Master of Engineering Management Flashcards
7 cards from real ME or MEng Master of Engineering practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Master of Engineering Management flashcards as text
A program manager is using Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) with Earned Value Management (EVM). The Cost Performance Index (CPI) is 0.78. This means:
Answer: The project is getting $0.78 of value for every $1.00 spent
CPI = Earned Value / Actual Cost; a CPI of 0.78 means only 78 cents of planned work value is being produced per dollar spent, signaling a cost overrun trend.
Which organizational structure gives functional managers the most authority over engineers assigned to a project?
Answer: Functional organization
In a functional organization, engineers report directly to their functional department head, who controls assignments, priorities, and performance reviews.
A product development team uses Quality Function Deployment (QFD). The 'House of Quality' primarily maps:
Answer: Customer requirements (WHATs) to engineering characteristics (HOWs)
QFD's House of Quality translates the voice of the customer into specific, measurable engineering design targets, prioritizing features by customer importance.
When managing a geographically distributed engineering team across multiple time zones, the most effective communication practice is to:
Answer: Establish overlapping core hours and rely heavily on asynchronous documentation
Defined overlap hours allow real-time collaboration for critical decisions while asynchronous tools (shared docs, recorded meetings) enable productive work outside those windows.
The 'learning curve effect' in engineering production management predicts that:
Answer: Unit labor costs decrease by a fixed percentage each time cumulative volume doubles
Learning curve theory states that as cumulative production doubles, unit labor hours fall by a constant percentage (e.g., 80% curve = 20% reduction each doubling).
An engineering manager must present a business case to secure R&D funding. Which metric best demonstrates a project's potential to create shareholder value relative to its investment?
Answer: Net Present Value (NPV)
NPV measures the difference between the present value of future cash inflows and outflows, directly quantifying value creation above the cost of capital.
In risk management, the difference between 'risk appetite' and 'risk tolerance' is best described as:
Answer: Appetite is the broad level of risk an organization is willing to accept; tolerance is the acceptable variance around specific objectives
Risk appetite is the organization's overall posture toward risk-taking, while risk tolerance defines the acceptable deviation limits for specific goals like cost or schedule.