Texts for managers and economic engineers

 

Engineering Management is a specialized form of management that is concerned with the application of engineering principles to business practice. Engineering management is a career that brings together the technological problem-solving savvy of engineering and the organizational, administrative, and planning abilities of management in order to oversee complex enterprises from conception to completion.[1] A Master of Science in Engineering Management (MSEM, or MS in Engineering Management) is sometimes compared to a Master of Business Administration (MBA) for professionals seeking a graduate degree as a qualifying credential for a career in engineering management.

Example areas of engineering are product development, manufacturing, construction, design engineering, industrial engineering, technology, production, or any other field that employs personnel who perform an engineering function.

Successful engineering managers typically require training and experience in business and engineering. Technically inept managers tend to be deprived of support by their technical team, and non-commercial managers tend to lack commercial acumen to deliver in a market economy. Largely, engineering managers manage engineers who are driven by non-entrepreneurial thinking, and thus require the necessary people skills to coach, mentor and motivate technical professionals. Engineering professionals joining manufacturing companies sometimes become engineering managers by default after a period of time. They are required to learn how to manage once they are on the job, though this is usually an ineffective way to develop managerial abilities.

 

What Does A Manager Do?

One of the first lessons a beginning manager must learn is that good managers don't Do anything. A manager's role is to manage, the people who do actually, do the work. The manager's role is to make the group more effective than they would be without him/her.

That doesn't mean that managers spend all day sitting around with their feet up on the desk drinking coffee. Most managers I know work very hard and work longer hours than anyone on their teams.

One of the first things you have to do as a manager is to build your team. Usually, when you become a manager, your team is already in place. You may need to add a few people or replace some people. Don't be in a hurry. Learn about your team and the people on the team before you shake things up.

Don't feel you have to prove you're the manager. Take the time to think things through before you make major changes.

The simplest way to make your team more productive is to motivate them. Motivating people can be a real challenge for many managers because it is so different for each person. You will find that what works to motivate one person won't work for another and will actually be a demotivator for still another. As a manager, you need to find the unique motivators for each member of your team.

While you are motivating your team, you have to stay focused on the business itself. Managers must handle many specific tasks, mostly related to personnel actions and financial transactions, to keep the company functioning. You will have to make decisions daily about the correct way to do things and to keep your team function as a part of the whole company. It doesn't matter how well your unit performs unless it is in sync with the rest of the company.

Things go wrong every day. Things change constantly. Managers play a key role in figuring out what is going wrong and doing what is needed to fix it.

In addition to managing your team, your role as a manager requires that you also manage the organization above your unit. Your job includes buffering your people from the company power structure. Your boss, and any bosses above him / her, need to go through you and not directly to your team.

In additon to managing upward, you need to work well with your peers. Your team will not function well if they have problems with other departments. You can help them be more effective if you can establish good working relationships with your peers, the heads of the other departments your team needs to work with.

In additon to managing upward, you need to work well with your peers. Your team will not function well if they have problems with other departments. You can help them be more effective if you can establish good working relationships with your peers, the heads of the other departments your team needs to work with.