BT

1
BTM MANAGEMENT COURSESEXPLANATIONS,
RATIONALES COMPROMISE

• K. Coley, L. DOrazio, M. Piczak
• December 14, 2005

2
THE CHALLENGE

• To select a roster of courses that could be
  acceptable to a range of disciplines
• To select a roster of courses that would provide
  timeless, universal skills and attitudes to
  prepare BTM graduates for the current positions
  and future promotions
• To be mindful of evolving directions of
  engineering education in the Canadian context
• To contribute to the generalist/specialist
  balance appropriate for B.Tech. graduates
• To develop a structure that would permit some
  latitude for student choice
• To accomplish all this within the constraints of
  7 courses

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OUR METHODOLOGY

• Draw on the combined experience of the Management
  Courses Team
• K. Coley, BSc., Ph.D., DIC, Chair Material
  Sciences Eng., McMaster University, Former
  Engineering Management Program Chair
• L. DOrazio, B.Eng., MBA, M.Eng., Ph.D., P.Eng.,
  former chair, Mechanical Eng., Mohawk College,
  adjunct professor, University of Western Ontario
• M. Piczak, Dipl.T., B.Comm., MBA, former chair
  Industrial Management, Mohawk College, part time
  professor, McMaster University (Faculty of
  Business and B.Tech.)
• Keep in mind McMasters collection of course
  offerings to their B.Eng. students
• Internet search for what other Schools of
  Engineering and Management are teaching
• November 8, 2005 Think Tank presentations
• Canvassing B.Tech. students for their views on
  skills they believe they require to top up
  technical training (n50)
• Review Think Tank notes, e-mails and minutes
• Review Evolution of Engineering Education in
  Canada, 1999

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WHEN CHOOSING

• Think both long term and short term for the
  skills that graduates could benefit from
• Kill as many birds as possible with one stone
  for every course choice
• Try to appeal to as many disciplines as possible
  realizing that we could not possibly please
  everyone
• Keep the courses management/business oriented
• Keep the courses general and universal
• Call for flexibility to the courses and electives
  to capitalize on emerging topics and faculty
  strengths
• Acknowledge that adult learners like choice to
  permit tailoring of their studies
• Let the selections be driven, not by our own
  preferences or biases, but instead what we
  believe the market needs and wants
• Distinguish between musts and wants
• Keep in mind PEO requirements

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PROPOSED COURSES

• CORE
• Financial Management
• Organizational Behaviour
• Human Resource Management
• Entrepreneurship
• Project Management
• Strategy Formulation
• Elective

• ELECTIVES
• SPC/6 Sigma Methods
• Engineering Economics
• Special Topics
• Problem Solving Decision Making
• Lean Manufacturing
• New Product Development

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WHY FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

• Current B.Techs. have little/no feel for
  money/costing
• Lack of money sense is a source of criticism for
  engineering graduates in general
• Money is the universal language of management
  where nothing happens until it makes financial
  sense
• Should/must have some exposure to both financial
  and managerial accounting
• Were there no accounting, someone would ask how
  can you not have accounting?
• Engineering decisions/recommendations do not
  occur in a financial vacuum
• The Money Engineer

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WHY ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

• Soft skills remain hot, current topic
• Rarely go out of style
• Graduates need team, leadership, group skills
  exposure
• All B.Tech. work occurs in organizational
  settings

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WHY H.R.M.

• Need exposure to leading edge practices for
  recruiting, selecting, motivating and retaining
  quality employees
• Teach students to respect statutory minima/maxima
  to comply with the law
• What many experts refer to as most unique source
  for competitive advantage because of its relative
  immobility

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WHY PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• Graduates quickly become involved in managing
  projects of various sizes
• Will be a skill they resort to throughout their
  careers across a broad range of projects
• Permits students to appreciate the need to manage
  the amalgam of physical, human and financial
  resources

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WHY ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• New company formation and small business is
  engine of Canadas economy
• Students need to be taught to think in terms of
  business planning and business plans
• Encourage starting their own enterprise and
  consequent hiring of employees
• Business plan preparation is integral part of
  intrapreneuring
• Stimulate thinking beyond an employees
  mentality

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WHY STRATEGY FORMULATION

• Prepares graduates to think like their managers
• Adopt a brand of thinking that considers broader
  contexts
• Promotes examining factors occurring external to
  the firm
• Provides an analytical framework which is normal
  and natural to everyone in this room (SWOT
  thinking)
• Promote opportunistic state of mind within the
  confines of an organization
• To prepare B.Techs. for their next promotion

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WHY AN ELECTIVE

• To permit the student to tailor their studies to
  issues of interest and need to them
• To allow flexibility within the curriculum to
  examine emerging issues of the day

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KILLING n BIRDS WITH 1 STONE
FIN. MGMT. O.B. H.R.M. PROJ. MGMT. E'SHIP. STRAT. FOR'N.
SHORT/LONG TERM THINKING   ü   ü ü ü
ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK ü ü ü ü ü ü
2 COURSES CAPTURED         ü ü
SOFTWARE INCLUDED       ü ü  
DIRECT APPEAL AX DISCIPLINES ü ü ü ü ü ü
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1st CUT SCORE CARD (MMust EElective)
BTM Committee IT Civil Process Automation Comments (max. 4M)
Fin. Mgmt. M 2M
O.B. M E 2M, 1E
HRM M 2M
Proj. Mgmt. M M NP 3M, 1NP
Eship E 1M, 1E
Strat. Form. M 2M
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DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC ELECTIVES CITED

• Supply chain management
• TQM
• Ethics IT law
• Accounting mathematics
• Health and safety management
• Finance
• Technical sales
• Economics and marketing
• Others

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A POSSIBLE COMPROMISE
DOMAIN SPECIFIC ELECTIVE

• 5 EMERGING CORE
• PROJECT MGMT.
• ORGL. BEHR.
• FINL. MGMT.
• ESHIP.
• STRAT. FORN.
• 1 DOMAIN SPECIFIC ELECTIVE
• 1 ELECTIVE

• Mfg.

• Civil

• IT

• Process Auto.

• SPC/6 Sigma Methods
• Engineering Economics
• Special Topics
• Problem Solving Decision Making
• Lean Manufacturing
• New Product Development
• H.R.M.

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3 WAYS TO GO?

• Student chooses 1 from respective discipline
  specific and management elective
• Student chooses any 2 electives with no
  restrictions
• Student gets no choices within completely
  prescribed curriculum
• Our recommendation let the customer/student
  pick and may the best and most relevant courses
  win.

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ALL WE ASK

• To keep an open mind
• Be mindful of resource limitations
• Be mindful of the benefits associated with
  exposure to other disciplines and alternate
  paradigms
• To remember that if a course is so central to a
  discipline it could/should be a year 1-3
  required
• Think both short term (soon after graduation) and
  long term (in preparation for their next
  promotion)
• Think like our two customers i.e. students and
  employers in terms of needs and wants

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BTM MANAGEMENT COURSESEXPLANATIONS,
RATIONALES COMPROMISE

• K. Coley, L. DOrazio, M. Piczak
• December 14, 2005
• The end