Engineering and Project Management
Introduction to Management
Dr. Lotfi K. Gaafar,
The American University in Cairo
Based on Management. 5th ed. By Ricky Griffin, 1996 and input from Dr. A. A. Elimam.
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Course Outline
Principles of Engineering Management
 The importance of management to
engineers
 Applications of these Principles in
Engineering Organizations
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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.
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Management in Organizations
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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 costeffective way.
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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
toward goal attainment and taking corrective action
when needed.
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Management
Functions
Most managers engage in more than one
activity at the same time
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Management: Origins
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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.
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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.
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Management Levels and Areas
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Management Levels
Level


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.
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Basic Managerial Skills
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Basic Managerial Roles
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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.
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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.
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Role Differences Between Engineers and
Managers
Position
Focus
Decision making
Involvement
Process outcomes
Effectiveness
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Engineer
More concerned with
things technical/scientific
Makes decisions with
much information, under
conditions of greater
certainty
Works on tasks and
problems solving
personally
Work based on facts with
quantifiable outcomes
Depends on person
technical expertise,
attention to detail,
mathematical/technical
problem solving, and
decision making
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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
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Role Differences Between Engineers and
Managers
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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
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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
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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)
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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.
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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.
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Management: the driving forces
• Social Forces: The norms and values that
characterize a culture.
• Economic Forces: Economic systems and
general economic conditions. Market economy.
Competition.
• Political Forces: Governing institutions and
general policies and attitudes. Legal cases
against business.
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Management Perspectives
• Classical: Scientific (individual workers) and
Administrative (whole organization)
• Behavioral: Individual attitudes and behaviors
and group processes
• Quantitative: Applies quantitative techniques to
management.
• Integrated: All three perspectives must be
integrated for best performance (Systems and
Contingency perspectives)
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Scientific Management
1) Development of a science to replace rule -of-thumb working knowledge;
2) Scientific selection and development of individuals;
3) Combining the results of work study with selected and trained workmen;
4) Intimate, friendly co-operation between management and the workforce.
UPS:
Three feet per seconds
Knock immediately
Stores must handle 1,124 packages per hour
Load packages at the rate of 500 per hour
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Classical
Perspective
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Behavioral Perspective: Theories X and Y
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Behavioral
Perspective
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Quantitative
Perspective
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Integrated Perspective
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Contemporary Perspective
Theory Z: A concept that combines the positive aspects
of American and Japanese management into a modified
approach aimed at increasing U.S. managerial
effectiveness while remaining compatible with norms and
values of the American society and culture.
Developed by William Ouchi
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Management Context
• External
Environment:
Everything outside an
organization the might
affect it.
• Internal
Environment:
The conditions and
forces within an
organization.
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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.
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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.
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The External Environment: Example
Ford’s General Environment
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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.
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The Task Environment: Example
Ford’s Task Environment
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Environmental Response
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Management Ethical and Social Context
• Ethics: An individual’s personal beliefs regarding
what is right and wrong or good and bad.
• Ethical Behavior: Behavior that conforms to
generally accepted social norms.
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Managerial Ethics
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An Example Code of Ethics
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Areas of Social
Responsibility
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Social Responsibility
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