Engineering Management
The Engineering Management program at Florida Tech is truly unique. It combines small classes with cutting edge curriculum and faculty who each possess a minimum of 20 years of industrial experience, all to provide the student with a broad-based education and the skills needed to become successful engineering managers.
In the past, engineering management has focused mainly on the traditional elements of brick-and-mortar industry, especially manufacturing. However, the business world of today is increasingly service oriented, globalized, and revolving around instant availability of information. There are a number of emerging and near-future trends and challenges that engineering managers must face. These trends and challenges can be divided into three major areas: business environment trends and challenges, organizational trends and challenges, and engineering management/manager trends and challenges.
Business Environment Trends and Challenges
- Globalization
- Short-term profit focused
- Regulatory, environmental, and ethical issues
- Demographics (age of the workforce, diversity, attitudes of the workforce)
Organizational Trends and Challenges
- Forging partnerships (with competitors)
- Operating network relationships
- Implementing a process-based organization
- Continuously managing change
- Gaining and maintaining employee loyalty and commitment
Engineering Management/Manager Trends and Challenges
- Managing and leading teams
- Understanding and managing uncertainty
- Managing and leading the workforce
- Changing culture
- Using tools and metrics to manage
- Developing management and leadership skills and behaviors
To address these trends and challenges, the Engineering Management M.S. degree program has developed a curriculum patterned after the 11 domains in the Body of Knowledge published by the American Society for Engineering Management (ASEM). This guarantees that the concepts that students will be learning will be those that have been produced after consultations with practicing engineering managers from around the world. It also guarantees that students will be learning the skills required to stand out from the crowd as leaders and innovators.