Engineering Management |
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| Efficiency versus Effectiveness | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Companies often talk about employee effectiveness and efficiency when brainstorming ways to improve business. While they sound similar, effectiveness means something entirely different than efficiency. An effective employee produces at a high level, while an efficient employee produces quickly and intelligently. By combining effectiveness and efficiency, a company produces better products faster and with fewer resources. Effectiveness is the level of results from the actions of employees and managers. Employees and managers who demonstrate effectiveness in the workplace help produce high-quality results. Take, for instance, an employee who works the sales floor. If he's effective, he'll make sales consistently. If he's ineffective, he'll struggle to persuade customers to make a purchase. Companies measure effectiveness often by conducting performance reviews. The effectiveness of a workforce has an enormous impact on the quality of a company's product or service, which often dictates a company's reputation and customer satisfaction. Improving Effectiveness: to improve effectiveness, companies must take the initiative to provide thorough performance reviews, detailing an employee's weakness through constructive criticism. Managers must make it a point to address effectiveness and explain how an employee's performance affects the company as a whole. To avoid a workplace full of ineffective employees, companies must hire high-performing employees by weeding out candidates at the recruiting level. Employees are often ineffective because they don't care about their work or because they don't possess the skills to contribute. By interviewing candidates, calling references and conducting tests, companies can bring on employees with skills better suited for performing at a high level. Efficiency in the workplace is the time it takes to do something. Efficient employees and managers complete tasks in the least amount of time possible with the least amount of resources possible by utilizing certain time-saving strategies. Inefficient employees and managers take the long road. For example, suppose a manager is attempting to communicate more efficiently. He can accomplish his goal by using email rather than sending letters to each employee. Efficiency and effectiveness are mutually exclusive. A manager or employee who's efficient isn't always effective and vice versa. Efficiency increases productivity and saves both time and money. Improving Efficiency: Employees and managers are often inefficient because they either don't know how to be efficient or do not have the necessary tools to perform tasks efficiently. Ways to improve efficiency include meeting with managers and employees to outline ways to implement efficiency in the workplace and asking for opinions on what the workplace is missing. For example, a small business that lacks an employee email system prevents managers from communicating with employees efficiently [2]. |
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| The Unwritten Laws of Engineering1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In Relation to Work
In Relation to the Boss
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| Win-Win & Assertive Behaviour3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Assertive behaviour is when you stand up for your own rights in a way that does not violate Rights of others. Rights are a key element of assertiveness. A right is somenthing to which you are justly entitled and for which you don't have to ask somebody else's permission. Assertion leads to an honest, open and direct expression of your point of view, which, at the same time, shows that you understand the other person's position. It is based on the belief that you have needs to be met and so do others and the most effective approach is to find a way in which both parties achieve sufficient of what they want: win-win. |
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Rights when interacting with the Boss
Rights when handling Aggresive People
Rights when handling Performance Appraisals
Rights when handling Job Interviews
Rights when handling Disciplinary Interviews
Rights when handling Pay Raise requests
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| Engineer's Relationship to management | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Engineers are particularly prone to underestimate the importance of management. Their education is primarily concerned with the design, development or production of a particular product, whether it be a transistor, a suspension bridge or a new chemical. But in order to deliver this final product an organization has to be established, finances obtained and a variety of facilities provided. This important part of the overall problem is the responsibility of management. Therefore, in order to be fully effective, the engineer must have a basic understanding of management, its principles and its objectives [1]. |
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| Duties and Qualifications | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
In general a man of wisdom, imagination, maturity, and poise, who can meet and negotiate with others with comprehension and foresight makes an ideal administrator. The ability to negotiate is particularly important as much of the administrator's work involves negotiation of some kind. Regardless of his previous experience, he should be able to manage successfully in a new field; in other words, administrative ability is transferable. Although it is undoubtedly trite, an administrator must be forceful but not foolhardy, skillful in judging people, honest and dependable. He should like people and they should like him. He should take an active part in public and community affairs where people can get to know him. Although he may occasionally have to give prolonged consideration to a problem, most of his decisions must be made quickly, and he consequently works under considerable pressure. He may sometimes have to adopt a brusque manner to protect himself from having his time and attention wasted on non-essentials, but calmness and courtesy are characteristics of most administrators and top executives. Executives may at times appear to be opinionated and overbearing. To some extend this is a protective device, but it may also be the outgrowth of determination to enforce their policies. It may result from the surprising discovery that many people will tolerate, at least temporarily, an opinionated and overbearing attitude. Annoying and disagreeable tactics are seldom found among better executives, however, and should be avoided. The degree of diplomacy and courtesy with which an assignment is carried out is often most important [1]. |
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| Employee and Public Relations | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The field of employee relations may be divided into two principal categories: individual employee (personnel) relations and labor-union (labor) relations. Both of these categories are based on the relationship between management and the employee but differ in emphasis and approach. It must be remembered that, in either case we are dealing with people, that people are different one from another, and that the solution to problems must usually recognize this distinction. Opinion still differs on the question of what makes satisfied workers. Organized workers continually press for higher wages but expanding psychological and sociological literature suggests that, in an economy of abundance, a feeling of being a part of the organization with friendly associates and superiors may become as important as wages. Other such intangible factors are a sense of security, recognition of merit, opportunity for advancement, and reliable, forward-looking management. The basic function of the personnel (recruiting) department is to locate and screen personnel. It is generally conceded that it is necessary to have this function performed by the recruiting department and not by individual operating departments; the latter have neither the time nor the inclination to carry out this work and are often unprepared to do so. Normally, recruiting departments have been given authority to hire general industrial labor but not the authority to hire foremen, professional workers or executives; in the latter groups, recruiting generally has advisory powers only. The recruitment office has both the time and the training to make a better selection; in the matter of placement on the job itself the immediate supervisor usually has control, as he is the one most directly concerned. Along with selection, hiring and release, the recruitment office generally maintains information on labor turnover. Turnover should be kept as low as possible; departments showing high rates may be open to suspicion: quite frequently such departments have faulty supervision. Turnover cost money because of the additional hiring, records, clerical help and most importantly, added training costs. New workers cannot produce as well as old workers for some period of time and the consequent loss in production and the increase in scrap is a cost which can seriously affect a company's competitive position [1]. |
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