LECTUTRE # 03
COURSE- ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
CHAPTER - 03
HUMAN ELEMENT IN ENGINEERING
MANAGEMENT
COURSE INSTRUCTOR:
PROF. DR. SHAHAB KHUSHNOOD
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
TAXILA
Human Resources (HR)
Human resources is the set of individuals who make up the
work force of an organization, business sector or an
economy.
Human Element
 The human element plays an important role in the success or failure
of an engineering organization.
 Person who is the part of that organization needs some securities
and loyalties.
 On the basis of the fulfillment of these needs he or she can do
better job for their organizations.
 which means the human element plays positive role for that
organization.
Human Element (cont…)
According to Glueck,
“Human Resources of an enterprise are the most important
resource”
Reasons by Glueck:
 The human sources are a major component of cost in most
enterprises.
 The human resources influence productivity of a company.
Needs of An Engineer
According to Randsepp,
Some of the needs of an engineer are as follows:
 Job Security with respect to his or her attainments.
 Proper work facilities
 Necessary technical assistance
 Stimulating and challenging work
 Taking part in those decisions which will affect him or her
 Adequate supporting staff
 Bosses who are competent
 Recognition for his or her work from the management
Needs of An Engineer (cont…)
 Economic advancement
 Proper work assignment
 Opportunities for self-development
 Employment with an organization which has clearly defined
responsibility and authority.
 Employment with a reputable organization
 Work variety
 Chance of his or her ideas being practiced
 Independence to attack a work problem
Routes Open to An Engineer For Managerial
Positions
 According to Randsepp, there are various routes which are open to
engineers to obtain managerial positions.
 Changing Job
 Outstanding technical competence and ability to organize
 Obtaining a graduate degree in management fields and doing a
reasonably good job at the place of work.
 Sponsor- protégé arrangement:
 In this condition any manager looks for certain persons whom he
likes and can depend upon.
 In this situation an engineer has to make sure that he or she
chooses the right manager…?
(choose that manager who can take step for you, e.g: Promotion).
Routes Open to An Engineer For Managerial
Positions (cont…)
 Completing the assignments with outstanding quality and on
time.
 From consulting engineer to manager:
o This way engineer develops his specialty by becoming a
consulting engineer then moving to the managerial rank.
 Leadership in professional activities and reasonable good
service with the company.
From Engineer to a Managerial Position
when engineer switches from a purely technical function to a
managerial position, he or she finds certain changes in
responsibilities, personal habits and so on. some changes are:
 He or she will be concerned with generalities.
 He or she will be required to make speeches.
 He or she will be concerned with the human relationships.
 He or she will be required to change his or her reading habits
 He or she will be required to change his or her thinking.
 He or she will concerned with training people.
 He or she has to learn how to delegate.
Activities of A Manager
Training
Qualities of A Manager
 Flexibility:
Flexibility is needed when one is dealing with people because of
varying behavior of humans.
 Fairness:
A fair boss may sometimes be tolerated by the subordinates
when being totally unfair.
Qualities of A Manager (cont…)
 Reasoning Ability:
It is necessary to handle a situation when the subordinate
believes he or she is correct but manager thinks he or she is
wrong.
* In this situation manger has to cater to emotions.
 Tolerance:
Manager should be able to tolerate the short comings of his
or her people.
Qualities of A Manager (cont…)
 Freedom from suspicious and prejudice:
• Don’t be suspicious about your persons (Important for mutual trust)
• Treat every person equally (Both Majority and Minority)
 Empathy and quickness to praise and criticize:
• Empathy is capacity to feel what other persons feel.
• A good manager avoids off-the-cuff criticism.
Qualities of A Manager (cont…)
 Humor and Emotional Control:
A short tempered manager would rarely command the
good will of persons who work for him.
 Good Listening Ability and Self Confidence:
• A good manager must be a good listener rather than a
talker.
• Poor self confidence of a manager will be reflected in
inadequate productivity of his or her department
Qualities of A Manager (cont…)
 Ability for self-appraisal and recognizing different points of view:
• A manager should be able to identify his or her short
comings and improve upon them.
• A manger should be able to recognize that occasionally
there may be more than one view which is correct.
 Quickly seeing goodness in people and eagerness to pass
credit to others:
• A manager should be able to identify quickly the good
points of people working for him or her.
• A manger should be eager to give credit to his or her
subordinates for their success.
Hints to Relieve Tensions
 Try to behave as a moderate person.
 Try to live each day.
 Try to develop hobbies.
 Try to divide time between work, social life and family
intelligently.
 Try to periodically re-examine and readjust the daily set of
goals.
 Try to unselfish with respect to others.
 Try not to concentrate on failures by looking into past
successes.
Motivating Engineering Manpower
One way to improve the performance of a department is to motivate
people in the department. The motivators outlined are as follows
1. Make sure that the employees are involved in the goal setting.
2. Make sure that the performance measuring standards are set high
but within achieving limits of employees.
3. Consult employees on matters which are normally above their level
4. Make sure that employees clearly understand goals and policies
5. Make sure that those motivational tools which will be most useful to
an individual employee are uncovered
6. Make sure that the self-defeating attitudes of certain employees
are challenged
Motivators For Managers
Motivators for managers is explained in figure
Staff Meeting
This section is divided into two parts
1. Benefits Of A Staff Meeting
• It gives a manager an assurance that he does not overlook the
potentially gifted executives
• It is the testing ground to find out the management capabilities of a
person
• It allows the manager to monitor his or her entire staff in action
• It helps to identify those persons who are there to find solutions to
their problems
• It serves as a barometer of staff members attitudes
• It helps to identify the fast thinkers
Staff Meeting( cont.….)
2. Useful Guidelines To Hold Staff Meetings Effectively
• Encourage participation from all staff members who are present in the
meeting.
• Control the meeting in such a way so that it does not get out of control
and the objectives of the meeting are fully accomplished.
• Stimulate the employees interest in staff meetings so that they do not feel
that meetings are a waste of time.
• Discourage disruptions when the meeting is in progress.
• Examine the performance of actions and decisions which were decided
during the previous meeting.
• Whenever the manager has the opportunity to assign seats to
participants, he should carefully examine the seating position of the
potential trouble maker.
The Committees
 A committee is composed of people to whom, as a team, certain matter is
committed.
 Functions of committee are evaluating policies, recommending and
implementing solutions reviewing performance, generating alternatives, etc.
Why Have Committees??
 To reduce power of a single person
This is one of the main reasons to have common use of committees because of the
fear of giving too much authority to a single individual.
 To Share And Transmit Information
With the use of committee, the information can be shared uniformly and faster by
the members of the group.
 To encourage motivation through participation
Committees are helpful in motivating member of the committee because they
participate in the policy-making process.
Why Have Committees (cont.…)??
 To represent various concerned group
To have participation of those groups which will be concerned with the
decision.
 To coordinate activities among several groups of an organization
In addition the committee also becomes useful to coordinate planning
 To have judgement of a team
The most important reason to form committee because the decisions
made by a group usually are regarded better than the decisions taken by
a single person.
 To delay decision on a problem
Managers or others in some situation appoint committees in order to
tactfully delay the decision on a problem.
Drawbacks Of Committees
 It splits responsibility
Members of a committee do not feel as much responsibility for the group
action as they would have felt if such action was taken by them individually.
 It consumes a considerable amount of time to arrive at a final group
decision
 It is costly in monetary terms
 It is subject to minority tyranny
Displacing Managers
Sometimes the displacement of a manager from his or her present job
is necessary because of poor performance and other factors.
There are basically five ways to displace a manager from his or her
present job.
 Up (North)
 Down (South)
 Centre
 Out (west)
 Lateral (East)
Displacing Managers (cont…)
1. Up
 This is sometime known as move to the north
 It is the easiest way in which the manager is removed from his or her present position
giving him or her a promotion.
Displacing Managers (cont…)
1.Up (cont..)
Advantages:
 No damage to the morale of the concerned individual
 No damage to the morale of his or her work team
 Easier to get the approval of the affected individual
 It is easier move
Disadvantages:
 It is costly move because the salary of the individual most probably will be
increased or maintained at the same level
 Affected individual may interfere with the functioning of his or her old group
because of group members loyalty toward him or her
Displacing Managers (cont…)
2. Down
 This move is known also as a move in a southern direction.
 In this case the concern person is demoted from his or her present
position.
Advantages:
 1. The company will probably pay a lower salary
 2. The person is removed from his or her old position
Disadvantages:
 Possible lower productivity of the individual
 Reduction in attitude of loyalty to the organization
 Possible poor effects on the morale of other members of group or
company
Displacing Managers (cont…)
3. Centre:
 In this case the individual’s office and title are retained but
his or her group is removed.
 In other words the individuals group is attached to
another department.
Disadvantages:
 The move may affect the morale of the individuals group
 Productivity of the group members may decrease
 There may be no reduction in the individuals salary
Displacing Managers (cont…)
4 . Out
 This is known also as a move in the western direction
 In this move the individuals is forced to leave the organization
Disadvantages:
 Possibility of poor effect on the morale of certain groups of people
 Possibility of adverse publicity
 Possibility of adverse effect on investors and customers
Displacing Managers (cont…)
5. Lateral
 In this case the individual is moved laterally in an eastern direction to
a position such as that of a staff assistant or a special assistant
 The affected person is paid the same salary
Advantages:
 The affected person is frequently receptive to such a move
 Chances of the publicity of the move are rather low
 Execution of such a move is relatively easy