Achieving Objectives Through Time Management, Fifth Edition (PDF)

 AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO Pergamon Flexible Learning is an imprint of Elsevier superseries Achieving Objectives Through Time Management FIFTH EDITION Published for the Institute of Leadership & Management Institute of Leadership & Management Prelims-I046415.qxd 3/16/07 3:33 PM Page i  Pergamon Flexible Learning is an imprint of Elsevier Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA First edition 1986 Second edition 1991 Third edition 1997 Fourth edition 2003 Fifth edition 2007 Copyright © 1986, 1991, 1997, 2003, 2007 ILM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved Editor: David Pardey Based on material in previous editions of this work The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute of Leadership & Management or of the publisher No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone (�44) (0) 1865 843830; fax (�44) (0) 1865 853333; email: permissions@ elsevier.com. Alternatively, you can submit your request online by visiting the Elsevier website at http://elsevier.com/locate/permissions, and selecting Obtaining permission to use Elsevier material Notice No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 978-0-08-046415-2 For information on all Pergamon Flexible Learning publications visit our website at http://books.elsevier.com Institute of Leadership & Management Registered Office 1 Giltspur Street London EC1A 9DD Telephone: 020 7294 2470 www.i-l-m.com ILM is part of the City & Guilds Group Typeset by Charon Tec Ltd (A Macmillan Company), Chennai, India www.charontec.com Printed and bound in Great Britain 07 08 09 10 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Prelims-I046415.qxd 3/16/07 3:33 PM Page ii  Contents Series preface v Unit specification vii Workbook introduction ix 1 ILM Super Series 4 study links ix 2 Links to ILM qualifications ix 3 Links to S/NVQs in management ix 4 Workbook objectives x Session A Where does all the time go? 1 1 Introduction 1 2 What is time management? 2 3 Activity traps 3 4 Activity trap 1: crisis management 3 5 Activity trap 2: responding to demands 7 6 Activity trap 3: the treadmill 10 7 Getting out of the trap 12 8 Summary 14 Session B Deciding how to use time 15 1 Introduction 15 2 Making decisions 15 3 Identifying demands 19 4 Habits 31 5 Priorities 35 6 The time management grid 39 7 The quadrants 44 8 Summary 52 iii Prelims-I046415.qxd 3/16/07 3:33 PM Page iii  Contents iv Session C Making time work 53 1 Introduction 53 2 Time logs 53 3 Planning time for you and your team 56 4 The list system 57 5 Gantt charts 65 6 Summary 70 Session D The limitations of time management 71 1 Introduction 71 2 Scheduling your own tasks 71 3 Scheduling team time 73 4 The best-laid plans … 74 5 Coping with the unexpected 75 6 Reviewing the use of time 82 7 Summary 86 Performance checks 87 1 Quick quiz 87 2 Workbook assessment 89 Reflect and review 91 1 Reflect and review 91 2 Action plan 94 3 Extensions 96 4 Answers to self-assessment questions 97 5 Answers to activities 100 6 Answers to the quick quiz 101 7 Certificate 103 Prelims-I046415.qxd 3/16/07 3:33 PM Page iv  v Series preface Whether you are a tutor/trainer or studying management development to further your career, Super Series provides an exciting and flexible resource to help you to achieve your goals. The fifth edition is completely new and up- to-date, and has been structured to perfectly match the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM)’s new unit-based qualifications for first line managers. It also harmonizes with the 2004 national occupational standards in management and leadership, providing an invaluable resource for S/NVQs at Level 3 in Management. Super Series is equally valuable for anyone tutoring or studying any manage- ment programmes at this level, whether leading to a qualification or not. Individual workbooks also support short programmes, which may be recog- nized by ILM as Endorsed or Development Awards, or provide the ideal way to undertake CPD activities. For learners, coping with all the pressures of today’s world, Super Series offers you the flexibility to study at your own pace to fit around your professional and other commitments. You don’t need a PC or to attend classes at a specific time – choose when and where to study to suit yourself! And you will always have the complete workbook as a quick reference just when you need it. For tutors/trainers, Super Series provides an invaluable guide to what needs to be covered, and in what depth. It also allows learners who miss occasional sessions to ‘catch up’ by dipping into the series. Super Series provides unrivalled support for all those involved in first line management and supervision. Prelims-I046415.qxd 3/16/07 3:33 PM Page v  This page intentionally left blank  Unit specification Title: Achieving objectives through time Unit Ref: M3.04 management Level: 3 Credit value: 1 Learning outcomes Assessment criteria The learner will The learner can (in an organization with which the learner is familiar) 1. Understand the 1.1 Set SMART objectives for own workload, list them in order of importance of priority and establish appropriate time scales for their effective time achievement management in 1.2 Plan the achievement of the objectives using an established time prioritizing and management technique achieving 1.3 Identify constraining or limiting factors that could hinder the objectives achievement of any one of these objectives 1.4 Briefly explain the monitoring techniques for any objective vii Prelims-I046415.qxd 3/16/07 3:33 PM Page vii  This page intentionally left blank  Workbook introduction 1 ILM Super Series 4 study links This workbook addresses the issues of Achieving Objectives Through Time Management. Should you wish to extend your study to other Super Series workbooks covering related or different subject areas, you will find a com- prehensive list at the back of this book. 2 Links to ILM qualifications This workbook relates to the learning outcomes of Unit M3.04 Achieving objectives through time management from the ILM Level 3 Award, Certificate and Diploma in First Line Management. 3 Links to S/NVQs in management This workbook relates to the following Unit of the Management Standards used in S/NVQs in Management, as well as a range of other S/NVQs: A2 Managing self and other skills ix Prelims-I046415.qxd 3/16/07 3:33 PM Page ix  Workbook introduction x 4 Workbook objectives Do you believe you could achieve more if only you had the time? Does most of your time get used up by the demands of others? Do you wish you were more in control of your time? Of all resources available to the manager, time is the most precious and the hardest to use well. When we lose time it can never be replaced. When we abuse it, we are the ones to suffer. If ever we gain some time, we may not find any use for it, except to kill it. As this workbook suggests, to save time you have to spend time: you must take time in order to learn how to use time to your advantage. The one thing you can be sure of is that if you don’t manage and control your own time, you will find it much harder to control and manage everything else. We begin by investigating some typical ‘activity traps’ – habits of behaviour at work in which time gets used up without the user having much say about it. To escape from these traps, it’s important to take control over your own time. In the next session, we examine the process of making decisions, and the impor- tance of getting the timing right. Then we’ll consider the typical demands made on the manager’s time; who makes these demands, and what the response should be. Then we return to the subject of habits: getting into good ones and avoiding bad ones. The last part of the session is devoted to the management grid, a device that is useful in determining how urgent and how important a particular task is. The third session of the workbook is called ‘Making time work’. It discusses some useful time management techniques. The final session goes on to pro- pose some ways of dealing with unexpected events. We conclude with a dis- cussion about time management problems and about ways to get time management accepted by other people. Prelims-I046415.qxd 3/16/07 3:33 PM Page x  4.1 Objectives At the end of this workbook you should be better able to: 1 identify ways of increasing efficiency and effectiveness by setting objectives and through better time management; 2 differentiate between the demands on the time available, and agree and set priorities; 3 realize more of your and your team’s goals by utilizing available time more effectively; 4 Employ appropriate time management techniques that can support the use of your own and your team’s time. xi Workbook introduction Prelims-I046415.qxd 3/16/07 3:33 PM Page xi  This page intentionally left blank  1 Session A Where does all the time go? 1 Introduction How often have you said: ‘I wish there were more time in the day’? There are always deadlines to meet, problems to deal with, demands upon your time. But, if we’re honest, many of us would have to admit that we don’t stop to think about making better use of our time. We get into certain patterns of working, we find a way of coping from day to day, and are content to let things go on as they are. In this first session of the workbook, we will look in more depth at some of the unthinking behaviour that leads to these unrewarding work patterns. First, though, we’ll try to define our subject. ‘Time, you old gipsy man, Will you not stay, Put up your caravan Just for one day?’ – Ralph Hodgson, Poems. Ch01-I046415.qxd 3/15/07 3:07 PM Page 1  2 What is time management? Let us begin by defining what we mean by ‘managing time’ or ‘time management’. Activity 1 What do you understand by ‘managing time’? Spend a few minutes thinking about it and then write down your own definition – in no more than a sentence or two, if you can. Some examples of how ‘managing time’ have been described are: ■ making the best use of time; ■ getting more done in the time available; ■ not wasting time on irrelevant things; ■ getting more control over time; ■ spending more time on the important parts of the job; ■ avoiding a last-minute rush to get things done. These are all correct. You may have defined ‘managing time’ in a different way. In general, managing something implies having control over it and making decisions about it. So, one good definition would be: Managing time means taking more control over how you spend your time and making sensible decisions about the way you use it. When thinking about how to manage your time, it is useful to distinguish between things you want to achieve in the short term and those you want to achieve in the longer term. So we usually make a distinction between short- term objectives and longer-term goals. Objectives tend to be concrete and immediate, and can be formulated as a series of tasks (we will look at how to draw up objectives later in this session). Session A 2 3 mins Ch01-I046415.qxd 3/15/07 3:07 PM Page 2