Finance & Human Resources for Engineers

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

120 hours

The prerequisite for this subject is 112.5 points of undergraduate engineering subjects or admission into an Engineering Coursework Masters degree

NA

Familiarity with plotting using common software, such as Excel or MATLAB.

• Students who have taken ECON10004 Introductory Microeconomics as breadth must replace the core subject MCEN90010 Finance & Human Resources for Engineers with MGMT20001 Organisational Behaviour.
• Students who have completed MGMT20001 Organisational Behaviour as breadth must use MGMT20001 to replace the core subject MCEN90010 Finance & Human Resources for Engineers with ECON10004 Introductory Microeconomics.
• Students may also enrol in both ECON10004 Introductory Microeconomics and MGMT20001 Organisational Behaviour as breadth and replace MCEN90010 Finance & Human Resources for Engineers with a science elective (see above).
• Students will need to contact their student centre in order to make any of the above adjustments on their study plan.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject provides an introduction to financial and human resource management for engineers. It considers the role of engineers in both large and small organisations, both in the private and not-for-profit sectors. The central theme of the subject is the achievement of organisational goals, and covers the major topics of strategy, systems, structure and resources, particularly people and finances. The subject emphasises the relevant theory and its application to practical situations that engineers may find themselves having to deal with. During the subject students will be expected to participate in interactive workshops that will reveal a number of personality and management traits. These are important for understanding how to maximise their performance and that of those they are responsible for in a professional environment. Where appropriate current issues will be incorporated into the learning program.

On completion of this subject students should be able to -
• describe the contribution of engineers to the financial and personnel management of employing organisations;
• describe a range of human behaviours in work organisations, both large and small;
• identify their preferred management and motivation characteristics;
• identify relationships among organisational variables, including formal structures, interpersonal relations, managers and motivators;
• measure and explain indicators of the financial health of companies;
• assess equipment purchase proposals and cost of design.

Participation in tutorials and workshops (10%), one team-based project (less than 1000 words per student) before week 10 (15%), four individual assignments (not more than 1000 words each) of equal weight (15%) due in weeks 5, 7, 9 and 11 of the semester and one written 3-hour end-of-semester examination (60%).

Core Concepts of Organizational Behavior – Schermerhorn, J.r., Hunt, J.G. and Osborn, R.N., Wiley, 2004

N/A

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of the subject students should have the following skills -

• Ability to undertake problem identification, formulation, and solution
• Understanding of the business environment
• Ability to communicate effectively, with the engineering team and with the community at large
• Ability to function effectively as an individual and in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, as a team leader or manager as well as an effective team member