HBS 442 - Time Management

Anne Higher is an aeronautical engineer and owner of the Higher Plane Assembly Plant. She frequently finds herself becoming so involved that she works long hours and many weekends. Lately she has noticed that she has less and less time for community activities and outings with friends. She is feeling dissatisfied with this imbalance between her work life and her personal life. What is the first thing she should do to correct this imbalance?

Clarify and prioritize her highest personal goals.

You have recently completed a course on efficient time usage and have been attempting to integrate a schedule into your workday. As suggested by the course leader, you are taking time today to review your progress. You find that you have a pattern of not being able to complete tasks within the timeframes you have allotted. What is the best single step you can take to solve the problem?

Determine the reason behind the scheduling shortfalls.

As a supervisor in your company you realize the importance of helping your employees manage their time. To achieve this goal you draw up a list of four strategies employees could try. Which is the least effective strategy?

Ensure that work is done in the office to maximize the use of equipment and resource time.

Freda is a head physiotherapist in a large, regional medical center. Each day she struggles to keep up with her increasing patient load, leaving her stressed and exhausted. She decides to log her time for a week to see where her time goes and what changes she can make. When Freda reviews her log, she notes the following patterns of time use. Where is she most likely wasting time?

From 9:00 to 9:30, she photocopies and assembles patient education materials that she'll use during the day.

You are a learning services manager whose key responsibility is to identify and hire vendors to deliver sales training in your organization. You have a critical goal of improving the quality of the training. What is your best time-management strategy?

Interview new training vendors yourself; have others manage contract renewals.

You are the legal assistant for the litigation firm of Dover, Slunn, and Fawn. Although you enjoy your job, you sometimes find it difficult because each of the partners in the firm has a different management style, resulting in conflicting demands and expectations. The outcome is wasted time and a backlog of work. You are worried because you are getting further behind. How can you deal most effectively with this situation?

Meet with the partners to discuss work direction, reporting, and timing.

As human resources manager for Jalna Hotel, you ask your assistant to schedule the goals and tasks required to recruit and train staff in time for the opening of your newest Miami hotel. You show him the procedure for breaking goals into manageable tasks. When you review the schedule he's created, you notice he has made a mistake. What could have been his mistake? He ...

Prioritized goals according to the amount of resources needed to complete each task.

You are a time management consultant who conducts training courses for companies in your city. Your goal is to show employees how they can achieve greater levels of productivity simply by using their time more effectively. Which of the following advice would not appear in your course because it would be unlikely to further this goal?

Respond to e-mails as soon as possible after receiving them.

Your colleague shows you the schedule he's created for your three-day planning session. You're generally satisfied with his planning, but there's one problem. What is it? He ...

Schedules routine reports in the morning and concludes the day with examination of key business challenges.

Your executive coach shadows you through a typical workweek. She observes the way you handle paperwork, deal with tasks you dislike, and manage your meetings and travel time. She looks for ways you could more efficiently use your time. Which of the following activities might she identify as an area for improvement?

When you prepare your report for the monthly sales meeting — a task you detest — you try to make the work more engaging for yourself. You look for colorful binders and explore zippier slide formats.