Term Paper on "Time Management the Contemporaneous Society"

Term Paper 8 pages (2490 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Time Management

The contemporaneous society is a time of change, crucial mutations that occur on daily basis and impact our lives in ways we had not expected. Take for instance the case of the hi-tech gadgets - which are generally meant to alleviate our chores - aid us and make us more efficient. But no matter how many developments are being made, it would seem that the population has less and less time. And this feature is more and more common across the globe, for all individuals regardless of age or occupation. Lack of time is seen in working environments, when time crisis generally occur and we have to put in extra hours in order to complete our tasks. Lack of time is also obvious in our personal lives, when we never have enough time to spend with the dear ones and we never have enough time to rest.

As a full time master marketing student, I have often been faced with insufficient time to complete my tasks for instance, or insufficient time to spend my vacations with the family. In my personal case, as well as with others, and the general population, be them simple individuals or the business community, the need to more efficiently managed time arises.

This need for a better management of our time can be satisfied through the application of time management tools and techniques. "Time management [...] is a conscious attempt to control and allocate finite time resources. Concern with time and speed is most apparent in the workplace, where it now impinges on the lives of managers, technical professionals and supervisors to the point of creating a minor industry of time-management seminars, day-planners, PDA's and scheduling software. Effective time-management has many benefits. These include a reduction in wasted time, mitigation of work overloads and higher levels of personal productivity. Perhaps more important, time management ensures that the most important task gets done" (Harvard Business Publishing School, 2005).

The application of time management is vital for the entire population and business community as it aids individuals and companies better organize their time, increase the efficiency of their operations and also increase their chances of retrieving the most favourable outcome. As a particular individual, the application of the time management tools and techniques would help me organize my time better, and I would then be better able to complete all tasks in time and also have sufficient time left to rest and see my family. It would also make great practice for my future as a marketing director, when the nature of the operations handled would be more important, would imply more responsibilities and would demand significantly improved results.

As the time is a given and unchangeable feature, we must learn how to adjust to it and how to increase the efficiency of the operations we handle during a stated period of time. "You can't manage time, it just is. So "time management" is a mislabelled problem, which has little chance of being an effective approach. What you really manage is your activity during time, and defining outcomes and physical actions required is the core process required to manage what you do" (Allen, 2001).

2. Application of Theory

The theory in time management is extremely wide and varied based on personal experiences of the authors. However most authors express themselves in different words, the basic conclusion is the same. Time management is represented by a series of tools and techniques implemented in order to increase the efficiency of personal and business operations and also to help the company retrieve the best results. And it is not based on doing more things within a specified amount of time, but making sure that the things you do are the right ones and they are being done at the desired quality standards and retrieve the most favourable results.

Contrary to popular belief, effective time management is not based on doing more things in less time. That's just not going to happen. Time management is about doing the right things better. Time management shows you how to organize your valuable time to make sure the things you need to make happen get done" (Cook, 1998).

A primary feature of effective time management is given by the unique features of all those who apply it: "The need to remember that we're all individuals. We do not all work - or even learn - in the same way" (Mancini, 2003). Therefore, the first things we need to know are the particular features that define us as individuals. I for instance am the sort of person who learns through visual contacts. In other words, I need to see the actual implementation of a strategy in order to comprehend its usage and benefits. Reading makes the comprehension easier, but it's merely an abstract notion without me actually seeing how it practically works. Once I observed and became convinced of the true benefits of efficient time management, I felt the immediate need of understanding it better and applying it myself. And through observation I refer to the studying of other fellow students at the marketing master, who managed not only to complete their tasks in time, but also delivered them at a superior quality than my works, even thought I had often spent more time resolving the tasks than they had.

Then, once the need for effective time management is identified, we have to identify those tools and techniques which best apply to our needs. The economic theory provides the reader with a wide series of possible alternatives for implementing time management. Some of these tools to implementing time management can be summarized as follows:

Find out where your time goes

Establish goals

Learn how to plan your activities (the 5 P's: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance)

Prioritize your activities

Keep interruptions to a minimum

Take control of time at meetings

Improve your communications skills (through push and pull strategies)

Keep your work area organized

Be selective with the reading

Consider using a planner (Sonic, 1996)

Other means of implementing an effective time management could refer to:

Creating a realistic but not intimidating to-do list

Preventing interruptions which could lower the productivity

Coping with information overload

Defeating procrastination (Cook, 1998)

Clearly identifying your goals

Categorizing your goals by order of importance

Attempting to unify the company and unit with individual goals (Harvard Business School, 2005)

But in order to identify those tools and techniques which best apply to us, we must remember the first thing thought by time management: we are unique individuals. As such, to me, a marketing student for a master's degree, not all the above tools are applicable. For instance, I will not be able to take control of time during meetings, for I rarely participate in any meetings and even if I do, I do not have the power to control them. Then, however the unification of my personal goals with the university's goals could be realized, it will not be a primary goal. Then, I have no interest or possibility to hire a planner.

All in all, I would only use part of the available tools to increase the efficiency of my scholarly activities, in the meaning of increasing the quality of my learning and the homework requested and delivering the desired outcomes to the most important tasks within the given amount of time. The strategies I would use refer to identifying the causes for delays and low quality tasks, establishing my personal goals, planning and prioritizing my activities, reducing interruptions and keeping my work area organized.

3. Changes in Thinking and Behaviour

Once I identified the need for the implementation of effective time management, my priorities changes significantly. In other words, my ways of thinking and behaving have changed. I no longer postponed the commencement of scholarly activities, nor did I waste any time once I began working on my projects. In this particular sense, I managed to reduce procrastination.

And my approach to my tasks has also changed. For instance, prior to deciding on implementing the tools and techniques of effective time management, my primary concern was to get the task done in time, and the quality of the final project did not matter as much as the timely delivery. Now however, I am more focused on the quality of my projects. Therefore, the general approach of my scholarly activities shifted from timely delivery to the final quality of the project. In other words, the goal was not to increase the number of tasks handled in the specified amount of time, but to make sure that the same tasks were being properly handled and retrieve the most successful outcome, in the specified amount of time.

The usage of the time management tools and techniques changed my way of thinking for life from one major perspective: efficiency. Time management taught me the true meaning and importance of being efficient: successfully completing your tasks to retrieve a high quality of the products with the usage of reduced resources, of… READ MORE

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