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Managing Computer Professionals

Farrokh Alemi, Ph.D.

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Learning Objectives

Understand the supervisory role of managers

Understand the organizing role of managers

Understanding differences between IT workers and other professionals

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Managers Perform Many Functions

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You Have Been Managing Computer Professionals

Each project has a manager

The idea is to give you first hand experience of management

How have you done as team manager? Most have run projects as separate contracts with

individual team members Some have brought entire team together Others have done little coordination but enthusiastically

participated as any team member

Motivate, coordinate and maintain control

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Is Management a Science?

1. A science that we can learn through review of field and laboratory experiments.

2. An art that we can learn by doing. Most reasonable people can manage.

3. An insight that we can get from other successful managers.

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What Is Management?

Getting tasks done through others.

In small organizations, or for new managers, it is often easier to get the task done yourself. How many of the group managers felt it was easier if they had done the assignment themselves?

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How Does Management Differ From Clinical Work?

Managerial skills are different from technical, or clinical skills Helping others accomplish the task as opposed

to doing it yourself Budget and planning as opposed to providing

service with existing resources System thinking as opposed to focusing on

individual patients Any other?

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Can Management Be Learned?

Good managers were not borne with their skills.

Management is not a personality trait.

The first step in learning management skills is accepting the need for them.

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Management Is Not Common Sense

The association between management and common sense is so strong as many equate a person "who cannot manage" with a person "who has no common sense and maybe is a little crazy" .

But management and leadership is a learned concept.

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What Would Common Sense Tell Us Are the Answers to …

1. If you pay someone for doing something they enjoy, they will come to like this task even more?

2. Most people prefer challenging jobs with a great deal of freedom and autonomy

3. Most people are more concerned with the size of their own salary than with the salary of others

4. In bargaining with others it is usually best to start with a moderate offer -- near to the one you desire.

5. In most cases, leaders should stick to their decisions once they have made them, even if it appears they are wrong.

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Problem With Common Sense in Management

The advice is often based on analogies & play on words that can be terribly misleading: “A camel is a horse put together by a committee." The image of camel as a distorted horse may make us believe that committees produce convoluted products.  But in truth team work is useful.

Organizations can become victims of the latest management fads. When advice is not based on data, organization may go from one guru to another in search of success that eludes them because they are not looking at data on what works. 

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Management Functions

Forecasting

Planning

Organizing

Staffing

Influencing

Controlling

Negotiating

Un-organizing

Which onedid you do

in your team?

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Forecasting

Predicting the future is difficult.One advantage that managers do have in forecasting the future is that they can takes steps to make the anticipated future come about.Forecasts assume that history repeats itself; That there are lessons to learn from how events have occurred in the past.Predicting future business operations and functions is by far more important than keeping pace with technology.

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Different Ways of Planning

Asking people to do as they are told

Parallel organizations

Creating a champion for the idea

Involving large number of employees in the planning process

How did youplan fir your teams?

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OrganizingManagers organize by assigning tasks to various employees

Specialization Departmentalization Span of management Assigning of authority Assigning of responsibilities Unity of command Line and staff assignments

For computer professionals: Networked & remote tasks requires organization of social gatherings, legal contracts, etc.

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Staffing

Staffing is the process of hiring personnel to work on the taskStaffing also means looking after employees careersThe environment for telecommuting workers is specially difficult

Health insurance Communication Education

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Influencing

Self interest Pay & benefits Continued employment

Other Challenge Social network Reminders Communication Attribution Work norms

What did you do?

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Controlling & Negotiating

Managers control budgets, resource allocation, and product quality

Direct control or self control through data

Version control

Fair play

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Un-organizing

It is seldom realized but one of the functions of a manger is to dismantle organizations.  Often the case with legacy systems.

Rarely, managers need to dismantle the entire organization.

Managers choose or may have to fire employees.

Managers need to continuously improve work processes.

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Supervision of Remote Workers

Data contradict the myth that office workers have an advantage over home based workers in their access to new training.Home based professionals are more committed to the work than to the company.Home based workers are more likely to be women, married and with children.Judged based on their productivity than based on their effort.

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Supervision of Remote Workers

Office workers say that their work load is irregular.

Office workers say they are more productive outside the office.

Home based groups were more likely to visit customers.

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Supervision of Remote Workers

Less than 20% of home workers and more than 80% of office workers say that their work requires daily communication.

Home work is more likely to be organized in smaller self contained activities than office work.

Home based computer programmers assumed more responsibility for cost and time estimates for the job, testing the link among programs.

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Supervision of Remote Workers

Office based groups seem to put more emphasize on income (pay and promotion)

Home based group seem to emphasize the nature of the work (interesting work, flexible assignments, and keeping up their skills). 

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Are Programmers Different From Clinicians?

Mogg says: “They are probably very task oriented, intelligent, and independent workers. They may lack the interpersonal skills of the average employee.”Rabeno says: “Programmers are varied.”Lloyd says: “The most obvious answer is that some are and some aren't.”Wray says: “Absolutely, Programmers are 100% different.”

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Are Programmers Different From Clinicians?

On–site and off-site Challenge, training, customer relation, etc

Working with machines versus peopleUninterrupted work processWork hoursLanguage and communication stylesDisdain for hierarchy (cluster organizations)Power based on shared information versus unique skills

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Table of Content

Learning ObjectivesManagers Perform Many FunctionsIs Management a Science?What Is Management?How Does Management Differ From Clinical Work?Can Management Be Learned?Management Is Not Common Sense

Management FunctionsForecastingDifferent Ways of PlanningOrganizingStaffingInfluencingControlling & NegotiatingUn-organizingSupervision of Remote Workers