Engineering effective management

Engineering effective managementN.J. Payne, C.B.E., B.Sc.(Eng.), C.Eng., F.I.C.E.

Indexing terms: Engineering administration and management

Abstract: Within the British Airports Authority professional engineers are likely to occupy posts at directorand top management level. This paper describes how in BAA engineers are helped to develop the necessarypersonal qualities and expertise to enable the specialist to become an executive engineer and effectivemanager.

1 Introduction

The theme of the papers in this special issue of IEEProceedings is the type of contribution which engineers canmake to the successful management of british industry.More specifically, the concern is with the way engineers candevelop to make a positive contribution, as managers, tothe running of their own companies.

Let me say right at the start that the process I am talkingabout is indeed one of evolution. Engineers, or any othergroup of professional people for that matter, do not havean inherent right to wear the mantle of the top manager,but must be encouraged to think in terms of developingthemselves into an effective manager. However, I believethe engineer does have distinct advantages and, byaccepting the wider challenge and accountability involved,can broaden his experience to become a manager in thetruest sense. I shall be discussing this process, and thepolicies for developing engineers within British Airports,in some detail later in this article. At this stage I shallrestrict myself to the comment that the engineer can,and increasingly needs to, build upon the essential disci-pline of his profession to develop the skills and disciplinesof general management.

The bridge between the engineer and manager, if such adistinction should ever be made in organisational roles,can be crossed. As a young qualified engineer responsibleto clients for major projects, it became clear to me that1 was the instrument for the manager in his role as a personwho 'makes things happen'. I became aware of the simi-larity of the two roles. This similarity suggests to me thatengineers are particularly suited to apply themselves con-sciously to the disciplines of management and, by postgraduate training, career and self development, play aleading role in their adopted fields within an organisation.But before examining how one organisation, BritishAirports, tries to meet this need let us look at the generalissue.

2 Background

The 'problem' of developing engineers into managers hasbeen highlighted by comparisons with European practice.In West Germany, France and Scandinavia it is usuallyclaimed, the need for and value of executive engineersis accepted, the engineer is the 'industrial aristocrat'. Inthe UK, on the other hand, the professional expertise ofour engineers is recognised, but there is often a gap betweentheir designs, innovations and constructions and the com-mercial or managerial aspects of the business. Yes, there areexecutive engineers in the UK; as has recently been restated,managers are more likely to have a degree in engineering

Paper 108SA, received 8th August 1980Mr. Payne is Chairman of the British Airports Authority,2 Buckingham Gate, London SW1 E6JL, England

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than in any other subject. But many would argue that theeducational system and organisation must take morepositive steps to equip engineers with the business andmanagerial skills needed to match their European counter-parts.

Recently there have been a number of fresh looks at thetraining and development of engineers, notably theFinniston Committee of Enquiry. The IEE played its partin the Finniston discussions making the point that indus-try's need for professional engineers is threefold, it needs:

(a) a substantial number of broadly educated andtrained engineers with professional competence;

(b) a relatively small number of engineers of the highesttechnological competence;

(c) a relatively small number of engineers with thepersonal qualities needed to reach the highest level ofmanagement.In this article I am concentrating on this latter group andthe debate about the best way of ensuring that the UK canensure that the supply of executive engineers is not heldback by educational and organisational constraints.

One approach to providing this new breed has been thedevelopment of courses integrating engineering and man-agement skills at degree level. The Finniston Report advo-cates that 'in all of these (courses) a sound knowledge of theessentials of economics, management and financial controlis needed'. Such courses contain a practical segment givingorganisations the opportunity to sponsor a student, whowill do practical training on their premises and gain a valu-able insight into the organisation. This is more essentialnow that the CEI has decided that a degree should be thebasic educational qualification for Chartered Engineers,since there are now few who follow other paths of part-time study. The danger inherent in this decision is that ahigh proportion of qualified engineering graduates wouldnot have received any industrial experience. (In contrast,by the time part-time students have qualified they haveobtained a mixture of practical experience, knowledge ofindustry and education). Therefore, sandwich courses areseen by many as an opportunity of broadening engineeringtraining which industry cannot afford to miss. Not only willgraduates have a high standard of professional engineeringskill, but also the notion that engineering is a broad activitywithin the business context.

There are others in the field who would dispute the needfor this integration of engineering and managerial skills atthe first degree level. It can be argued that management,particularly general management, is likely to be an individ-ual's 'second career'. A first degree purely in engineeringwould be best to prepare individuals for their 'first career'.At a later stage the functional specialist is developed, bothwithin industry by experience, and in education by takingpost graduate management or business-related courses. Theresponsibility for producing planned training programmesbelongs to industry.

IEEPROC, Vol. 127, Pt. A, No. 9, DECEMBER 1980

0143- 702X180/08595 + 06 $01-50/0

3 British Airports

Before turning from a discussion of the training anddevelopment of engineers in the UK to an examination ofour philosophy and methods in the British AirportsAuthority, I would like to briefly outline the nature andpurpose of our business.

The BAA is a national enterprise established in 1966 andoperating under the Airports Authority Act 1975. It ownsand operates seven major airports in the UK, namelyHeathrow, Gatwick and Stansted in the South-East, andGlasgow, Prestwick, Edinburgh and Aberdeen in Scotland.Heathrow is the world's busiest international airport andthe UK's largest port in terms of cargo value, thus makingan important contribution to the country's economy.

The BAA's primary objective is to operate, plan anddevelop its airports efficiently and profitably to meet thepresent and future needs of air transport, both internationaland domestic, so that air travellers and cargo may passthrough safely, swiftly and as conveniently as possible.Therefore, our major responsibility is to provide facilitiesand services to our customers. Efficient and economic air-port development is ensured by maintaining close controlover the planning and design of any new construction.Continuous development at airports is essential to keeppace with traffic growth, air transport innovations andimproving passenger service. A high proportion of totalinvestment is allocated to capital projects involving thespecific skill of our engineering department. Our presentcapital investment is £700 million over the next five years.Our engineers are working on Terminal 4 at Heathrow, theproposed Terminal 2 at Gatwick, which could increasecapacity to 25 million passengers per year, and would beinvolved in designing a possible new passenger terminal atStansted. These examples serve to illustrate the funda-mental role of the engineering function to our business, andthe obvious potential of engineers managing these projectsfor effective roles within BAA general management.

I hope that the above paragraphs serve to emphasise thespecialist nature of our business. The facilities which ourengineers are required to design are for use within theunique environment of an airport — an interlocking systemof functions and skills. The skills needed to design, forexample, runways and terminal buildings usually need tobe acquired or refined by training and experience withinthe BAA. Some of our managerial positions are conse-quently of a specialist nature, e.g. terminal management.However, if he has the skills peculiar and essential to theBAA, the engineer may be a highly suitable candidate forsuch a job.

4 Career development in BAA

Within BAA the 'translation' of specialists such as engineersinto airport managers is seen as a central task of our careerdevelopment and training programmes. The objectives ofthese programmes are directly related to the business needsof an expanding and increasingly complex industry, andaim to ensure a sufficient supply of trained and adaptablepersonnel to meet our future requirements. From theindividual's point of view the aim is to identify, use anddevelop the abilities and potential of each member of staffas fully as possible.

These development programmes are integrated; theapproach being that performance appraisal, career coun-selling, planned development (on the job training) and

formal training are all important in developing the skillsand experience of staff, and as such must be carefullyco-ordinated to achieve the best results.

For example, the identification of training needs formsan integral part of the staff appraisal system and this inturn leads to the preparation of the individual trainingplans. Together with planning and counselling, the appraisalsystem provides a focal point whereby the organisation andthe individual can come together to discuss whether ideason the paths that individuals' future careers should take aregoing to be acceptable or not, and to identify the trainingrequired to facilitate career moves.

I must stop at this point to make it clear that in theBAA's view the development of the specialist is not simplya question of systems, nor is it solely the responsibility ofthe Personnel Department. The contribution of line man-agers at all levels is crucial to the success of our careerdevelopment approach because:

(a) their judgement and experience is the major input indefining the skills and experience required as the engineerdevelops in his new field;

(b) the appraisal of performance is based on theirobservations and assessments;

(c) their decisions on the development of staff willdetermine the availability of opportunities for developmenton the job.Also, the individual engineer has a major role to play. AsI said earlier, he must be encouraged to think in terms ofconstant self-development. The individual must take primeresponsibility for his own learning and for choosing themeans to translate his skills into a wider managerial role,he must not fail to grasp the opportunities for this self-development which exist in his current specialist role. Toachieve this, the organisational climate must be right (anobligation which falls on top management) and it is essen-tial that individuals can obtain feedback on their progress.

5 Crossing the boundary line

The organisation then can provide the environment andmeans for developing executive engineers, and canencourage individual engineers to develop themselves. Butthis will be to no avail if functions or skill families withinthe organisation are perceived as 'boxes' with rigidboundary lines.

Part of the BAA approach is to tackle the problem byexamining the elements which jobs have in common, andbuilding upon this foundation.

If I may return to my earlier example of the engineerin relation to the terminal manager, at first sight a sectionof skill requirements for each gives the impression of majorblockages to the lateral movement of staff. Fig. 1 shows asection of skills required by the terminal manager, and thecareer experience which seem the most appropriate at firstglance. Fig. 2 examines this relationship for an engineeringmanager, say on electrical and mechancial design. Fig. 3,however, shows how, by examining the fundamentalresource management aspects of these jobs, a degree ofcommon ground can be illustrated. Development pro-grammes, training and experience bring jobs ever closertogether, and thus facilitate the movement of staff.

Another important aspect of the BAA's approach is touse intermediary 'career steps' as a means of widening jobexperience and providing opportunities for self-develop-ment. Project management within engineering is perhaps anobvious example of such a stepping stone role, but there

IEEPROC, Vol. 127, Pt. A, No. 9, DECEMBER 1980 595

are others. For example, by creating terminal engineer jobs,we have brought maintenance engineers into the centre ofour managerial operations and provided even greaterexposure to the passenger related core of our business.

6 The engineering executive

Let us now look at the way in which the functionalspecialist can develop within BAA. On arriving in theorganisation, the specialist engineer will attend variousinduction courses, such as the Airport Management (Gen-eral Appreciation) Course, the first of a series of trainingmodules designed to teach and involve staff in the main

functions of the BAA. These courses are highly partici-pative and provide delegates with a knowledge of airportfunctions, including planning, ground operations andsafety, security, terminal management and passengerservices, cargo handling; engineering trainees will alsobe able to understand the relationship between thesefunctions and those of airlines, government departmentsand other airport employers.

At this stage, however, individuals are concerned withpractising their chosen discipline and with developing theircompetence in it. The major means of doing this is bycarrying out a specific job of work, supplemented by

Skills needed

Broad previous careerexperience requiredto meet skills needs

Skills requiring specialistknowledge or experience

Provision of advice on thedesign of buildings andassociated facilities

Phasing of constructionprojects to obtain the bestcompromise between theneed to maximize serviceand the need to minimizeconstruction costs.

Setting of operating rulesand procedures

Setting of objectives fornegotiation of agreementswith concessionaires

Allocation of scarceresources between compet-ing demands

Control of day-to-dayoperations to maintainservice standards and meetbudgets, including the day-to-day control of capitalprojects to minimize inter-ference with service

Skills generally applicable

Exercise of budgetarycontrol over terminaloperations

Management of large num-bers of staff, includingindustrials

Maintenance of good working relationships with air-line staff and immigration/customs

Chairing or contributing tomulti-organization/multi-disciplinary meetings

Preparing or contributingto Board reports

Experience of controlling ter-minal operations and managingthe airside/landside interface

Experience of commercial andproperty management

Experience of using budgetaryand service measures to controlterminal operations

Experience of managerial andindustrial staff management

Experience of other functionse.g., personnel, planning

F ig. 1 Skills needed and previous career experiencerequired by Terminal Management

596 IEEPROC, Vol. 127, Pt. A, No. 9, DECEMBER 1980

external courses related to new techniques of technology,or by means of in-house seminars sponsored by the Engin-eering Department. At the same time, the stress will be onthe need to avoid over-specialisation and to create anawareness of the interdependence of the various specialismsand functions.

Specialists who have the ability to rise to the managerial

and general managerial levels require to supplement theirtechnical experience with managerial skills. The task ofdeveloping specialists into managers is undertaken, inaccordance with identified needs, by using either in-company skills courses, or external training whereappropriate.

Examples of BAA in-company training would include

Skills needed

Skills requiring specialknowledge or experience

Understanding ofcustomer needs, andcommunication with non-technical people

Supervision of the prearation of outlinepreliminary and finaldesign schemes andcost estimates

Phasing of constructionwork to meet require-ments of other functions

Provision of advice toothers on contractdecisions and construc-tion matters

Supervision of specializedconstruction projects

Trouble-shooting teethingproblems of new construc-tion projects

Appraisal of new engin-eering materials andtechniques in required

• disciplines*

Setting of design standards- comparison of perform-ance and cost of differentstandards

Broad previous careerexperience requiredto meet skills needs


Planning and control ofdesign work to meetdeadlines and designbudgets

Management and develop-ment of more than 30professional and non-professional staff

Establishment of goodworking relationships withother functions and localauthorities, etc., under-standing of their needs

Chairing or contributingto multi-functional meet-ings for planning andcontrol of design products

Preparing or contributingto Board reports

Broad experience of a variety ofdesign projects covering the fullrange required disciplines

At least 2 years site experienceas residpnt engineer on majorprojects and/or maintenancework

At least 4 years experience ofmanaging and motivating five ormore people as head of designsection

Regular participation in externalevents, such as technical confer-ences, etc.

Fig. 2 Skills needed and previous career experiencerequired by E & M engineering manager


the Airport Planning, Finance and Commercial and Pass-enger Service modules of the Airport Management series,Interactive Skills and Industrial Relations Training.

The first managerial job, if I may use the oversimplifi-cation, will likely be management within a particulardiscipline, again, usually the individual's chosen discipline.Even here, before taking up a managerial position withinBAA — in any discipline — the individual should ideallyhave experience in the essential elements of a managerialjob, such as planning, finance, and the management ofhuman resources. The individual need not have workedwithin these departments to gain such experience. Forexample, an engineer may gain financial managementexperience through involvement in project cost control.Some individuals may be placed in departments on asupernumerary basis, to undertake specific projects orassignments, without having to take charge of an existingsection of staff. Given the flexibility which such a nucleusof jobs can give, and given judicious job structuring, it ispossible to provide potential managers with the necessaryexperience through a mix of functional management,project work, and external or internal training.

The move from functional management to what mightbe called general management involves the ability tomanage more than one function. An essential requirementfor the general manager within BAA is to have considerableexperience and exposure to the core elements of the airportbusiness, as well as training in managerial skills. SeniorManagement training programmes are carefully selectedto suit both individual needs and succession planning.To this end use is made of external sources such as Harvard,the London and Manchester Business Schools, Henley.Cranfield, Ashridge and Sundridge Park. At the same timeevery effort is made to keep senior managers abreast ofinnovations in their own particular field. But always thereal emphasis is on the opportunities within the job forthe engineer, or the manager as we should now call him,to develop himself.

7 Overview

Within BAA, professional engineers are likely to occupyposts at director and top management level. A number ofcareer-minded professional engineers have already success-fully made the transition into these general management

Skill definitions applicable to E & Mengineering design

Skill definitions applicable to anyskill family

Skill definitions applicable to terminalmanagement

Skills requiring special knowledge or experience

Understanding customer needs —communicating with nonspecialists

Phasing of construction work to meetrequirements of other functions

Controlling the quality of outline,preliminary and final design schemesand cost estimates

Appraising new materials and techniques

Advising others on contract decisionsand construction matters

Supervising specialised constructionprojects

Trouble-shooting teething problems ofnew projects

Setting design standards

1 Understanding customer needs —communicating with nonspecialists

2 Solving problems creatively andpractically

3 Making financial appraisals

Maintaining up-to-date specialistknowledge

5 Allocating scarce resources

6 Managing negotiations

7 Keeping day-to-day activities ontrack — responding to crises

8 Setting standards, rules,procedures

Phasing construction projects to obtainthe best compromise between maximizingservice and minimizing construction costs

Providing advice on the design ofbuildings and associated facilities

Allocating scarce resources betweencompeting demands

Setting objectives for negotiation ofagreements with concessionaires

Controlling day-to-day operations tomeet service standards and budgets,including the day-to-day control ofthe interference with service of capitalprojects — responding to unexpectedevents

Setting operating rules and procedures


Planning and controlling design work tomeet deadlines and design budgets

Managing and developing more than 30professional and nonprofessional staff

Establishing and maintaining goodworking relationships with otherfunctions, local authorities, outsideinterests, etc. — understanding their needs

Chairing or contributing to multifunctionalmeetings

Preparing or contributing to Boardreports

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Planning and controlling work toto meet deadlines and budgets

Managing and developingsubordinates

Ensuring the management oflarge numbers of staff

Establishing and maintaininggood working relationships withother disciplines and outsideinterests

Chairing or contributing tomeetings

Preparing written reports

Fig. 3 Fundamental resource management aspects of different jobs

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Exercising statistical and budgetarycontrol over terminal operations

Ensuring the management of largenumbers of staff, including industrials

Managing and developing subordinates

Establishing and maintaining goodworking relationships with airline staff,immigration and customs, etc.

Chairing or contributing to multi-organizational or multi-disciplinarymeetings

Preparing or contributing to Boardreports

IEEPROC, Vol. 127, Pt. A, No. 9, DECEMBER 1980

Fig. 4 The BAIR system (British Airports Information Retrieval)

This multicomputer based system has been installed at Heathrowairport in order to integrate passenger information and managementdata needs, not just for BAA but for other airport users.On this occasion it was programmed to display one day's flight toand from seven BAA airports

posts which involve a policy making role. Current exampleswithin our organisation include our Planning Director, theHeathrow Airport Director, and the Gatwick AirportDeputy Director.

To me this conscious transition from an engineering toan applied discipline within BAA management is a real, andrewarding, progression. The link, I believe is there right atthe beginning of the process in a commitment to an organ-isation which is itself a specialist activity. Management,whether in engineering or elsewhere, is about knowing theproblems facing the organisation, understanding corporateobjectives and seeking to contribute to achieving them.Somewhere in this process the specialist becomes theexecutive engineer, the effective manager. The organisationcan create the climate to facilitate this transition but itcannot create the will to make it.

Fig. 5 Engineering control room at Heathrow airport

Energy conservation is a vital factor in the BAA's efforts to holddown costs. The engineering control room which is part of the totalcontrol systems at Heathrow airport, makes an important contri-bution to this aim

Fig. 6 Heathrow's Terminal 1 baggage system control room

One duty officer is able to regulate baggage flow and to detectwhere a fault has occurred

Norman John Payne was appointed\ Chairman of the British Airports

Authority in March 1977. Born in; London, in 1921, Mr. Payne attended

Lower School of John Lyon, Harrow,and City and Guilds College, ImperialCollege of Science and Technology,London, where he gained a B.Sc.(Eng.)

\ y 1st class Honours degree. During thelast war Mr. Payne served in theRoyal Engineer's for five years, was

mentioned in despatches twice and received an MBE(Military) in 1944. In 1949 he joined consulting engineers,Sir Frederick Snow & Partners, and became a Partner in1955 responsible for industrial and airport developmentat home and overseas, including Jordan and Kuwait. He wasawarded the OBE in 1956 in connection with his works onthe development of Gatwick Airport. On the formation of

the BAA in 1965, Mr. Payne was appointed Director ofEngineering, became Director of Planning in 1969, a full-time Board Member of the Authority in April 1971, andChief Executive in August 1972. He received the CBE in1976. Mr. Payne is a Fellow of the Institution of CivilEngineers, British Institute of Management, City and Guildsof London Institute and a Fellow of the Chartered Instituteof Transport. He is also a Member of the Institute ofHighway Engineers, French Society of Civil Engineers, theArchitectural Association, and is a graduate of HarvardBusiness School's Advanced Management Program. In1975-6 he was President of the Western European AirportsAssociation and also in 1976, Chairman of the AirportsAssociations Co-ordinating Council. Chairman — BritishSection Centre of European Public Enterprises (CEEP)1979 —. Mr. Payne is married, has five children and lives atShamley Green, near Guildford, Surrey. He lists his rec-reations as gardening and swimming.


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Engineering effective management