The Psychological and Physiological Effects in a Promotion Process in an Engineering Industry - Term Paper Example

 Abstract Promotion is a process of transition from one responsibility to another. It is impossible for a promoted person to succeed in his new endeavors if he fails to adapt with the new situations. Psychological changes (like changes in attitude, work philosophy etc) and physiological changes (like changes in physical duty or responsibility etc) are often necessary for a promoted person to succeed in his new assignment. Management approaches in the current business world is entirely different from that of the ancient period. Now instead of visualizing competitors as business enemies, organizations are looking for areas of mutual cooperation for the collective growth. A technical manager should have technical skills as well as management skills. It is not necessary that all the excellent engineers may become excellent managers. A technical manager should be able to implement the right strategy at the right time. Instead of going after the emerging technologies blindly, he should be able to apply a blend of proven older methods with the unproven emerging technologies. Problem solving, risk taking, decision making, flexibility in approaches, excellent communication skills etc are some of the basic qualities required for a technical manager at present. Right decisions taken at the right time and implemented properly, will help a manager to avoid problems. Introduction Some people believe that the responsibilities of a manager are simple compared to the responsibilities of workers because of the lack of physical works normally the managers perform. In fact managers are undergoing severe mental stress in safeguarding the interests of the management and the workers. They are acting as a bridge between the workers and the management of the company. The management and the employees may have contrasting interests quiet often and it is the duty of the manager to manage the problems without hurting the interests of either the employees or the management. Because of such herculean tasks, they may often undergo severe stress. The role of a technical manager is even complicated than the role of a normal manager. Normal managers quiet often focusing on improving their management skills whereas a technical manager has to improve both the management skills as well as the technical skills. Responsibilities of a technical manager include: learning how to motivate and exercise authority, understanding one’s own strengths and weaknesses, reconciling one’s own expectations with those of others, and finally, coping with new stresses and involved emotions. When a technical manager climbs the organizational ladder (Promotions), he will undergo certain psychological and physiological effects due to the transition from a lower managerial position to a higher managerial position. Attributes related to risk-taking and decision-making, judgment by trial and error, performance monitoring and evaluation, observation and interpretation, strategizing and behavioral analysis etc of a technical manager may change along with the promotion. This paper briefly analyses the psychological and physiological effects that may occur in a promotion or transition process especially in a technical industry or engineering industry. Psychological and physiological effects that may occur in a promotion or transition process Promotion is a process in which an employee is getting higher places in an organization. Promoted employees may get higher responsibilities along with higher pay and allowances. In short, promotion is a welcome things an employee’s life. Nobody likes to stick with the present job for a longer period. Everybody wants recognition of their talents and the organizations quiet often recognize the excellent performances of the employees by promoting them to higher grades. Even though promotion makes an employee happier, the process of getting accustomed with the new responsibilities is not an easy task for many employees. The promoted employee might undergo several psychological and physiological transition processes as part of taking new responsibilities. Some of the employees may become a manager for the first time and they have to change the entire philosophy of their work. A manager should act as the bridge between the employees and the organization and they should safeguard the interests of both. Before becoming the manager, the employee doesn’t have such headaches. They have to concentrate fully on their responsibilities. But after becoming manager, the employee should improve his management skills which are difficult tasks for the new managers. Henry Fayol, the famous French mining engineer and executive divided managerial activities into five elements; Planning, organizing, command, coordination and control (Babcock & Morse, p.13). Without planning it is impossible to perform a perfect work. Planning prevents complications at the time of execution of a work. Same way organizing is another major element of managerial work. A manager is the person who is organizing all the things necessary performs a task even though the task is performed physically by the workers. For example, in a construction industry, managers are responsible for scheduling, purchasing and arranging manpower, materials, money and machinery needed for the construction work. Command, coordination and control are other major functions of the manager. Manager is the person who knows well about the project deadline, quality needed for the project, funds allocated for the project etc. based on that it is his duty to administer the projects. “New emphasize on breadth, context and process based issues like engineering economics, business, project management, environmental and social issues, teamwork and communication skills etc are some of the major requirements of a modern technical manager” (Babcock & Morse, p.400). A manager’s role is to guide the employees to perform a task well or to bring out the maximum out of an employee to improve the productivity. In other words, a manager is not involved in any of the physical works; most of the responsibilities of the manager include mental works. Decision making, problem solving, communication skills etc are some of the basic necessities of manager where as such things are not necessary or must for the employees. One of my friends told me an example in which a tire builder became a production manager. Even though this worker was not qualified enough to become a manager, because of his outstanding works as a tire builder, the management decided to promote him as a production manager. When this worker got his new assignment as a production manager, he thought his authorities and responsibilities are sky high and there is nobody in the organization, who can challenge or question him. He behaved like a totalitarian leader and fired many workers and engaged in hot arguments with the workers. He never bothered about reading the instructions from his authorities and pretended that he knows everything well. The top management has scheduled some important tasks one day and this manager failed to read the instructions before starting his duty in a particular shift. Even though the workers reminded him of some specific tasks needed to be performed in that shift, the manager asked the workers to do what he instructed them. Finally, the management forced to demote this manager to a lower grade after analyzing his failure in the new position. In short, it is not easy for all the people to prepare physically and mentally to accept new challenges in new managerial positions. From the perspective of an engineer who is advancing in positions that of an accomplished engineering manager, the transitions changes are even more visible. Role of the junior engineers are always in helping the seniors in executing the projects. Most of the junior engineers may not have the full independent responsibility of motivating or leading a team of professionals. Their duty is to implement the motivational and leadership theories mentioned by the seniors in the workplace. For example, it is impossible for a junior engineer to advice the workers to take a risk without consultation with the senior engineer. Risk taking attitude is often necessary for a technical manager. A technical manager always looks for trial and error methods to arrive at conclusions. But these methods may not be successful always as it is time consuming. When quick actions needed, trial and error methods may not work and the technical manager might be forced to take risks. “When people are uncertain, they tend to look to people that has similar approach of viewing a situation as their own” (The Causes Of Risk Taking By Project Managers). Managers are quite insensitive to estimates of the probabilities of possible outcomes; their decisions are particularly affected by the way their attention is focused on critical performance targets; and they make a sharp distinction between taking risks and gambling. These differences, along with closely related observations drawn from other studies of individual and organizational choice, indicate that the behavioral phenomenon of risk taking in organizational settings will be imperfectly understood within a classical conception of risk (March and Shapira) In many cases, managers are forced to take decisions about pursuing new technologies based on imperfect information (Day & Schoemaker, p.17). Information is the blood of an organization. Managers are taking decisions based on the information they received from different corners. Because of some problems in communication or something else, it is not necessary that all the information received by a manager might be the right ones. It is not necessary that a new technology successfully implemented in one organization may succeed in another organization. In other words, technical managers should collect as much details about a new technology and they should conduct a feasibility study of such new technology in their organization, before implementing it. De Bono (2008) has argued that even intelligent people make wrong decisions. In his opinion, intelligence, understanding and analysis do seem to go together, but it is possible that somebody may be very good at analysis and yet poor at design thinking or operational thinking (De Bono) According to Day & Schoemaker (2000), collective learning and continuous learning are some of the key responsibilities of the current managers. The diverse source of information may create confusions and immobility rather than insight and action if there is no process of sharing or collective learning (Day & Schoemaker, p.41). Earlier, managers tried to perform well independently in organizations in order to boost their career prospects. For that purpose they never shared any new information with others and did everything possible to catch the attention of the top management. But such tactics are not helpful in the current business world. Teamwork is encouraged in every aspect of the business now and a manager’s role is to safeguard the interest of the organization rather than safeguarding his own personal interests. In short, it is the responsibility of the manager to share the information he received to all the concerning persons rather than keeping it as a secret. Outstanding performances of an individual may not help the organization much, but the outstanding performance of a group or team may help the organization immensely. For example, suppose a technical manager in Microsoft received vital information about technical failure of some of the vital components of their new operating system Windows 7. If he tried to solve the problem by himself in order to catch the attention of the top management, he may not succeed because of the insufficient knowledge he may have about the complete architecture of Windows 7. On the other hand, if he discusses the problems with other technical engineers who participated in the making of Windows 7, the problems can be more effectively tackled and the company can benefit from that. In short, sharing of information is a much needed quality needed for the current managers in general and the technical managers in particular. Babcock & Morse (2010) have pointed out the differences between an engineering manager and a traditional manager. An engineering manager possesses both an ability to apply engineering principles and skills in organizing and directing people and projects. He is qualified for management of technical functions such as designing or production and management of broader functions such as marketing or top management (Babcock & Morse, p.15). It is difficult for all the excellent engineers to become successful technical mangers. Management skills and engineering skills are entirely different. It is possible for an average engineer to become a successful technical manager if he has good management skills. But it is impossible for an excellent engineer to become a successful technical manager if he has poor management skills. A technical manager should be flexible enough to take appropriate actions when a need arises. He should be able to evaluate the situations quickly and should be able to take quick decisions. A right decision at the right time may solve many problems. But a right decision which is delayed may increase the problems. Babcock & Morse (2010) have argued that academic training, practical knowledge, experience and work study are all avenues to becoming an engineer (Babcock & Morse, p.6). Laboratory experiments are part of the curriculum for a science or engineering student. When they get an employment, they are getting an opportunity to conduct experiments in the real world. Such real world experiments are important for a technical manager as it provides real and reliable data for the person for taking decisions. Day & Schoemaker (2000) have mentioned that traditional frameworks and perspectives continue to serve as a good guide for large organizations in more stable markets; but they begin to breakdown as we approach the speed of light intensity and complexity of emerging technologies like the Newtonian Physics (Day & Schoemaker, p.9). It is difficult for an organization or the management to rely fully on traditional methods in changing organizational or business world. Technological advancements are virtually happening in every day and based on that the business philosophies and trends are also changing. But it is impossible for a technical manager to completely avoid the traditional methods. Traditional methods are already tested and the outcomes of such methods are already established whereas the new methods may need more testing before finalizing its utility. In short, a technical manager has to adopt a blend of traditional methods and the emerging methods in order to keep a balance in the outcomes of the expected results. At the same time it is difficult to handle emerging technologies using the traditional methods. For example, earlier architects drawn the plan manually of the buildings they are going to construct, but now they are using computer programs like Autocad in order to draw the plans of the buildings. In order to use Autocad, the architect should have basic knowledge in computers and the software operations. In others words, a new set of advanced frameworks and tools are necessary to tackle emerging technologies instead of the conventional or traditional methods Day & Schoemaker (2000) have argued that more healthy and adaptive strategy making, staged resource allocation, market exploration, adaptive technology development etc are some of the basic necessities of a technical (Day & Schoemaker, p.12). Strategies are important in business which can make or break a business. It is impossible for a technical manager to succeed in his endeavors, if he fails to formulate right strategies at the right time. Academic knowledge alone may not help a technical manager in formulating successful strategies. It is impossible for the teachers or the curriculum to cover all the aspects of business or management in classrooms. Theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge sometimes may contrast each other and the technical manager should have the ability to adapt to the situations with well formulated strategies. For example, the recent financial crisis was an unexpected one for many people. Even business gurus failed to anticipate it in advance. Construction industry and the real estate industry was the worst affected ones because of recession. It is impossible for a technical manager or a civil engineer to stick with the policies he adopted before recession, at the time of recession. It is important for him to adapt with the situations and making necessary changes in his policies and functioning at the time of recession. Earlier, most of the organizations visualize their competitors as business enemies and they tried to keep a distance with such business enemies. But such concepts were changed a lot now. “Now the competition is intense and brutal and yet winning requires collaboration” (Day & Schoemaker, p.22). For example, IBM, Microsoft and Intel are three big business giants in the world which are operating in the same computer world. But they were forced to establish a business tie up in order to enhance their competitive advantage. In other words, these companies are competing at one side and cooperating at the other side. Such contrasting business relationships are evident nowadays in the global market. In short, some of the established business strategies underwent drastic changes in the current business world. It is possible treat a competitor as enemy and friend at the same time according to the new business trends. “It is not just moving with the right technology, but also at the right time” (Day & Schoemaker, p.19). Timing of the implementation of new technology is important. Even new technologies implemented at the wrong time may fail whereas even wrong technologies implemented at the right time may excel. For example, advanced and expensive cars may have a good market in America like wealthy countries. It is a fact that Americans are lavish in their spending habits and they have enough money to do so. But the recent recession has broken the backbone many of the Americans and they forced to cut down their expenses. Many people started to use line buses instead of using own cars for their travel needs. It is impossible for a technologically advanced and expensive car to move well even in American markets at the time of recession. In other words, new technologies should be introduced at the right time in order to yield the expected results. Conclusions Promotion is a process which creates psychological and physiological effects. The promoted person should formulate the right frame of mind and he should be able to identify and adapt with the differences in his past responsibilities and present one. The responsibilities of a junior manger and that of a senior manager are different. The success of a manager or a promoted manager lies in identifying and adapting with the present responsibilities. Management is one of the most complex tasks in our daily life. The management abilities of two persons are not alike. Different people have different characteristics and intelligence and based on that their management styles are also different. Some of the managers are democratic in nature whereas some others are autocratic in nature. The role of a technical manager is different from that of a traditional manager. A technical manager needs both technical skills as well as management skills. Problem solving, decision making, strategy making, flexibility in approaches, etc are some of the basic skills required for a manager. Organizational principles and culture have changed a lot and it is impossible for a technical manager to advance in his career if he is motivated by selfish interests. Collective growth is the slogan nowadays adopted in organization and the managers should try to work for the collective growth rather than the individual growth. Emerging technologies should be utilized judiciously by the technical mangers. They should never eliminate the proven traditional methods completely while opting for the unproven emerging technologies. A careful blend of emerging technologies and the traditional methods might be the strategy, technical managers should be adopted. In the current world of business, it is possible to have a tie up with a competitor in one field while competing in another field. In other words, no permanent enemies or friends are there in the current business world. Works Cited 1. Babcock, Daniel L. & Morse, Lucy C. 2010. "Managing Engineering and Technology". 7 June 2010. 2. Day, George S & Schoemaker, Paul J. H. 2000. "Wharton on Managing Emerging Technologies", 7 June 2010. 3. De Bono, Edward. 2008. “Thinking Strategies: Frameworks for Thinking”. 10 June 2010. 4. March,James G., Shapira, Zur. 1987. “Managerial Perspectives on Risk and Risk Taking”. 10 June 2010. 5. “The Causes Of Risk Taking By Project Managers”. 10 June 2010. Read More