Managing People in

Technology-based
Organizations Issues

CHALLENGES OF MANAGING IN
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
People are one of the most critical assets
affecting business performance in todays
technology-based business environment. Activities
often cluster around projects with team efforts that
span organizational lines involving a broad
spectrum of personnel, support groups,
subcontractors, vendors, partners, government
agencies, and customer organizations.
Effective linkages, cooperation, and alliances
among various organizational functions are critical
for proper communications, decision-making, and
control.

THE UNIQUE NATURE OF MANAGING

ENGINEERING PERSONNEL

Managers in engineering and

technology-based enterprises see
themselves as different from those in
less technical environments. Their
work requires unique organizational
structures, policies, and interaction
of people.

THE UNIQUE NATURE OF MANAGING

ENGINEERING PERSONNEL

Specifically, six organizational

subsystems make engineering and
technology-based management
unique and different from other types
of management and influence the
type of leadership style appropriate
for these situations: (1) work, (2)
people, (3) work process, (4)
managerial tools and techniques, (5)
organizational culture, and (6)

Work
Engineering-oriented work is by and large
more complex, requiring special skills,
equipment, tools, processes, and support
systems. The unit of work is often a project,
organized and executed by a multidisciplinary
team. Cross-functional integration, progress
measurements, and controlling the work
toward desired results are usually more
challenging with increasing technology,
involving higher levels of creativity, risks, and
uncertainties.

People
Because of the type of work and its challenges,
engineering-oriented environments attract
different people. On average, these people
have highly specialized skills. They are better
educated, self-motivated / directed, and
require a minimum of supervision. They enjoy
problem solving and find technical challenges
motivating and intellectually stimulating. They
often enjoy a sense of community and team
spirit, while having little tolerance for personal
conflict and organizational politics.

Work process
Because of the nature of technical
work with its complexities,
uncertainties, risks, and need for
innovation, work processes are less
sequential and centrally
administered, but more team-based,
self-directed, and agile, often
structured for parallel, concurrent
execution of the work.

Managerial tools and

techniques
While many of the managerial tools and
techniques are also used in other
environments, the unique nature of
engineering requires special tools and
application. Spiral planning, stakeholder
mapping, concurrent engineering, and
integrated product developments are just
a few examples of the specialized nature
of tools needed to produce team-based
solutions to complex problems.

Organizational culture
The challenges of technology-driven environments
create a unique organizational culture with their own
norms, values, and work ethics. These cultures are more
team oriented regarding decision making, work flow,
performance evaluation, and work group management.
Authority must often be earned and emerges within the
work group as a result of credibility, trust, and respect,
rather than organizational status and position. Rewards
come to a considerable degree from satisfaction with
the work and its surroundings, with recognition of
accomplishments as important motivational factors for
stimulating enthusiasm, cooperation, and innovation.

Business environment
Engineering-oriented businesses
operate in an environment that is
fast changing regarding market
structure, suppliers, and regulations.
Short product life cycles, intense
global competition, low brand loyalty,
low barriers to entry, and strong
dependency on other technologies
and support systems are typical for
these business environments.

Business subsystems unique for

technology-intensive organizations

MOTIVATION AND ENGINEERING

PERFORMANCE
Understanding people is important in any
management situation, but is critical in todays
technology-based engineering organizations. To
perform effectively, leaders must cross
organizational lines and gain services from
personnel not reporting directly to them.
They must build multidisciplinary teams into
cohesive groups and deal with a variety of
networks, such as line departments, staff groups,
team members, clients, and senior management,
each having different cultures, interests,
expectations, and charters.

Effective team management

involves three primary components
1. People skills - having the right mix
of people with appropriate skills
and traits;
2. Organizational structure - organizing
the people and resources according
to the tasks to be performed; and
3. Management style - adopting the
right leadership style.

Professional Needs Affecting

Individual and Team Performance
1. Interesting and challenging work. This is an intrinsic
motivator that satisfies professional esteem needs and helps to
integrate personal goals with the objective of the organization.
2. Professionally stimulating work environment. Promotes
professional involvement, creativity, and interdisciplinary
support. Conducive to team building, effective communication,
conflict resolution and commitment. Job satisfaction is a good
benchmark for assessing fulfillment of this need.
3. Professional growth. Perceived via promotional opportunities,
salary advances, skill building, and professional recognition.
4. Overall leadership. Leadership satisfies the need for clear
direction and unified guidance of the work and its people. It
involves dealing effectively with individual contributors,
managers, and support groups. Leadership involves a wide
spectrum of technical, administrative, and people skills.

Professional Needs Affecting

Individual and Team Performance
5. Tangible rewards. A large spectrum of rewards is available to
managers to satisfy extrinsic and intrinsic needs, such as salary,
bonuses, incentives, promotions, recognition, praise, office decor,
and educational opportunities.
6. Job expertise. People must have the knowledge and skills
necessary to perform the required task. This includes the technical
expertise, as well as the administrative and human skills needed
for effective role performance.
7. Assisting in problem solving. Examples include facilitating
solutions to technical, administrative, and personal problems. It is
an important need, which, if not satisfied, often leads to
frustration, conflict, and suboptimal job performance.
8. Clearly defined objectives. Goals, objectives, and outcomes of
an effort must be clearly communi- cated to all affected personnel.
Conflict can develop over ambiguities or missing information.

Professional Needs Affecting

Individual and Team Performance
9. Management control. People like to see a reasonable degree of
structure, direction, and control of their work, without being
micromanaged. This is also important for effective team performance,
innovation, and creativity toward established organizational goals.
10.
Job security. This is one of the very fundamental needs that must be
satisfied before people consider higher-order growth needs. Job security is
perceived and has many facets, ranging from overall enterprise
performance to anxieties over job skills or stakeholder satisfaction.
11.
Good interpersonal relations. Components include trust, respect,
credibility, low conflict, and col- legial behavior, just to name a few.
People must feel comfortable with their co-workers to interact effectively,
share risks, and unify toward organizational objectives.
12.
Proper planning. People need a roadmap to see where they are going.
This is absolutely essential for the successful roll-out of engineering work.
It is also a precondition for resource negotiations and commitment.

Professional Needs Affecting

Individual and Team Performance
13.
Clear role definition. This helps in defining the work team,
minimizing role conflict and power struggles, and legitimizing authority
and reporting relations.
14.
Open communications. Helps to satisfy the need for a free flow of
information both horizontally and vertically, keeping people informed
and unified toward desired results.
15.
Minimum changes. Although change is often inevitable, most people
dont like change and see it as unnecessary, impeding creativity and
performance. Advanced planning and proper communication can affect
the personal perception and attitude toward change and minimize its
negative impact.
16.
Senior management support. Support is usually needed in many
areas, such as resource provision, administrative tools and processes,
project support from resource groups, and provision of necessary
facilities and equipment. Management support is particularly crucial to
larger, multifunctional, and complex undertakings.

Motivation as a Function of
Risks and Challenges
A persons motivation is very low if the
probability of achieving the goal is very
low or zero.
We can push others, or ourselves, toward
success or failure because of our mental
predisposition called self-fulfillment
prophesies. Our motivational drive and
personal efforts increase or decrease
relative to the likelihood of the
expected outcome.

Success as a Function of
Motivation
The saying The harder you work,
the luckier you get expresses the
effect of motivation in pragmatic
terms. People who have a can-do
attitude, who are confident and
motivated, are more likely to succeed
in their mission. Winning is in the
attitude. This is the essence of the
self-fulfillment prophecy.

Source

http://ebooks.narotama.ac.id/files/Mechanic
al%20Engineers%20Handbook%20(3rd%20Edition)
%20Vol%203/Chapter%2014%20%20Managing%20Pe
ple.pdf

QUIZ
1.________ are one of the most critical assets affecting business performance in todays
technology-based business environment.
2.________ in engineering and technology-based enterprises see themselves as different
from those in less technical environments. Their work requires unique organizational
structures, policies, and interaction of people.
3.Engineering-oriented ________ is by and large more complex, requiring special skills,
equipment, tools, processes, and support systems.
4.These cultures are more team oriented regarding decision making, work flow,
performance evaluation, and work group management.
Three primary components of effective team management: (5-7)
5.________
6.________
7.________
Give at least three Professional Needs Affecting Individual and Team Performance: (810)
8.________
9.________
10.
________

ANSWERS
1. People
2. Manager/s
3. Work
4. Organizational Culture
5-7. People skills
Organizational structure
Management style
8-10 Interesting and challenging work
Professionally stimulating work environment
Professional growth
Overall leadership
Tangible rewards
Job expertise
Assisting in problem solving
Clearly defined objectives
Management control
Job security
Good interpersonal relations
Proper planning