Essence of Engineering Management - a brief note

Engineering management can be understood by an examination of 2 sets of concepts, one set being related to engineering and another set being related to management. Details are as follows:

A. Engineering-related

1. Engineering: the profession in which a knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences gained by study, experience, and practice is applied with judgement to develop ways to utilize, economically, the materials and forces of nature for the benefit of mankind.
2. Engineering management: is a specialized form of mangement that is concerned with the application of engineering principles to business practice. A narrow definition confines it to the direct supervision of engineerss or of engineering functions, while a broad definition also covers the general management responsibilities engineers can take up, notably the management of technical functions as well as the management of marketing and strategic management in a high-technology business.

B. Management-related

1. Management has 4 main uses: (i) an organizational process; (ii) as a science, discipline, or art; (iii) the group of people running an organization, and (iv) an occupational career.
2. Simply put, management is the process of reaching organizational goals by working with and through people and other organizational resources.
3. There are a number of attributes in the subject of management: (i) in terms of management levels (ie front-line managers, middle managers, top managers); (ii) managerial skills (ie conceptual skills, interpersonal skills, and technical skills); and (iii)managerial roles (ie interpersonal roles, informational roles and decisional roles); (iv) functions of managers (ie planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling)

An engineering management education programme covers four specific subject domains: (i) Engineering management (e.g. production and operations management; project engineering); (ii) Business (e.g. marketing, accounting, finance, economics and administration); and (iii) Engineering (e.g. advanced design and research). [Note that Plant and Industrial Engineering is covered by both (i) and (iii) here.] Finally, the subject domain of Engineering career management (iv) (e.g. ethics, career, diversity, time management) is also covered.


In my view, conventional Engineering Management, with much emphasis on application of science and mathematics, is mainly based on hard systems thinking rather than soft systems thinking.

Related study note

On Management thinking:

• Fayol's 14 principles: http://managementinnovations.wordpress.com/2008/12/04/henri-fayols-14-principles-of-management/
• On bureaucracy: http://www.drtomoconnor.com/4090/4090lect02.htm

References

1. Engineering Management: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_management
2. Hard systems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_systems
3. Morse, L.C. and Babcock, D.L. (2007) Managing Engineering and Technology, Pearson Prentice Hall.