CAUSON, Emmanuel A. ENGG 411 – Activity No.

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BS EnSE 4 23 January 2020

Engineers address different societal issues ranging from

technological systems, to agriculture and environment, to health
and medicine and beyond. Engineers are determined to improve the
world in which we live in. The study of Engineering Management
enables us to contribute significantly by providing leadership
in solving diverse and ever-evolving problems.

Definition of terms:

What is a leader?

Leader is a whole mess of things. The best leaders don’t

command, they ask. They don’t have to yell, berate, or threaten.
They don’t even have to hold a position. The best leaders are
the people who could convince you to follow them through hell
and back; not because they told you to, but because they
believed you could make the journey. They believed you would be
better for it and they proceeded to walk with you, in case you
might need help along the way. Funny enough, the best leaders
are not leaders at all. They are anything and everything in
between. They are followers and delegators and coworkers and
listeners. They make sure your opinions are heard and more than
that; they take your opinions into account.

What is a manager?

A manager is the member of an organization with the

responsibility of carrying out the four important functions of
management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. But
not all managers are leaders. Most managers also tend to be
leaders, but only IF they also adequately carry out the

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leadership responsibilities of management, which include
communication, motivation, providing inspiration and guidance,
and encouraging employees to rise to a higher level of
productivity.

Managerial duties are usually a formal part of a job

description; subordinates follow as a result of the professional
title or designation. A manager’s chief focus is to meet
organizational goals and objectives; they typically do not take
much else into consideration. Managers are held responsible for
their actions, as well as for the actions of their subordinates.
With the title comes the authority and the privilege to promote,
hire, fire, discipline, or reward employees based on their
performance and behavior.

What is a supervisor?

A supervisor oversees the day-to-day performance of employees.

Depending on the company, a supervisor may manage a team, a
shift or an entire department.

Successful supervisors have excellent organizational and

communication skills. These skills help them transfer
information from upper management to employees and communicate
their teams’ performance or needs to high-level managers. In
most cases, supervisors are experts in their field and can
efficiently manage daily operations as a result.

Supervisors assume several roles in the workplace. They are

essential in managing a team’s efficiency and building a
positive team environment, but the specifics of these tasks can
vary based on the company.

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What is a Non-Manager?

Non-managers have a lesser degree of responsibility in a

workplace than their management counterparts. While non-managers
are not absolved of successfully completing the functions of
their jobs, they typically don’t do the following:

 Direct activities or business functions.

 Make decisions about other employees' workload or
scheduling.
 Have access to confidential or sensitive information in a
company.
 Make hiring or firing decisions.
 Reprimand or evaluate others.
 Independently sign off on purchase requests.
 Be the final word on resolving customer complaints or
problems.
 Make staffing decisions.
 Communicate directly with the top brass.

While there is frequently overlap or grey areas between managers

and non-managers, for the most part, managers have a greater
leadership role in an organization, have greater decision making
powers and are held accountable for business missteps. As a
result of this higher level role, managers often have more
experience and or education than non-managers and are
accordingly paid higher salaries.

What is SMART objectives?

SMART is an acronym that has been credited to both Peter Drucker

(1955) and G.T.Doran (1991), though it is difficult to identify
whether either of these two were really the first people to use

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the term ‘SMART’ with reference to objectives. The term SMART is
now in common usage among managers who use SMART to set
objectives within appraisal and performance management systems.
SMART i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and
timely

Specific – outline in a clear statement precisely what is

required.

Measurable – include a measure to enable you to monitor progress

and to know when the objective has been achieved.

Achievable – objectives can be designed to be challenging, but

it is important that failure is not built into objectives.
Employees and managers should agree to the objectives to ensure
commitment to them.

Realistic - focus on outcomes rather than the means of achieving

them

Timely - (or time-bound) – agree the date by which the outcome

must be achieved.

What is SWOT Analysis?

A SWOT analysis is an incredibly simple, yet powerful tool to

help you develop your business strategy, whether you’re building
a startup or guiding an existing company.

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and

Threats.

Strengths and weaknesses are internal to your company—things

that you have some control over and can change. Examples include
who is on your team, your patents and intellectual property, and
your location.

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Opportunities and threats are external—things that are going on
outside your company, in the larger market. You can take
advantage of opportunities and protect against threats, but you
can’t change them. Examples include competitors, prices of raw
materials, and customer shopping trends.

A SWOT analysis organizes your top strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, and threats into an organized list.

Strengths

Strengths are internal, positive attributes of your company.

These are things that are within your control.

Weaknesses

Weaknesses are negative factors that detract from your

strengths. These are things that you might need to improve on to
be competitive.

Opportunities

Opportunities are external factors in your business environment

that are likely to contribute to your success.

Threats

Threats are external factors that you have no control over. You
may want to consider putting in place contingency plans for
dealing them if they occur.

What is a PERT/CPM?

Project management can be understood as a systematic way of

planning, scheduling, executing, monitoring, controlling the
different aspects of the project, so as to attain the goal made
at the time of project formulation. PERT and CPM are the two

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network-based project management techniques, which exhibit the
flow and sequence of the activities and events. Program
(Project) Management and Review Technique (PERT) is appropriate
for the projects where the time needed to complete different
activities are not known.

On the other hand, the Critical Path Method or CPM is apt for
the projects which are recurring in nature.

The two scheduling methods use a common approach for designing

the network and for ascertaining its critical path. They are
used in the successful completion of a project and hence used in
conjunction with each other. Nevertheless, the truth is that CPM
is different from PERT in a way that the latter concentrates on
time while the former stresses on the time-cost trade-off.

PERT is a project management technique, whereby planning,

scheduling, organising, coordinating and controlling uncertain
activities are done. CPM is a statistical technique of project
management in which planning, scheduling, organising,
coordination and control of well-defined activities take place.

PERT is a technique of planning and control of time. Unlike CPM,

which is a method to control costs and time.

While PERT is evolved as a research and development project, CPM

evolved as a construction project.

1. PERT is set according to events while CPM is aligned

towards activities.
2. A deterministic model is used in CPM. Conversely, PERT uses
a probabilistic model.
3. There are three times estimates in PERT, i.e. optimistic
time (to), most likely time ™, pessimistic time (tp). On
the other hand, there is only one estimate in CPM.

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 4. PERT technique is best suited for a high precision time
estimate, whereas CPM is appropriate for a reasonable time
estimate.
5. PERT deals with unpredictable activities, but CPM deals
with predictable activities.
6. PERT is used where the nature of the job is non-repetitive.
In contrast to, CPM involves the job of repetitive nature.
7. There is a demarcation between critical and non-critical
activities in CPM, which is not in the case of PERT.
8. PERT is best for research and development projects, but CPM
is for non-research projects like construction projects.
9. Crashing is a compression technique applied to CPM, to
shorten the project duration, along with the least
additional cost. The crashing concept is not applicable to
PERT.

What is a PROJECT PLAN?

A project plan defines project goals and objectives, specifies

tasks and how goals will be achieved, and identifies what
resources will be needed and associated budgets and timelines
for completion. A project plan defines all work in a project and
identifies who will do it. A typical project plan consists of: A
statement of work, a resource list, work breakdown structure, a
project schedule and a risk plan.

Having a well-developed project plan is one of the critical

success factors for projects. A project plan is the Project
Manager’s communications and control tool for use throughout the
lifecycle of the project. Project plans are living documents,
which provide project direction. Project plans contain all of
the planning documents that are part of the entire process.
Components of the project plan include baselines, baseline

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management plans, risk management, quality, procurement,
resourcing and communications.

The project plan identifies the roles and responsibilities of

stakeholders. The project manager gets clarity and agreement on
what will be done, by whom, as well as which decisions each
stakeholder will make. The scope of work statement is one of the
most important documents in the project plan. The scope includes
the business need and business problem, the project objectives,
deliverables, and key milestones.

Project baselines are established in the project plan. These

baselines include scope, schedule and cost baselines. The scope
baseline will include all of the deliverables produced on the
project. The deliverables can be developed into a work breakdown
structure. Schedule and cost baselines will include estimates of
the time to complete each task and the cost of each task. Task
dependency is identified in order to develop the critical path.

The project plan will also include a scope change plan, a

process for issue escalation, a risk management plan and most
importantly a communications plan. Project managers spend a lot
of time developing clear project plans. A well thought out
project plan leads to smooth execution and successful
completion.

What is a PROJECT MATRIX?

The matrix organizational structure is a combination of two or

more types of organizational structures. The matrix organization
is the structure uniting these other organizational structures
to give them balance. Usually, there are two chains of command,
where project team members have two bosses or managers.

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Often, one manager handles functional activities and the other
is a more traditional project manager. These roles are fluid and
not fixed, as the balance of power between these two kinds of
managers isn’t organizationally defined.

It will employ the best of both structures and management styles

to strengthen strengths, and make up for weaknesses. This way,
if an organization is working on producing two products or
services at the same time, they can organize both and use that
duality to their advantage through the matrix organizational
structure.

Origins of the Matrix Organizational Structure

The matrix organizational structure came about as a business

response to the rise of large-scale projects. They needed fast-
track technology applications and required the ability to
process great amounts of data in an efficient manner. Project
organization was needed to respond quickly to interdisciplinary
needs, without upsetting the functional organizational
structures already in place.

A matrix organizational structure is not a one-size-fits-all

solution. There are advantages and disadvantages that need to be
understood to know if it’s the right one for the organization.

Pros

One of the biggest pros of using a matrix organizational

structure is that it allows the sharing of highly skilled
resources between functional units and projects. Communications
are open, which helps knowledge move throughout the organization
with less obstruction. Because the matrix organizational
structure fosters better communications, it makes the normal

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boundaries between groups more porous, which allows for more
collaboration and an integrated, more dynamic organization.

This structure can serve as a great boon for employees who are
looking to widen their experience and skill sets. They can be
part of many different aspects of various projects. It puts them
in an environment that facilitates learning and gives them an
opportunity to grow professionally.

Plus, the functional departments have highly skilled people, and

those people are available to help the project team if needed.
This creates a pool of valuable resources that can be dipped
into and provides more flexibility to resolve issues without
having to source new resources.

Furthermore, efficiencies are enhanced, and teams remain loyal

because the structure provides a more stable environment where
job security is strengthened. People work harder and have more
buy-in to projects when they feel the rug isn’t going to get
pulled out from under them.

Cons

There can be some confusion when a team member is subject to two

managers. That can also create unnecessary conflict.This is
especially true if both managers have equal authority.

Then there is the functional manager and project manager. There

can be some sparks flying between these two managers in terms of
what they believe to be the authority in the organization. That
confusion can show up with team members, too, if their roles and
responsibilities aren’t clearly defined. And that confusion can
lead to conflict if resources are hard to come by and competing
managers are fighting for them.

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There are a lot of managers in a matrix organizational
structure, which is not to everyone’s liking. And there can be a
financial downside to that too. Having more people in managerial
positions is going to have an impact on the organization’s
bottom line.

Team members can feel the strain of working in a matrix

organizational structure, in that their workload can be heavy.
Often, they’re tasked with their regular assignments and then
additional work, which can lead to burnout or some tasks being
ignored.

Finally, there’s the overall expense of the matrix

organizational structure. This goes beyond having multiple
managers but also the added expense of keeping on resources that
might not be used all the time.

What is a RACI CHART?

A RACI chart or matrix is a diagram that identifies the key

roles and responsibilities against major tasks within a project.
It serves as a visual of the role each person on a team is
playing. Creating the chart is also an excellent exercise in
balancing workload and establishing the decision-maker. RACI is
an acronym for responsible, accountable, consulted, and
informed. Each represents the roles and levels of involvement of
an individual against the corresponding task/milestone.

Responsible Who is responsible for doing the actual work for the
task.

Accountable Who is held accountable for the success of the task

and is the decision maker. Typically, he is the project manager.

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Consulted Who needs to be consulted for details and additional
info on requirements. Typically the person or team to be
consulted will be the subject matter experts.

Informed Who needs to be kept informed of major updates.

Typically senior leadership.

How to create a RACI CHART:

Step 1: Identify the team members.

Examples include the project manager, executive sponsor,

software developer, and business analyst.

Step 2: Identify the major milestones in the project.

If we take a project like building a website, the examples are

the website design, testing, and client approval.

Step 3: Draw a matrix with a row for each team member and a
column for each task/milestone.

You can easily use Microsoft Excel or another software program

to create the RACI chart.

Step 4: Fill in each box with the corresponding R, A, C, and I

to designate the role of each person for every task.

With the client approval milestone of the website example, the

project manager would be responsible for getting their approval,
the executive sponsor would be accountable, and the developer
needs to be informed of the outcome.

Step 5: Discuss, analyze, and get approval from the project

team.

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To take our example again, it’s possible the executive sponsor
wants to be the person who meets with the client to get their
approval, hence they would be responsible for this task.

Step 6: Provide everyone a copy. You can just email the file out
to everyone.

**Submitted last 23 June 2020, 4:05 pm

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