Functions of the Engineer: tools, equipment, and projects

AREAS OF ENGINEERING

– where the engineer is engaged in the process of learning about nature and codifying this knowledge into usable theories.

– where the engineer undertakes the activity of turning a product concept to a finished physical item.

– where the engineer works in a unit where new products or parts are tested for work-ability.

– where the engineer is directly in charge of production personnel or assumes responsibility for the product.

– where the construction engineer (a civil engineer) is either directly in charge of the construction personnel or may have responsibility for the quality of the construction process.

– where the engineer assists the company's customers to meet their needs, especially those that require technical expertise.

– where the engineer works as consultant of any individual or organization requiring his services.

– where the engineer may find employment in the government performing any of the various tasks in regulating, monitoring, and controlling the activities of various institutions, public or private.

– where the engineer gets employment in a school and is assigned as a teacher of engineering courses. Some of them later become deans, vice presidents, and presidents.

– where the engineer is assigned to manage groups of people performing specific tasks.

THE ENGINEER IN VARIOUS TYPES OF ORGANIZATION

Those with minimal engineering jobs like retailing firms.

Slim chance of becoming the general manager or president.

May be assigned to head a small engineering unit of the firm.

Those with a moderate degree of engineering jobs like transportation companies.

May be assigned to head the engineering division.

Those with a high degree of engineering jobs like construction firms.

Provide the biggest opportunity for an engineer to become the president or general manager.

refers to the activity combining “technical knowledge with the ability to organize and coordinate worker power, materials, machinery, and money.

His main responsibility is to lead his group into producing a certain output consistent with the required specifications.

The __ an engineer manager may hope to occupy is the general managership or presidency of any firm, large or small.

As he scales the management ladder, he finds that the __ he goes up, the less __ he performs, and the more __ he accepts.

May be defined as the “creative problem solving-process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling an organization’s resources to achieve its mission and objectives.”

A process consisting of planning, organizing, directing (or leading), and controlling.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ENGINEER MANAGER’S JOB

HOW ONE MAY BECOME A SUCCESSFUL ENGINEER MANAGER

Refers to the capacity of an engineer manager to achieve organizational objectives effectively and efficiently.

According to __:  Effectiveness refers to a description of whether objectives are accomplished.  Efficiency is a description of the relative amount of resources used in obtaining effectiveness.

Refers to a description of whether objectives are accomplished.

A description of the relative amount of resources used in obtaining effectiveness.

He developed a psychometric instrument to measure objectively an individual’s motivation to manage.

Motivation to Manage Test is anchored to the following dimensions:

The opportunity for successful management has two requirements:

Characterized by the recognition of managerial talent through financial and nonfinancial rewards.

The process of identifying and choosing alternative courses of action in a manner appropriate to the demands of the situation.

The heart of all the management functions.

Rational decision-making, according to __, is a process involving the following steps

Is tantamount to having the problem half-solved.

Exists when there is a difference between an actual situation and a desired situation.

Is the identification of constraints, which may be spelled out as either internal or external limitations.

Example of internal limitations:

Examples of external limitations:

Components of the Environment:

Refers to organizational activities within a firm that surrounds decision-making.

Refers to variables that are outside the organization and not typically within the short-run control of top management.

Develop viable alternatives:

INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT:

like org, structure, policies, procedures, rules, ability of management, etc.

like product strategy, promotion strategy, etc.

like recruitment practices, incentive systems, etc.

like plant facility layout, inventory control, etc.

like liquidity, profitability, etc.

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT:

Makes choosing the right solution less difficult.

How the alternatives will be evaluated will depend on:

Suggests that each alternative must be analyzed and evaluated in terms of its __.

Refers to benefits that can be expected.

Refers to out-of-pocket costs, opportunity costs, and follow-on costs.

Refer to the likelihood of achieving the goals of the alternatives.

Refers to the process of selecting among alternatives representing potential solutions to a problem.

Advises that particular effort should be made to identify all significant consequences of each choice.

Refers to carrying out the decision so that the objectives sought will be achieved.

Use control and feedback mechanisms to ensure results and to provide information for future decisions.

Refers to the process which requires checking at each stage of the process to assure that the alternatives generated, the criteria used in evaluation, and the solution selected for implementation are in keeping with the goals and objectives originally specified.

Refers to actions made to ensure that activities performed match the desired activities or goals, that have been set.

APPROACHES IN SOLVING PROBLEMS:

Refers to evaluation of alternatives using intuition and subjective judgment.

Refers to the evaluation of alternatives using any technique in a group classified as rational and analytical.

QUANTITATIVE MODELS FOR DECISION MAKING:

INVENTORY MODELS:

Used to calculate the number of items that should be ordered at one time to minimize the total yearly cost of placing orders and carrying the items in inventory.

An economic order quantiy technique applied to production orders.

Used for planned shortages.

Used to minimize the total cost when quantity discounts are offered by suppliers.

Describes how to determine the number of service units that will minimize both customer waiting time and cost of service.

Are models where large complex tasks are broken into smaller segments that can be managed independently.

The two most prominent network models are:

A technique which enables engineer managers to schedule, monitor, and control large and complex projects by employing three time estimates for each activity.

A network technique using only one time factor per activity that enables engineer managers to schedule, monitor, and control large and complex projects.

The collection of past and current information to make predictions about the future.

A forecasting method that examines the association between two or more variables.

May be simple or multiple depending on the number of independent variables present.

One independent variable is involved.

Two or more independent variables are involved.

A model constructed to represent reality, on which conclusions about real-life problems can be used.

A highly sophisticated tool by means of which the decision maker develops a mathematical model of the system under consideration.

Does not guarantee an optimum solution, but it can evaluate the alternatives fed into the process by the decision-maker.

A quantitative technique that is used to produce an optimum solution within the bounds imposed by constraints upon the decision.

Very useful as a decision-making tool when supply and demand limitations at plants, warehouse, or market areas are constraints upon the system.

A quantitative technique where samples of populations are statistically determined to be used for a number of processes, such as quality control and marketing research.

Saves time and money.

Refers to the rational way to conceptualize, analyze, and solve problems in situations involving limited, or partial information about the decision environment.

To revise and update the initial assessments of the event probabilities generated by the alternative solutions.

When the decision-maker is able to assign probabilities to the various events, the use of probabilistic decision rule, called the __, becomes possible

Selects the decision alternative having the maximum expected payoff, or the minimum expected loss if he is working with a loss table.