IEE Science, Education & Management Division: Chairman´s address. Management for the benefit of people and enterprise

People, first and foremost, must be every manager´s concern. To manage people effectively, it is necessary to recognise their desires, hopes and aims. Management must therefore understand that work is essential and natural to people, that the average human being seeks responsibility, and that his rewards can be intrinsic. A good manager must then couple this high concern for people with an equal and high concern for the results of the enterprise and exercise his judgement in reducing any conflict which there may be between the two. Engineering management must concentrate on innovation, but it must know when to stop innovating only for innovation´s sake. The government too has a responsibility in this matter and must create the right environment so that, if the country can afford only one product, only one product is created. Management and trade unions must work together for their mutual benefit and, to achieve this, both their organisations and relationships must be kept simple. There is sometimes a disruptive element at work between the two which can lead to conflict, increased prices and a reduced competitive ability. Management must also keep things simple, from the points of view both of reporting statistics and management-information systems, and the organisation must give individual managers the opportunity to take decisions at the right time.