EM 501 Management of Organizations
3 semester credits   

This course explores issues dealing with individual behavior in work organizations. The major goals of the course are to learn various approaches to motivation, leadership, and team-building, and to illustrate how and when those approaches are appropriately used. A key focus of the course is on team management skills and how to organize groups for maximum effectiveness, motivate group members, and promote and reward team success.

EM 505 Financial Management for Technical Systems
3 semester credits

Today, it is nearly impossible for an engineer to perform without considering the financial implications of the design, manufacture, construction, sales, and the company strategic plan. Traditional accounting and financial decision making are not always helpful to the engineer who needs to cut through the paper work and get to the bottom line. As a result, engineering and cost accounting are usually at odds with each other. A smart approach to finance, its implications to technical processes, and financial management of the technical firm are needed and are covered in this course.

E M 508  Legal Concepts for Engineering and Technical Managers                                                                                  3 semester credits

This course is designed to provide the career engineering manager with a general understanding and knowledge of business law and the legal environment. The course covers generally the laws of the constitution, contracts, sales, business organizations, agency and employment, property, torts, crimes, government regulation, government contracting, and litigation. The course will explore the engineering manager’s own role in the legal environment as well as the relationships between engineering managers and other engineering managers, employees, project owners, prime contractors, subcontractors, and the general public.

 EM 517 Simulation Modeling of Technical Systems
3 semester credits

The stochastic nature of complex systems makes them frequently too difficult to solve with traditional analytical methods. This class in systems simulation teaches how to describe, represent, validate, and experiment with models of various types. Students test various generic models and create their own discrete simulation using state-of-the-art software.

E M 520  Construction Project Management                              3 semester credits

Course primarily addresses the issues of planning, organizing, and managing p rojects from start (the proposal) to finish (project closeout), utilizing the latest construction industry practices for project management, for both commercial and government clients.  The course integrates topics specifically for managers and those aspiring to become managers of technical projects.

E M 522 Supervision and Leadership for Engineering and Technology Managers                                                               3 semester credits

  Strategies of supervision with practical application techniques are presented to create individual and organizational motivation.

EM 526 Constraints Management
3 semester credits

This course introduces the student to the Theory of Constraints. Students learn the formal analysis techniques that find the limiting factor in any system. Students learn to clearly identify the goal and necessary conditions that must be met to achieve success in the system. Students learn to think logically and formulate cause and effect relationships that define the system. They learn to differentiate between the many annoying problems that exist the system to find the core problem or root cause of the many negative effects. Students learn how to find breakthrough injections that open the way for solutions that eliminate the conflict that has always prevented the core problem from being solved. They also learn how to break down the obstacles that prevent near impossible tasks and how to cause change to occur within the system.

EM 530 Applications of Constraints Management
3 semester credits

Every system can be characterized as a chain of interlocking activities or a network of interlinked events. The operation or productivity of such a linkage is limited by its weakest link. Constraint Management has a broad application for a variety of management problems. The Theory of Constraints provides powerful tools for finding the problem, creating breakthrough solutions, planning the implementation. This course focuses on proven solutions generated from applying the Theory of Constraints to a large number of real world problems. The proven solutions offer innovative, successful solutions superior to previous methods. While EM 526, Constraints Management teaches how to create your own breakthrough solution for your own environment, this course focuses on hot to implement previously discovered solutions in your environment.

E M 534 Contemporary Topics in Constraints Management       3 semester hours 

 Contemporary teaching tools, software packages, current techniques and thought in managing complex systems using the theory of constraints.  

E M 538 Lean Agility                                                                   3 semester hours

 Integration of the best of Lean, Six Sigma and Theory of Constraints to accelerate the continuous improvement process.

EM 540 Operations Research for Managers
3 semester credits

Applying linear, integer, goal programming; network optimization; queuing analysis; dynamic programming; simulation; Markov analysis; and forecasting to engineering management decisions are covered in this course. In the engineering professions, we are intimately familiar with mathematical models of physical systems. The majority of engineering design work is based on the application of these models and extending them to managerial and business systems. The models of operations research represent a collection of mathematically-based models that help the manager make rational decisions. This course introduces a number of models that are effective in solving certain classes of managerial problems. Students will learn how to apply these tools to various representative sample problems. The tools include linear programming, network models, scheduling models, integer and goal programming, dynamic programming, stochastic models, decision theory, queuing models, digital simulation and inventory systems. The course also discusses how models are integrated into decision support systems, heuristics, and expert systems.

EM 545 Technical Decision Analysis 
3 semester credits

Decision analysis provides engineers a structured discipline for describing, analyzing, and finalizing decisions involving uncertainly. Individuals and organizations make decisions every day. Almost all decisions involve some uncertainty about the outcomes of the decisions and future conditions. Most people handle this uncertainty in intuitive ways. Research has confirmed that intuition is miserably unreliable in accessing the influence of this uncertainty on the outcomes of current decisions. Decision analysis provides a structured discipline for describing, analyzing, and finalizing decisions involving uncertainty.

E M 555  Enterprise Resource Management
3 semester credits

This course addresses the managerial and operational challenges of advanced service and manufacturing systems characterized by tight integration, short cycle times and variety and scope of product.  Specifically, computerized advanced manufacturing systems, JIT, synchronous manufacturing and customer integrated service systems are discussed.  The systems are reviewed as competitive strategies along with the accompanying organizational implications.  The course culminates with an application of a computerized case study analysis for the Class Project.

EM 560 Integrated Supply Chain Management 
3 semester credits

Every organization has internal supply chains, and links to external suppliers and customers.  Interlinking organizations span the spectrum from raw materials to finished products and services in the hands of the consumer.   The supply chain extends even to final disposition of the commodities we consume from concept to grave.  The structured dependency of such chains, the uncertainty of forecasts and systemic delays are amplified as individual links in the supply chain try to optimize their performance.  Even minor changes in the market can cause wild swings in economic performance.  Modern operation theories and information systems hold the promise of stabilizing some of the variability by providing visibility along the whole supply chain.  Additional control and operational performance factors are needed to provide a complete solution.   This course examines the strategy and tactics of supply chain management to include “how to” techniques to implement, measure and reward the individual links in the supply chain.

EM 564 Project Management
3 semester credits; Prerequisite basic statistics

The use of projects and project management continues to grow in our complex society. Project management differs from more traditional organizational management because most projects are one-time, extremely focused efforts. Time, money, people, and other resources must be managed extremely well to achieve success, yet there is usually only one chance to do it right. This course will examine technical tools, (CPM, PERT, Cost and Schedule Control Systems), behavioral issues, and considerations of organizational structure. The objective of the course is to help students understand the strengths and pitfalls of project management. The ultimate goal is to improve the effectiveness of the students at all levels of project management: from project selection and chartering at the highest managerial levels, to day-to-day skills for the project manager, and meaningful contribution and participation for project team members.

EM 565 Introduction to Systems Engineering Management
3 semester credits

The design, manufacture, and operation of complex systems presents a major challenge for today's managers. These systems, encumbered schedule and cost constraints while pushing the state of the art technology, demand new tools for project planning, organizing, controlling. This course is designed to assist students in knowledge essential for the management of new and modified complex system development

E M 566 Systems Engineering Analysis and Practice
3 semester credits

EM 570 Six Sigma Quality Management
3 semester credits

Overview of the total field of quality, including strategic quality management programs, quality assurance, quality control, and product design reliability. The purpose of the Quality Management course is to provide the technical manager with an overview of the total field of quality. The subjects addressed throughout the course are: statistics of quality, quality cost, quality improvement, world class quality, design for quality, vendor relations, Japanese manufacturing concepts, process control and capability, measurement systems, customer relations, product safety and liability, quality assurance, product design reliability, and strategic quality management. This is an application-oriented course and interrelationship between the various topics of quality management will be reviewed in case studies, readings and class discussion. Further investigation and a research project will be required of each student.

EM 575 Performance Management in Technical Organizations
3 semester credits

Management of high technology organizations; planning, measurement, and human factors in improving high technology organizations; productivity, motivation and performance systems. This course addresses the management of high technology engineering process based on the seven key dimensions: effectiveness, efficiency, quality, productivity, quality of work life, innovation, and profitability. The course is tailored to engineers. A critical element of the course is measurement and includes human performance management which is currently of interest in many engineering and high technology organizations. It addresses development of closed-loop measurement and control systems designed to provide information at the source of variation within the system, from an engineering and engineering management perspective. This course is to provide students a current view of philosophies and methods for engineering organizational improvement of high technology processes. Students will understand strategic and tactical planning methods to refine engineering organizational objectives and to measure achievement of the objectives on seven key engineering dimensions.

EM 580 Quality Control and Reliability
3 semester credits

Quality improvement analysis for process and product quality; statistical process control, capability studies; acceptance sampling concepts; reliability models for prediction and testing. This course addresses statistical methods as used in quality analysis; modeling process and product quality. It covers statistical process control; control charts and introduction to process capability studies. Traditional acceptance sampling, process sampling and sampling for quality audit; QC curves, sampling tables are included. The basic concepts of reliability; definitions; failure models, reliability prediction, estimation and apportionment are covered as well as failure data analysis. Product design, development and production; design review, product testing. The final components are maintainability measures and prediction and preventive maintenance scheduling. The objective of this course is to strengthen and improve the ability of engineering managers in detail theory and the design of quality control systems and techniques of quality control and to utilize reliability considerations in engineering design.

EM 585 Quality Engineering Using Design of Experiments
3 semester credits

Design of quality into products and processes using design of experiments including robust/parameter design and tolerance design techniques. Design of experiments is a systematic and efficient method of design optimization for performance, quality and cost in quality engineering. Statistical quality control improves the product and/or process quality for a given design. This course examines the design in order to acquire a better product/process quality. Other names for this include robust design, parameter design, or Taguchi Techniques. This course is to give engineers a current understanding of the techniques and applications of design of experiments in quality engineering design.

EM 590 Design for Product and Service Realization
3 semester credits

Various techniques to identify opportunities for improvement and development of a comprehensive product design will be explored. Key issues and competitive product development and design optimization will include topics such as: quality function deployment; design for assembly and product variation; failure modes and effects analysis; reliability/serviceability, concurrent engineering; statistical process control, six sigma process and flexible process selection; tolerances design; rapid prototyping; design and development management issues; reducing part cast with DFM; DFM team building and training.

EM 591 Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation      3 semester credits

This course focuses on the concepts, techniques, and processes of management with direction and purpose. The perspective we take is that of the manager responsible for the long-term health of the enterprise. The use of technology for competitive advantage, and the interaction of technology with other strategic variables are central themes of the course. The objective of the course is to understand both the formulation of strategic decisions and the management of strategic processes; therefore we will be dealing with analytical, behavioral, and creative aspects of management--frequently simultaneously.  

E M 595/596 Topics in E M -- 3 semester credits.  Topic changes.  These courses are eligible for use on the program of studies towards the masters' degree and towards certain certificates.  Maximum of 9 credits of either 596/595 are able to be used on the students program of studies towards a degree.

STAT 430 Statistical Methods in Engineering
3 semester credits

Engineering and technical managers are often confronted with problems and dealing with CERTAINTY and UNCERTAINTY. Basic analysis and design theory fits the first type of problem when initial design concepts are considered. However, when implementation and use is considered, then the second type of problems emerge. Statistical Methods in Engineering deals with this second type of problem and with decision making. The course assumes no background in statistics. Students learn to read and interpret statistical literature and to apply basic statistical methods in evaluating data.

EM 702 Master's Special Problems, Directed Study and/or Examination 2-4 semester credits [By arrangement only.]  Graduation fee raised to $50 on August 1.

Option I. EM 702 Project Guidelines

This non-thesis written project and oral presentation will showcase student learning and skills. The multidisciplinary nature of engineering management education is significantly addressed as students form teams to research on-the-job solutions. The project allows students to synthesize their knowledge and understanding. To be taken final two semesters. Please note, the final semester for the project option may NOT be taken during summer term.

Option II. Comprehensive written examination taken the final semester.

Questions will cover material from core requirements, but responses should reflect an integrated approach. Not available to all students; individuals should consult with academic advisor. Not to be taken in conjunction with any transfer semester credits.

For more information about the Engineering Management Program please contact:
Patti Elshafei, Program Support
Engineering Management Program
Washington State University ETRL 336
PO Box 642785
Pullman, WA 99164 - 2785
Phone: 509-335-0125
Email: engrmgt@wsu.edu