HUMAN ELEMENT IN ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT

COURSE INSTRUCTOR:

PROF. DR. SHAHAB KHUSHNOOD

LECTUTRE # 03

CHAPTER - 03

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY TAXILA

COURSE- ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT

Human Resources (HR)Human resources is the set of individuals who make up the

work force of an organization, business sector or an economy.

The human element plays an important role in the success or failure of an engineering organization.

Person who is the part of that organization needs some securities and loyalties.

On the basis of the fulfillment of these needs he or she can do better job for their organizations.

which means the human element plays positive role for that organization.

Human Element

According to Glueck,

“Human Resources of an enterprise are the most important resource”

Reasons by Glueck:

The human sources are a major component of cost in most enterprises.

The human resources influence productivity of a company.

Human Element (cont…)

Needs of An EngineerAccording to Randsepp,

Some of the needs of an engineer are as follows:

Job Security with respect to his or her attainments.

Proper work facilities

Necessary technical assistance

Stimulating and challenging work

Taking part in those decisions which will affect him or her

Adequate supporting staff

Bosses who are competent

Recognition for his or her work from the management

Needs of An Engineer (cont…)

Economic advancement

Proper work assignment

Opportunities for self-development

Employment with an organization which has clearly defined responsibility and authority.

Employment with a reputable organization

Work variety

Chance of his or her ideas being practiced

Independence to attack a work problem

Routes Open to An Engineer For Managerial Positions

According to Randsepp, there are various routes which are open to engineers to obtain managerial positions.

Changing Job

Outstanding technical competence and ability to organize

Obtaining a graduate degree in management fields and doing a reasonably good job at the place of work.

Sponsor- protégé arrangement:

In this condition any manager looks for certain persons whom he likes and can depend upon.

In this situation an engineer has to make sure that he or she chooses the right manager…?

(choose that manager who can take step for you, e.g: Promotion).

Routes Open to An Engineer For Managerial Positions (cont…)

Completing the assignments with outstanding quality and on time.

From consulting engineer to manager:

o This way engineer develops his specialty by becoming a consulting engineer then moving to the managerial rank.

Leadership in professional activities and reasonable good service with the company.

From Engineer to a Managerial Positionwhen engineer switches from a purely technical function to a managerial position, he or she finds certain changes in responsibilities, personal habits and so on. some changes are:

He or she will be concerned with generalities.

He or she will be required to make speeches.

He or she will be concerned with the human relationships.

He or she will be required to change his or her reading habits

He or she will be required to change his or her thinking.

He or she will concerned with training people.

He or she has to learn how to delegate.

Activities of A Manager

Training

Qualities of A Manager

Flexibility:

Flexibility is needed when one is dealing with people because of varying behavior of humans.

Fairness:

A fair boss may sometimes be tolerated by the subordinates when being totally unfair.

Qualities of A Manager (cont…)

Reasoning Ability:

It is necessary to handle a situation when the subordinate believes he or she is correct but manager thinks he or she is wrong.

* In this situation manger has to cater to emotions.

Tolerance:

Manager should be able to tolerate the short comings of his or her people.

Qualities of A Manager (cont…)

Freedom from suspicious and prejudice:

• Don’t be suspicious about your persons (Important for mutual trust)

• Treat every person equally (Both Majority and Minority)

Empathy and quickness to praise and criticize:

• Empathy is capacity to feel what other persons feel.

• A good manager avoids off-the-cuff criticism.

Qualities of A Manager (cont…)

Humor and Emotional Control:

A short tempered manager would rarely command the good will of persons who work for him.

Good Listening Ability and Self Confidence:

• A good manager must be a good listener rather than a talker.

• Poor self confidence of a manager will be reflected in inadequate productivity of his or her department

Qualities of A Manager (cont…) Ability for self-appraisal and recognizing different

points of view:

• A manager should be able to identify his or her short comings and improve upon them.

• A manger should be able to recognize that occasionally there may be more than one view which is correct.

Quickly seeing goodness in people and eagerness to pass credit to others:

• A manager should be able to identify quickly the good points of people working for him or her.

• A manger should be eager to give credit to his or her subordinates for their success.

Hints to Relieve Tensions

Try to behave as a moderate person.

Try to live each day.

Try to develop hobbies.

Try to divide time between work, social life and family intelligently.

Try to periodically re-examine and readjust the daily set of goals.

Try to unselfish with respect to others.

Try not to concentrate on failures by looking into past successes.

Motivating Engineering Manpower

One way to improve the performance of a department is to motivate people in the department. The motivators outlined are as follows

1. Make sure that the employees are involved in the goal setting.

2. Make sure that the performance measuring standards are set high but within achieving limits of employees.

3. Consult employees on matters which are normally above their level

4. Make sure that employees clearly understand goals and policies

5. Make sure that those motivational tools which will be most useful to an individual employee are uncovered

6. Make sure that the self-defeating attitudes of certain employees are challenged

Motivators For Managers

Motivators for managers is explained in figure

Staff Meeting

This section is divided into two parts

1. Benefits Of A Staff Meeting

• It gives a manager an assurance that he does not overlook the potentially gifted executives

• It is the testing ground to find out the management capabilities of a person

• It allows the manager to monitor his or her entire staff in action

• It helps to identify those persons who are there to find solutions to their problems

• It serves as a barometer of staff members attitudes

• It helps to identify the fast thinkers

Staff Meeting( cont.….)2. Useful Guidelines To Hold Staff Meetings Effectively

• Encourage participation from all staff members who are present in the meeting.

• Control the meeting in such a way so that it does not get out of control and the objectives of the meeting are fully accomplished.

• Stimulate the employees interest in staff meetings so that they do not feel that meetings are a waste of time.

• Discourage disruptions when the meeting is in progress.

• Examine the performance of actions and decisions which were decided during the previous meeting.

• Whenever the manager has the opportunity to assign seats to participants, he should carefully examine the seating position of the potential trouble maker.

The Committees A committee is composed of people to whom, as a team, certain matter is

committed.

Functions of committee are evaluating policies, recommending and implementing solutions reviewing performance, generating alternatives, etc.

Why Have Committees??

To reduce power of a single person

This is one of the main reasons to have common use of committees because of the fear of giving too much authority to a single individual.

To Share And Transmit Information

With the use of committee, the information can be shared uniformly and faster by the members of the group.

To encourage motivation through participation

Committees are helpful in motivating member of the committee because they participate in the policy-making process.

Why Have Committees (cont.…)?? To represent various concerned group

To have participation of those groups which will be concerned with the decision.

To coordinate activities among several groups of an organization

In addition the committee also becomes useful to coordinate planning

To have judgement of a team

The most important reason to form committee because the decisions made by a group usually are regarded better than the decisions taken

by a single person.

To delay decision on a problem

Managers or others in some situation appoint committees in order to tactfully delay the decision on a problem.

Drawbacks Of Committees

It splits responsibility

Members of a committee do not feel as much responsibility for the group action as they would have felt if such action was taken by them individually.

It consumes a considerable amount of time to arrive at a final group decision

It is costly in monetary terms

It is subject to minority tyranny

Displacing Managers

Sometimes the displacement of a manager from his or her present job is necessary because of poor performance and other factors.

There are basically five ways to displace a manager from his or her present job.

Up (North)

Down (South)

Centre

Out (west)

Lateral (East)

Displacing Managers (cont…)1. Up

This is sometime known as move to the north

It is the easiest way in which the manager is removed from his or her present position giving him or her a promotion.

Displacing Managers (cont…)1.Up (cont..)

Advantages:

No damage to the morale of the concerned individual

No damage to the morale of his or her work team

Easier to get the approval of the affected individual

It is easier move

Disadvantages:

It is costly move because the salary of the individual most probably will be increased or maintained at the same level

Affected individual may interfere with the functioning of his or her old group because of group members loyalty toward him or her

Displacing Managers (cont…)2. Down

This move is known also as a move in a southern direction.

In this case the concern person is demoted from his or her present position.

Advantages:

1. The company will probably pay a lower salary

2. The person is removed from his or her old position

Disadvantages:

Possible lower productivity of the individual

Reduction in attitude of loyalty to the organization

Possible poor effects on the morale of other members of group or company

Displacing Managers (cont…)

3. Centre:

In this case the individual’s office and title are retained but his or her group is removed.

In other words the individuals group is attached to another department.

Disadvantages:

The move may affect the morale of the individuals group

Productivity of the group members may decrease

There may be no reduction in the individuals salary

Displacing Managers (cont…)

4 . Out

This is known also as a move in the western direction

In this move the individuals is forced to leave the organization

Disadvantages:

Possibility of poor effect on the morale of certain groups of people

Possibility of adverse publicity

Possibility of adverse effect on investors and customers

Displacing Managers (cont…)

5. Lateral

In this case the individual is moved laterally in an eastern direction to a position such as that of a staff assistant or a special assistant

The affected person is paid the same salary

Advantages:

The affected person is frequently receptive to such a move

Chances of the publicity of the move are rather low

Execution of such a move is relatively easy

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