What Is the Engineering Management Society?

The Engineering Management Society (EMS) was an IEEE technical society established in 1951 to advance the study and practice of managing engineering and technology organizations. It served as the primary professional community within IEEE for practitioners and researchers working at the intersection of engineering, management science, and technology leadership. Over more than six decades, the society supported the development of engineering management as a recognized academic and professional discipline through publications, conferences, and educational programs. In 2015, the EMS transitioned to a new organizational identity as the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society (TEMS), reflecting an expanded scope that encompasses digital transformation, innovation ecosystems, and technology entrepreneurship alongside the traditional engineering management curriculum.

History and Organizational Development

The EMS was founded in 1951 during a period when the management of engineering work in defense industries, telecommunications, and early computing was growing in complexity. The society provided a forum for engineers who moved into supervisory and executive roles to develop and share management knowledge grounded in technical experience. Over the following decades, EMS grew alongside the emergence of engineering management as a formal academic field, with universities establishing graduate programs and developing curricula that combined technical coursework with subjects in operations research, economics, and organizational theory. A detailed organizational history is maintained by the Engineering and Technology History Wiki entry on the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society.

Publications and Research Activities

The society's most enduring intellectual contribution is its stewardship of the IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, a quarterly peer-reviewed journal that has published research on engineering management theory and practice since 1954. The journal covers topics including technology strategy, innovation management, product development processes, project management, and organizational behavior in technical settings. EMS also published the Engineering Management Review, a periodical that re-published key papers from other journals and included original practitioner-focused content, serving readers who wanted access to research findings without the density of primary research articles. These publications established and sustained the literature base of the engineering management discipline across the society's operational life.

Transition to TEMS

The 2015 transition from EMS to the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society represented a deliberate broadening of scope to reflect the expanding relevance of technology management concerns beyond traditional engineering industries. The new society's name signals engagement with digital business transformation, platform economics, entrepreneurship in technology-based ventures, and the management implications of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and advanced manufacturing. TEMS maintains the EMS legacy through its continued stewardship of the Transactions and the Engineering Management Review while adding technical committees and conferences that address these newer domains. Information on the current society structure is available through the IEEE TEMS governance and about pages.

Applications

The Engineering Management Society contributed to professional development across a range of fields, including:

• Industrial and manufacturing engineering organizations managing large technical workforces
• Defense and aerospace program management offices overseeing complex development programs
• Academic departments establishing engineering management curricula and degree programs
• Technology companies building internal management development and training programs
• Professional certification bodies developing credentials for engineering managers