Quote:
|
Now, don't get me wrong. I am not saying that these two tasks (sign-off and hiring/firing) always need to be segregated. Like I said, if you have people who are strong technically and managerially, then by all means unify the responsibilities via these people. What I am saying is that they don't need to be unified, as apparently quite a few engineering firms really do succeed with technical managers who are not themselves technical.
|
Exactly. Perhaps what we're not agreeing on is how many engineers out there that do have both qualities. I don't think that every engineer is suited to become a manager; only some. I don't know enough engineers to make a generalization, but do you think there are fewer than 1 in 5 engineers that have managerial abilities? That's really all you need. The others, when they are promoted, don't have to be pushed into managerial roles. They can be purely technical experts.
Segregating the two types of tasks is a good idea if you really have nobody in your company that can handle both
and you can't hire somebody with both managerial and technical expertise. Surely this route would be better and less expensive than having 2 middle managers, with one handling administrative tasks, and the other handling technical tasks.
Quote:
|
What I said is that I don't think that the sign-off step needs to be performed by the managers themselves, and what I say "manager", I am specifically talking about those who have the hiring/firing responsibilities. It seems to me that the sign-off responsibilities can just as easily be handled by senior technical staff that oversees the project but do not themselves have any formal hiring/firing responsibility, just like how Microsoft's lawyers will carefully review all code feature development to ensure compliance with antitrust law, but do not have any formal hiring/firing authority over the software engineers.
|
Not sure what you have in mind, but you would need the same number of senior technical staff members as project managers. They really have to be quite involved with the design, so they wouldn't have more time to oversee more projects than they currently are.
Quote:
|
Heck, GE claims that its strategic advantage rests on its ability to discover and nurture general management talent from within its ranks such that they can take an employee who started in, say, marketing and, if he has the right talent and if given the proper coaching, can learn to successfully manage the GE Medical Systems Division or the GE Plastics division onto his way to eventually becoming CEO.
|
Yes, it would be best to promote from within the company, but it would be even better to promote an engineer who does have the managerial qualities (see your last paragraph / my first paragraph).
College Confidential is dedicated to providing the best free college admissions information available on the Web, through our many articles and this discussion forum.
