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Assignment 2 Mark

The document discusses various aspects of planning and organizing within an engineering management context. It describes the different levels of planning undertaken by strategic, middle, and lower management. The planning process involves setting goals, developing strategies, determining resources, and setting standards. A production plan outlines total output, capacity requirements, employee needs, and material procurement. Barriers to planning include inability to plan, improper processes, lack of commitment, poor information, short-term focus, over-reliance on planning departments, and focus only on controllable variables. When organizing, managers must consider division of labor, delegation of authority, departmentation, span of control, and coordination. Organizational structures can be functional, product-based, or matrix. Commit

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Mark Luis Quejano
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28 views

Assignment 2 Mark

The document discusses various aspects of planning and organizing within an engineering management context. It describes the different levels of planning undertaken by strategic, middle, and lower management. The planning process involves setting goals, developing strategies, determining resources, and setting standards. A production plan outlines total output, capacity requirements, employee needs, and material procurement. Barriers to planning include inability to plan, improper processes, lack of commitment, poor information, short-term focus, over-reliance on planning departments, and focus only on controllable variables. When organizing, managers must consider division of labor, delegation of authority, departmentation, span of control, and coordination. Organizational structures can be functional, product-based, or matrix. Commit

Uploaded by

Mark Luis Quejano
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Planning

1. What planning activities are undertaken at various management levels?


Various management tiers participate in unique planning tasks. Strategic planning
encompasses the establishment of significant organizational objectives and the development
of policies and strategies to attain them. Middle management, responsible for intermediate
planning, concentrates on defining subunit contributions within assigned resources, aligning
goals, and reinforcing the strategic plan. Lower management, tasked with operational
planning, involves determining the most efficient methods to complete specific tasks within
allocated resources and time, ensuring harmony with both strategic and intermediate plans.

2. What are the steps in the planning process?


o Setting Organizational, Divisional, or Unit Goals: Clearly identify and articulate
precise objectives at the organizational, divisional, or unit level to provide a distinct
sense of direction.

o Developing Strategies or Tactics to Reach Goals: Following the establishment of


objectives, develop strategies at the top management level to accomplish them.
Strategies represent overarching courses of action for achieving goals, while tactics,
employed by middle and lower management, are short-term actions that support these
plans

o Determining Resources Needed: Once strategies or tactics are devised, identify the
human and non-human resources necessary for their implementation. Specify resource
needs, even if they are presently available.

o Setting Standards: During the planning phase, set performance standards to measure
actual performance against planned performance. These standards act as quantitative
or qualitative measures for monitoring the performance of individuals, capital goods,
or processes.
3. What is production plan? What are its components?
A production plan is a written framework detailing the total output quantity a
company is required to manufacture, organized by product families.
Elements of the Production Plan:
o Capacity Requirement: Clearly state the amount of capacity the company must have
to achieve production objectives.

o Employee Requirements: Define the number of employees needed to efficiently


implement the production plan.

o Material Procurement: Specify the amount of materials that must be acquired to


facilitate the production process.

4. What are the barriers to planning?


According to Plunkett and Attner, obstacles to effective planning include:
o Manager’s inability to plan: Managers encountering challenges in the planning
process.

o Improper planning process: Errors or inadequacies in the employed planning


approaches.

o Lack of commitment to the planning process: Insufficient commitment or


involvement in the planning process.

o Improper information: Absence of proper or precise data for effective planning.

o Focusing on the present at the expense of the future: Giving precedence to immediate
concerns at the expense of future considerations.

o Too much reliance on the planning department: Dependence on specific departments


for planning, potentially limiting diverse inputs.

o Concentrating on only the controllable variables: Excessive concentration on


variables within immediate control, disregarding external factors.
Organizing

1. Why is it important for the engineer manger to acquire skills in organizing?


It is essential for an engineering manager to cultivate organizational skills as a
component of their broader management proficiency. In the highly competitive contemporary
environment, a manager without these skills jeopardizes the success of their unit or company.
The importance of adept organizational abilities was demonstrated in the Second World War,
notably during the Battle of Midway, where superior organization played a crucial role in the
triumph of a smaller American naval force over the formidable Japanese navy. This historical
illustration underscores the significance of organizational skills in attaining success,
underscoring their role in overcoming challenges and attaining exceptional results.

2. What must be the concern of the engineer manager when structuring the organization?
When structuring the organization, the engineer manager must focus on the following
key aspects:
o Division of Labor: Decide the scope of tasks and how they are integrated within a job.

o Delegation of Authority: Allocate different levels of decision-making power to


subordinates.

o Departmentation: Cluster interconnected jobs, activities, or processes into significant


organizational subunits.

o Span of Control: Specify the number of individuals directly reporting to a particular


manager.

o Coordination: Institute mechanisms to connect activities within the organization to


accomplish shared goals or objectives.
3. What are the types of organizational structures? How may they be distinguished?
Organizational structures can be classified into three types, each characterized by its
approach:
o Functional Organization: In this form of departmentalization, individuals engaged in a
specific functional activity, such as engineering or marketing, are grouped into a
unified unit.

o Product or Market Organization: This structure arranges a company based on


decisions that assemble individuals associated with a specific product or customer
type. Especially suitable for large corporations with diverse product lines spanning
related industries.

o Matrix Organization: An organizational structure in which each employee reports to


both a functional or division manager and a project or group manager. Characterized
by two channels of command, two lines of budget authority, and two sources of
performance and reward.

4. What are committee? How may they be classified?


A committee is a formal assembly of individuals convened for a particular purpose,
often utilized when conventional groups may not be suitable to fulfill organizational
requirements. Committees find widespread use in organizations of various sizes, particularly
in engineering and manufacturing firms, to leverage a diverse range of expertise for specific
objectives, such as product development.
Committees can be categorized into two primary types:
o Ad Hoc Committee: Established for a short-term and specific purpose with a limited
duration. Example: A committee formed to oversee the anniversary celebrations of a
company.
o Standing Committee: A relatively permanent committee that deals with ongoing
issues. Example: A grievance committee established to consistently address
complaints from employees within the organization.

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