Introduction to Engineering Management

Introduction to engineering management (222 - 13981)
Study: Bachelor in Electrical Power Engineering
Semester 2/Spring Semester
2nd Year Course/Lower Division

Competences and Skills that will be Acquired and Learning Results:

The main objectives for this course are to familiarize future engineers with the concept of private companies and their institutional, legal and environmental framework, as well as with the essentials of business management and organization. In addition, it will convey the relevant role of engineering and engineers in business management.

Specific capabilities:
- Understand the concept of a company as a system, its various constituent subsystems and their interrelationships.
- Appropriate understanding of the company's institutional and legal framework.
- Business management and organization.
- Identify, for each major functional area, its scope and the main approaches and techniques used in this area.
- Identify the main business processes, and the need for their cross-functional integration.
- Analize the bidirectional interaction between a firm and its social, economic and environmental framework.
- Position engineering within the overall business activities, and understand the engineer's role in the management of the companies.
- Analize how economic or sustainability constraints restrict viable options for approaching and solving technical challenges

Generic capabilities:
- Ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, statistics, economics and other scientific fields to the analysis of business situations.
- Analysis of unstructured situations and decisions, with incomplete and not fully reliable information and multiple, conflicting objectives.
- Qualitative reasoning and argumentation. Written expression of this qualitative reasoning (PO g)
- Ability to communicate with non-technical executives, applying the appropriate vocabulary and structuring tools.

Description of Contents/Course Description:

1. Concept of the firm
* Key concepts
* Typology
* Institutional and legal framework
* Management activities. Main functional areas. The Operations subsystem

2. Financial management

2.1.Accounting. Analysis of financial statements
* The Balance Sheet
* The Income Statement

2.2. Investment decisions
* Analysis of investment projects
* Mutually exclusive projects

2.3. Financing decisions
* Financing sources
* Debt financing, equity financing

3. Analysis of the company's economic environment to support decision making
3.1. Supply and demand. Perfect and imperfect competition
3.2. Social and environmental framework of the business firm. Government intervention

4. Strategic management
* The strategic analysis process
* Major analysis tools
* The management function
* Business processes and cross-functional integration
* Entrepreneurship

5. Marketing and sales management
* Marketing fundamentals
* The four basic marketing aspects. Marketing Mix
* The marketing plan

6. Human resource management
* Main functions
* Leadership and motivation
* Organizational structure

7. Role of engineering and engineers in business administration

Learning Activities and Methodology:

Lectures, exercises, practical sessions, cases and assignments to be carried out by the students and discussed during the sessions, readings assigned by the instructor or identified by the students.

Assessment System:

60% Final written exam.
40 % Continuous evaluation. Partial exams will be held, approximately in the tentative weeks indicated in the schedule. Optionally, complementary evaluation system. May apply sampling based grading.
Minimum grade required in the final exam: 4

Basic Bibliography:

Instructor provided material: Slides, exercises
URLs and other Internet resources provided by the instructor through Aula Global

Additional Bibliography:

Cuervo García, Alvaro. Introducción a la administración de empresas. Civitas.
Lipsey, Richard G.. Introducción a la economía positiva. Vicens Vives.
Richard A. Brealey, Stewart C. Myers y Alan J. Marcus. Fundamentos de Finanzas Corporativas. McGraw-Hill.
Veciana, José María. La creación de empresas : un enfoque gerencial. La Caixa.