Engineering Management 302 Theory Notes PDF

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Engineering Management 302 Theory Notes: Functions of managers: Henry Fayol says that "Managers plan, organise, lead, coordinate and control"    

Planning: defining goals, establishing strategy, and coordinate activities Organising: determination of tasks, allocation of tasks, reporting, working out communication channels, and decision making. Leading: motivation of subordinates, direction determination, resolving conflicts, setting examples. Controlling Monitoring activities to ensure that they have been planned executed and accomplished on time within expectations, and correcting significant deviations.

ROBERT KATZ identified the Management skills as follows    

Technical Skills: Ability to apply specialized knowledge and expertise. Human Skills: Ability to work with, understand and motivate other people both individually and in groups. Conceptual Skills: Ability to analyse and diagnose complex situations. Networking: Socialising, politicking, and interactions with outsiders.

Power of managers: Power is defined as: the capacity of a person to influence the behaviour of others so that others do things they would not do normally. Types of power: FRENCH and RAVEN argue that there are five types of power 1. Coercive power is based on fear 2. Reward power is based on positive benefits 3. Persuasive power is based on the ability to allocate symbolic rewards 4. Knowledge power is based on the ability to control unique and valuable information 5. Referent power is based on admiration Sources of power are the things that power holder controls  Position power is due to structural position in organizations  Personal power is due to traits and personal characteristics, such as: articulate, domineering, charismatic, physically imposing, etc.  Expert power is based on special skills, knowledge, and control of information  Opportunity power is basically being in the right place at the right time Power tactics identify how individuals manipulate power bases. There are seven commonly used tactics  Reason: logical and rational presentation of ideas  Friendliness: creation of goodwill, being humble, and being friendly

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Coalition: getting the support of others Bargaining: exchange of benefits or favours Assertiveness: use of direct and forceful approach, ordering, enforcing compliance Higher authority: getting support of higher authorities Sanctions: punishment denying the rights of persons, and so on.

Motivation and personality: McGREGOR proposes that human beings are either X-type (negative) or Y-type (positive), known as the theory X and theory Y. X-types are: 1. People inherently dislike work and whenever possible they will attempt to avoid it 2. Since they dislike work they must be coerced, controlled, and punished if necessary 3. They will avoid responsibilities and seek formalities whenever possible 4. They will place personal security as priority and will display little ambition. Y-types are: 1. Employees view work as a natural part of their living 2. They exercise self-direction and self-control 3. They accept and seek responsibility 4. They seek innovative ideas. Group behavior: Definition of Group: Two or more interacting individuals who have come together to achieve some goals. Types of groups are:  Formal groups are formed by organizations to execute designated tasks  Informal groups for social interactions. They are not formed by organisation  Command groups to help managers  Task groups are those working together to complete an identified task  Friendship groups are formed by those who share common characteristics. Formation of groups: takes place in five stages, known as the five-stage group model  Forming: as the group forms there are uncertainties on the purpose, structure and leadership. It is completed when members accept that they are in this particular group.  Storming: members accept the group but there is a resistance to the constraints that the group imposes on individuals.  Norming: Close understanding and relationships develop for cohesiveness. The group structure solidifies and group has common expectations about members’ behaviour.

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Performing: Group structure is fully functional. The group energy is diverted to execute the task in hand. Adjourning: Attention is diverted to completion of the task.

Size: the size of the group can affect the overall behaviour. For example, smaller groups can complete a task quicker; lager groups can have diverse inputs. Size of group creates Social Loafing "the tendency of group the members to do less then they are capable of individually, resulting in an inverse relationship between group size and individual performance". There are many reasons for social loafing, such as:  Belief that other group members are not pulling their weights  Seeing others lazy and inept  Dispersion of responsibilities  Non-measurability of contributions that are made by individuals. Environment Environmental factors inside and outside of an organisation strongly affect its performance. EMERY and TRIST identify four kinds of business environments: 1. Placid-randomised environment in which demands are randomly distributed and changes occur slowly such as the farming organisations. 2. Placid-clustered environment in which changes occur slowly but threats occur in clusters such as the mining industry. Organization must have long range strategic plan and centralised decision making. 3. Disturbed-reactive environment in which environment is dominated by one or more large organizations. Examples are computer industries, automobile industry, etc. 4. Turbulent-field environment in which environment changes constantly such as the stock exchange, most electronics and software industries.

IEEE Codes of Ethics We, the members of the IEEE, in recognition of the importance of our technologies in affecting the quality of life throughout the world, and in accepting a personal obligation to our profession, its members and the communities we serve, do hereby commit ourselves to the highest ethical and professional conduct and agree: 1. To accept responsibility in making decisions consistent with the safety, health and welfare of the public, and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment; 2. To avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible, and to disclose them to affected parties when they do exist; 3. To be honest and realistic in stating claims or estimates based on available data; 4. To reject bribery in all its forms; 5. To improve the understanding of technology, its appropriate application, and potential consequences; 6. To maintain and improve our technical competence and to undertake technological tasks for others only if qualified by training or experience, or after full disclosure of pertinent limitations; 7. To seek, accept, and offer honest criticism of technical work, to acknowledge and correct errors, and to credit properly the contributions of others; 8. To treat fairly all persons regardless of such factors as race, religion, gender, disability, age, or national origin; 9. To avoid injuring others, their property, reputation, or employment by false action; 10. To assist colleagues and co-workers in their professional development and to support them in following this code of ethics.

Project Management Definitions “A project is a temporary and one-time endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service, which brings about beneficial change or added value. Projects are temporary and a one-time undertaking in contrast with process or operations, which are permanent or semi permanent ongoing functional work to create the same products or services over and over again.” “Project Management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources (i.e. people) in such a way that the project is completed within defined scope, quality, time and cost constraints”.

The basic principles of project managements are:  Leadership and teamwork  Strategy and planning  Use of facts and data  Project process management  Continuous improvement  Financial backups Project life cycle A. Project Initiation 1. A project manager is selected 2. A project team is put together 3. Resources are set up and work programs are organised B. Mid-Life 1. Momentum builds quickly and rapid progress is made 2. Progress leads to less uncertainty about final goals C. Conclusion 1. Slow progress during Integration of project modules 2. Uncertainty about team’s future leads to slow termination 3. Project group may be maintained for the next project Factors affecting a project Internal:  Funds  Materials  Workspace  Equipment  Customer  Experts  Plans  Staff External:  Client deadlines  Liability issues  Public and ethical concerns  Government and societal issues and laws

Phases of a project

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Concept phase: Ideas are proposed, developed and evaluated Feasibility phase (Study Phase): Ideas are elaborated and one of the ideas is selected Design Phase: The selected idea is put in action for design and construction Production (Implementation Phase): The selected system is prototyped and produced Operations – Termination phase: The system is delivered and commissioned

Non-Numeric project selection models Makes use of subjective measures as inputs and it considers the overall effect of the project on the organisation. There are three non-numeric models: 1. Comparative - Benefit model is used in the cases where projects are not easily comparable due to their diverse objectives 2. Q-Sort model projects ranked as good - fair – poor 3. Peer Review model Project proposals are sent to outside experts or referees

Project Scope Management The success of a project will be depended on the proper managements of the followings: 1. Scope management: Scope Planning, Scope acceptance, Scope change and control Scope Management is a process to ensure that the project includes all the work required to complete it successfully. It is concerned with clear definitions of objectives and controlling the process to achieve those objectives. Scope management spans over the life time of the project. It needs to be carefully planned and tightly controlled. 2. Integration management: Work Breakdown Structure, Project Master Schedule Integration management is the management of the overall project integrated as whole entity. A common tool in integration management is the Project Master Schedule (PMS) and the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). 3. Time management: Activity Charts, Gantt Charts Time management is one of the fundamental and most important part of project management. There many methods for time management, two most common time management techniques are:  Activity networks  Gantt Charts 4. Quality management: Quality Planning, Procedures, Audits, Inspections Quality management is a managerial tool to ensuring that all the activities necessary to design, develop and implement a product or service are effective and efficient. It aims to achieve that the products and services are in compliance with the predetermined standards.

Quality management has two main activities: a. Ensuring the quality of the products b. Ensuring the ways and means of achieving the desired quality 5. Risk management: Identify Risks, Risk Management Study, Risk response control Risk management is a structured managerial tool to manage uncertainties and threats. It includes risk assessment, managerial strategies, and mitigation of risks using various techniques. The managerial tools may include transferring the risk to other parties, avoiding the risk, reducing the negative effect of the risk, and accepting some or all of the consequences of a particular risk. The objective of risk management is to reduce risks related to a pre-selected domain of acceptance. The threats may come from various sources, such as the environment, technology, humans, other organizations, and politics. In risk management, a prioritization is made and the risks that cause greatest loss with greatest probability of occurrence are handled first. The lower probability risks with lower losses are handled in a descending order. In practice this process can be very tricky for finding the balance between risks with high probabilities but lower losses versus risks with high losses but lower probabilities. Risk management also requires allocating resources that may cause significant opportunity costs. Resources spent on risk management could have been spent on more profitable activities. Ideal risk management minimizes spending while maximizing the reduction of the negative effects of risks. 6. Procurement management: Identify Procurement Strategy, Tenders, and Contract Procurement is the combined functions of purchasing, inventory control, traffic and transportation, receiving, inspection, store keeping, and salvage and disposal operations. 7. Human Resource management: Organisation Chart, Appoint staff, Team building 8. Communications management: Communications Planning, Implementations 9. Cost management: Cost Estimating, Cost Budgeting, Cost Control

Work breakdown structure (wbs) WBS is a blueprint plan of a project that defines the objectives, deliverables and specifications for each task to be accomplished. WBS is a schematic presentation for the execution of the project for the managers to implement step by step in the life time of the project. The WBS fulfils the followings:      

Blueprint for the execution of the project Defines the objectives Identifies deliverables Takes into account the schedule, the budget, and the required resources Indicates responsibilities Specifies each tasks to be accomplished

Quality Planning: Managers are responsible for defining the quality standards and technical requirements that are relevant to the project and determining how to satisfy them. This is done by the following actions:  The Quality standards to be adopted  Details the roles/responsibilities and accountabilities of the personnel  Details of the procedures which will apply to a particular project  Details of all the inspection, test and auditing requirements for the project team and any subcontractors engaged in the activities  Training and continuous improvements and initiatives In quality planning there are many tools and techniques, such as: 1. Standards: are instructions that detail how a particular aspect of the project must be undertaken without any deviations unless a formal variation process is followed 2. Guidelines: intend to guide a project rather than dictate how it must be undertaken 3. Checklists: are lists that can be used as a reference when undertaking a particular activity 4. Procedures: outline the steps that should be undertaken in a particular area of a project such as managing risks, or managing time 5. Processes: is a list of steps - the what and when, why and how 6. User Guides: provide the theory, principles and detailed instructions as to how to apply the procedures to the project 7. Methodology: is a collection of processes, procedures, templates and tools to guide a team through the project in a manner suitable for the organisation.

Project risk management Establishing the context of project risk management involves: 1. Identification of risk in a selected domain of interest 2. Defining a framework for the activity and an agenda for identification 3. Developing an analysis of risks involved 4. Planning the risk handling process 5. Mitigation (reduction or measures taken to minimize destruction) of risks using available technological, human and organizational resources There are many methods of risk identification, some of which are: 1. Objectives-based identification: any event that may endanger achieving the objectives of a project is identified as a risk 2. Risk Charting: involves listing of resources at risk, threats, and consequences. A matrix is created to seek a variety of solutions

3. Scenario-based identification: involves creation of different scenarios that may be the alternative ways to achieve an objective. Any event that triggers an undesired scenario alternative is identified as risk 4. Risk checking: in several industries lists with known risks are available. Each risk in the list can be checked for application to a particular situation 5. Classification-based identification: involves the breakdown of possible risk sources based on the knowledge of best practices

UNCERTAINTY and SOURCES OF UNCERTAINTY Uncertainty is a condition where the outcome can only be estimated due to incomplete or imperfect knowledge of the area / subject in question. All projects involve uncertainties at various levels. Probability theory and various simulation techniques are used to deal with uncertainties. Uncertainties can be due to: 1. Decision Uncertainty: is the aggregated uncertainty contributed by political, economic, and public perception factors, along with model, analytical, sampling, and relational uncertainties. Decision uncertainties can be due to changes in conditions such as the unexpected shortages of materials 2. Modelling Uncertainty: is associated mathematical models, and data collection. Modelling uncertainty happens because: limited information about activities, variations in the cost of materials, etc. 3. Analytical Uncertainty: refers to the uncertainty associated with the limitations of analytical and determination methods. Common contributors to analytical uncertainty include poor detection limits, analytical bias, lack of precision, and susceptibility to interferences 4. Sampling Uncertainty: reflects the degree to which sample results represent actual conditions for the population sampled, neglecting the contributions of analytical or relational uncertainty 5. Technological uncertainty: such as new technologies, methods and system as in R&D, software and hardware integration, etc. 6. Organisational uncertainty: such as new regulations affecting the marketing of the product, turnover of personnel, changes in policies of participating organisations.

Procurement management Procuring goods and services from external suppliers can be a critical activity for many projects. Often, the effectiveness of procurements and the efficiency of the suppliers will reflect on the performance of the overall project team. The Project team needs to:  Identify the goods and services to procure  Complete Purchase Orders and issue them to suppliers  Agree on delivery timeframes and methods  Receive goods and services from suppliers  Review and accept the items procured  Approve supplier payments Major elements of procurement managements are:  Procurement Planning  Source Selection  Contract Administration  Contract Close Out...