Module No.

ORGANIZING TECHNICAL
ACTIVITIES
ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT

ENG’R. ISAGANI C. FLORES

Department of Engineering and Architecture
Module 4 Organizing Technical Activities
 BATAAN HEROES COLLEGE

Module Description
This module deals with providing an engineer manager with some background and
insights in organizing to facilitate the implementation of plans to accomplish organizational
objectives.

Objectives of the Module

After completing this module, the student must be able to :
1.understand what the organizing function of an engineer manager is.
2.describe the arrangement or relationship of positions within an organization.
3. identify the types of organizational structures
4. distinguish between ‘ line authority and staff authority and be able to give examples.

Introduction
The engineer manager needs to acquire various skills in management including those for
organizing technical activities. In this highly competitive environment, the unskilled manager
will not be able to bring his unit, or his company, as the case maybe , to success.
The value of super organizational set-up has been proven dramatically during the Second
World War when a smaller American naval force confronted the formidable Japanese navy at
Midway. Military historians indicated that the Americans emerged victorious because of the
superior organizational skills of their leaders.
Even today, skills in organizing contribute largely to the accomplishment of the
objectives of many organizations, whether they are private businesses or otherwise. Any
business, however, cannot hope to make huge profits unless they are properly organized to
implement their plans.
The opportunities offered by skillful organizing are too important to ignore. This chapter
is intended to provide him with some background and insight in organizing.

1. REASONS FOR ORGANIZING

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Organizing is undertaken to facilitate the implementation of plans. In effective

organizing, steps are undertaken to breakdown the total job into more manageable man-size jobs.
Doing these will make it possible to assign particular tasks to particular persons. In turn these
will help facilitate the assignment of authority, responsibility, and accountability for certain
functions and tasks.

2. ORGANIZING DEFINED
Organizing is a management function which refers to “ the structuring of resources and
activities to accomplish objectives in an efficient and effective manner.
The arrangement or relationship of positions within an organization is called structure. The
result of the organizing process is the structure.

3. THE PURPOSE OF THE STRUCTURE

The structure serves some very useful purposes. They are the following :
1. It defines the relationships between tasks and authority for individuals and departments.
2. It defines formal reporting relationships, the number of levels in the hierarchy of the
organization, and the span of control.
3. It defines the grouping of individuals into departments and departments into organization.
4. It defines the system to effect coordination of effort in both vertical ( authority ) and
horizontal ( tasks ) directions.

When structuring an organization, the engineer manager must be concerned with the
following :
1. Division of labor – determining the scope of work and how it is combined in a job.
2. Delegation of authority – the process of assigning various degrees of decision-making
authority to subordinates.
3. Departmentation – the grouping of related jobs, activities, or processes into major
organizational subunits.
4. Span of control – the number of people who report directly to a given manger.

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5. Coordinatin – the linking of activities in the organization that serves to achieve a

common goal or objective.

4. THE FORMAL ORGANIZATION

After a plan is adapted, management will proceed to form an organization to carry
out the activities indicated in the plan.
The formal organization is “ the structure that details lines of responsibilities,
authority and position.” What is depicted in the organizational chart is the formal
organization. It is “ the planned structure “ and it “ represents the deliberate attempt to
establish patterned relationships among components that will meet the objectives
effectively.”
The formal structure is described by management through :
1. Organization chart - a diagram of the organization’s official positions and formal
lines of authority.
2. Organizational manual - provides written descriptions of authority of relationships,
details the functions of major organizational units, and describes job procedures.
3. Policy manuals - which describes personnel activities and company policies.

5. INFORMAL GROUPS
Formal organizations require the formation of formal groups which will be assigned to
perform specific tasks aimed at achieving organizational objectives. The formal group is a part of
the organizational structure
There are instances when members of an organization spontaneously form a group with
friendship as a principal reason for belonging. This group is called an informal group. It is not
part of the formal organization and it does not have a formal performance purpose.
Informal groups are oftentimes very useful in the accomplishment of major tasks,
especially if these tasks conform with the expectations of the members of the informal group.
The informal organization, useful as it is, is “ vulnerable to expediency, manipulation,
and opportunism “, according to Valentine . Its low visibility, Valentine added, makes it

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“difficult for management to detect these perversions, and considerable harm can be done to the
company. “
The engineer manager is , therefore, warned that he must be on the lookout for the
possible difficulties that informal groups may do to the organization. It will be to his best interest
if he could make the informal groups work for the organization.

6. TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES

Before the commencement of activities, the decision-makers in an organization will have
to decide on what structure to adapt. Depending on the size and type of operations, a certain
structural type may best fit the requirements.
Organizations may be classified into three types. They are the following:

6.1 Functional Organization

This is a form of departmentalization in which everyone engaged in one
functional activity, such as engineering, or marketing, is grouped into one unit. These
organizations are very effective in smaller firms especially “ single-business firms where
key activities revolve around well-defined skills and areas of specialization.”

6.2 Product or Market Organization

This refers to the organization of a company by divisions that brings together all
those involved with a certain type of product or customer. The product or market
organization, with its feature of operating by divisions, is “ appropriate for a large
corporation with many product lines in several elated industries.”

6.3 Matrix Organization

An organizational structure in which each employee reports to both a functional
or division manager and to a project or group manager. It is a structure with two or more
channels of command, two lines of budget authority, and two sources of performance and
reward. This structure is designed to keep employees in a central pool and to allocate
them to various projects in the firm according to the length of time they were needed.

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Reasons or Factors for Joining or Forming a Group which Propel People to Form or Join
an Informal Group :
1. Friendship
2. Common interest such as concern for the environment or love for classical music
3. Proximity which givse people the chance to share ideas, opinions, and feelings
4. Need satisfaction which are derived from unions, cultural societies, fraternities ,etc
5. Collective power which is derived from unions, cultural societies, fraternities ,etc
6. Group goals which attract individuals like : consumer society, sports club , etc

Fig. 4.1 Reasons or factors for Joining or Forming a Group

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Fig. 4.2 A typical Functional Organization Cart of a Construction Company

7. TYPES OFAUTHORITY
The delegation of authority is a requisite for effective organizing . It consists of three
types . They are as follows :
7.1 Line authority - a manager’s right to tell subordinates what to do and see that they
do it.
7.2 Staff authority - a staff’s specialist’s right to give advice to a superior.
7.3 Functional authority - a specialist’s right to oversee lower level personnel involved
in the specialty, regardless of where the personnel are in the organization.
Functional authority is one given to a person or a work group to make decisions related to
their expertise even if these decisions concern other departments. This authority is given to most
budget officers of organizations as well as other officers.
Line Departments perform tasks that reflect the organization’s primary goal and mission. In a
construction firm, the department that negotiates and secures contracts for the firm is a line
department. The construction division is also a line function.
Staff departments includes all those that provide specialized skills in support of line
departments. Example of staff departments include those which perform strategic planning, labor
relations, research , accounting and personnel
Staff officers may be classified into thfollowing :
1. Personal staff - those individuals assigned to a specific manager to provide needed staff
services.

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2. Specialized staff - those individuals providing needed staff services for the whole
organization.

Fig. 4.3 A Line and Staff Organization

8. THE PURPOSE OF COMMITTEES

When certain formal groups are deemed inappropriate to meet expectations, committees
are oftentimes harnessed to achieve organizational goals. Many organizations, large or small ,
make use of committees.
A committee is a formal group of persons formed for a specific purpose. For instance, the
product planning committee is “ often staffed by top executives from marketing, production
,research, engineering , and finance, who work part-time to evaluate and approved product
ideas.”
Committees are very useful most especially to engineering and manufacturing firms.
When a certain concern, like, product development, is under consideration, a committee is

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usually formed to provide the necessary line-up of expertise needed to achieve certain
objectives.

Committees may be classified as follows :

8.1 Ad hoc committee
This kind is one created for a short-term purpose and have a limited life. An
example is the committee created to manage the anniversary festivities of a certain
firm.
8.2 Standing committee
This is a relatively permanent committee that deals with issues on an ongoing
business. An example is the grievance committee set up to handle initially
complaints from employees of the organization.
Committees may not work properly, however, if they are not properly managed. Delaney
suggests that “ it might be useful to set up some procedures to make the committee a more
effective tool to accomplish our goals.”

Review Questions
1. How may organizing be defined ?
2. What must be the concern of the engineer manager when structuring an organization?
3. What are the types of organizational structures?

Assessment
1. Why is it important for the engineer manager to acquire skills in organizing?
2. Prepare an organization chart of an engineering company of your choice showing line
and staff relationships.

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Assessment Tool

This will help your instructor to check your output. In this module, holistic rubric is used
to determine and measure your learning through the activities set by your instructor. A
holistic rubric is the most general kind. It lists three to five levels of performance along
with a broad description of the characteristics that define each level. (Gonzales, 2014)

Rubric No. 3 : Freestyle Activity

Criteria Indicators %
Knowledge of How well does the student understand the 50
the concept concept? How well does the presentation
reflect this understanding?
In what way, does the student organize the 20
Organization covered information chronologically and
meaningfully?
Creativity How well does the student inject creativity in 30
his/her presentation ?

Rubric No. 4 : Answering and Justification

Value Indicators
3 The student’s answer with organized supporting details/ examples
that shows higher intellectual competencies (critical, analitycal,
and creative thinking, and multiple forms of expression.)
2 The student justified well his/her answer with little evidences that
result to moderate intectual competencies.
1 There is no clear or detailed explanation in answer to the question.
The answer is considered as fragment.

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Reference :

1. Engineering Management by Roberto G. Medina

Answers to Review Questions

1. Organizing is a management function which refers to the structuring of resources and
activities to accomplish objectives in an efficient and effective manner.

2. The engineer manager’s concern when structuring an organization :

a. division of labor
b. delegation of authority
c. deparmentation
d. coordination

3. Types of organizational structures:

a. Functional organization
b. Product or market organization
c. Matrix organization

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