Mem 6110
Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Graduate School
MEM 6110
Prof. Edgar Torres, Ph.D.
Assignment #1
1. What do Managers do? Managers achieve organizational objectives through efficient and effective use of its four different resources, which consist on the people that will get the job done, the available financial resources for it, how he/she effective and efficiently would work on it, and how the information would be gathered or obtained.
2. Is it more important for managers to be efficient or effective? Can you improve both at the same time? Both, efficiency and effectiveness are important no matter what it is that we do. We must be efficient and effective in our morning chores and commute if we want, for example, get to work on time.
3. Is management ability universal, that is, if a manager changes between functional departments or business sectors, can he/she still be an effective manager? From my point of view, if a manager changes between functional departments or business sectors, he or she can still be an effective manager. This person should rely on his/her organizational or managerial skills, which is, probably, the most important quality that person has.
4. Some people say hard skills (technical, finance, quantitative analysis) are more important for managers than soft skills (interpersonal skills), and some say the opposite is true. What is your point of view? From my point of view, a truly good manager has a balance between the two, being a manager with excellent hard skills and soft skills.
5. Can someone get promoted to a Middle Manager position without having being first-line managers? I don’t think anyone could get promoted to Middle Manager without being First-Line Managers first. A First-Line Manager has a greater need for technical skills that should get to learn and spends more than in this learning process. An
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Graduate School
MEM 6110
Prof. Edgar Torres, Ph.D.
Assignment #1
1. What do Managers do? Managers achieve organizational objectives through efficient and effective use of its four different resources, which consist on the people that will get the job done, the available financial resources for it, how he/she effective and efficiently would work on it, and how the information would be gathered or obtained.
2. Is it more important for managers to be efficient or effective? Can you improve both at the same time? Both, efficiency and effectiveness are important no matter what it is that we do. We must be efficient and effective in our morning chores and commute if we want, for example, get to work on time.
3. Is management ability universal, that is, if a manager changes between functional departments or business sectors, can he/she still be an effective manager? From my point of view, if a manager changes between functional departments or business sectors, he or she can still be an effective manager. This person should rely on his/her organizational or managerial skills, which is, probably, the most important quality that person has.
4. Some people say hard skills (technical, finance, quantitative analysis) are more important for managers than soft skills (interpersonal skills), and some say the opposite is true. What is your point of view? From my point of view, a truly good manager has a balance between the two, being a manager with excellent hard skills and soft skills.
5. Can someone get promoted to a Middle Manager position without having being first-line managers? I don’t think anyone could get promoted to Middle Manager without being First-Line Managers first. A First-Line Manager has a greater need for technical skills that should get to learn and spends more than in this learning process. An