Something funny came to me. Maybe an arranged moment = )
A student was asking me if it was ok to shift from his present academic EMG program to IE. When I asked him, "... why?" his reply was, "... because IE is an engineering program."
I smirked. It was obvious that this student was misinformed. Maybe he asked people who did not understand the program design. So I said, "...both academic programs are engineering programs. Period."
So, I press on and asked, "...now that that is resolved, do you still want to transfer?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Hmmm, so why transfer?"
"Sir, because I like the idea that we are solving things using the calculator instead of solving it in the laptop," was his reply.
Note to myself - this man wants to have a hard time in life. Equates useless difficulty to learning. Why don't he take quantum physics or string theory as a hobby then = )
Seriously, the event only confirms that he is confused. Still in the state of figuring out who he is really. And right now, he is defining himself by what he do and the activities he performs.
To a certain point, that's true. And then, if we were given this privilege and we were actually listening, there will be this moment that we will figure out who we are really. The moment where we finally understand why we were born.
Apparently, this man is still journeying and he has not come to that spot yet. I hope he continues journeying meaningfully and starts asking why he was born. = )
Now, about the title of this entry - The Difference Between Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management. Let me answer it this way...
I was one of those who were given the privilege to design this program back in 2003. The idea and the intent behind the academic program is to present a simplex fact, by simplex we mean an idea that instantaneously simple and complex, that for our present civilization to move forward, businesses must thrive.
Our lives are fearfully interwoven to how we physiologically support life. In the past, our ancestors did this by hunting all day chasing baboy ramo, then by farming and now we do it by going to work = )
If you are student, the money in your hands that enables you to pay your bills came from the service your parents rendered to a company. If you are now a professional, the money came from the exchange of your service to your employer. But if we have our own company, that money came from the products we sold to customers.
But all these instances happened within the context of a business.
This fact is the reason why making businesses efficient and effective, whether we own it or we work for it, is a very noble endeavor to commit oneself for life! Serious.
If we do not make businesses efficient and effective, everybody goes to war. A prime example - Google Zimbabwe and ask if business is thriving there = )
This fact is the foundation that brought to the idea of the academic program called Industrial Engineering and its earlier incarnation, Management Industrial Engineering (MIE).
IE came to the scene because businesses must be made competitive in an ever changing world. In fact, the current notion of globalization started with closed countries embracing the American economic model after World War II. With China being the latest very significant country that opened up. This is the reason why IE is closely associated with business. Because its reason for being is to improve business.
IE, by design, is very heavy on the application of improvement tools which explains the existence of courses like Operations Research, Methods Engineering and Ergonomics.
EMG on the other hand, though stems from business too, is a different mental model. It is a different hat. A different mindset.
EMG, though it needs an operational appreciation of the IE tools, is more holistic in nature. This explains why it has courses on Food Service Management, Retail Management, Healthcare Systems, Transportation Systems, Business Process Outsourcing, Banking and Financial Systems and Entreprenuerial Engineering.
EMGs study these businesses as a system, a specimen. Though all these systems needs profit to survive, they get to having a profit in totally different ways. The profit making dynamics of each system, business, is different.
This is the study of EMG.
On top of that, as both IEs and EMGs make work efficient, EMG's added burden is to design a dynamic environment where workers are achieving. A point that's taken in the IE Program in a broadstroke.
These are what makes IEs and EMGs, though related to one another, different. Unique.
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