Skill Development: Time Management Skills - Example

Skill Development: Time Management Skills Introduction There are some people who constantly experience stress and pressure for time and desire a way that they could effectively manage their time. Time is one asset that is most valuable to everyone. Individuals usually ignore the value of time, but for institutions and firms, time is as valuable as time. Time is irreversible and cannot be bought and therefore, it should not be wasted. In fact, time is normally paid- for especially in the case of a workplace and that is why, companies do not want their employees to waste time when they are supposed to be working (Harris, 2008: 125). All people manage their time in one way or the other because; they make decisions on what they want to do, and the duration they are going to do that task. Basically, time management is effectively done when the best methods are used in utilizing the available time with the objective of augmenting efficiency and productivity (Harris, 2008). For the past two decades, the important of time has been widely recognized. Time has been found to be a very fundamental aspect of work because of the intensifying global competition as well as the increase in demand for products and services to be made available. The pace of life is becoming faster and thus the need to contract the time expenditure by sleeping less, eating faster and minimizing actions through multi tasking. Therefore, time management skills are gained by understanding how to set goals and prioritize, organize, make daily plans and deal with unexpected circumstances (Claessens et al, 2007: 256). Theoretical Concepts of Time Management Skills One approach that has been developed for application of time management is the Pareto Principle or the 80/20 rule. Based on the principle, it has been suggested that; unless people try to do something about time management, then, for most people about 80% of what is accomplished results from 20% of what they do. This means that; often there is a major state of imbalance between the effort and outcomes. In relation to time management, people reinforce the 80/ 20 rule when they leave working on something of high significance and work something that is not very important. Therefore, the application of the 80/ 20 rule in time management helps in judging tasks that have priority compared to those that do not (Vaccaro, 2000). Another similar model is the naïve model of managerial behavior. According to the model, the possibility of people to monitor several projects or tasks at the same time is dependent on available time to process information regarding the task. At the same time, during the processing of information, it is done in a parallel or a series manner depending on the complexity of the task being processed. In case high level of non- automatic functioning is needed, attention may have to be on some small section of the problem hence; serial form of processing and in turn, the need to set priorities. Furthermore, when there are time constraints, the problem is aggravated because of the need to simultaneously monitor tasks and set priorities (Seshadri & Shapira, 2001: 649). Therefore, the theory suggests that; time management is fundamental especially when dealing with simultaneous tasks because of the need to effectively process information about the tasks and set priorities on them. The theory of time management generally illustrates the behaviors that a person is expected to depict in order to effectively management time. There are three behaviors of time management that the theory suggests as being significant gaining time management skills. These behaviors include; “setting goals and priorities, mechanics of time management, and preference for organization” (Claessens, 2004: 21). In that case, the theory of time management expects an individual to adjust his or her behaviors in order to meet clearly indicated goals. Implications of Time Management Skills in Effective Management Practices Before examining the implications of time management, it is important to define time management. There are various literature works written defining time management but no agreed definition has been found. However, from review of literature by Claessens and colleagues (2007: 262), time management is generally defines as a process of recognizing needs, setting goals aimed at addressing those needs, setting priorities and making plans of the tasks intended to achieve the goals. For that reason, time management is a technique of effectively using time and ensuring that the available time is used to accomplish the required tasks. Time management is an issue that affects a wide range of people because of the activities that they people engage- in on a daily basis. For example; in school, students face the challenge of appropriately managing their time so that their can balance their social work and school work. According Van der Meera, Jansen and Torenbeek (2010: 778), one of the skills that students in first year of college struggle with is effective time management. The students find it challenging when organizing and dealing with a wide range of tasks. In that regard, studies have shown that; when students are equipped with time management skills, they are able to succeed during the first year and the subsequent years of their lives. This is because; the studies found that, when students gain the skill of time management, they do not only acquire discipline –specific capabilities, but they gain generic abilities as well. Essentially, time management is not a new theory because it has been a subject of discussion for decades. People in organizations have been trained on how to effectively manage their time and improve their time management skills through the understanding of: “time consuming activities, changing time expenditure, and increasing workday efficiency” (Claessens et al, 2007: 258) by making daily planning, successfully prioritizing tasks, and dealing with unexpected tasks. This is because; through effective monitoring and regulation of oneself, and by implementing the appropriate measures to monitor time, a person is able to accomplish a lot within a limited period of time (Claessens, 2004). Effective time management is essential in every field and institution hence it has become an important part of management practice. Often, managers complain that they are not able to complete what they are doing before they are interrupted. As a result, as they struggle to spend more time working, they still fall behind schedule. Arnold and Pulich (2004: 65) mention that; effective management of time is a crucial element for individuals with the objective of completing tasks in today’s world. Those who seek to improve their ability of effective time management need to undertake various steps. (1) They should examine the attitudes they have towards time, (2) they should analyze the behaviors that result to wastage of time, and (3) they should develop improved time management skills. It is possible to improve performance with effective time management. Studies have also found that; individuals who effectively management their time or have a time structure, develop a sense of purpose in their lives, they have a strong self esteem, and is disciplined. Moreover, people with high level of procrastination do not realize the value of time and normally fall behind schedule on their projects, studies, and lack control of their time and in setting of priorities and goals. Such people have been found to be less likely to implement time management measures in their tasks. In other studies, time management skills have been found to be important in reducing the vulnerability to stress. Studies have shown that; effective management of time lead to reduced levels of stress because the individuals are not pressured by time constraints (Claessens, 2004:23). In addition, during management, it is possible to fall behind schedule because of poor time management. Developing time management skills is important because it will help in ensuring that important tasks are completed on time and effectively done. Seshadri & Shapira (2001: 650) point out that; it is common for managers to be frequently interrupted during their work but successful managers are those that set priorities so that the interruptions do not end up being costly for them. This means that; successful individuals are those that effectively manage the time on their hands. Susan Whitbourne (2011), a professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts, notes that; there are different ways of improving one’s time management skills. First, a person should develop goals that can be achieved in a day – either at work, school, house or any other place. The next thing to do is to schedule the day according to the goals that have been set. The tasks should be prioritized by ensuring that; the most important goal is first accomplished before the other goals that are not very important. For example, a person should check on their office work first before checking on social networks such as Tweeter. A person should constantly check on the extent of their schedule to find out if they are on time or not. The focus should be on important tasks first before the others. Lastly, a person should adhere to the schedules by ensuring that they accomplish the given tasks on time as much as possible even when everyone else is not on schedule (Whitbourne, 2011). Action Plan Outcomes and Measures Since most of the things that we do during the day only 20% of it is important –according to the Pareto Principle of 80/20- understanding of the rule is important because it will help in the identification of those things and focusing on them. In that effect, the tasks to focus on are those that are important and this can be achieved by ensuring that; the 20% of the important tasks do not slip without being done at the expense of the 80% that is not important (Vaccaro, 2000). In order to find out what is important and what is not, a person has to develop time management skills. The specific behaviors for time management include; assessing time and understanding the past, the present and the future, and also using the time to complete tasks based on the person’s capabilities. A person as to also have planning skills for example; setting goals, having a plan for tasks, setting priorities, creating a to-do list, and having categories of tasks with the objective of effectively using time (Claessens et al, 2007: 263). This can be achieved by implementing various measures such as: Adjusting attitudes toward time The perception that a person has towards time determines whether a person values time as a resource or views time as being available in plenty. A person’s attitudes towards time also determines how the person progresses through the day- some assume that tasks will eventually be completed while other plan for the day’s task. Primarily, a person possessing high sense of time believes that time is limited and they have to make the best out of it. As a result, they are conscious about the decisions they make in relation to time allocation to various tasks and in turn, they effectively manage their time (Arnold & Pulich 2004: 68). Evaluating time wasting behaviors A person can ensure that their behaviors are not robbing them of their time value. One way this can be achieved is through time log maintenance. Often people complaining that they do not understand how they spend their time, usually do not have an idea of how they spend their time and for that reason, they have to learn how time is used. This means that; a person has to give an account of how they spend their time on a daily basis for a given duration. Time spend on tasks have to be documented in such that; as a person starts the day, they should draw flow charts of the activities in time increments for the day. By doing this, the person finds out the exact used for every task e.g. time spent on reading emails, chatting with friends, doing assignments, and others (Arnold & Pulich, 2004: 67). Secondly, the person has to discover the behaviors that contribute to time wasting. It is not possible to be perfect in time management because time wasting behaviors are common but they have to be eliminated or minimized to improve performance. By having a time log, a person can easily realize the activities that are taking up most of their time and realizing the activities that are constructive. It is possible to find out from the time log that; a person spends more time in socializing such that; even those the person is able to improve his or her interpersonal skills and networking, the costs can outweigh the benefits. Unnecessary activities are time wasters and should be avoided and concentration be paid on outlined objectives (Arnold & Pulich 2004: 68). Improving time management skills Finally, there are a number of measures that a person can use in order to improve his or her time management skills. The key to the development of improved time management skills is through the formulation of clear objectives on a daily basis. The objectives should be written and kept for revisit and to ensure that they are being achieved. Having a record of such objectives contributes to the understanding of the significance of certain activities. Objectives also contribute to the attainment of long term goals since they are changed when need arises. On the other hand, when a person does not have goals, it is not easy why some things failed and a person ends up being time controlling instead of a time manager (Arnold & Pulich 2004: 69). The second measure is to prioritize goals. After establishing objectives, they should be prioritized so as to focus on the important tasks first because of the possibility of unforeseen situations that may prevent a person from realizing their objectives. Furthermore, prioritizing objectives will reduce the possibility of spending too much time of tasks that are not important at the expense of crucial ones. The other measures include: Creating a daily to- do list: listing the activities that have to be accomplished at the end of the day Having a procedure on how things have to be done to avoid time wasting Developing mental and physical organization skills. This involves having a logical way of doing things and having a well organized working area to ease execution of tasks. Establishing routines to effectively and efficiently use the available time. for example; calls and emails can be returned at specific times of the day unless they are urgent; meetings can be held before a lunch break or end of shift to avoid prolonging of meeting, having focused agenda when working in groups, and avoiding comfortable places for meetings or group discussions because time can easily be wasted since everyone is comfortable e.g. if the meeting is supposed to be brief, the team can avoid sitting (Arnold & Pulich 2004: 71). The implementation of the action plan is bound to yield positive outcomes and lead to personal as well as managerial benefits. It was noted by Seshadri & Shapira (2001: 650) that; in life, interruptions are common and when a person does not understand the aspect of time management, the individual will is bound to suffer loss. For example; in the case of a manager, interruptions can be costly, but when a manager sets priorities, and setting up time to avoid the hazardous effects of interruptions. Furthermore, as a leader or an employee, respecting time is vital as it facilitates for effective time management which eventually leads to efficiency and productivity (Arnold and Pulich, 2004: 70). In that effect, development of time management skill is beneficial in the present and in the future- as a student, as an employee, and even as a leader because it guides on effective task execution. Overall, gaining skills in time management equips a person with insights on how to achieve desired goals, how to weigh activities in terms of their importance and in turn prioritize them so that the most important tasks are first completed before the unnecessary tasks. From studies, it has been found that a person with time management skills does not only achieve a high level of productivity, but is also less likely to experience stress. This is attributed to the fact that; the person has specifically outlined process of completing tasks and this plan facilitates for efficiency. As stated by Claessens and colleagues (2007: 263), time management skills guide a person to show behaviors that are aimed at effectively using time while engaging in specific goal- oriented tasks. For that reason, having time management skills is not an objective that is pursued in isolation, and instead, it requires the person to understand tasks and effectively use the available time to accomplish those tasks depending on their importance. Conclusion As evident from the Pareto Principle of the 80/ 20 Rule, often people focus on 80% of issues that are not important and in turn, they do not give the needed attention to the 20% that is really important. The 80/20 rule serves as a daily reminder that we need to focus 80% of our energy and time on the 20% of our work that is rather important. Therefore, when working, it is not only about working smart, but working smart on the things that are right. In addition, effective time management is a skill that is gained when a person understands the value of time and respects it. Although there are numerous benefits of effective time management, people should be cautious so that in the event of time management they experience detrimental impacts. This mainly occurs when a person is working on managing time and thus multi- tasks, the outcome can be productivity on the one hand, and disaster on the other for instance; a person making a call while driving or an employee talking on the phone with a client while at the same time he is responding to email messages. Such people may be working to manage time and improve productivity, but the required attention will not have been paid to either tasks and thus the outcome may end up not be as good as it should have been if adequate attention had been given to the tasks. References Arnold, E. & Pulich, M. (2004). Improving Productivity through More Effective Time Management. The Health Care Manager. Vol. 23 (1), p.65-70 Claessens, B. J.C. (2004). Perceived Control of Time: Time Management and Personal Effectiveness at Work. CIP- Data Library. P.1-188 Claessens, B., Van Eerde, W., Rutte, C., Roe, R. (2007). A review of the time management literature, Personnel Review, 36(2), 255 – 276 Harris, J, (2008), Time Management 100 Success Secrets: The 100 Most Asked Questions. New York: lulu.com, http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=4LC0vQRoSqEC&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=time+management+theory+effective&source=bl&ots=YEeYzQSOZx&sig=I_E8DDwWAPmo5RuWG2D-WXIyxbA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hzSAUPrdJ-r74QT8r4DYCg&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAg Seshadri, S. & Shapira, Z. (2001). Managerial Allocation of Time and Efforts: the effects of interruptions. Management Science. Vol. 47 (5), p.647-662 Vaccaro, P. J. (2000). Balancing Act: The 80/20 Rule of Time Management. Family Practice Management. Vol. 7 (8), p.76- Van der Meera, J., Jansen, E. & Torenbeek, M. (2010). ‘It’s almost a mindset that teachers need to change’: first year students’ need to be inducted into time management. Studies in Higher Education, 39(7), 777 Whitbourne, S. K. (2011). A Five Minute Guide to Effective Time Management. Psychology Today. Read More