ISSUE 6: February 2007

Tim Griffin honoured with the Medal of the Order of Australia

APESMA's 14th National President and Chifley Board member Tim Griffin, has been honoured with the Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division as part of the Australia Day 2007 awards.

Mr Griffin has been described as a 'people's person', and he is both humbled and honoured by being recognised by his peers within the local, national and international Engineering Profession and Rockhampton community, for his contribution to both his profession and local regional community.

Tim said, "Encouraging and providing opportunities for young regional people to pursue a career in engineering and technology professions and contributing to the development of regional Australia living, has been rewarding in itself".

Tim has been a part-time Transportation lecturer to undergraduate Engineering students, whilst being Queensland Transport’s, Manager of Regional Planning and Infrastructure for central Queensland, based in Rockhampton. Tim has been a career public servant since 1984 and has worked in Brisbane, Mackay and Rockhampton.

"Rockhampton and the engineering profession have been both supportive and rewarding for me." Tim is presently on secondment as Branch Manger, Transport Planning with the Department of Enterprise, Innovation and Networks in the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) based in Cardiff, during 2007.

Student Spotlight: Reece Lumsden

In this issue, we shine the spotlight on one of our graduates of the APESMA MBA (Technology Management) program.

Reece Lumsden attended the Information Evening in Canberra in 2001 and enrolled into the program in 2002. Reece now works for The Boeing Company in USA, as Project Manager on the 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

The APESMA MBA in Technology Management is immediately applicable to my work as a Project Manager on Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner aircraft. This program depends heavily on people who have a holistic perspective because there are so many different interests involved. In my dealings with the aerospace community in the US, I have observed that the biggest need is for engineers who transcend their technical base and seek to optimise the technical and non-technical (financial, political, human, ethical) dimensions. This is particularly the case in the space arena where drivers are usually non-technical.

The one thing that I discovered about distance learning is that it requires a great deal of self discipline, requires you to stay on top of the course material and not get too far behind. In distance learning, no one is there to push you so you need to rely heavily on your ability to learn independently and if you don’t understand something, use the resources of fellow students, the lecturer, message boards, notes and extra readings to fill in the gaps. I absorbed quite a lot from reading comments of fellow students and their questions on the bulletin board. This is not something you would have access to in attending normal scheduled classes unless you were right next to the student asking the question.

I enjoyed the course immensely because I learnt things that I apply routinely in my work. Seeing some of the issues I was studying play out in my workplace helped enhance the learning experience for me as it provided an extra anchor to help me understand the concepts.

The MBA—Technology Management added a powerful dimension to my professionalism. It provided me with the ability to reason on technical issues from a multi-dimensional position, backed up by logic and problem solving skills I had already developed through my engineering undergraduate degree.

Get in Front[line]

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. -- John F. Kennedy

What is the definition of leadership? To some, leadership is synonymous with power and authority. In retrospect, leadership is defined as the ability to influence and motivate towards achieving a goal. Regardless of how leadership is defined across cultures, it requires you to be equipped with fundamental skills in order to lead effectively.

Karen Docker who recently graduated with the Diploma of Business (Frontline Management) asserts that the course has enabled her to think more laterally. Through a mixture of theoretical and practical approaches, she now effectively leads her team at IBM. The flexible format also enabled Karen to relate the principles and learning outcomes back into her workplace.

Chifley Business School offers the Certificate IV in Business (Frontline Management) and the Diploma of Business (Frontline Management) qualifications to assist your organisation in developing competent Frontline Managers. Our Frontline Management qualifications are used extensively by both individuals and organisations to:

• Prepare individuals to extend their capabilities in team leadership,
• Consolidate initial team leadership experience into management of a wider group or function, and
• Address identified capability gaps for existing team leaders/managers.

The Certificate is designed for line managers who seek to enhance their people, management and organisational skills while the Diploma is designed for middle managers who wish to explore in greater depth the knowledge and skills required to be an effective people manager.