Learning Contract and Action Plan Report
Management Skills – BUMGT2601
Tutor/Lecturer: Peter Osman
Due: September 15th, 2008
Student Name: Sally Jones
Student Number: 2764835
Executive Summary
A key factor for all managers is the ability to manage their time more efficiently. “The only way to create more time is to effectively become a manager of your own time” (Colwill & Birchall, 1992, p.243). The ability to manage your time has to come from the recognition of what your time is spent on; therefore completing activities such as a journal can assist in improving time management skills. (Whetten & Cameron, 1995) To improve time management skills, different theories are discussed and analysed in this report in relation to improving study time. The first theory tested was the Lakein ABC system, which requires tasks to be prioritised according to their importance and urgency.
The second theory discussed is Pareto’s 80/20 rule, which identifies that 80 percent of our activities are trivial and only provide 20 percent of the results that we desire, where 20 percent of our time is spent on vital tasks which is 80 percent of the results we desire (Hunsaker, 2005). Another theory called the biological prime time theory identifies that each person has a time of day in which they are more productive, the key is to discover this time and capitalise on it by assigning the most important and urgent tasks to be completed at this time of day. (DeJanasz, Wood, Gottschalk, Dowd & Schneider, 2006)
Another factor that can help to maximise time is the division of tasks; by dividing up large projects it helps to avoid feeling overwhelmed and it also helps to identify accomplishments. (Whetten & Cameron, 1995)
Time management theories also suggest that in organising you work space can assist individuals to maximise their time so it cannot rob you of time in two ways. One, to spend time looking for items and two, you are not interrupted or distracted. (Whetten & Cameron, 1995) The last theory explored is to make a list of discretionary tasks, which is the process of making a list of some five to ten minute tasks to complete in those spare times that occur throughout the day, being careful that these tasks do not consume time off the urgent or important tasks. (Whetten & Cameron, 1995)
These theories were tested and the results in the report have discovered ways in which time can be maximised through the study of time management theories to achieve a certain goal.
Contents
1.0 Time ManagementPage 4
2.0 Time recognitionPage 4
3.0 ABC SystemPage 4
4.0 Pareto’s 80/20 RulePage 5
5.0 Biological Prime TimePage 5
6.0 Division of TasksPage 5
7.0 Organisation Work SpacePage 6
8.0 Discretionary TasksPage 6
9.0 FindingsPage 6
10.0 ConclusionPage 9
11.0 ReferencesPage 10
1.0 Time Management
Managers need to “direct activities and control events so that goals are met within the appointed time frame” (Caroselli, 2000, p.72). In order to achieve this within the time frame, time management needs to be emphasised. Time management is defined by DeJanasz et..al (2006, p84) as “the ability to allocate our time and resources to accomplishing our objectives”. It refers to the way in which we manage our tasks and priorities. Time is a constant, there are always twenty-four hours in a day, the challenge for managers in to maximise time (Flanagan & Finger, 1998). The “only way to create more time is to effectively become a manager of your own time” (Colwill & Birchall, 1992, p.243). In managing your time, it enables you to prioritise and complete more goals and tasks. (DeJanasz et..al, 2006, p.84) Various theories can assist in achieving this.
2.0 Time Recognition
The only way in which to maximise time is to recognise exactly what our time is spent on, therefore completing activities such as a journal can assist in improving time management skills. This self-analysis alerts us of our tendencies to use time inefficiently (Whetten & Cameron, 1995). Whetten and Cameron (1995) argue that it is impossible to undertake time management or decrease time stressors unless you know what your time is spent on. It relates to self-analysing what we do and how we spend our time, the sudden realisation of how our time is spent can result in an incentive towards personal change. (Stewart, 1998) Therefore different theories can be put in place to assist managers and people wishing to use there time more efficiently.
3.0 ABC System
In order to use ones times more effectively, tasks need to be prioritised. This can be done using the ABC system developed by Alan Lakein. To apply this to everyday tasks each task receives an A, B or C. The letter the task receives depends upon the urgency or importance of the task, where A tasks are most urgent, B tasks are important but not urgent and C tasks are those that can be done after tasks A and B are completed. (Hunsaker, 2005) These tasks can further be prioritised, for example, ‘A’ tasks can be A1, A2, A3, etc. (Stewart, 1998) By making priorities and lists daily, although seemingly it is just common sense, enhances time management as memory is not solely relied upon. (Whetten & Cameron, 1995) Although whilst making these lists “avoid generating multiple lists, unmanageable numbers of priorities, items duplicated on several lists, and constantly changing priorities” (Stewart, 1998, p.27)
4.0 Pareto’s 80/20 Rule
Pareto’s 80/20 rule states “80 percent of our activities are trivial and only provide 20 percent of the results that we desire” (Hunsaker, 2005, p.139) where 20 percent of our time is spent on vital tasks which is 80 percent of the results we desire. Therefore we need to consider what is the best use of time right now and is this achieving maximum effectiveness? (Hunsaker, 2005) Therefore it is crucial to “analyse which tasks make up the 20 percent and spend the bulk of your time on that” (Whetten & Cameron, 1995, p.125) For this principle to work, the 20 percent of activities that are most important and provide the most pay off need to recognised. This is in comparison to the other 80 per cent, which tend to be time wasters. Once this is recognised, then more time needs to be allocated to these tasks and to further analyse if what we are doing is the most effective use of our time. (Hunsaker, 2005)
5.0 Biological Prime Time
By recognising your optimal work time, or also known as biological prime time, it allows you to “maximise use of this time by scheduling and doing demanding jobs during these peak periods” (DeJanasz et al. 2006, p.88) This ensures that the most important tasks receive the most effort. For managers, this technique could be critiqued to apply to all workers, if their prime time is known, then tasks which require a lot of effort and importance can be delegated to them at their peek times (Whetten & Cameron, 1995).
6.0 Division of Tasks
Large projects can be divided into smaller tasks to avoid feeling overwhelmed. This helps to identify accomplishments and avoids the feeling of being inundated, this then leads to procrastination as the individual is feeling overloaded. (Whetten & Cameron, 1995) This means that large or difficult tasks are broken down into stages or parts to complete one at a time, seemingly making the task smaller and more achievable. This can result in the individual feeling less stressed over the capacity of work to be completed and achieving these in stages results in more positive thoughts of success. (Worrall & Cooper, 2001)
7.0 Organisation Work Space
Organising our workplace can greatly assist our time management. In doing so, it cannot rob us of time in two ways. One, to spend time looking for items and two, you are not interrupted or distracted. (Whetten & Cameron, 1995) In order to be organised, critical factors such as location, comfort, having items readily accessible, establish a filing system, stick to one task at a time and clear the desk of all other tasks, this can assist in reducing time wasters such as searching for various documents (Flanagan & Finger, 1998) Distractions rob people of time. By having an area away from these distractions, or a set time of the day when no one is to disturb you, it can give the individuals time to concentrate on important tasks or just give them a time in which to relax and have time to think (Whetten & Cameron, 1995)
8.0 Discretionary Tasks
Making a list of some five to ten minute tasks to complete in those spare times that occur throughout the day can assist managers utilising their time. It is important to be careful that these tasks do not consume time off the urgent or important tasks. (Whetten & Cameron, 1995) This means those times throughout the day when waiting for a meeting, taking a phone call or for something to begin are not wasted and this time can be used more effectively maximizing time usage. (Whetten & Cameron, 1995)
9.0 Findings
These theories were all tested in relation to the aim of maximising time in order to increase at home study by thirty percent. By using time recognition, a journal was created to identify current level of study time, this concluded that ten hours per week was the current level and identified that to increase this by thirty percent would result in thirteen hours per week. This realisation came from a journal kept on week one, (Refer to Appendix A) which acknowledged four key areas on which my time was spent: work, university, study and T.V. The aim of the action plan was to increase study time, therefore it was noted that T.V needed to be decreased and spare moments throughout the day needed to be utilised in order to capitalise on study time. In doing this, I recognised that there were large chunks of time that were wasted throughout my week, although I felt as though I was constantly busy. This technique of keeping track of my time throughout my research provided both my post and pre test measures. I would also keep a journal every week to analyse progress using various theories.
In week two, the theory of making lists of things to accomplish that day was used along with the Alan Lakein ABC system (Hunsaker, 2005) to prioritise these tasks that were set throughout the day. In doing this, I made a draft list and then set priorities to each activity, then a final list was done with these in order containing an A, B or C next to each task so I recognised which tasks were most important to complete first, and B tasks would not be started unless all A tasks were either complete or at a stage in which no further work could be done on them. My expected outcome for this theory was that I would complete most tasks labeled A and B as I already make lists, but do not prioritise these, and that productivity would not increase dramatically. The actual outcome was a surprise. By making a list with priorities on them, I found that my productivity did increase as I was accomplishing tasks that were of importance, rather than doing the trivial tasks that looked good as I crossed them off the list. I found the theory of Lakein to be fairly straightforward, but did in fact help increase my study time, as study was a higher priority than doing the washing.
I also attempted to recognise my biological prime time in week two. This is to attempt to increase the amount of work done, as high priorities would be done in the time in which the body was more productive, hence being referred to as the optimal working time. (DeJenasz et al. 2006) I kept a chart where I rated my energy levels from one to ten each day to assess where my prime time stood, which I have highlighted peek times throughout the day where my energy levels were at its highest. (Refer to Appendix B) The expectation from this was that my ‘prime time’ would be later in the day, as I do not consider myself as a morning person, but in reality I found it was very difficult to recognise this time of day, as I found my energy levels each day changed, but the most common trend was to have my peek later in the day, from around 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. generally. This theory did not work as well as I hoped as although recognising this time proved difficult, actually being able to schedule activities in this time was close to impossible, as work hours would change, unexpected priorities would occur, and homework was slotted in at spare moments throughout the day, as my weeks are unstructured and vary, arriving at a certain time of day to complete study was not realistic at this point in time. I have concluded that this theory may be more useful when I start full time employment, as my week will be more controlled with less variables to juggle.
In this week, I also decided to try to organise my workspace. According to Whetten and Cameron (1995), a disorganized workspace can rob you of time in two ways. One, to spend time looking for items and two, you are not interrupted or distracted. I have a room in my house which is purely for study, therefore I already have a place which is away from distractions, although I removed my mobile phone, my MP3 player and all other non related university material. My desk however needed to be organised, I brought shelves and containers so that various documents were no longer lying around and cleared my desk of all clutter and mess so that my working environment was clean and organised. The anticipation of this theory was that the time I spent cleaning my desk would be a complete waste of time. However on reflection it was not, I did find that time spent looking for things was reduced dramatically if not distinguished. Also having a clear space to work in was more motivating, as I didn’t feel cluttered and stressed as much.
I then tested the 80/20 rule in week three. This proved to have similar results to the Alan Lakein ABC system (Hunsaker, 2005) as the most urgent tasks were more focused upon than the irrelevant tasks. The only difference was I was unclear on exactly how much percentage of my time was spent on urgent compared to trivial tasks, as I focused on the urgent ones, and once they were complete then moved onto the trivial tasks on my to-do list. Therefore I concluded that this theory although useful, did not present to be any more helpful than simply prioritising tasks.
It is very often that throughout my week I find myself very rushed and have the constant feeling of not having sufficient time, so Whetten & Cameron, (1995) suggested that in order to maximise time, discretionary tasks should be recognised in and completed in the small amounts of spare time that occurs throughout the day. This theory sounded good on the surface, but with my perceived lack of time, did not think that it would prove to be successful. On reflection, I did have spare moments throughout the day in which I never recognised prior to this activity. I made a list of a few quick tasks that could be achieved in ten to fifteen minutes for times throughout the day when I was waiting for something to begin. This proved to be quite helpful as in those spare moments little tasks that rarely were achieved got completed. Although in relation to my aim of increasing my study time, this theory did not have much effect, as the tasks I listed did not directly affect the amount of study time.
The last theory in which I tested was to divide up large projects to avoid the feeling of being overwhelmed. I did not have high expectations for this theory as I assumed that I would still feel quite overwhelmed with my workload, as I would know that I still had to accomplish all tasks even if they were broken down into smaller ones. On reflection of this, I was mistaken. By breaking larger tasks down and achieving small amounts at a time, it gave me a sense of accomplishment and kept me more motivated to complete extra tasks, therefore resulting in the large tasks being completed earlier. I felt less pressure to sit down and try to finish a whole assignment or a group of questions. This theory proved very useful as I could see “the light at the end of the tunnel” and I will continue to use this theory well into my working life.
10.0 Conclusion
From the analysis, which took place over a five-week period, the post-test results showed that in using time management theories, I was able to maximise my time use to exceed my goal of increasing my study time of thirty percent to actually achieving sixty percent for a total of sixteen hours per week. This was achievable due to putting in place these theories and finding which ones worked well with my schedule and daily life.
11.0 References:
Caroselli, M., (2000) Leadership Skills for Managers, United States, McGraw Hill.
Colwill, J., & Birchall, G., (1992) Practical Management: An Introduction to Management Skills, Australia, Longman House
DeJanasz, S., Wood, G., Gottschalk, L., Dowd, K., & Schneider B., (2006) Interpersonal Skills in Organisations, Australia, McGraw Hill
Flanagan, N., & Finger, J., (1998) Just about everything a Manger need to know, Queensland, Australia, Plum Press
Hunsaker, P., (2005) Management: a skills approach (2nd ed.) New Jersey, Pearsons Education
Stewart, D., (1998) Handbook of Management Skills, (3rd ed.) England, Gower Publishing Limited
Whetten, D., & Cameron, K., (1995) Developing Management Skills (3rd ed.) America, Harpers CollinsWorrall, L., & Cooper, C., (2001) Management skills development: a perspective on current issues and setting the future agenda, Leadership & Organization Development Journal 22(1) Retrieved September 4, 2008 from HYPERLINK “http://www.emeraldinsight.com” http://www.emeraldinsight.com
