Engineering and Management

Engineers and Managers Both: The Graduate Program That Prevents the Organizational Tower of Babel

Afeka’s unique engineering and management program tackles the industry’s Achilles’ heel by combining the tools for both of the worlds that comprise it. This, it turns out, is far from trivial – and demand for alumni is correspondingly high.

The shortage of experienced engineers is a constant challenge in the Israeli economy. There are several explanations for it, including a surprising one: the fact that many engineers “go to waste”. After 4-5 years in the profession, just as they’ve racked up experience and can best capitalize on this potential, many engineers turn to business administration studies, acquire “soft” skills, and reenter the industry wearing different hats. At this stage, they make less use – if any – of the engineering skills they’ve amassed. Meanwhile, on the other side of the equation, the people who manage new engineers are often managerial training alumni – who lack engineering backgrounds, and don’t even speak the language.

This Tower of Babel is something which Afeka’s graduate program in engineering and management tries to solve, by creating a unique and highly sought-after population in the industry – a population that is both things: engineers who are managers, and vice versa.  

“This disconnect may sound minor, but it turns out to be a true impasse,” says Dr. Adi Fux, head of the graduate program in engineering and management at Afeka – the Academic College of Engineering in Tel Aviv. As an industry veteran who served in senior engineering and management roles within multiple sectors, he knows the “wasted engineer” phenomenon up-close and personal.

“Our program straddles the divide,” continues Dr. Fux. “With one foot planted in engineering, and the other in management – in the ability to read and build business plans.” He highlights the difference to an undergraduate degree in industrial engineering and management: “As an undergraduate engineering alumnus, you certainly graduate with the engineering tools for systems management – but that’s more at the level of direct management. You’re also meant to be able to solve problems, but the outcomes usually remain within bounds, as relates to existing problems within existing systems. Graduate-level alumni are expected to break the mold, and perhaps even to reinvent it. That’s why our program teaches advanced tools for both managerial skills and engineering fields, allowing to combine between the worlds and deliver creative solutions. Communicating vessels.”

Dr. Fux’s program at Afeka, considered the only one of its kind in Israel, draws alumni not only from engineering. Adjacent disciplines, from economics and management to geography, feature relevant elements that can be complemented by engineering knowledge during the degree. In any case, the program starts by bringing everyone into line, including in computing, computer language/s, use of programming tools, and basic essential knowledge in math, as well as management. Then there is a breakdown into specializations, of which there are three:

• Business systems – Building programs, product management, intelligent use of AI technology and machine learning, and a directors’ course that ends with students receiving a formal director’s diploma. 
• Data systems and knowledge management (the world of services) – Building hybrid systems, dashboards, data analytics, ML, deeper BI, and unique management tools.
• Infrastructure systems – A unique specialization that includes transportation, sanitation, smart cities, a seminar on decision-making and risk management in systems, and more. 

The specialization lecturers include, among others, Dr. Amir Givati, general director of the Israeli Meteorological Service, who teaches climate effects on infrastructure and environmental planning; and CPA Lior Agai, former Deputy Accountant General and economical advisor to the police commissioner.

Changing the Industry During School

But even before we take care of tomorrow’s manager-engineers, the program has set out to make a difference here and now – primarily through the graduation papers. Dr. Fux is brimming with stories on meaningful changes which the papers have effected in organizations that employ program alumni. Thus, for example, the CEO of a company in the field of infrastructures told him that the paper he’d written and the skills he’d acquired in the program enabled him to win tenders in the hundreds of millions of shekels with large municipalities. In another case, the graduation paper of an Air Force officer, about a system for predictive maintenance of IoT and sensing technology, led to a massive investment by the Air Force in the system – an investment that rapidly paid for itself and then some. Another graduation paper, which was implemented almost as soon as it was written, has to do with safety and the traffic light system in one of the municipalities. Another paper, of which Dr. Fux is especially proud, dealt with developing decision-support systems for early identification and treatment of sexual assault victims. This, using an advanced combination of methodology and technology, based among other things on NLP capabilities and keyword analysis for spotting red flags. 

The program is two years (four semesters) long, in a night school format twice a week, with a combination of frontal and online learning. Dr. Fux stresses that due to the frequent changes to various industries, the syllabus is and must be updated frequently – including rewriting entire courses right before the start of the academic year. “The changes are dramatic; a manager today and a manager 10-15 years ago are two different worlds. The challenges today are greater, among other things, because the management we’re talking about in the modern age is matrix management without direct hierarchy. So how to do it? How to lead people, processes, and large projects, with different tools and new skills?”

Engineering and Management: A Crucial Combination for Modern Industry

Our conversation with Dr. Fux took place on a short break from army reserve service. He says that the principles he teaches are often called into play in the army, especially in risk management and in the worlds of operations and logistics, so critical in times or war. “The ability to think outside the box, especially in the hierarchical military system, is a game-changer. We see it everyday at HQ and in the field. It’s no coincidence that senior military and police officers join our program to acquire tools and become better managers. Combined engineering and management abilities are vital in today’s defense industries, and in fact in every industry, every project management and product development. They can make or break the whole thing, which is why demand for our alumni is constantly growing.”