Engineering and

Computer Academy of Science

and Technology (ECOAST)

;
Course Code
Course Description Engineering Management
Module No. and Title Module 3: Organizing

OVERVIEW
Organizing is one of the core functions of engineering management and plays a pivotal role in transforming strategic plans
into actionable structures. It involves defining roles, allocating resources, establishing authority relationships, and
designing efficient workflows that support project and organizational goals. In engineering environments—where
interdisciplinary collaboration, complex systems, and precise coordination are critical—the organizing function ensures
that people, tools, and processes are properly aligned. Without effective organization, even the best plans can fail due to
confusion, redundancy, or miscommunication. This module explores the principles, structures, and best practices for
organizing teams, departments, and resources within engineering projects and organizations. Students will learn how to
design and manage organizational systems that enhance efficiency, accountability, and innovation.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this module, learners will be able to:
1. Understand the organizing function within the framework of engineering management.
2. Design effective organizational structures that align with technical and strategic goals.
3. Define roles, responsibilities, and authority within engineering teams.
4. Implement delegation and coordination mechanisms for cross-functional projects.
5. Evaluate organizational performance and identify structural inefficiencies.
6. Apply modern concepts of team-based, matrix, and agile organizational models.

INTRODUCTION

Grouping activities and resources in a logical fashion. Organizing means arranging and relating work so that it can be done
efficiently by the appropriate people.
• Span of control - refers to the number of people supervised by a manager or supervisor. It may be small (a few
people) or large (20 or 30 people).
• Organization types - The line organization (e.g., a profit center) performs activities
directly related to the company’s main goals.
• Overlap and duplication of responsibility - This refers to a situation where two or more people do the same
work and make the same decisions. Such undesirable situations are to be avoided in any organization, as they represent
sources of conflicts and wastes.
• Specialization - refers to the increased degree of skill concentration in narrow technical
domains. Specialization of work leads to improved efficiency.
• Work arrangement - Work needs to be arranged in a rational and logical manner. The logical arrangement of
work promotes task accomplishments and enhances personal satisfaction for more workers over a longer period of time.
• Authority - refers to the legal or rightful power of a person, by assignment or by being
associated with a position, to command, act, or make decisions—this is the binding force of an organization.
• Responsibility - is the duty to perform work assumed by a position holder in an efficient
and professional manner.
• Accountability - represents an upward-directed obligation to secure the desired results of the assigned work.
 Engineering and
Computer Academy of Science
and Technology (ECOAST)

Activities of Organizing
As a function of engineering management, organizing consists of several specific activities described next:
• Organizing one’s own workplace for productivity: The organization of one’s own office, file systems, and
daily routine, so that work can be done efficiently (Online Business Buddy 2013).
• Developing organizational structure: The identification and assortment of work so that it can be done
efficiently by qualified people in teams, task forces, committees, departments, and other suitable arrangements (Galbraith
2014, Burton et al. 2011).
• Delegating: The entrustment of responsibility and authority to others and the creation
of accountability for results. Managers must learn to delegate effectively in order to achieve results by working through
people; to distribute the workload while maintaining control to make the best use of available talent in the organization
(Harvard Business Review 2014).
• Establishing working relationships: The creation of conditions necessary for the mutually cooperative efforts
of people. Managers must make commitments, set priorities, and provide needed resources (money, time, physical
facilities, skills, and know-how) to foster teamwork and collaboration among people (Goold 2014; Harvard Business
Review 2013).

Developing Organizational Structure

Functional Organization - The functional structure is a very widely used organizational form in industry.
Companies that favor this organizational design include (1) manufacturing operations, process industries and other
organizations with limited product diversity or high relative stability of workflow; (2) start-up companies; (3) companies
with narrow product range, simple marketing pattern, and few production sites; and (4) companies following the lead of
their competitors.
Discipline-Based Organization - Universities, governmental laboratories, and some contract research firms are
organized according to disciplines. These organizations contain departments for mechanical engineering, physics,
business administration, and other specific disciplines so that specialists may focus on these disciplines in order to excel
in research and other activities they pursue.
Product/Region-Based Organization - Large companies may produce and market products/services of various
types to different customers in geographically dispersed locations. More often than not, each of these products/services
may require different production, sales, and business strategies to achieve success in the marketplace.
Matrix Organization - Some companies utilize the matrix organizational structure as a short-term arrangement
for specific projects and tasks involving both functional group employees and project managers.
Team Organization – A team is composed of members who are “on loan” from their respective functional
departments and are thus assigned to work full time for the team leader in tackling high-priority, short-duration tasks or
projects.
Network Organization - In response to rapid changes in customers’ needs, advancements in technology,
marketplace competition, and globalization, some companies have started pursuing certain new business paradigms that
are based on thinking globally and acting locally.

Enhancing Corporate Performance by Organizing: Examples

Organizing is an efficacious method to achieve the critically important objective of doing things right.
Organizing for Profitability: Service Profit Chain Model for every service company there are five stakeholders,
namely, customers, employees, suppliers, investors, and the community in which the company operates.
Organizing for High Performance by Using Flexible Structure - Organizational structures are known to have
an impact on corporate performance. Some companies allow the structure to continuously evolve in order to adapt to
changing opportunities in the marketplace.
Organizing for Innovation - Some companies are more focused than others on developing and sustaining
corporate competitiveness by nurturing innovation. Innovation can be fostered by company structure.
 Engineering and
Computer Academy of Science
and Technology (ECOAST)
Organizing for Performance at Design–Manufacturing Interface - Conflicts are known to exist at the interface
between product design and manufacturing. These conflicts cause frequent cost overruns and product introduction
delays.
Organizing for Heightened Employee Motivation - As a rule, teams are temporary in nature because they are
built for specific objectives and will be disbanded after their specific projects have been completed (Wheelan 2014). Only
in exceptional cases will teams be exhaustively utilized on a permanent basis to achieve business success.
Organizing for Research & Development and Marketing Interface - Some companies in industry are high
tech, and others are not. “High tech” refers to products and services characterized by (1) their strong scientific–technical
bases, (2) the possibility of being quickly obsolete because of new technologies, and (3) the capability to develop or
revolutionize markets and demands when built on new emerging technologies.

Concurrent Engineering Teams

Cross-functional teams have become crucial to business success (Ngayo 2014; Blank 2012). In general, teams are set up
to (1) generate recommendations, such as a strategy to enter a specific regional market or solve a specific customer-
related problem; (2) make or do things —design products, develop new processes, install new assembly lines; and (3) run
things— operate plants.

• Marketing - conducts research to identify the customers’ needs and defines product features, such as
functionality, reliability, ease of repair, resale value, warranty, and so on.
• Design engineering - releases specifications, performs functional design, selects material, obtains vendor and
supplier inputs, and conducts engineering analyses to incorporate these features into a product.
• Manufacturing engineering - reviews and simplifies the product design for manufacturability and reliability
considerations.
• Service - organization further changes the design to enhance serviceability.
• Production - is finally set up to define manufacturing techniques and to mass- produce the product.

Mutual Trust and Accountability - for a “blow-the-roof-off” performance, a team is often the vehicle of choice. But to
excel, the team needs to possess the right characteristics, such as the ability to listen well, respond constructively, support
one another, share team values, and have discipline.
Team Learning - One decisive factor that affects a team’s responsiveness is its learning capability. In corporate settings,
teams need to learn new technologies (such as three- dimensional computer-aided design [CAD], visualization software,
project management tools, videoconferencing, web-based net-meeting tools, and others) or new processes (such as new
ways of working and new relationships for collaborative work).

Establishing Working Relationships

Another organizing activity to be performed by engineering managers is the establishment of proper working
relationships between employees and between units (Parker 2010). This is to ensure that people are working together
well enough to achieve the company objectives. Specifically, the activity calls for role clarification and conflict resolution.
Role Clarification - In complex organizational settings, clarifying roles addresses the issues of authority and
accountability. For a specific project involving personnel of multiple departments or business units, the need for defining
roles of all participants is self-evident.
• General management responsibility
• Specialized responsibility
• Must be consulted
• May be consulted
• Must be notified
• May be approved
 Engineering and
Computer Academy of Science
and Technology (ECOAST)

•Line roles: Employees with line roles are those in profit centers with monopoly rights within the company to
provide products and services to clients and customers. Examples of profit centers include business management,
production, and sales. Profit centers are business units empowered to generate profits for the company. Managers of
profit centers are accountable for offering quality products and services at competitive prices to ensure that the company
makes profits. Profit centers define the services they might need. Managers of profit centers approve the annual budgets
of cost centers which provide such needed services.
•Coordinating roles: Employees in some cost centers have monopoly rights for
developing and recommending constraints on the position duties of others. These constraints can take the form of
approvals, policies, procedures, or planning objectives—legal, financial control, human resources, and so on. They are
accountable for achieving higher-level organizational objectives such as consistency in work method, integration
regarding external contacts, or cost efficiencies.
•Advisory roles: Employees in other cost centers provide services in support of
the profit centers. Examples of such cost centers include R&D, maintenance, investors’ relations, financial accounting, and
procurement.

Conflict Resolution - In the real-world environment, there are conflicts of many types. Examples of such conflicts may
include: (1) technical, including design, analysis, and interpretation of test results; (2) operational, including procedures
to perform specific tasks and assign responsibility; (3) emotional, such as treating bruised egos and hurt personal
feelings; and (4) political, such as knowing whom to consult and who has a say on specific projects or issues.

Informal Organizations
Beside the formal organizations, which is set up to achieve work efficiency, there are informal organizations in every
business enterprise (Farris 2012). Typical informal organizations are of the following types:
• Social: People form groups to pursue specific common interests, shared values, and beliefs; for example, beer
clubs, bowling clubs, company outings, golf leagues, and tennis groups.
• Status: People tend to be drawn toward persons well known for their
technical skills, abilities, special accomplishments, experience, tenure, charisma, interests, peer recognition, and
acceptance, and to want to associate with such achievers for their status.
• Group: Coalitions form to advance shared interests. Fitness centers on site, day-care centers, toastmasters
groups, foreign-language study groups, and bridge clubs are such examples.
• Location: Depending on the flow of vital information, people tend to migrate
toward critical locations, such as the offices of executive assistants, the desks of secretaries, and water coolers.

Prepared by: Reviewed by: Recommending Approval: Approved:

Engr. Daisy C. Fuertes Jane Fernandez, DIT Ariel Y. Leonin Virgo C. Lopez
Faculty- ECOAST Dean, ECOAST Director for Curriculum & VP for Academics
Instruction