Chapter 3

HUMAN ELEMENT

IN

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
 2 MOTIVATION
Motivating people involves stimulating them to action.
Amos and Sarchet (1981) define motivation as a force
or drive causing some action, behavior or result.
Motivation results from needs that the action, behavior
or result will help to satisfy. Amos and Sarchet (1981)
presented a list of examples of needs common to many
engineers.

Desire to Achieve: likes to see a goal that can be

achieved.

Self-Expression and Creativity: is constantly creating,

designing, and constructing.

Challenge: is crossing new frontiers with opportunities

for challenge.
 3 MOTIVATION

Diversity of Problems: is involved with work that has little

routine; new problems arise.

Pride in Accomplishment: takes satisfaction in finished

product-a system, a building, a drawing.

Independence: makes decisions based on personal

knowledge and experience.

Practice of Technical Knowledge and Skills: finds pleasure

in using rare talents and skills.

Recognition: desires to have accomplishments recognized.

Professional Status: desires recognition of stature in the

profession.
 4 MOTIVATION

Thus, high motivators for engineers in the workplace

include: opportunities to attack problems directly,
recognition of accomplishments, association with
competent co-workers, the chance to use the technical
knowledge and skills, independence, and opportunities
to work on challenging and different projects.

Cleland and Kocaoglu (1981) report that the following

factors have emerged most frequently as key for
motivating people:
1) Chance for promotion
2) Chance to turn out quality work
3) Feeling my job is important
4) Getting along with others on the job
 5 MOTIVATION

5) Good pay
6) Large amount of freedom on the job
7) Opportunity for self-development and
improvement
8) Opportunity to do interesting work
9) Personal satisfaction
10) Recognition of peers
11) Respect for me as a person
 6 MOTIVATION

There are some theories that relate to employee motivation

and satisfaction of needs. Here, three are discussed; several
others are simply mentioned and referenced.

Abraham Maslow (1943, 1954) suggested a hierarchy of

human needs to explain how persons are motivated to
action. The psychologist grouped human needs into five
broad categories as follows:

(1) Physiological Needs: food, water, shelter, clothing.

The survival needs required to maintain life.

(2) Safety Needs: safe neighborhood, steady job, life

insurance, moat or stockade. The security needs
that help a person hold onto what has been attained in
level l.
 7 MOTIVATION

(3) Social Needs: friendship, affection, belonging,

love, acceptance, social activity. The need to relate
and belong to others as individuals and in groups.

(4) Esteem Needs: status, recognition, prestige,

respect; holding and using power. The need to be
looked up to.

(5) Self-Actualization Needs: self-fulfillment, self-

realization, sense of accomplishment. The need to
achieve ones own unique self in a real, actual way,
irrespective of what others may think.
 8 MOTIVATION

Ifthis need hierarchy theory may apply to the

engineering profession, the think of people should be
at different stages of their careers.

The engineering student or recent graduate may be

mostly concerned about physiological and safety
needs, with some concern about social needs. The
vice president for engineering is probably most
concerned about social, esteem, and self-actualization
needs, because the lesser needs have been met.
 9 MOTIVATION

Thisleads us to make two observations about Maslows

theory. First, despite its imperfections, it reminds that a
satisfied need is no longer a motivator of action.
Second, it is not true that only one need is operant at a
time, even though one need may be dominant.

The work of Frederick Herzberg is interesting in part

because it was based on interviews with a large group of
professionals, including engineers. His approach was to
ask employees to describe work situations that aroused
their emotions such as what led them to feel especially
satisfied or especially dissatisfied about their jobs.
Herzberg (1968), has proposed a two-factor theory of
work motivation.
 10 MOTIVATION
Satisfiers or Motivators
Achievement
Recognition
The work itself
Responsibility
Advancement
Growth

Dissatisfiers or Hygiene Factors

Company policy and administration
Supervision
Relationships with supervisors, peers, and subordinates
Working conditions
Salary
Personal life
Status
Security
 11 MOTIVATION

The dissatisfiers or hygiene factors, may decrease

motivation, and therefore productivity, if they are not met,
but they will not improve motivation if they are met. That
is, increased satisfaction with these factors, according to
Herzberg, has little positive effect on performance, but
decreased satisfaction has a negative effect. On the
other hand, the satisfiers, or motivators, can have a
positive effect on performance if they are present,
because, unlike the hygiene factors, they can yield a real
sense of satisfaction.
 12 MOTIVATION

The expectations managers have for their employees

performance can have a major impact on the motivation
of those employees. Douglas McGregor (1960), in his
book The Human Side of Enterprise. These two
theories are summarized below:
a) Theory X
b) Theory Y
 13 MOTIVATION

Theory X
1. The average human being has an inherent dislike of
work and will avoid it if possible.
2. Because of this human characteristic of dislike of
work, most people must be coerced, controlled,
directed and threatened with punishment to get them
to put forth adequate effort toward the achievement of
organizational objectives.
3. The average human being prefers to be directed,
wishes to avoid responsibility, has relatively little
ambition and wants security above all.
 14 MOTIVATION

Theory Y
l. The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is
as natural as play or rest. The average human being
does not inherently dislike work. Depending upon
controllable conditions, work may be a source of
satisfaction (and will be voluntarily performed) or a
source of punishment (and will be avoided if possible).
2. External control and the threat of punishment are not the
only means for bringing about effort toward
organizational objectives. People will exercise self-
direction and self-control in the service of objectives to
which they are committed.
 15 MOTIVATION
3. Commitment to objectives is a function of the rewards
associated with their achievement. The most
significant of such rewards, the satisfaction of ego and
self- actualization needs, can be direct products of
effort directed toward organizational objectives.

4. The average human being learns, under proper

conditions, not only to accept but to seek responsibility.
Avoidance of responsibility, lack of ambition, and
emphasis on security are generally consequences of
experiences, not inherent human characteristics.

5. The capacity to exercise a relatively high degree of

imagination, ingenuity, and creativity in the solution of
organizational problems is widely, not narrowly,
distributed in the population.
 16 MOTIVATION

McGregor helps us understand that employees

motivations depend on the attitudes they perceive in
their leaders. Managers who display the people are no
good approach can expect employees to respond
accordingly. Managers who take the opposite approach
are likely to find employees will respond with enthusiasm
and creativity.

Amos and Sarchet (1981), in concluding their

presentation on motivational techniques for engineers,
describe eight creative actions that motivate people.
Although no single set of actions will work for everyone,
the concepts, as summarized below, seem especially
helpful for those involved in motivating technical
professionals.
 17 MOTIVATION

1. People must know where and how they fit into the
accomplishment of goals or objectives.

2. The engineer manager must always promote and assist

subordinates advancement in the organization.

3. It is essential for the engineer manager to get out of the

office and on the production line or project, to learn what
is going on.

4. The engineering manager should consider keeping in

contact with employees families and letting them know
when a project is especially well done or when efforts are
required during evenings or weekends.
 MOTIVATION
Cont. 18

5. Delegation of activities to be performed by others makes

work more meaningful.

6. Participation in decisions and actions affecting their

work or workplace plays a large part in gaining
commitments from employees.

7. Communication is the key to developing better

relationships with people.

8. Job enrichment is a technique used to build into the job

a higher sense of challenge and achievement.
 19 MOTIVATION

Toconclude this section on motivation, we present in

Figure 3.1 the general model of work motivation proposed
by Connolly (1983). The model seems helpful in tying
together some of the ideas contained in the theories
discussed and referenced herein.

Figure 3.1:
Summary model of
individual work
motivation.
 20 MOTIVATION
Connollys logic is summarized as follows:
The focus of the model is on the individuals conscious or
unconscious choice about how hard she or he will work in the
next time period-the level-of-effort choice. This choice is a
function of the person's beliefs, perceptions, and desires and
aspects of the situation.

Over time, the level of effort leads to a level of work

performance that is moderated both by the individuals ability
and by available resources.

In turn, the level of work performance leads to extrinsic and

intrinsic work-related outcomes. Then these work-related
outcomes lead, directly or indirectly, to personal outcome,
which are the need satisfactions suggested by Maslow and
others.

Finally, work performance and work-related and personal

outcomes feed back on the situation and the individual to
influence the level-of-effort choice in the next time period.
 21 3.2 LEADERSHIP
David Campbell (1980), defines leadership as any
action that focuses resources to create new
opportunities. This definition suggests that leadership is
active, not passive; that the leader uses resources of
many kinds, ranging from time to money to facilities and
to make things happen while new opportunities can
range from new jobs to happiness to higher profits to
long life.

Katz and Kahn (1978) define leadership as the

influential increment over and above mechanical
compliance with the routine directives of the
organization. From this interesting definition it can be
learnt that the effective leader will be the one who
causes subordinates to do that something extra (the
increment) beyond the routine requirements of their
positions.
 22 LEADERSHIP

Management is concerned with the myriad of details-the

techniques involved in economic analysis, personnel
relations, legal principles, project scheduling, and other
matters required for the enterprise to survive and prosper.

Leadership involves those policy setting, planning and

evaluating, forecasting, inspiring, motivational
responsibilities that set the enterprise on its short-run and
long-run courses. (By Stephen Covey, 1989).
 23 LEADERSHIP

The leadership styles and a review of characteristics that

effective leaders seem to exhibit shown in The
Managerial Grid, reproduced as Figure 3.2. It has been
widely used to identify various combinations of
leadership styles (Blake and McCanse, 1991). The
originators of this approach suggest that styles can be
classified by the degree to which one tends to
emphasize concern for people and concern for
production.

There are five basic styles. Under style 1,1, there is little
concern for either people or production: those managers
become primarily message carriers from superiors to
subordinates. At the other extreme, style 9,9 represents
the highest possible dedication to both people and
production, so that the team performs effectively to
achieve the organizations purposes.
 LEADERSHIP
Cont.
24

The 1,9 style has much concern for the people side of the
operation, promoting friendliness and getting along, with
little emphasis on accomplishing a defined goal. The
opposite is true of the 9,1 style, where the emphasis is on
an efficient operation that produces, with little or no
concern for the people who make that happen. In the
middle is the 5,5 style: the leader has a balanced
perspective, but such balance may be tantamount to
mediocre, adequate, or just satisfactory performance, far
short of the organizations capabilities.
 25 LEADERSHIP

Figure 3.2: The Managerial Grid.

 26 LEADERSHIP
Roles of leader
Professor Henry Mintzberg conducted an in-depth study of
the chief executive officers of five major corporations. From
this study he developed ten major roles, which he further
grouped into three broad categories, as follows (Mintzberg,
1973, as quoted in Campbell, 1980):

1) Interpersonal Roles
i. Leader: motivating, directing, assigning tasks, assessing
performance, coaching, following up, charisma.

ii. Liaison: dealing with outsiders, communicating with

peers, making contacts, scouting for new resources,
playing politics.
iii.
iv. Figurehead: appearing at formal and informal functions,
welcoming dignitaries, announcing promotions and new
contract; the ceremonial/social role.
 27 LEADERSHIP

2) Informational Roles

i. Monitor: reading, listening, studying reports and

journals, walking through your facility, attending
workshops, staying up to date.

ii. Disseminator: speaking, writing, informing, sharing,

distributing.

iii. Spokesperson: selling, informing, taking a stand,

making contacts, representing your people and your
organization to the world (different from the
ceremonial, or figurehead, role above).
 LEADERSHIP
Cont. 28

3) Decision Roles

i. Entrepreneur: seeking opportunities, taking chances,

trying new things, assuming risks.

ii. Resource Allocator: budgeting; deciding who gets what;

assigning priorities; giving out dollars, personnel,
equipment, time, and space.

iii. Disturbance Handler: reacting to crises, putting out fires,

soothing ruffled feathers; calming and solving through
decisive action.

iv. Negotiator: bargaining with others, negotiating contracts,

swapping resources, buying time, straightening out
errors; handling termination, cancellations, extra work,
and failures.
 29 LEADERSHIP

According to David Campbell (l980), leaders are bright,

mentally agile, alert people, who seek out responsibility,
are good at whatever they are leadering in, are
energetic, are good communicators, and have a sense of
humor.

Rodman Drake (1987) lists the following traits as

important for corporate leadership: focuses on goals,
maintains simple values, stays in touch, properly
manages change, builds a solid management team, has
the ability to delegate, and faces up to failure.
 30 LEADERSHIP

Dr. Whitt N. Schultz (1988) gives his 10 point list of

essential qualities:
Ten Essential Qualities of Successful Leaders
1) They are accurate observers. They observe and absorb.
They look at every-thing as if it's the first and last time
they'll ever see it.

2) They are excellent listeners. Good listening skills are

essential to the learning process.

3) They take copious notes. They possess alert minds that

allow them to remember details they may use at a later
date.

4) They welcome new ideas. Theyre open and responsive

to the ideas and suggestions of others.
 31 LEADERSHIP

5) They regard time as a precious commodity. They always

spend their time wisely and skillfully.

6) They set regular goals. And, once they've determined

their goals, they strive hard to achieve them.

7) They always try hard to understand others. They reserve

judgment until after they've understood the other
person's point of view.

8) They always anticipate achieving their goals. Then, after

achieving them, they develop new ones.

9) They know how to ask clear, courteous, and incisive

questions. People who are skilled at asking questions
excel at learning things from others.

10) They know how to organize their approach to

challenges. They also possess the ability to focus their
minds on important and relevant tasks.
 32 3.3 DELEGATION

The topic of delegation is closely related to leadership

and communication. It involves, giving people things to
do. There are at least four benefits from proper
delegation: it
1) expands results from what a manager can do to
what he or she can control,
2) releases the managers time for more important
work,
3) develops subordinates skill, competence, and
initiative, and
4) provides for decision making at the lowest possible
level.
 33 DELEGATION

Despite these advantages, delegation seems to be the

least well-practiced of any engineering management
concept (by Amos and Sarchet, 1981) because even
though proper delegation can greatly assist in the
allocation of ones time, managers often give it lip
service but fail to put it into practice.

Three interrelated phases are involved in the

delegation process.
1) The duties are assigned and the desired results are
identified.
2) The authority to carry out the assignment is
provided.
3) Finally, the responsibility to assignments is also
transferred.
 34 DELEGATION

Thesimple definitions by Silverman (1988) that clarify

authority, responsibility and accountability are as follows:

Authority The power to make final decisions that

others are required to follow.

Responsibility The obligation, which results from a

persons formal role in an organization to perform
assigned tasks effectively.

Accountability The fact of being answerable for the

satisfactory completion of tasks.
 DELEGATION
Cont.
35

An important aspect of effective delegation is the balance

between authority and responsibility. When the
assignment is made, the authority must be consistent
with the responsibility. If the project manager delegates to
a junior engineer the responsibility (obligation) for
conducting an analysis and deciding a highway routing,
the authority (power) to decide how the study will be
conducted and to make the decision must be delegated
as well.

Whileauthority and responsibility can be delegated,

accountability, as defined above, cannot (Silverman,
1988). In the case just mentioned, the ultimate
answerability still rests with the project manager, who is
accountable for the project despite having assigned
responsibility to the junior engineer.
 36 DELEGATION

The following guidelines for effective delegation are based

on the work of Amos and Sarchet (1981), Mackenzie
(1972), and Roadstrum (1978):
1) Assignments must be defined clearly in terms of the
expected outcomes.

2) Adequate guidance, instruction, and training must be

provided to the delegate.

3) Authority must be commensurate (in a correct and

suitable amount compared to something else) with the
assigned responsibility and sufficient to make possible
the completion of assignments.

4) Abilities and qualifications of subordinates must be

considered when delegating, as well as individuals
potential personal and professional growth.
 37 DELEGATION
5) Activities must be organized effectively, with proper means for
coordinating the results arising from the several subordinates.

6) Supervisor-subordinate relationships must be clear and direct,

to ensure that all affected parties understand who is
responsible for the various elements.

7) Counseling and advice must be available to subordinates after

work has been delegated.

8) Without meddling in subordinates activities, there must

nonetheless be a control system that alerts the
supervisor/delegator when deviations in the plan arise.

9) A means for feedback, recognition, and reward must be in place

and operating.

10) The delegator must display a large measure of trust in the

subordinates; such trust is inspired by competent subordinates
and is evidenced by a willingness to back off on the part of the
delegator.
 38 3.4 Personnel Development

The engineering manager has an especially important

responsibility for nurturing the development and
maintenance of competence among the employees of
the organization.

Usually, individual employees have their sole

responsibility for personal development activity but in
the higher quality organizations, managers take an
active part in the development and maintenance of
competence of individuals. Indeed, the most
successful outcome will likely result when each
member of the employee-employer team has an
active part in this responsibility.
 Personnel
39
Development
The employer has a responsibility for encouraging
development in two directions:
1) Employees should develop special competence in
one or two areas.
2) Employees must keep up to date on the engineering
profession as a whole and be aware of major
developments.

Among the development activities to be considered as

joint projects of employer and employee are the
following:
a) On-the-Job Training Some employers provide
structured training programs, such as the Engineer-
in-Training (EIT) program of the Alaska Department
of Transportation and Public Facilities, in which new
EITs work in several divisions of the department for
approximately six months each over a period of
three years.
 Personnel
40
Development
Formalized Graduate Education The possibilities are
numerous, in both technical and management areas. Many
universities offer a masters degree in engineering
management as well as various technical masters degrees, on
an after-hours, part-time basis, or on a full-time basis.

Professional Registration Many employers assist and

encourage their young engineers by providing funding and
released time to prepare for the PE examination and by paying
their annual registration fees.

Noncredit Short Courses and Workshops These opportunities

are often available in house at the workplace. Also, engineers
can participate in outside courses and, increasingly, in satellite-
based televised courses sponsored by professional societies
and other organizations.
 Personnel
Development
Cont.
41

Society Activity Activities range from the

Professional
monthly luncheon, featuring a technical or professional
program and contacts with other professionals, to week-
long meetings and specialty conferences. Often
employers cover some or all of the cost.

Reading a wide variety of books, journals and

magazines cover almost every useful technical or
professional topic. Often employers provide libraries, in
part to assist the engineer in maintaining competence.
 3.5 Incentive, Reward
42

Mel Hensey (1992) wrote: Achievement leads to

motivation, not the other way around. That is, a
successfully completed project motivates the project
team to do well on the next project, a successful lecture
encourages the lecturer to make another one, and so
forth. Furthermore, Hensley says that recognition for
achievement is nearly as important as the achievement
itself in motivating the individual and the team toward
high future performance.

Theengineering manager could deliver recognition to

employees through verbal recognition and
acknowledgement as mentioned by Hensey: Our
practice would suggest that simple verbal recognition
and acknowledgment in organizations is the greatest
untapped, underused, but effective, and yet inexpensive
method of rewarding and motivating people.
 43 Incentive, Reward

The following guidelines are suggested by Hensey

(1992):

1. Reinforce randomly, not too often, and soon after

performance.

2. Use minimal negative criticism, only when

necessary, to correct especially bad performance.

3. Tangible recognition in the form of awards, brass

plaques, and the like is appropriate for
extraordinary performance and is most effective
when presented by a respected leader, soon after
performance and with clear sincerity.
 44 Incentive, Reward

The value of nonmonetary incentives was demonstrated by a

program developed for a large polyethylene plant designed
and constructed by Fluor Daniel Inc. for Chevron's Cedar
Bayou facility in Baytown, Texas (Fischer and Nunn,
1992).The Chevron/Fluor Daniel nonmonetary incentive
program demonstrated several key ingredients:

Recognize specific accomplishments or behaviors, such as

challenging mile-stones met, innovative responses to
problems, and steps taken to secure the support of others.

Recognition by itself is rewarding, with long-lasting effects.

Keep the program timely, consistent, fun, and focused on

personal accomplishments.
 Incentive, Reward
Cont.
45

Recognition is meaningful only if it is so perceived

by the recipients; feedback is essential.

Do not neglect to recognize such out-of-the-

mainstream departments as office service,
accounting, and vendor information control.

Develop a broad base of support, including wide

management participation and a grassroots
committee with considerable operation.

Focus on accomplishments of the group and of the

task force.

Publicize the recognition widely.

 46 3.6 PAF

3.6 THE PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION FUNCTION

The personnel departments of many organizations

employ specialists who handle routine and non-routine
matters in administration areas.

However engineering manager/supervisor shall be

noted the areas of recruitment; screening, selection, and
placement; performance evaluation and appraisal;
promotion and transfer; layoff and termination:
compensation and benefits; discipline; collective
bargaining; and grievances and arbitration.

(Beach, 1985; Carrell and Kuzmits, 1986: Miner and Miner, 1985; Pigors and Myers, 1981).
 47 PAF

Recruitment involves attracting applicants who are

available and qualified to fill positions in the
organization. Applicants may be drawn from those
already employed in the organization as well as from
the population outside. Responsibility for recruitment
usually is shared by the manager and the personnel
department. After the recruitment period, the process
of screening, selecting, and placing begins.

Performance appraisal is the systematic evaluation

of employees with respect to job performance and to
their potential for future development and
performance. Many methods can be used, including
rating scales, checklists, comparison with agreed-on
objectives, interpersonal comparisons, and essays.
 PAF
Cont. 48

A promotion is an advancement of an employee to a

job with greater responsibilities, greater skill, more
status, and a higher rate of pay. Transfer refers to the
movement of an employee from one job to another on
the same occupational level and at about the same
level of pay. Issues of full disclosure of opportunities,
nondiscrimination, and seniority versus competence
are important in promotion decisions. Transfers may
be made to staff areas of increasing activity, to
replace workers who leave and to utilize workers
talents more efficiently.

Layoffs and terminations are difficult for employee

and manager alike. Both terms mean that someone is
out of a job. Reasons for terminations range from lack
of work to incompetence to outright fraud or other
criminal activity. In any case, standards of openness,
timely notice, and fairness must be adhered to.
 PAF
Cont.
49

Compensation and benefits is another complicated topic.

Included in this category are the need to attract and retain
good employees, the evaluation of jobs for proper wage or
salary, the pay increase process, and such controversial
topics as wage and salary compression (decreasing the
differentials between higher and lower pay grades) and
comparable worth. Benefits include pensions, as well as paid
time off for vacations, holidays, sick time, and other leaves;
insurance; profit sharing; and such employee services as
education expenses, food services, and social activities.

Discipline is essential to the workplace, yet it is difficult to

know how to approach cases of employees who have
stepped beyond the bounds of established practice. The
manager must be aware of rules and related penalties and
must be sure they are communicated thoroughly.
 50 PAF

Collective bargaining is another area that is a specialty

unto itself. The manager may be involved in applying work
rules, pay and benefit programs, and other matters
involving the workplace that have been developed during
bargaining between the employer and representatives of
the bargaining unit.

A grievance can be thought of as any dissatisfaction or

feeling of injustice in connection with one's employment
that is brought to the attention of management.

Arbitration, utilizing the services of an outside person

familiar with the process, who hears both sides and
renders a decision, is a common means of resolving
grievance cases.