CE 135 – ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT

Course Description:

This course deals with the study of the field of Engineering Management, the science of handling
technical undertakings the engineering way so that decision making shall be made more rational and logical.
It is concerned with planning and organizing technical activities, staffing the engineering organization,
communicating, motivating, leading, controlling, managing production and service operations, managing the
marketing functions and managing finance functions.

WEEK 5-6. ORGANIZING TECHNICAL ACTIVIES

Topics for Week 5 & 6:

1. Organizing Technical Activities

2. Definition of Organizing
3. Purpose of the Structure
4. The Formal Organizations
5. Informal Groups
6. Types of Organizational Structures
7. Types of Authority
8. The purpose of committees

Learning Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
- Recognize the idea of organizing technical activities
- Define and compare what organizing, formal organization and informal organizations are
- Distinguish the different types of organizational structures and authority
- Identify the purposes of structures and committees

Topic 1. Organizing Technical Activities

The value of a superior organizational set-up has been proven dramatically during the World War II
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.

✓ REASONS FOR ORGANIZING

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.

Topic 2. Definition of Organizing

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 the structure. The result of
the organizing process is the structure.

Topic 3. Purpose of the Structure

The structure serves some very useful purposes. They are the following:

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 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 groupings 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 organization
subunits.
4. Span of control – the number of people who report directly to a give manager.
5. Coordination – the linking of activities in the organization that serves to achieve a common goal
or objective.

Topic 4. The Formal Organization

The formal organization is “the structure that details lines of responsibilities, authority and position,”
Formal organization is depicted in the organization chart. 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 the management through:

a. Organization chart – is a diagram of the organization’s official positions and formal lines of
authority.
b. Organizational manual – provides written descriptions of authority relationships, details the
functions of major organizational units and describes job procedures.
c. Policy manuals – describes personnel activities and company policies.

Topic 5. Informal Groups

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.

Informal groups are oftentimes very useful in the accomplishment of major tasks, especially if these
tasks conform to the expectations of the members of the informal group.

According to Valentine, informal organization is “vulnerable to expediency, manipulation and

opportunism.” He also added that ,”it makes it difficult for management to detect these perversions and
considerable harm can be done to the company.”

FRIENDSHIP

COMMON
INTEREST

Like concern for environment

or love for classical music

PROXIMITY

Which gives people the chance

to share ideas, opinions, and WHICH
PROPEL
PEOPLE
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TO
 feelings

NEED
SATISFACTION
Which are derived from unions,
cultural societies, fraternities,
etc. FORM

COLLECTIVE INFORMAL
POWER or
GROUP

Which is derived from unions, JOIN

fraternities, etc.

GROUP GOALS

Which attract individuals like

consumer society,
sports club, etc.

Figure 6. Reasons or Factors for Joining or Forming a Group

Topic 6. Types Of Organizational Structures

Organizations may be classified into three types. They are the following:

1. Functional Organization – is a form of departmentalization in which everyone engaged in one

functional activity, such as engineering or marketing, is grouped into one unit.
2. Product or Market Organization – refers to the organization of a company by divisions that bring
together all those involved with a certain type of product or customer.
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.

Functional Organization

Functional organization structures are very effective in smaller firms, especially “single-business
firms where key activities revolve around well-defined skills and areas of specialization.”

Functional Organizations have certain advantages. They are the following:

1. The groupings of employees who perform a common task permit economies of scale and efficient
resource use.
2. Since the chain of command converges at the top of the organization, decision-making is
centralized, providing a unified direction from the top.
3. Communication and coordination among employees within each department are excellent.
4. The structure promotes high-quality technical problem-solving.
5. The organization is provided with in depth skill specialization and development.
6. Employees are provided with career progress within functional departments.

The disadvantages of functional organization are the following:

1. Communication and coordination between the departments are often poor.

2. Decisions involving more than one department pile up at the top management level and are often
delayed.
3. Work specialization and division of labor, which are stressed in a functional organization, produce
routine, non-motivating employee tasks.
4. It is difficult to identify which section or group is responsible for certain problems.
5. There is limited view of organizational goals by employees.

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 6. There is limited general management training for employees.

Product or Market Organization

The product or market organization is “appropriate for a large corporation with many product lines
in several related industries.”

The advantages of a product or market organization are as follows:

1. The organization is flexible and responsive to change.

2. The organization provides a high concern for customer’s needs.
3. The organization provides excellent coordination across functional departments.
4. There is easy pinpointing of responsibility for product problems.
5. There is emphasis on overall product and division goals.
6. The opportunity for the development of general management skills is provided.

The disadvantages of the product or market organization are as follows:

1. There is a high possibility of duplication of resources across divisions.

2. There is less technical depth and specialization in divisions.
3. There is poor coordination across divisions.
4. There is less top management control.
5. There is competition for corporate resources.

Matrix Organization

A matrix organization, according to Thompson and Strickland, is a structure with two (or more), and
two sources of performance and reward.

Higgins declared that “the matrix structure was designed to keep employees in a central pool and to
allocate them various projects in the firm according to the length of time they were needed.”

The matrix organization is afforded with the following advantages:

1. There is more efficient use of resources than the divisional structure.

2. There is flexibility and adaptability to changing environment.
3. The development of both general and functional management skills are present.
4. There is interdisciplinary cooperation and any expertise is available to all divisions.
5. There are enlarged tasks for employees which motivate them better.

The matrix organization has some disadvantages; they are the following:

1. There is frustration and confusion from dual chain of command.

2. There is high conflict between divisional and functional interests.
3. There are many meetings and more discussion that action.
4. There is a need for human relations training for key employees and managers.
5. There is a tendency for power dominance by one side of the matrix.

Topic 7. Types of Authority

The delegation of authority is a requisite for effective organizing. It consists of three types. They are
as follows:

1. Line Authority – a manager’s right to tell subordinates what to do and then see that they do it.
2. Staff Authority – a staff specialist’s right to give advice to superior.
3. Functional Authority – a specialist’s right to oversee lower level personnel involved in that
specialty, regardless of where the personnel are in the organization.

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 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 the line department.
The construction is also a line function.

Staff departments include all those that provide specialized skills in support of line departments.

Staff officers may be classified into the following:

a. Personal staff – those individuals assigned to a specific manager to provide needed staff services.
b. Specialized staff – those individuals providing needed staff services for the whole organization.

Functional authority is given to a person or a work group to make decisions related to their expertise
even if these decisions concern other departments.

Topic 8. The Purpose of Committees

A committee is formal group of persons formed for a specific purpose.

Committees are very useful most especially to engineering and manufacturing firms. When a certain
concern, like product development, is under consideration, a committee is usually formed to provide the
necessary line-up of expertise needed to achieve certain objectives. Committees may not work properly, if
they are not correctly managed.

Committees may be classified as follows:

1. Ad hoc committee – one created for a short-term purpose and have a limited life.
2. Standing committee – it is a relatively permanent committee that deals with issues ongoing basis.

REFERENCES:

Engineering Management by Roberto G. Medina

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