Dr. Çetiner’s Blogs (Dr. Beytullah Gültekin Çetiner)

Opportunities vs Problems

The following is a good excerpt regarding the Opportunities vs Problems. When engineering managers make their decisions to solve problems they should be well aware of this. Every problem brings an opportunity with it.
OPPORTUNITY LIES IN THE MIDST OF DIFFICULTY
Every problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful
that it literally dwarfs the problem.
The greatest success stories were created by people
who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity.

You’ll find that every situation properly perceived
offers you opportunity.
As fast as each opportunity presents itself, use it.

Successful people don’t achieve their distinction
by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them.
They developed an opportunity that was at hand.

You must make your own opportunities if you want to be successful.
They are all around you.

Engineering Management Midterm Exam (2007/2008 Semester 2)

Please note that Engineering Management Midterm exam venue is as follows:-

Place: E1-3-9
Time: 20:00-22:00
Date: 21st February 2008

P.S. Sorry for the late announcement. But it was fixed only recently.

Term Projects

Term projects have been started as online activity for both Systems Analysis and Design and Engineering Management Courses. Please find the details from

1. Engineering Management Term Project
2. Term Project: Systems Analysis and Design

The first task is online and it is called brain storming. Please find the description of this task below.

Task Description Suggest topics (Brainstorming)
The first step in project is brainstorming (suggest your topics). Select any company service sector or hardcore manufacturing company for which you will make modeling and design. You cannot change the topic later. This activity is limited to one week.

Suggest topics (Brainstorming)

After this task, you will choose team members. This task has to be finished otherwise you cannot enter your team’s topic.

Suggest topics herein. Anything coming to your mind. Later, you will choose any topic from this brainstorming you have given. If you did not put a topic in this brainstorming session, you cannot choose and continue later. You must decide the general topic now. You can start looking for team friends. But team members will be decided later.

Why to Understand Internet & Search Engine Technologies
There will be a seminar next week in building 45. I recommend all students who want to have an idea on hot topics of Internet and Search Engine Technologies and their usage in business and management. The content of the seminar will be as follows:-

• Search Engine Technologies and Trends
• How Search Engines Work?
• Search Engine Paradigms (Altavista, Yahoo, Google, and more)
• Existing Paradigm: Google PageRank
• What is SEO Search Engine Optimization?
• SEO and Webmasters
• Management Science and Understanding Internet Technologies
• SEO Marketing and Brand Management
• A simple example for SEO by search for some Keywords
• SEO Contests for Sharpening SEO Skills
• Announcement and explanation of a new SEO contest for

Blog and website owners ($2,000 award contest)

• Conclusions

Date: 28th May, 2007, Monday 14:00
Place: Conference Room (entrance to Industrial Engineering Department)

You can find powerpoint slides of presentation from

Why to Understand Internet & Search Engine Technologies

If you are interested in Joinining in Search Engine Contest Click here

Some keypoints of Engineering Management Topics that we learnt in the first week are:

1. We had a seminar on online activities. We have covered many things for online activities in this session
2. A proper description of Engineering (old definition and modified ABET definition)
3. Identifying engineering as a profession and not an art
4. Description of Management
5. Description of Engineering Management
6. Some important facts about engineers and managers
7. Definition of Systems as a whole
8. Definition of Engineering Systems
9. Definition of Management Systems
10. Description of 9 elements of a system namely inputs, outputs, interfaces, constraints, boundary, goal of system (common output), components (subsystems), interralations, and environment
11. System analyst approach to engineering problems
12. 3 system errors namely a) Goal Displacement b) Functional Distortion c) Functional Distraction
13. 3 Management Levels (1st level, midlevel and top level management) their titles and roles
14. Skills required for different management levels (interpersonal skills, technical skills and conceptual or analytical skills)
15. Skills needed by different level of managers
16. Difference between effectiveness and efficiency
17. Difference between leader and manager
18. Clarifying ‘doing the right things’ and ‘doing the things right’ with regard to leader and manager
19. Managers’ roles to be played at different levels: Interpersonal roles (figurehead role, leadership role, and liaison role), Informational roles (Monitoring role, Disseminator role, and Spokesman role), and finally most important roles namely Decisional roles (entrepreneurial role, negotiator role, resource allocator role, and disturbance handling role)
20. Now we have to take Course Entry Exam (which will be closed within week)
21. We have also Quiz (Introduction to Engineering Management), Forum 1: Introduction to Management (Graded), and Engineering Management Puzzle opened starting from this week.

I hope it will be helpful.