editorial

Complement More
Than Compliment

by John G. Falcioni, Editor-In-Chief

Whether you're managing an engineering enterprise, a baseball team, or a magazine, there's a time and place for telling people what to do. There's also a good way to do it, and a lousy way. Some managers can't tell the difference. And while these rough-around-the-collar supervisors can still be effective at getting tasks accomplished, today's employees are less likely than those of a previous generation to tolerate poor handling.

Some soft-touch approaches to managing an enterprise may be scoffed at by students of Vince Lombardi, but the reality is that a cohesive team will produce better results than a dysfunctional one, and that a manager with manners will get more productivity out of his staff than one without.

Moreover, industrial psychologists will tell you that enterprises run best when a manager hires someone who complements her skills instead of someone who will compliment her decisions.

In this issue, you'll read that enlightened managers aren't born that way. Thus, as important as the skill of the manager, is the skill of the employee to enlighten the manager. Just don't tell my staff, or I'll blow my top.

A Guiding Light by Jean Thilmany, Supplement Editor

You can't please everyone, but that doesn't stop engineering managers from trying. Managers do just that: manage. They're leaders who spend each day tending to employee needs, assessing budgets, and overseeing projects. In this second issue of Engineering Management, we take a look some of the topics managers tell us they juggle daily: finances, technology, people, and projects. During the past 50 years, the number of companies that organize production via projects has jumped hugely, according to the Project Management Institute of Newtown Square, Pa. The institute defines a project as a temporary endeavor undertaken to achieve a particular aim. Today, large and small businesses alike group by project the jobs that need to get done in order to get a product out the door on time and within budget. Of course, someone needs to oversee those projects: a project manager. The Project Management Institute has much to say on the practice of project management. A large body of knowledge also exists on both project and product management. In this issue, we attempt to clarify the terms and understand why project management is so important. Because engineering managers are made, not born, a number of universities now offer graduate programs to train this unique type of manager. Like project management, these programs have mushroomed. Even ASME is developing an engineering management certification program. If good managers are made, it naturally follows that some not-so-good managers exist in the working world. Jim Longuski, a professor at Purdue University and a former employee at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, writes about the importance of the boss. After all, we all started our working lives somewhere. Where we end up is up to us. We hope this issue can be a reference as you guide your management career.

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