One
of the scarce resources which managers get is time. No matter how brilliant or
foolish you are, you will only get 24 hrs a day. Not a single second is given
as stock by God.
“Time management is a self-discipline in action”- Brian Tracy, motivational speaker.If we can manage our time effectively then we can go ahead from anyone.
Question arises is that where does an average, effective and successful manager spends time?
“Time management is a self-discipline in action”- Brian Tracy, motivational speaker.If we can manage our time effectively then we can go ahead from anyone.
Question arises is that where does an average, effective and successful manager spends time?
In
the year 1988, Fred Luthans and his team came up with a path breaking research
which tremendously affected the management thinking. They studied 450 managers to identify what
these managers do in managing their organisations. What they found was these
managers were broadly engaged in the four managerial activities:
1. Traditional
Management- Which means planning, controlling and decision
making.
2. Communication-
They spent their time in exchanging the routine information and processing some
kind of paperwork.
3. Human
Resource Management- They used to spend their time in
motivating, disciplining, training, managing conflict, team building, recruitment
and selection.
4. Networking-
They used to spend time in interacting with outsiders like competitors,
suppliers, government officials, customers etc. and they were also engaged in
organisational politics held among different units.
When I read these
functions I realized that being an executive I myself spend most of the time in
these activities only.
Time
spent by managers in above activities
Managerial
Activity
|
Time Spent (%)
|
||
Average Managers
|
Successful Managers
|
Effective Managers
|
|
Traditional
Management
|
32
|
13
|
19
|
Communication
|
29
|
28
|
44
|
Human
Resource Management
|
20
|
11
|
26
|
Networking
|
19
|
48
|
11
|
After
going through the research I realized that I was spending very few hours in
paperwork and networking. Slowly, when I
started managing my time for Communication and Networking it improved my
personal performance. Due to this small change, I have evidence of every work
which I have done and this has given me amazing confidence for future actions.
