ENGR 400 Corporate Dynamics for

Engineers

(5th July 2017)

Dr. Eşref Ünsal

(Lecture 3)
• Experience is incidents nailed to your
memory better because of the feelings
(the pain). It is a strong learning tool
Job Hunt/selection:
• Do something you like
• It is a good idea to have a psychoanalytical
test done (as early as possible) to see what
one’s capabilities are
• ‘’Don’t be more holy than the Pope’’ .
(Peter Barnes of Shell International to EÜ,
1986, the Hague)
• Obeying rules is a delicate matter, it is very difficult to
follow all the rules in a company,
– Understanding the rule (interpretation) is important,
you will have to make judgments.
– The consequences of the decision (e.g., driving a car
in a medical emergency)
– The management often wants you to take an
acceptable amount of risk, for the interest of the
company (push matters to the limit)
– Bending the rule?
– Inner peace (filter) important, gut feeling
– Improper request of boss is not acceptable (build
gossip on a colleague, he/she would like to dismiss)
– You should try to survive in the company
– If the speed limit is 90 km/h, you have to get
somewhere fast but safely for work, at what speed do
you drive? (90, 99 or 110 km/h)
– If there is a gray area in the tax regulation, do you
take the chance (push to a reasonable ceiling)?
• Students with an appreciation of Emotional
Intelligence
• One engineering student stated that
– she was better than her classmates in the
technical courses and she thought that she
was prepared for a good career in a large
company
– after attending this course she realized that
she was ill-prepared for many non-technical
matters of corporate life and the other ‘’low-
GPA’’ students were ahead of her in these
areas (and perhaps more prepared on the
average)
• Investors are in general
– ambitious in their return on investment expectations
but are hesitant, risk averse.
– Forecasting is very difficult, but is essential in making
business plans.
– An engineer can believe that he/she has studied the
conditions well and specified the technical and the
commercial parameters suitably in a project, but the
developments can prove him/her wrong
• Petrol Ofisi Scenario Building Exercise
in 2005 with Prof. Ramirez of Oxford (to
build a business plan, scenarios may be
necessary)

• The action plan is prepared accordingly