GROUP ASSIGNMENT 2 1

SolBridge International School of Business

BUS 503: Managerial Skills – Spring 2018

Dr. Kushal Sharma

Group D’s members:

1. 201805007 – Truong Khang

2. 201805010 – Kadirov Zafar

3. 201805006 – Nguyen Thanh Trung

4. 201805013 – Sharipov Azizkhuja

The Case of the Missing Time

Chet, central plant manager, has been failing to control his time. His stress was

observably escalating during the workday. Poor time management has resulted in low

productivity, reduced efficiency and declining mental health. As his consultant, I would suggest

he employ prioritization to increase effectiveness and some techniques related to

management role to achieve efficiency in time use.

Prioritization means determining the order for completing a series of tasks according to

their relative significance. Two criteria Chet can use to classify his daily tasks are urgency and

importance. In other words, he needs to decide whether a task demands swift action and whether

a task has great value. For instance, some of his daily routine can be categorized as follows:
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Table 1. The Eisenhower Matrix

URGENCY

High Low

Quadrant 1 Quadrant 2

1. Plant tours 1. Innovation projects

High

2. Meeting 2. Inventory planning

IMPORTANCE

3. Shortage and crises 3. Logistics development

Quadrant 3 Quadrant 4

1. Phone calls and emails 1. Interacting with staff

Low

2. Placing new orders 2. Interviewing with new employee

3. Confirming delivery dates 3. Night work

Once Chet has prioritized his tasks, he can choose the appropriate course of action to

apply. For tasks in Quadrant 1 (High Importance – High Urgency), he should try to complete as

soon as possible. This is equivalent to the analogy of swallowing a live frog first thing in the

morning (Mark Twain) – difficult tasks must be done first. To improve efficiency, he should not

overschedule the plan tours (Rule 13), hold a meeting in the morning (Rule 1) and postpone

responding to crises. He could, instead, ask his subordinates for solutions (Rule 10). Also, Chet

should schedule tasks in Quadrant 2 (High Importance – Low Urgency). He needs to set aside

some time in the near future for innovation, planning and development, which could prevent

urgent matters from occurring rather than just temporarily resolve them.
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With regards to Quadrant 3 tasks (Low Importance – High Urgency), Chet should

delegate them. To be specific, instead of spending too much time micromanaging tasks, he

should delegate to the direct subordinates and give credit to their contribution (Rule 18, 19 and

20). In addition, he should hire someone else to answer phone calls and emails (Rule 14). For

Quadrant 4 tasks (Low Importance – Low Urgency), Chet ought to find a way to gradually

eliminate (Whetten & Cameron, 2015, pp. 121-128).

To conclude, to resolve the current situation of poor time management, Chet should

spend some time and effort prioritizing his tasks against the criteria of urgency and importance

and using some techniques applicable to management. He can then respond appropriately to

different task groups. Effective prioritization and efficient techniques will relieve Chet of his

stress, improving his mental health and boosting his productivity.

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REFERENCES

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2015). DEVELOPING MANAGEMENT SKILLS (9th ed.).
Pearson.