EM6113-Engineering Management

Techniques

Historical Development of Engineering

Management

1
Chapter Objectives
 Describe the origins of engineering management
 Identify the different basic management
philosophies
 Discuss the future issues that will affect the
continued development of engineering
management.
Historical Development of
Engineering Management

 Earliest civilizations required management

skills wherever groups of people shared
common purpose
 Military ventures
 Organized religion
 Tribal activities
 Ancient Civilisations
 Living in communities post agricultural revolution
 Settlements close to river: Constructing ‘Trajectum
de Maas’ in Maastricht, Diverting ‘River Gangir’ in
eastern Iraq
 Neolithic Revolution (New Stone Age)
 From Hunters and Gatherers to living in
communities, by 6000BC over 1000 people!
 Plants and animals were domesticated
Ancient - Egyptians
 4000 – 1600 B.C.
 Used managerial principles/job descriptions
 Built pyramids
 Great Pyramid of Cheops/Giza/Khufu
 Only tools: levers, rollers, immense earthen ramps
 13 acres, 2.3 M stone blocks, avg. 5k pounds
 100,000 men, 20-30 years to complete
 Same effort in worker-years as putting man on the
moon
 Difference in height of opposite corners of base 0.5
inch only!
What if we were to build the
pyramid today?
 While the pyramid was originally built by
100,000 workers over the course of 20-30
years using strength, sleds and ropes,
building the pyramid today using stone-
carrying vehicles, cranes and helicopters
would probably take 1,500 to 2,000 workers
around five years, and it would cost on the
order of $5 billion
Ancient Iraq - Babylon
 Hammurabi Code
 2123 – 2081 B.C.
 Unique code of 282 laws
 Governing business and societal dealings, e.g.
 “If a builder of a house for a man and does not
make its construction firm, and the house which
he has built collapses, and causes the death of
the owner of the house, that builder shall be put
to death”
Stonehenge (3000-2000 BC)

 Stonehenge is a
prehistoric monument in
the English county of
Wiltshire
Ancient – Military

 Cyrus 580-529 B.C.

 First Achaemenid Emperor. He founded Persia by
uniting the two original Iranian tribes
 Use of staff
 Recognized use of order and division of work
 Alexander the Great 323 B.C.
 Distinction between line and staff
 Used discipline and delegation
 Functions of Supply, Provost Marshal and Engineer
Ancient - Romans
 284 B.C.
 Estate and farm management
 Emphasis on personnel selection and
placement
 Known for building roads, bridges, and water
management
Medieval Period
 Four centuries of Dark Ages

 No books on management written

Islamic Empire - Caliphate
 Mostly not mentioned in traditional books!
 Plethora of contributions
Origins – Arsenal of Venice
 Complex of state-owned shipyards and
armories clustered together in Venice in
northern Italy in early 1400s
 Manufacturing
 Numbering of inventory parts/Lumberyard
 Standardization of parts
 Assembly line
 Piecework pay and daily wages
 Double-entry bookkeeping (debit and credit)
Arsenal of Venice
(End of) Cottage Industry

 Before 18th Century

 Farm families would spin cotton,
wool to yarn or thread on a
spinning wheel
 Weave it on a hand loom
 Wet the goods with mild alkali
 Spread them on the ground for
months to bleach in sun
Industrial Revolution
1750-1800
 Spinning Jenny  Chlorine Bleach
 8 threads at once  Quick bleaching

 Water Frame  Steam Engine

 Water powered  Phased out water power

 Mule  Screw-cutting Lathe

 Combination of  Made possible more
Spinning Jenny and durable metal machines
Water Frame instead of wood

 Power Loom  Interchangeable

 Weaving machine manufacture
Industrial Revolution
Problems of the Factory System
 Recruiting/Training Workers
 Explosive Growth in Mill Towns
 Supervisors, No Background
 Upper Management, Sons or Relatives
Management Philosophies
 Scientific
 Adam Smith, Frederick Taylor, the Gilbreths

 Administrative
 Henry Fayol, Max Weber

 Behavioral
 Hawthorne Studies, Abilene Paradox, Maslow
Adam Smith
 Wealth of Nations
 Division of labor
 Pin manufacturing industry
 10 specialized workers could produce 48000
pins!
 Independent workers not even 10 pins
together!
Father of Scientific Management
 Frederick Winslow Taylor 1856-1915
 Taylorism
 Theory of management that analyzed and
synthesized workflows
 Discarding ‘rule of thumb’ in favor of time study
work
 “a broadly accurate guide or principle, based
on practice rather than theory”
Taylor (1856 – 1915)

 Time Study work

 Breaking down work into ‘elements’ or better
‘elementary motions’ discarding unnecessary
motions
 Timing these elements to determine a fair
day’s work
 Differential piecework: Higher rate per piece
for higher worker productivity
Taylor
 Replaced old rule of thumb
 Believed in selecting, training,
teaching and developing workers
 Time Study

 Standards planning
The Gilbreths (1868 – 1924)
Frank B. Gilbreth: (1868-1924) Devised a
system for classifying hand motions into 17
basic divisions Therbligs (Motion study work)

Lillian Moller Gilbreth: 1878-1972)

First Lady of Management
The Gilbreths
 Bricklayer
 Three sets of motions
 Deliberately but slowly
 Rapidly
 Teaching their helpers
 Classifying hand motions
 17 basic divisions, ‘therbligs’
 Authoring 6 books together with wife
Administrative Management

 Henri Fayol

 Max Weber
Henri Fayol (1841-1925)
 Engineer

 Developed 14 “general principles of

administration”

 Divided management activities into five

divisions
Functions of Managers
Fayol
 Planning (Selecting what to do)
 Organizing (Establishing structure)
 Command (Replaced today with Leading)
 Coordination (Not separate anymore)
 Control
Fayol
 “…long personal experience has taught me
that the use of higher mathematics counts for
nothing in managing businesses and that
engineers, mining or metallurgical, scarcely
ever refer to them.”
Comparison
Fayol and Taylor
 Both referenced functional specialization
Fayol-principles of management
Taylor-secure efficiencies

 Both emphasized “one best way”

Max Weber (1864-1920)
 Major influence in a classical organizational
theory
 Bureaucracy
 Division of labor
 Hierarchy of authority
 Loyalty to the ‘office’ not individual holding it
 Selection vs election of office bearers
 Employment based on expertise
 Rules and procedures must be written
 Rigid
 Impersonal
Behavioral Management
 Hawthorne Studies

 Abilene Paradox

 Maslow
Hawthorne Studies
 Illumination experiments (1924-27)
 Vannevar Bush (MIT)
 Relay room experiments (1927-
32)
 Elton Mayo (Harvard)
 Wiring room experiments (1931-
32)
 Elton Mayo (Harvard)
Illumination Experiments
 Original intent was find the level of
illumination that made the work of female coil
winders, relay assemblers, and small parts
inspectors more efficient.

 Conclusion - persons singled out for special

attention perform as expected
Relay Room Experiments

 Six female workers removed from production

line to form a “team”
 No supervision, but closely monitored
 Test variables
 Length and frequency of breaks
 Length of work day
 Length of work week
 All changes resulted in increased output
(absenteeism dropped 65%)
Wiring Room Experiments
 11 men working together
 Production rates stabilized at a norm,
even though pay was by the piece
 Those above or below the norm were
ridiculed and abused
 Complex social group and hierarchy
Hawthorne Outcomes
 “Hawthorne Effect” – studied people behave
differently: as you expect them to
 Theory Y – People are intelligent, motivated,
hard workers
 Self-Directed Teams – Work groups form an
organization without supervision.
 Implications for control
 Criticisms?
Abilene Paradox
 Failing to manage agreement effectively
 Inability of a group to agree to disagree
 Group decision making
 Workplace, family, friends
 Personal examples?
Definition
 Motivation is a psychological feature that
arouses an organism to act towards a desired
goal and elicits, controls, and sustains certain
goal-directed behaviors
Maslow – 60’s

 Hierarchical theory of human needs

Biological / Physiological Needs

Security / Safety Needs
Social Needs/Love/Belongings
Esteem/Ego Needs
Self-actualization/Self-fulfillment
Motivational
Theory
Maslow’s Hierarchy

Herzberg
Motivational

Herzberg
Hygiene
Surah Ibrahim (14:37)

Rab-banaa in-niy askantu min dhurriy-yatiy bi waadin

ghayri dhiy zar’In 'Inda baytikal muHarrami rab-banaa li
yuqiymuS Salaata faj’Al af’idatam minan naasi tahwiy ilayhim
warzuqhum minath thamaraati la’Al-lahum yashkuruun
Prophet Ibrahim (as) and
Professor Abraham Maslow

“Oh Our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell

in a valley without cultivation, By Thy Sacred House; In
order, Oh our Lord, that they may establish regular
prayer; So fill the hearts of some among men with love
towards them, And feed them with Fruits: So that they
may give thanks.”(Quran: Chapter 14; Verse 37)
Inverted Pyramid?
Wife of Prophet Ibrahim (as), Bibi Hajar and son Ismail (as)
Left between Safwa – Marwa on command of Allah (swt)

In the prayer, the order of needs is illustrated as being:

Spiritual needs: “establish regular prayer”
Social needs: “fill the hearts of some among men with love
towards them”
Physiological needs: “feed them with fruits”
Contemporary Management
Issues - Challenges
 Quality and Productivity
 Customer Focus
 Information Technology
 Project Management
 Globalization
 Management Theory and Leadership
Contemporary Management
Applied Perspectives
 Peter Drucker
 Peter Senge
 Steven Covey
 Tom Peters
 Scott Adams
 Michael Porter
 Thomas Friedman
Questions?