Leading: Influencing people to achieve the
objective
•Controlling: Measuring and correcting the activities
Engineering and Management
Management: Is it an art or science?
Management has a body of specialized knowledge.
This knowledge need not to be obtained in formal
disciplined programs.
Somewhere between art and science.
Engineering Management (Discipline + art)
Somewhere between art and science.
Engineering and Management
What is Engineering Management?
Narrow definition: Directing supervision of
engineers or of engineering functions.
Proper Definition of Engineering Manager:
Engineer possessing both abilities to apply
engineering principles and skills in organizing and
directing people and projects.
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
Engineering and Management
Why Engineering Managers?
Competition is global and companies need these people
to compete successfully
Engineering and Management
Advantages of Understanding Technology in Top
Management
• Really understanding the business
• Understanding technology driving the business
today and technology that will change the business
in future
• Treating Research and Development as investment
not an expense to be minimized
• Spending more time on strategic thinking
• Dedicating a customer’s problem (true marketing
via customer relations)
• Place a premium on innovation