Managerial Effectiveness Managing the Self and Others

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Chapter 3 : Time Management

 Importance of Time Management

+Analysis of Time

+Planning Time and Resources

+Setting Goals and Objectives

+Planning to Achieve Goals

Chapter Summary

Time is a very important resource. It cannot be saved and used later, it can only be spent. Therefore, a manager must spend time wisely. Effective time managers can balance all aspects of their lives effectively. Time management is the art of doing things based on priority. An analysis of time is the basic step in time management and time logs play a vital role in this.

Time logs are maintained to record how time is spent. Over a period, the time logs help in identifying the time-wasters. Time-wasters are those activities which are not important or do not require immediate attention. They can be internal and external to a manager. Internal time-wasters arise due to personal disorientation, procrastination, or the inefficiency of the individual. External time-wasters are meetings, interruptions, the Internet, poor communication, and socializing.

Another category of time-wasters are time abusers. They waste time with their inadequacies like perfectionism and preemptiveness. After the time-wasters have been analyzed, it is time to start planning. Planning involves identifying objectives, which can be for either the long-term or the short-term. A plan involves identifying the time and resources required to achieve the objectives. A long-term plan has the overall objectives and goals of the manager.

A short-term plan has the activities to be performed to achieve the objectives of the manager. A short-term plan is a subset of the long-term plan. A manager should consider the time factors, resources available, and nature of activities while preparing a time plan. Plans can be prepared on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. A weekly plan is the most effective because it provides both short-term and long-term perspectives.

After planning comes the setting of goals. Goals are a numerical or quantitative representation of a desired result. The plan should be in harmony with the goals. Managers should set SMART goals i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timed goals. Once the goals have been set, the managers should start planning to achieve the goals. The strategies to achieve goals include scheduling, delegating, and controlling time-wasters. Scheduling is queuing up of activities depending upon their priority. Delegating activities is assigning activities to others to reduce wastage of time.

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