Effective Time Management for High Performance in an Organization - Essay Example

Consultant Report Introduction Time management is currently becoming a major concern not only for individuals but also for organizations owing to the increasing complexities in human life and activeness demanded to align with the same. At the current pace of development, the rate of everyday activities is increasing simultaneously. Successful handling of such activities requires effective management of time. Correspondingly, proficient and foresighted scheduling of activities is needed to be performed in order to determine the amount of time required for every activity. Without effective management of time, all necessary activities are most likely to finally come to a halt and thus, result in increasing work stress (Hosseini, Nourbakhsh & Sepasi, 2013). Specifically, in cases of present world business scenarios, time is given a premium priority. In this context, the ‘Pareto Principle’ comes into the picture. This principle was mainly implemented with the intention of improvising the studies related to management principles and techniques (Backhaus, 1980). Multiple managers of big business organizations find this principle very effective in terms of problem identification and controlling the functional factors, which directly or indirectly contribute towards the effective utilization of resources. As per this particular principle, effective allocation of input resources significantly helps in bringing about improvements in the quality of output (Huffstutter & Smith, 1989). There are various other models and theories that have been developed gradually and even chronically in pursuit to manage time more efficiently and minimize the level of stress amid the workforce to the desirable extent (Bickford, 2005). Few of the most prominent theories and models will be assessed in the discussion henceforth, providing effective consulting to the organization involved in offering financial services and functionalities in to a substantial volume of customers. As the organization has been witnessing rising demand from its customers’ end, greater work pressure is burdened over the employees, which in turn increases their stress making it more challenging for them to manage their time efficiently. Hence, this consultation paper will aim at assisting the organization with certain remedial strategies to manage the stress level amid the existing workforce. Discussion Definition Time management can be described as a process of effectively managing and scheduling time for successful completion of projects or activities. Depending on the functional complexity of this financial firm, effective time management can be described in multiple steps. Initially, focus needs to be delivered on defining the various financial activities needed to be carried out by the existing team within the organization. This process, to a certain extent, might be considered as time consuming as it requires a lot of brainstorming but assists in efficiently planning or scheduling of the tasks assigned to lubricate the following operations. Accordingly, sequencing out the defined activities depending on the priority levels must be carried out to give the time table a shape and ensure that the tasks are completed within the deadline. Subsequently, strategies need to be chalked for determining the input factors (resources) and scheduling the time that will be required for carrying out each activity. Implementation of the strategies must be ensured in the most effective way to perform the chosen activities through proper control over the time schedule (Adeojo, 2012). Following these strategies shall certainly assist the managers in more efficient use of resources and their time, which shall in turn reduce their stress level to a substantial extent. Stress management can be described as the strategic process aimed at minimizing the amount of mental pressure witnessed by the employees and the top level management of the organization, mainly due to the increasing work load and incessantly rising customer demand. This process of reducing work pressure helps in formulating innovative strategies with the intention of improvising the problem solving capabilities of the employees (University of Tennessee System, n. d.). Stress management also helps towards managing the work quality of the employees to a significant level. A similar concept of stress theories has been proposed in multiple occurrences by professionals and analysts and has further been implemented in multiple areas including heath industries, production industries, educational industries and financial services industries among others (University of Tennessee System, n. d.). Thinking Models and Trends Multiple observations carried out in context to time management reveal that at often times, the senior management personnel perceive time management as a personal problem to them as well as to their subordinates and restrain from strategize their time plan (Bevins & Smet, 2013). However, for the effective functionality of the firm, it is necessary that the senior management personnel view the time management issue from the entire organizational perspective that shall in turn assist in scheduling the entire service procedure in a more convenient manner for the customers as well as for the employees throughout the chain. The work process of this financial firm follows a pyramidal hierarchy, which implies that the work load and the issues related to time management will subsequently be affecting every working head within that hierarchy. Moreover, if individual employees are allowed to function as per their own strategized timings, it would not only hamper the organizational efficiency in delivering services to the customers in a convenient manner but also result in greater misuse of organizational resources (Bevins & Smet, 2013). As mentioned in Jackson (2009), organizational structure can also play a vital role in strategizing time management and reducing the level of stress amid its employees. The structure of the organization can be categorized into two basic components, i.e. the staff members and the company timings. Hence, in order to manage time and stress effectively, the organization’s managers will need to emphasize organizing staff members and organizing time for every activity as per its organizational priorities and commitments. Both of these components together contribute towards the company’s success. Any sort of disorientation in these two components shall further contribute to the factors promoting stress. Observation does describe that the incapability of the staff members in differentiating between essential and insignificant activities develops frustration and fear within them causing stress, which can be dealt effectively with the stated strategy (Jackson, 2009). Another major component of time management and stress management can be identified as self-scheduling. Self-scheduling is necessary and often helps in coming up with ideas regarding how to deal with conflicting or stressful issues within the workplace. Schedulement of the daily work target of employees may be considered as an effective time management model followed by multiple organizations in the current competitive scenario. In this particular model, prioritization of task is also deemed as an effective step towards time management. Prioritization of task helps the staff members in channelizing themselves for accomplishing every task on a sequential manner, resulting in reducing their panic level to a significant extent (Jackson, 2009). As further argued by Attridge (2011), the concept of stress management can be segregated into two criteria, viz. organizational stress and individual stress. For instance, in the organization, a major proportion of the staff members work in alignment with every day set targets. With the perception that failing to achieve their set targets might put a negative remark on the employee’s performance appraisal report, employees become stressed and thus, have to witness hazards in their time planning schedule. On the contrary, organizational stress can be described as increase in the level of organizational concern for its failure towards achievement of its set objectives (Israel, 2012; Attridge, 2011). From a generalized view, it can be argued that individual stress of every employee within the workplace, collectively contributes towards increasing level of organizational stress. As a corrective measure to these two types of stress, counseling and the employee assistance programs can be practiced within the organization. It is worth mentioning in this context that the employees are counseled by experienced management experts about handing various types and levels of organizational stress. These experts undergo multiple advisory sessions with the employees in order to recognize the problems faced by them in carrying out their daily activities (Israel, 2012). Proper counseling and guidance shall also prove effective in significantly minimizing the chances of stress occurrence within employees in the financial services organization. Employees may also need to undergo a series of training or discussion sessions in order to obtain assistance from them for improving their work output quality and reducing their existing stress levels (Attridge, 2011). A Recommendation for the Organization Considering the level of stress and time management hazards witnessed in the financial services organization, it is likely that the company might witnesses certain disorientations in its work hierarchy structure due to the increasing levels of inter departmental competitions. As a precautionary strategy, it is recommended that the organization should focus towards fortifying the interdependency within its hierarchy with the intention of reducing stress levels, which might arise due to interdepartmental conflicts. Being a financial organization, it can be expected that with the future growth in economy, the rate of demand of financial products and services might also tend to increase accordingly. During that time, the organization might have to generate a major portion of its revenue from its sales force, which might result in increasing the employees’ stress levels depending on the work load. In this context, the organization can take into consideration the above specified models of effective time and stress management in order to prepare its sales force as capable enough for handling pressure instead of getting into panic situations. Moreover, the organization can also invest in conducting employee assistance programs under the supervision of expert personals in order to identify the strengths as well as weaknesses of every employee within the organization, which will contribute to the work quality in the long run. Apart from the counseling sessions, the organization can also formulate strategies regarding proper structuring of the work flow and target management. This will significantly help in keeping a balance on the work pressure and as a result, the employees, to some extent, will be able to attain relaxation, thus improving the work output quality and their satisfaction level to a considerable extent. The organization may also focus towards providing refreshment periods to its work force in order to keep them active and satisfied with their job roles. Concerning the challenge of time management, the organization can formulate strategies in order to change the mindset of all the departments from being inclined towards individual time schedule to organizational time schedule. In simple words, the time management strategy to be applied by the managers in the financial services organization should be shifted to making every individual perform in alignment with the organizational commitment and objectives rather than emphasizing their individual work priorities solely. Formulation of strategies regarding work prioritization can also be undertaken by the company for increasing employee efficiency. As previously stated, the organization might need to make efforts towards explaining its employees about how to segregate their daily activities into essential and non-essential categories. This might significantly help in managing the judgment and decisive capabilities of the workforce to further assist them to perform more within limited time durations. Applicability in the Work Environment When emphasizing the applicability of time management strategies in a working environment, it can be stated that keeping an effective check on the daily work patterns might reveal multiple time related issues, which if corrected will help in bringing about improvements in the quality of work to a significant extent. Apart from effectively counseling the employees regarding the steps for carrying out an activity within a limited duration, will gradually improve their performance levels. Guiding the staff members in segregating their daily assigned work on priority basis will also determine the applicability of the time management strategies to a major extent in the organization as it will significantly help in boosting up the employees’ confidence levels as well as save a considerable amount of time and resources of the organization. Applicability of a regulatory process, in case of excessive sales target imposed on the employees, might prove its significance towards bringing about improvement in the entire work environment of the organization. The reasons can be stated in a way that a steady imposement of targets might help in keeping the entire organizational activity in a balanced state and thus, further regulate the employee stress level to a significant extent. 12 Months Implementation Plan The complete forecast of the 12 months consulting program has been provided above in order to assist the financial services organization in dealing with the level of stress and time management issues identified within its working environment. In this entire program, certain monitory and counseling sessions have been carried out with the intension of understanding the problem and formulating effective steps accordingly and for bringing about improvisation in the entire organizational functionality. The color codes further describe the tenure of every step undertaken in this entire program. Elaboration of all these steps in this 12 month program is provided here under. The first step mainly focuses towards performing a detailed study of the organization’s entire work structure. Being a financial organization, the work structure might appear to be quite complex and thus, acquiring a proper understanding of its present status and expecting about its future work status might take some time. Therefore, as a result, the expected tenure for this step is expected to be of one month. The second step as addressed in the action plan suggests emphasis on identifying various time management issues faced by the employees and the management personnel within the organization, taking into account the findings obtained through detailed analysis of the organization’s functionality in the previous step. This step might include performing questionnaire evaluation of every employee with the intention of finding out the kind and severity of time management issues faced by them. The tenure for this step is expected to be of two months. The third step is almost identical to that of the second step, the only difference being that this step focuses towards identifying the stress related issues faced by the employees. Moreover, since it is expected that time management, to a major extent, may result in creating stress, the data obtained from the second step will a major help in effective understanding of the third step. The tenure of this step is expected to be of one month. The fourth step emphasizes conducting counseling sessions in terms of time management issues where the employees are provided with useful advice, counseling services and training about how they can bring about improvements in their efficiency levels. This step is expected to last for the duration of three months. The fifth step delivers its stress on the observation of any sort of improvements, which might have occurred in the employee and organizational performance levels as an outcome of the fourth step. The observation period is estimated to last for one month in this case. The final two steps also find certain similarities with the fourth and the fifth steps. These two steps focus on the conduction of counseling sessions in terms of employee stress issues and significant observation of the expected improvements in the service outcomes. The total tenure period for these two steps is expected to be a total of four months. Conclusion From the above discussion, it can be conclusively stated that time management and stress management plays a significant role in improvising the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization’s work structure. The above discussion mainly focuses on the various types of consultations provided by a consultant, which if practiced by the organization might prove to be beneficial in the upcoming time. The effectiveness of the organization’s work output, to a major extent, depends on the efficiency and capabilities of its working staff. Therefore, coping with these issues can be stated as an utmost necessity for the organization. Moreover, the increasing level of stress experienced by the employees also imposes significant impacts on their performances. At majority instances, their incapability in segregating t their work list based on their individual job priorities often result in creating a havoc situation. In reference to all these problems, a 12 month consultation and guiding program has been formulated with the intention of identifying all the existing loopholes within the service system of the financial services organization and formulating strategies through effective observation, understanding and planning. References Adeojo, A. (2012). Effective Time Management for High Performance in an Organization: Case: Lasaco Assurance Plc. Seinäjoki University Of Applied Sciences. Attridge, M., 2011. The business case bibliography: 100 review papers on the workplace value of mental health, addiction and EAP services. Easna research notes, 2 (4), 2-10. Backhaus, J. (1980). The Pareto Principle. Analyse & Kritik 2, pp. 146-171. Bevins, F., & Smet, A. D., (2013). Making time management the organization’s priority. Retrieved from http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/making_time_management_the_organizations_priority Bickford, M. (2005). Stress in the Workplace: A General Overview of the Causes, the Effects, and the Solutions. Canadian Mental Health Association, pp. 1-44.   Hosseini, S., Nourbakhsh, P. & Sepasi, H. (2013). Relationships between time management and job stress. Archives of Applied Science Research, 5 (1), pp. 301-307. Huffstutter, S. & Smith, S. C. (1989). Managing Time and Stress. ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management. Israel, B., (2012). Stress management counseling in the primary care setting is rare. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119163258.htm Jackson, V. P., (2009). Time management: a realistic approach. Journal of the American college of radiology, 6 (6), 434-436. University of Tennessee System. (No Date). Lesson plan. Stress management, 208-209. Read More