RAMANUJAN

Can Engineers be GoodManagers?

A Discussion

Education

At face value engineers should also be good managers.Usually analytical, good at managing risk, innovativeand excellent with figures, engineers possess manyattributes required of a manager. But the figures state adifferent story. Only 20 percent of Fortune 500 CEOshave a degree in engineering, while in India only 39%found to have engineering degrees.

RAMANUJANRAMANUJANRAMANUJANRAMANUJAN Education

At face value engineers should make goodmanagers. Usually analytical, good at managingrisk, innovative and excellent with figures,engineers possess many attributes required of amanager. But the figures state a different story.

Looking back in world's history, some of thegreatest business leaders were engineers. Whiletoday only 20 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs have adegree in engineering. Microsoft CEO, SatyaNadella, is an engineer. So is General Motors MaryBarra and Amazons Jeff Bezos. Looking at Indiancorporate horizon, out of 33 CEOs of various typeof organizations surveyed, only 39% found to haveengineering degrees, while 45% are having degreein management. Out of 39% engineering degreeholders, none completed MBA program. Howevermajority of them are having masters degrees inengineering or science. All 39% CEO havingengineering degrees are first generation leaders i.e.Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani, Narayan Murthy &Azim Premji & interestingly a very few of theirchildren opted for engineering degrees but all optedfor an Management UG / PG degree.

The trend indicates shift from industrial-focusedcareers to careers focused on business. Bigbusinesses are running the economy and managingbusiness has become more important. Through thistransformation, engineers began to lose theirpositions as leaders of the great businesses they hadhelped to create, replaced by professional businessmanagers. As a result, a leadership mentality wasslowly stripped away from engineers and theengineering mentality started to play a lesser role inbusiness decision making.

Engineers possess several qualities that define agood leader. They are detail-oriented and analytical.While they are meticulous, they still take risks, butcalculated ones. They identify the root cause of aproblem and provide an economical solution. Theytend to have a very realistic outlook on situationsand dont add the fluff. They keep it simple. Theylead by example & are tech-savvy and understandhow it all works. This provides them with acompetitive advantage over other industryprofessionals.

There are several reasons why engineers tend not toactively pursue leadership roles or not preferredover the business degree holders. Few of those areidentified as below:

1. Safe Start & Job Security:

Engineers enjoy one of the lowest unemploymentrates. Engineering has always been perceived as asafe start for anyone. It provide graduates with a setof skills that cannot be faked and which open doorsfor professional advancement.

This job security in engineering field, to avoidretrenchment, prompts engineers to focus more onengineering skills rather than managerial skills.

2. Image Problems:

In spite of engineerings long and glorious historythere seems to have been stereotyped imageproblems associated with the profession. Engineersare often identified as technical geeks, who excel atmaths and physics & fail at host of socially-acceptable traits that eventually prevents them formanagerial responsibilities.

Generally it is considered that engineers are good atattention to detail, problem-solving, numeracy, riskmanagement and analysis but many may lackemotional intelligence and the necessary leadership,people management, and communication abilities.

3. Concentrate on Technical Aspects:

One reason is that while working on assignments,engineers are often promoted on the basis of theirengineering accomplishments and technical merits,rather than their management abilities.

The other reason is that they dont actively promotethemselves. Engineers tend to place real value ondata, technical grounds and accomplishments.Engineers tend to shy away from self-promotionbecause they are afraid of ornamentation andstaying away from factual information.

4. Lack of Management Development Educationin Engineering Syllabus:

RAMANUJANRAMANUJANRAMANUJANRAMANUJAN Education

if leadership doesnt come naturally, it needs to bedeveloped from an early age. When studyingengineering, leadership education is simplyoverlooked. Pursuing an engineering degree isdifficult task & essentially be engineering focusedonly. The curriculum is extremely vigorous andoften doesnt include business courses that trigger abusiness mentality.

5. Change in Career Path:

Either love towards engineering field or fear ofchange in career path makes them to decide not toabandon engineering domain. Although many claimthat they never had a genuine desire to be anengineer. It was the trend that high achievingstudents enroll in engineering studies than studyingthe humanities and social science disciplines, thatmade them decide in favor of engineering studies.But once in job changing career path shall spoiltheir years of hard work at engineering college andthere after in industry.

6. Their way and the wrong way:

Engineers are often found be leaders of start-up,small companies and technical departments. Thisgives them the tendency to think there is theirway and the other (wrong) way. In effect, thismakes them to be ineffective delegators who adopta micro-management style.

Can Management Skill Development Program /MBA / PGDM Help?

So what makes a good leader? According toStephen Covey in his book Seven Habits of HighlyEffective People, there are four imperatives forleaders: they must inspire trust, clarify purpose,align systems and unleash talent. Clarity of purposeand system alignment are driven into everyengineer on day one of their training. Can the othertwo skills be taught? Certainly.

Professional education such as an MBA / PGDMhelps build conceptual constructs which enableengineers to think through complex businesssituations. An MBA's understanding of variousbusiness functions hones ability to make balancedprofessional decisions. Besides this an MBA gives

exposure to other organizations domains i.e.finance, marketing etc along-with a focusedapproach towards human resource management,communication and inter personal skills.

Engineering + MBA / PGDM Ticket to Successat India Inc:

An engineering degree and top up with an MBA /PGDM is believed to be the classic recipe forcorporate success. Most professionals perceive thatthis path provides valuable skills for going up thecorporate ladder along with helping sustain thecompetitive advantage. Today, organizations areincreasingly adopting employee-friendly policies toenable them to do an MBA / PGDM through asabbatical or corporate sponsorship aimed atequipping them with better skills. Few points in thesupport are as below:

In todays corporate world, the role of anengineer is changing; an engineer is likely to bea manager who has to implement new practicesand new technology for optimum use ofresources and factors of production.

Its like taking a step ahead in professionalcareer.

MBA / PGDM broadens an engineer'sperspective significantly by introducing non-engineering concepts such as those inmarketing, strategy, finance, operations,business ethics, entrepreneurship and manymore.

It is a myth that after joining management,engineer's technical skills are left behind.Management is very important part ofprofessional life of engineer.

A management degree gives multitaskingability to engineers. After completing amanagement degree, an engineer working intechnical department of any company, can alsohandle management responsibility as well. Intoday's competitive market scenario companiesrequire multitasking employees.

An engineering degree will teach how toapply knowledge practically. While an

RAMANUJANRAMANUJANRAMANUJANRAMANUJAN Education

management degree will teach how to managepeople with engineering degrees.

With an MBA / PGDM, an engineer shallget extra attention and credibility in professionalcareer - something that will offer him a greateropportunities to make an impact by taking onmeaningful responsibilities.

During MBA / PGDM degree, new links aredeveloped with different people doingmanagement degrees, which help throughoutprofessional career of an engineer.

To summarize an engineer with a MBA /PGDM shall have a solid tripod pedestal(business concepts, soft skills and solidnetwork) that will assist him making a greatcareer.

Why Engineers should Opt for specialization inOperations Management?

Operations is the core of business in anyorganization. It represents a domain responsible forproducing goods or services. OperationManagement is management of system or processesthat create goods and / or services. Managers areresponsible for managing activities that are part ofthe production of goods and services. Somecommon jobs areas in organizations are Design,Projects, Production, Maintenance, Quality,Materials, Supply Chain, IT, Customer Service &Support etc. They are also expected to beinteracting with those managers in other functionalareas within the organization whose roles have animpact on operations.

MBA / PGDM has many specializations which aredomain specific i.e. Finance Management,Marketing Management, Human ResourceManagement etc. These all force engineers tochange their career path. The PGDM in OperationsManagement program is one step in the rightdirection, it provides engineers to hone managerialskills and remain in their domain area. Some of thereasons in support are:

Engineers work at the core of anymanufacturing or technical services setup.

They lead a team of skilled manpower toascertain the department / domain functioning.

Operations Management specializationempowers each engineer with sharp engineeringand scientific capabilities along with smartbusiness management disciplines.

Specialization in Operations Managementgives engineers an edge over their peers inprocesses designing & optimization, quantitativetechniques, data storage, processing &presentation, leadership and communicationskills.

Operations Management gives an exposureto other management domains as well i.e.finance, marketing etc. When working in coremanufacturing domains engineers should haveknowledge of other domains as well i.e.Marketing, Finance etc., since domains areinterconnected e.g. a good manufacturing planshall need a finance person node or productionschedule should match marketing priorities aswell.

PGDM Operations Management has furtherspecializations in Production Management,Quality Management, Materials, Supply Chain,Maintenance Management & Project & ITmanagement, thus giving specializedmanagement education in the field of experienceof a working professional.

It gives means and education necessary tostart companies or manage family businesses inengineering field.

As per a study, Operations Management isone of top 3 MBA specializations, opted mainlyby engineers worldwide.

Hence specializations in Operations Managementcan not only make an engineer a good manager butcan open new avenues in career path as well.

Ramanujan College of Management Palwal (NCR Delhi, Haryana)Web: www.ramanujan.edu.in Email: info@ramanujan.edu.in