Managing Across Cultures

Abstract

This article focuses on managing motivated engineers means having to tell them it is time to stop tinkering with one design and move on to the next. Managing means knowing when to say what, as after all, the equipment will never meet the engineers’ exacting specifications. Volunteers sometimes travel to a location to figure out how a piece of equipment might be used. Oftentimes, however, the budget doesn't allow for overseas trips. Committees meet monthly, and during the interim, committee members experiment alone or in groups with parts of a project. Management is best accomplished when a project with a particular need is attached to a competent volunteer who has an interest in that need. Projects sound easy in execution: highly trained engineers and food scientists—many with an illustrious career are worth of experience to contribute—volunteer to design fairly straightforward tools. But sometimes the simplest tools are the most difficult to design.