Staff development [management]

People are essential to the achievement of any human endeavour and management is the art of getting things done through people. Here, the author argues that a company's greatest asset is its personnel, and no effort should be considered too great to encourage their maximum potential     

Setting the trend [management consultants]

In today's aggressively competitive environment, business in general and manufacturing engineering industries in particular have been forced to become better equipped to meet the challenges for survival and growth. Often advised by today's growing army of consultants, an increasing number have addressed the problem through a variety of programmes under a variety of guises, all aimed at improving efficiency, productivity and competitiveness to varying degrees. One specialist consultancy has attempted to shed new light on how and where companies are succeeding-or failing-to meet the challenge     

Taking the lead [engineering management]

In engineering organisations where those who are promoted are often those who have shown the best engineering skills, the highly competent engineer is assumed to be able to pick up the necessary people management skills on the job. Unsurprisingly, this approach frequently causes problems. Highly specialist engineering people do not always recognise the needs of management or the needs of organisations.     

Managing the matrix [management structure]

A matrix management structure at GCHQ (UK) resulted in a considerable planning and scheduling challenge. An improvement programme currently underway aims to re-engineer the way all technical work is defined and managed, thus enabling a significant improvement in project management performance     

Agile manufacturing [management]

For many companies, `lean' production during the recession has meant a relentless drive to reduce cost, as opposed to its original concept of adopting best `lean' practice and seeing costs fall. The result has been that the companies are more starved than `lean' and are poorly placed to take advantage of the recovery due to reductions in skilled staff in general and design and development capability in particular. Here, the author argues that in order to become agile, companies have to concentrate on the other, forgotten, aspects of `lean' production, aim for flexibility and speed of response, and also ensure they are adaptable to future changes in the market     

Mind the gap [interim management]

Most organisations are aware of interim management as a concept, but many are unclear as to exactly what interim management is, what it can do for their business, and how to find a good interim manager. This article outlines the basic principles of interim management, and answers some frequently-asked questions.     

Surviving the information explosion [knowledge management]

This paper presents the emerging discipline of enterprise content management and explains why a capability to manage document based information is increasingly in demand. The ability to manage explicit information in the form of documents, reports, drawings and graphics is a key knowledge management capability and this capability to manage information has increasingly been recognised as a core organisational need. Knowledge management is concerned with providing people with current and accurate information within the context of their roles. the effective management of document based knowledge relies on technology infrastructures enabling people to create, store and access documentation in a timely manner.     

Environment innovation [innovation management]

This paper discusses how the right environment contributed to the success of CMR Fuel Cells, a UK developer of fuel cell stacks for portable and small stationary power generation applications. Because of the company's potential, CMR Fuel Cells was recently floated on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).     

Vision culture [business management]

Many businesses and institutions are facing unprecedented demand and supply pressures. In this paper, the author argues that organisations need to develop a culture which is well matched to these pressures     

The commissioning [project management]

The installation, in a noisy, dusty, poorly lit underground experimental hall, was hard going. Then the technicians went home, leaving three engineers to commission it, and that was worse. I found that a helpful therapy was to sit down in the evening and send an E-mail back to base, trying to convey a little of the day's work. I should explain that this was a few years ago, when E-mail was more of a novelty than it is now. I had a terminal in my hostel room, but back at base there was just a shared dial-up connection, so my messages were printed and put on a notice board. As a reminder to managers of what life can be like in the field, here are the E-mails of the final two weeks. I hope enough time has passed that they will not cause embarrassment, and of course I have changed the names, but the story really is true. The project was a large superconducting magnet, supplied to APPL (American Particle Physics Laboratory)     

Finance is simple [management]

In any game it is imperative to understand how to score in order to win. The author argues that finance is the scoring system of business so understanding the terminology is essential. Although many people have an irrational fear of the subject, he states that finance is, in fact, simple     

Groups that work [management]

Groups form a basic unit of work activity throughout engineering and yet the underlying process is poorly managed. The author examines the group process and how it can best be utilised. The key is that the group should be viewed as an important resource whose maintenance must be managed just like any other resource     

Secondhand material [recycling management]

No longer the preserve of environmental fanatics, recycling is now an economic and legal issue for all manufacturing companies. This paper describes how firms at every stage of the supply chain, from raw material producers through manufacturers to distributors, will soon be required to share more and more responsibility for the final fate of their products. This will in turn place new constraints on manufacturing and design for manufacture, in terms of material selection, process routes and detailed design     

Control amidst the uncontrollable [change management]

There has been a plethora of books and articles describing how to manage businesses through turbulent times, most of which have been theoretical, philosophical or both. This article puts concept into practice and demonstrates real performance improvements from 'managing change'. The article presents the lessons learnt by J&S Marine, a company which designs, develops, manufactures and supports equipments for naval defence and commercial offshore markets. Its change programme has affected all aspects of the company's operations from winning new business to contract award and execution. The lessons learnt provide a pragmatic view on how companies can truly 'manage' the change process whilst recognising that forecasting market trends continues to be difficult. The strategy for success is based on control amidst the uncontrollable.     

Leadership the Sven-Goran Eriksson way [engineering management]

In this article, the author examines whether the England football manager has shown a leadership style which defies conventional stereotypes and exemplifies an approach from which today's business leaders can learn some useful lessons. Swedish leadership is about consensus, harmony, a dislike of conflict; and whether running a business or coaching a soccer team, it seems to work     

Soft is hard [engineering management]

Many engineering managers prioritise task and project management at the expense of people management. A manager under pressure to produce outcomes may avoid dealing with a people or performance issue until it is too late, or spend time trying to manage it at a personal `output cost' to themselves. This paper examines how long a technical manager should spend on soft skill interventions     

Let's do it [change management]

On visits to a number of different organisations, it was noted that beneficial change had been pushed forward and was succeeding, but in others the change had been discussed and considered but nothing had actually happened. One factor contributing to success, the desire and courage to decide that we are going to do something now, is discussed. How this discussion comes about and what its effects are, including some real examples, is explored. Topics included are: the need to communicate; the benefits of setting a fixed implementation date; the dangers of prevarication; and the effects on employee morale     

A sound argument [personnel management]

`Investors in People' is often seen as conferring `soft' benefits, but there are also hard commercial improvements to be had. In this paper, lessons are drawn from the experience of one medium-sized manufacturer in the UK     

The words of the profit [business management]

The author describes how, regardless of its public image, a company exists primarily to make a profit. He details, however, that the factors affecting profit can be complex and even uncontrollable     

Taking the helicopter view [engineering management methods]

In trying to deal with a management problem, after investigations, acquisition of information and advice, it may still look insoluble. One way of overcoming such a problem, in `management-speak', is to `take the helicopter view'. This is a metaphor for rising above the detail of the situation so that you can see it as a whole, and in its wider context. It means taking the overview; seeing the essentials rather than the details. This article aims to give some practical advice about taking the helicopter view. The author looks at five approaches, each illustrated with some practical examples, tips and advice