Effective Time Management Essay

Through the use of modern technology, businesses have an easier way of collaboration. However, with this easier method of collaboration, this means the potential of being a busier business professional. Within a business management system, there is the constant need of needing to have effective time management within the organization. A key priority to effective time management is to identify and correct time wasters. One type of time wasters is an external environment. External time wasters are interactions that occur between two business professionals. The interactions can be between anyone outside and inside the organization, regardless of who it is within the organization (co-workers, managers, business partners, etc. ). A very common means of communication is the telephone. While telephones can be necessary for communicating, they can lead to distraction of issues that are not part of the core task or completely unnecessary (Cooper, 2000. )A key function of time management, regardless of the communication method is to make sure it affectively addresses the task of getting things done. In the case of inbound phone calls, it is imperative to thing and prioritizes as one speaks. When dealing with complex and time-consuming answers, the receiver of the inbound call should tell the caller about how the answer is complex. It is then important to determine from the caller when the receiver should call he or she back to discuss more of the complex answer. In addition it is imperative to paraphrase and summarize the key points while being on the phone. This serves two functions. One of them is that it keeps someone who either chats or strays away from important points of business communications. The second is that it focuses on establishing the key agenda for a business meeting. Another example of a common external environment distraction is email. For the busy business professional, there can be a time of literally going through hundreds of emails a day. When developing a simple and effective email reference system, it is necessary to understand the difference between reference information and action information. Reference information refers to receiving emails that are not required to complete an action. The purpose of reference information is the storing of emails that can be used later (Sapadin, 2006. ) The stored emails can either be an email folder or somewhere easily accessible (such as a documents folder, intranet site, etc. ) Action information is emails that are necessary for completing a task or project. These types of information are stored in a to-do list or a scheduled calendar. In order to effectively communicate via email, it is fundamental to have an easy method of transferring messages from the email inbox into an email reference system. Once there is a successful way of filing referenced information, emails that has an action item can be concentrated on. In addition to having an effective organizational system for email, it is necessary to schedule an uninterrupted time for processing and organizing email. When processing email, it is valuable to use the â€Å"Four Ds for Decision-Making† model. This tool is valuable for processing email and deciding if it is actionable, reference material, or not necessary. (Allen, 2001. )The 4D’s of the decision making model are deleting, doing, delegating, or defer it. With deleting, it can create the fear of deleting an email for important items. However, it is absolutely necessary to determine if the information is honestly usable for the email receiver. In order to determine if it is usable, the first step is to see if the objective is meaningful. The next step is to determine if the information is not available elsewhere. Then, it is to be determined if the information is to be used within the next six months. Finally, the last step is to determine if there is required information to keep. If the answers to all of these steps are â€Å"no,† the best action is to delete it. With the doing part of the 4D model, it is to be determined if an action can take less than two minutes. If it can, then the email receiver should simply complete the task. Delegating can yield to great help within the decision making model. If the task can take longer than two minutes and someone would be available to complete the task, it would be best to hand the message to the recipient. Let’s suppose that the email can’t involve doing, deleting or delegating it. Then, the next step would be to defer the task. Once deferring a message, it can be turned into either an actionable task or an appointment (which can be handled within an email suite such as Microsoft Outlook. ) Time wasters can also be within an internal environment. These characteristics can include procrastination, poor scheduling, and lack of self-discipline. It can also include failure to plan, set priorities, or delegate. The first step towards the right direction of internal time wasters is to set a goal. That way a destination is set in order to make the best use of time. When setting goals, they should be put in writing and reviewed frequently. From these goals, a daily â€Å"to-do† list should be used within the workplace. By referencing Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto’s 80/20 rule , 80 percent of what happens in the workplace is the result of 20 percent effort. This would mean by incorporating goals, someone can be 80 percent effective, by simply accomplishing completion for 20 percent of goals. In order to be effective, it is necessary to concentrate on the most important items first. When scheduling, a block of time should be reserved without interruption (Sandberg, 2004. ) With the power of habit, it makes accomplishing a to-do list more doable. When facing big projects, it is easier to break them into more manageable sizes. A common overlooked goal setting is to forget scheduling long-term goals. Those are also important as they relate to the health and relationship of individuals. In conclusion, sometimes saying â€Å"no† is needed when someone is overwhelmed to more jobs than he or she is committed to. References Allen, D. (2001). Getting things done: the art of stress-free productivity. New York: Viking. Cooper, C. L. , & Rousseau, D. M. (2000). Time in Organizational Behaviour. Chichester: Wiley. Sandberg, Jared â€Å"Though Time-Consuming, To-Do Lists Are a Way of Life†. 2004, September 10) The Wall Street Journal. Sapadin, L. (2006, August 30). Time management. Washingtonpost. com. Retrieved from http://go. galegroup. com. db24. linccweb. org/ps/i. do? id=GALE%7CA150674268 &v=2. 1&u=lincclin_spjc&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w