Sell Services in an Engineering Market with a contract

Contracts clarify the details when you offer services for sale

In Common Law tradition the three elements of a contract are:

Offer, Acceptance, and Consideration The business web site Canada One has an article which may serve as a Contract content overview

Do I need a contract to Produce Electrical/Electronic drawings?

Things you should include in every contract

Contracts vary widely depending on the nature of the goods or services you are buying or selling. A good contract is detailed and provides a clear description of the exact goods or services to be provided.

To protect yourself, there are a few things you should be sure to include in every contract.

• Parties to the contract. Include the legal names and addresses of all parties.
• Scope. A clear, detailed description of the goods or services to be provided. Due dates are normally included here. Be as clear as possible; as we explain below, this is the one most commonly disputed parts of a contract.
• Price and payment terms. Be sure to include not only the amount, but also when payment is due, the length of time the purchaser has to pay, and any interest charges that will be applied to late payments.
• Responsibilities. Try to anticipate what could go wrong. For example, missing a deadline can have consequences.
• Terms and conditions. This is where lawyers have a lot of fun. Typical things to include here are limitations of liability, terms for amending or terminating the contract, warranties and disclaimers.
• Signatures. You will want to include the signature, typed name, and title of each signatory as well as the date signed for each signatory.

For the purpose of this exercise choose one of the business ideas below:

1. Produce well formatted reports for Trades and Technology students 
2. Produce quality graphs and charts for Trades and Technology students 
3. Produce electrical/electronic drawings for Trades and Technology students 
4. Produce electrical/electronic drawings for technical users in the general public

What would you write in the business contract to sell your services under the heading? Parties to the Contract

What would you write in the business contract to sell your services under the heading? Scope

What would you write in the business contract to sell your services under the heading?  Price and Payment Terms

What would you write in the business contract to sell your services under the heading? Responsibilities

What would you write in the business contract to sell your services under the heading? Terms and Conditions

In Canada governments often issue a tender to acquire engineering services. This form of RFP (Request for Proposal) may involve two contracts. The first phase involves a request for a proposal from the government, a proposal from the engineering company and a cash bid deposit to the government account.

Try to pick out the contract elements in the first phase of an engineering company responding to a government tender by sending a proposal and a bid deposit to a government agency.

Describe the consideration in the 1st phase of the tender process.

Describe the acceptance in the 1st phase of the tender process.

Describe the offer in the 1st phase of the tender process.

References

(2003). Contract - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved May 7, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract.

(2010). Business Contracts 101 - CanadaOne. Retrieved May 7, 2015, from http://www.canadaone.com/ezine/june2010/business_contracts.html.

Management Style and Engineering Personality

Management Types for Engineering Enterprises

Management Types

Kimberly Gerbe is founder of the Irvine, Calif. leadership coaching and communication firm Excelerate. She suggests that the two broad personality types, introvert and extrovert, need some deeper exploration when deciding about management style.1

Management Style	Personality Type	Typical Actions
In Charge	extrovert	Tells people what to do
Chart the Course	introvert	How are we going to get there?
Behind the Scenes	introvert	Collaborative with lots of input
Get Things Going	extrovert	Work is done by teams of motivated people

Table Gerbe Management types

Rhett Power considers that all employee groups will exhibit two main types of temperament: introverts and extroverts. Each type can interact very differently in the workplace. Many extroverts consider everyone a potential client and potential friend. They tend to volunteer for committee work. They involve themselves socially with people. On the other side, extroverts can come across as overpowering and can be overly friendly. Being involved with everyone can lead to burnout.

Introverts typically prefer to work in solitude. They do not show up at purely social events and tend to observe behavior at a distance. Powerful powers of concentration and problem solving are often associated with introverts. They have realistic goals and pursue objectives with patience.

Work place behavior	Personality Type	Typical Actions
everyone a potential client	extrovert	Makes friends
prefer to work in solitude	introvert	problem solving
No social events attendance	introvert	pursue objectives with patience
tend to volunteer	extrovert	committee work

Table Power work place types

The Myers Briggs personality type INTP has been associated with many people who work in engineering enterprises The My Personality Web site (http://www.mypersonality.info/personality-types/intp/ ) has some information about the characteristics of this personality type.

Lisa Magloff comments that management leadership is about finding ways to meet the needs of your employees and of your organization. There is no single correct management leadership style. The best leadership style is the one that meets the challenges you are facing and the needs of the people you are leading. Effective leaders are often flexible and are able to change their style of leadership to suit changing circumstances

Management Style	Typical Actions	Works well …
Laissez-faire	Little direction. Let people get on with things.	With highly trained and motivated
Autocratic	Little scope for workers to think for themselves	In crisis?
Participative	Stresses teamwork	When employees solve problems together
Transformational	Inspire by charisma to achieve the vision	Entrepreneurial enterprises
Strong leaders	Military style following of orders	In time of crisis
Coaching	Works one on one with workers	When specific changes are required to improve performance

Table Magloff Management Styles

Golden Rules for Managing Engineers

Bert Maes cites an article by David Kimbell on 10 Golden Rules for Managing Engineers.

References

(2013). Which of These 4 Types of Managers Are You? - Entrepreneur. Retrieved May 5, 2015, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228253.

(2014). Effective Management: Extroverts vs. Introverts | Inc.com. Retrieved May 6, 2015, from http://www.inc.com/rhett-power/effective-management-extroverts-vs-introverts.html.

2 (2007). INTP (Engineer) Personality Type - Jungian. Retrieved May 6, 2015, from http://www.mypersonality.info/personality-types/intp/.

3 (2011). Types of Management Leadership Styles | Chron.com. Retrieved May 6, 2015, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/types-management-leadership-styles-10024.html.

2010). 10 Golden Rules for Managing Engineers (and Engineering ... Retrieved May 12, 2015, from https://bertmaes.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/10-golden-rules-for-managing-engineers-and-engineering-students/.