SINS OF RISK MANAGEMENT

Risk management is the heart and soul of project management. Failing to practice it right can have fatal consequences on projects and programmes. Doing real effort in the planning stage can save the entire investment and will increase the likelihood of project success. However, planning alone is not enough if monitoring risks is not handled seriously. These are seven deadly sins of risk management and how to take preventive actions to avoid them.

1.Disregarding enterprise risk management

Enterprise Risk Management ( ERM) specifies the processes, frameworks, and methodologies an organisation uses to identify and manage enterprise risks of all types, such as operational, strategic, financial, compliance, etc. The project manager has to consider the enterprise-wide risks and study what threats the organisation is likely to encounter during the projects' lifetime. Consulting the Chief Risk Officer before and while building the risk management plan can have a mammoth impact on the way the project management plan will be developed. The project risk management has to be congruent with ERM, since the ERM governance can impose certain documents to be delivered, probability/impact scales, risk appetite, and risk management software to be used. Project Management Institute refers to those as Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEF).

2.Using incomplete risk break down structure

Risk Breakdown Structure is the catalyst to identify large numbers of risks. Risk management teams use it to identify risks and stimulate the minds of the stakeholders who will be participating in the risk identification stage. RBS can be developed by listing all the root causes of potential risks. RBS highly depends on the project domain. Risks that are valid to a software project may not be applicable to a construction project. The project manager can start with a template from a known body and customise it based on previous project history and project-specific risk categories.

3.Ignoring subjectivity

Subjectivity can make risk management lose its essence. You will find that risk averse stakeholders will identify large numbers of risks; in contrast, risk takers may be oblivious to real risks. It is important to mediate these conflicts during risk identification.

The risk identification process is substantial for successful risk management. The perpetual problem of risk management information is subjectivity. Different people will perceive risks in different ways. It is the responsibility of the risk management team to remove subjectivity and ensure quality of risk information. Subjectivity can be avoided by using the Delphi Technique, as it keeps the views of different subject matter experts anonymous, even after finishing the identification phase

4.Assigning all the risk to project manager

Successful risk management can never be a one-man army. The risk management team has to set clear expectations and inform subject matter experts, stakeholders, customers, team members of what is expected from them. The ownership of risks has to be communicated to the risk owners. The project manager has to follow up on the status of assigned risks, and the risk owner has to report risk status updates on a frequent basis. The project manager should not be the only individual who owns risks. Potential risk owners may be reluctant during risk identification stage, fearing that they may be responsible for the risks they will be identifying. Creating a risk management RACI Matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) will ensure roles and responsibilities are clearly identified and communicated.

5.Neglecting risk management benefit cost analysis

Not all risks have to be managed; some risks just need to be accepted. Response strategies of negative risks are Avoid, Transfer, Mitigate, and Accept, but oftentimes the acceptance strategy is never considered. Risks have to be accepted for two main reasons; first is infeasibility of the first three response strategies, and second is due to unfavourable benefit cost analysis. For instance, if the loss value is much smaller than the benefit gained, due to implementing a control, it would be rational to accept the risk.

6.Misusing contingency reserve

Contingency reserve can only be determined after the project manager has had multiple revisions of the project management plan. Contingency reserve should only be used when a planned risk materialises. The contingency reserve should not be used for any unplanned risk. The unplanned risk can only be handled by the management reserve. It is also not right to use the contingency quota of one risk at the expense of another risk, unless the latter has already become void.

7.Doing it once

Risk management is an iterative process and should be practiced in all project stages, from inception to closure. It is not right to do it during the planning stage only, nor is it right to stop looking for new risks during the execution phase. Many project managers conduct risk identification at the beginning of the project, and shelve risks until they turn into issues. The project manager should elevate the culture of risk management and ask team members to report new risks. The project manager has to visit the reserve balance and make sure that no risk will have no contingency. It is also important to put risk management on the agenda of frequent progress and status update meetings.

These are the deadly sins of project risk management. It would be great if you can share your experience and articulate what could be a sin in risk management from your perspective and how to avoid it.

BEST PRACTICE FOR SCOPE MANAGEMENT

The knowledge area of Scope Management is all about making sure that the project includes only the work required to complete the project successfully. To be effective at scope management, you must learn to control what is and what is not in the scope of the project. Below are some of the best practices for successful scope management.

1.Collect project requirements

The ability to define and then effectively control the scope of a project depends a lot on the goals and requirements of the project. For this reason, you need to gather the necessary information up front, before you ever start the project. By clearly understanding the needs of the stakeholders and the capabilities and constraints of your resources, you have a higher chance to succeed.

The easiest way to collect the project requirements is to perform interviews with the key stakeholders. Ask questions about their views of the finished product, the deliverable they expect to receive, and the schedule of the project. Once you have the information you need, you may want to create a Scope Management Plan to define the processes that will be followed in defining scope, documenting scope, verifying and accepting scope, and managing change requests

2.Define the scope

The scope of a project typically consists of a set of deliverable, an assigned budget, and an expected closure time. The previously collected project requirements will help you define the scope. Be sure to write down exactly what the project will entail and what it will not entail. Any amount of variation in the scope of the project can affect the project schedule, budget, and ultimately the success of the project. Getting a clear and concise definition of the scope will help you manage changes as they occur. With a clear scope definition, you can simply ask the question, "Does this change fall within the scope of the project?" If the answer is yes, then vet and approve the change. If the answer is no, then put a pin it and save it for another time or project.

3.Create a work breakdown structure

A work breakdown structure or WBS is a graphical representation of the hierarchy of the project. The WBS forces the project team to think through all levels of the project and identify the major tasks that need to be performed for the project to be completed on time. By starting with the end objective and then successively subdividing it into manageable steps or components in terms of size, duration, and responsibility, the WBS provides a high level view of the entire project. Furthermore, the framework makes planning and controlling the scope of the project much easier since you have a graphical chart to reference point for the tasks and sub tasks needed for each phase of the project. As a general rule of thumb, no task within the WBS should be less than 8 hours or more than 80 hours.

4.Verify the scope and get feedback

Because projects are expected to meet strict deadlines, verifying the scope of the project is critical before and during the project cycle. Scope verification can be done after each major task or phase is completed or if it is a smaller project, after the project has been completed. To verify the scope, meet with the project customer or stakeholder and get him/her to formally accept the project deliverable. This includes getting a written acceptance of the deliverable and requesting feedback on the work performed.

Getting feedback from the customer is an excellent way for you to improve processes and make sure the customer is happy with your work and the status of the project. The most important thing here is to communicate well and often. Verifying the scope and getting feedback will help you focus on customer acceptance, quality control, and verifying that work performed meets the definition of the scope of the project.

5.Monitor and control the scope

Now that the Scope has been clearly defined, a work breakdown structure has been organised, and the customer has formally accepted the scope of the project, it is time to actually manage and control the scope to avoid scope creep. Scope creep refers to the incremental expansion of the scope of the project, which may include and introduce more requirements that may not have been a part of the initial planning phases, but add costs and time to the original project.

To effectively monitor and control the scope of the project, make sure you have an established process for managing change requests. Any and all requests should be vetted and approved before they get introduced into the project. The budget and schedule of the project should also be altered to reflect the new changes. These changes should get a formal sign-off from the customer or key stakeholder before proceeding. It is important that you closely monitor and control the scope to avoid disgruntled customers, higher than expected costs, and projects that aren't completed on time.

STEPS FOR PROJECT TIME MANAGEMENT

The knowledge area of time management typically refers to the skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals. To become an effective time manager, you should be able to clearly understand the activities of the project and have the necessary skill set to plan, schedule, and control a project timeline. Along with these skills, you must also be able to utilise time management tools to help you analyse, measure, and assess your time management techniques. Keeping all of this in mind, may I suggest four steps to help with project time management:

1. Define the Activities
2. Sequence the Activities
3. Estimate Activity Resources
4. Develop and Control the Schedule

1.Define the activities

This step requires you to define the tasks, milestones, and other activities needed to complete the project. Start with a basic definition of each task and fill in the details as the project gets fleshed out.

A Gantt chart is a simple and quick way to outline the entire project. Use the Gantt chart to add tasks and their estimated time frames. Don't worry about dates at this point, but rather focus on the time it will take to complete each individual task.

2.Sequence the activities

Once the activities have been defined, you can start putting the activities in order. Without worrying about dates, order the activities in a way that makes the most sense to you. Create sub tasks as needed and organise the project in a logical manner.

Once you have the activities in order, add dependencies to each task. Using dependencies, rather than dates, will help you see the true timeline of the project. For example, if you are building a website, you'll need to design the website before you can start developing it. The design activity is a prerequisite to the development activity. If the design activity is completed later than expected, the development activity will also be pushed out to a later date.

3.Estimate activities resources

This step is one of the more challenging steps because it requires you to assess the supply and demand of each resource/person and how it relates to your specific project. Do you have enough resources to complete the assignment as scheduled or do you need additional resources?

Assign specific people or job roles to each task and then revise the dependencies based on the resource allocation. If a Programmer is required for 15 activities and 10 of them overlap, then you can either hire an additional Programmer or accept that the project timeline will be pushed out further based on the resource dependencies.

4.Develop and control the shedule

If you used a Gantt Chart to create the project timeline, it should be fairly easy to develop a project schedule. Review the Gantt chart with the entire team and make sure you have complete buy-in before you start the project. Everybody should understand their role in the project and should be able to confidently commit to the timeline.

Controlling the schedule is a lot harder than planning the schedule and requires more one-on-one management than you might expect. The project manager should be carefully monitoring the status of the project and verify that the activities are being completed on time and within scope.

WHAT PROJECT MANAGER NEED TO KNOW ABOUT STRATEGIC PLANNING

Strategic planning

A strategy is a detailed plan for achieving success the bundle of decisions and activities that we select to achieve our long term goals our path. Every organization must figure out what it wants to achieve and how to make it happen by using its products, customers, and operations. Strategy is fluid, continuous, and iterative and can be broken down into logical steps or elements:

1.Goal setting

We cannot begin to think about a strategy until we have objectives that are prioritized and are based on our business, our markets, and how value is created in our organization. These objectives are aimed at maximizing the value of the organization to the shareholders, with the critical factor being time. Even though we create a vision of the organization, say, twenty years out, the strategic plan considers only a three year to five year time horizon. A written declaration of an organization's core purpose and focus, commonly referred to as the mission statement, serves as a consistent directional tool for the firm. In contrast, the strategic plan and its related practices fluctuate according to changing circumstances.

2.Strategy development process

Strategy development is focused on three fundamental questions. Where are we now? Where should we go? How do we get there?

3.Customer analysis

Unmet customer needs are at the heart of business ideas and the development of a business strategy. While step 3 could be included in step 2, it is usually kept separate to underscore and facilitate the need to continuously analyze the customer as part of everyday management. Essentially, we need to know why our customers buy from us and why others buy from our competitors. This information is typically gathered at point of sale via customer surveys or focus groups. Good, regular, and valid information is essential to business strategy success.

4.Internal business analysis

The internal audit explores the organization’s operational and financial results, evaluates its talent pool, assesses its functions and processes, and explores the health of its key relationships. A good SWOT analysis not only identifies the component strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT), but also prioritizes them and helps to limit analysis to a smaller set of the most important factors.

5.Strategic choices

Generic strategies of cost leadership, differentiation, and niche player provide a good foundation for the strategic choices each business faces. A comprehensive strategy formulation contains both positioning and execution components. An effective strategy must align between positioning and execution.

Positioning articulates clearly and concisely the organization’s strategic approach to achieving its goals by setting out a direction and a choice of suitable products and services. Execution ensures that the organization has the necessary resources, operational capabilities, and organization to support the direction. To enhance our strategic choices, we ask the question “how?” and develop a strategy through approaches like integration, penetration, development, diversification, and divestiture.

6.Strategic thinking

Strategic thinking involves asking the right solution-oriented questions and conducting appropriate analyses to formulate plans and strategies. Asset optimization questions have long been fertile ground for new ideas for thinking about the best use for each significant asset that we currently own and control.

Another strategy-generating approach is to use core-business thinking. Your core business is defined by the set of products, customer segments, processes, and technologies in which you can build the greatest competitive advantage. Defining your core business can be difficult and may require a small team to answer the question. If we were forced to sell off all of our businesses except for one, which one would we keep? Once your core business has been identified, the key is to work the core to your best advantage for example, taking advantage of operational excellence in the core business area.

7.Strategic implementing process

The principal causes of strategy failures are the attitudes, communication, and commitment of senior management. The best system for implementing strategies is by using the balanced scorecard. It provides a framework for considering strategy from four perspectives—financial, customer, business processes, and learning and growth. It was created by Kaplan and Norton in 1992 as a means of neutralizing the limitations of managing only by financial measures.

Implementing strategy is a team game, and even though senior management has the responsibility to formulate and articulate the business strategy, you, as a program or project management professional, play a lead role in the strategy implementation segment of the process. As a program manager, you are expected to understand the strategic drivers of the program, the specific benefit levers, and the required level of governance to make change happen. As project manager, you are expected to fulfill a similar role at the project level, whether it is part of a formal program or a one-off high-impact strategic project.

Conclusion

Each successful strategy could be a catalyst for a strategic thinking direction and approach. As a program or project manager, take the time to identify the strategies in play in the next business case or feasibility study you review. If they are not clear in the financial analysis document, do not be afraid to ask for clarification from your sponsor.

BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT-PROACTIVE MEASURE

Most of what happens in a classroom must be closely controlled by a caring, trustworthy adult. Order, limit setting, and structure are essential in a classroom setting. Teachers should take every possible proactive measures using the following steps:

1. Arrange furniture to meet social/emotional needs as well as instructional and organizational needs.

2. Adjust schedules to provide a balance between highly structured periods and more stimulating activities.

3. Establish a group behavior management plan that incorporates individual needs.

4. Provide direct instruction, programmed learning, and precision teaching lessons. These will build students' self-confidence while establishing a knowledge base from which to expand problem-solving and higher-level thinking skills, as students demonstrate readiness for learning experiences that require less external structure.

5. Keep student-to-student interactions to a minimum initially. This is especially important during times when adult monitoring would be difficult. Trust and safety cannot be established if individuals within the group continually undermine each other or the adults, with problems created in secret.

6. Provide group-building opportunities that move students from an "I" to a "We" orientation without overstimulating or threatening them. These activities and opportunities are most effective when integrated into the affective, academic, and recreational arenas.

7. Select a group peer leader. The group will select a leader whether the teacher assists with this process or not. Qualities of leadership include being perceived as similar to other group members and being reinforced for modeled behavior.

8. Be aware of how individual needs affect group dynamics. Group members typically assume roles early in the establishment of the group dynamics.
9. Show empathy and unconditional regard at all times, but especially when students are in the midst of a crisis.

10. Attend with extreme care to students' physiological as well as psychological needs. Have extra clothing, food, and drink available. Make washable pillows to use when students sit on the floor. Keep bandages, hand lotion, and soap available. Much of the acting out behavior reflects a need for power or attention. Attempt to give as little emotional response as possible to inappropriate behavior. Make responses to appropriate behavior obviously animated and positive.

STEPS FOR BUILDING SALES MATRIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

There are four steps to identifying the metrics for your sales metric management system.

1. Measurable. If the area of the business you want to affect cannot be measured statistically, then how will you know whether or not it is working? This seems like circular logic, but I often hear about "trusting your gut" as a measurable statistic. Needless to say, gut instinct does not belong in a sales metric management system. There needs to be a way to track the data easily and efficiently.

For example, if you wanted to track the number of outbound calls made by your sales team, but that data was not tracked anywhere, you would not be able to measure it. Thus, outbound calls would not be part of your sales metric management system as it is not measurable. Identify other data points that reflect performance that is measurable. If you find that many of the areas you want to measure are not measurable, you may need to address your CRM. It may need to be reconfigured or replaced altogether.

2. Meaningful. Just because you can measure a data point, it doesn't mean that it belongs in your sales metric management system. Like sports, there is no end to the data that can be measured in a sales organization. Sportscasters commonly use a series of statistics to present how well or terribly a player is performing. Easily, a set of counterpoint data could be presented showing the opposite point of view.

I recall my time as a sales management executive where on any given day I could put together a series of data that would support promoting or firing any member of the sales team...including myself. The key is to select the most critical activities that drive the sales person's success and include those in your sales metric management system. For each metric, ask yourself what that data tells you relative to the sales person achieving their revenue goal. The meaningful ones go in your system while the others are cast aside.

3. Goal-oriented. Statistics without goals tell you very little about performance. Each statistical component of your sales metric management system needs to have a corresponding goal. When performance discussions take place with the sales person, their performance versus goal achievement serves as the focus of the agenda. This is a significant change from the typical discussions that are focused on whether or not sales quota was attained.

When setting the goal-levels for your sales metric management system, there is an important consideration. Remembering back to report cards from school, students achieved a letter grade based on their performance. A few kids received an "A" which meant they had delivered stellar performance. However, average performance reflected a "C" on the report card. If your sales person achieved the goal for a particular metric, what does that mean? Was their performance exceptional? Or did they perform at the mere minimum acceptable level to keep their job?

If you set your goal levels so that they mean A-level performance, you should expect few of your sales people to hit them. If you set them at the C-level, you are establishing the baseline for minimum acceptable performance. There isn't a right or wrong approach between the "A" and "C" philosophies. The key is to select one, understand its meaning relative to performance, and handle achievement accordingly.

4. Trainable. The final component is to identify the mentoring that can be provided to a sales person who is not achieving a defined metric in the system. Since the metrics that you are managing are critical to a sales person's success (meaningful), deficiencies cannot be left unaddressed. When you identify each metric for the system, if a sales person is not achieving it, what potential weaknesses does it expose in their arsenal? As a sales manager, you can then begin digging to determine the root cause and help the sales person improve.

Just like many think that revenue is a metric, many think that if a sales person is failing to achieve their revenue quota that they cannot close. It's possible that closing is the issue. However, if you have your sales metric management system in place, you may find that closing isn't the issue at all. Perhaps, the sales person doesn't have enough activity in their pipeline. Or, that they struggle to move prospects through the buying process. Or, any of countless other possible deficiencies. Managers who have their sales metric management system in place can quickly identify the problem area and address it.

Designing your sales metric management system well-positions you to create an effective sales compensation plan. Thus, the compensation plan reinforces your sales metric management system. If you would like my sales metric management system worksheet.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS

Because of project management tools and their availability to the project managers in industry, the speed and accuracy of a project’s life cycle has been enhanced. This type of digital assistant is there to help in all phases of a project and running a business. This expansion of their uses is being done as their effectiveness is becoming more noticeable.

When the first project management tools were introduced to the industrial sectors, not too many people were aware of their full potential. As with all tools, they must be used to be discovered. The first ones to breach out of the confines of the project mode were the budgetary templates and plans.

The budget and expenditures of a project are similar to that of a business. For this reason, this part of the project management tool’s inventory is very beneficial. The accounting department can run more efficiently when only one type of program is used throughout a company, when it comes to keeping track of where the money is going and for what purpose.

Other project management tolls that are being used by business outside the realm of a project are the Requests for Information. Just like with a project, information on supplies are needed, in general, for a company to run. This is the best and most economical way of locating the best process on items from a third party vendor. To follow this up with the Request for Proposals is a natural path to take to finalize the deals.

TIME MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR INTERNET MARKETERS

They are discussed as follows.
Internet marketers have a hell lot of work to do, right from doing the researches, networking and other online tasks. Managing time becomes crucial for them, no doubt. This is especially true for those that are working part time at home. The ancillary and unnecessary tasks eat up most of their business times. One might just wonder how anyone gets marketing done online with so much distraction on the platter!
If you are an Internet marketer, they are the few basic time management tips to keep in mind when you sit down to your computer every day.
1. Make To-do Lists and Keep Your Focus on
There’s nothing more effective than a to-do list in front of you. It keeps you reminding of your tasks and that there are things you have to accomplish today. That helps to realize your goals and make your business grow more. Make a ‘MUST DO’ list of the things ahead of other assignments. Create signs, cues, pictures, sing songs, whatever it takes to keep you focused. Move your way down the list until you finish.
2. Take a Break
At times, you feel tired and a lot distracted. When things are not encouraging or there’s something you are working on that you just get distracted, think of taking a pause. Move on to the next task for a little while. If not, have a little rest and then come back later when you feel refreshed and more in tune.
3. Break Tasks in Bread Crumb like Chunks
Always break your tasks in smaller ones, while you are working on a seemingly overwhelming task. You might feel that you are getting nowhere. Think about it, have you started procrastinating, or keep transferring the same task from today’s list to that of next day’s? Breaking tasks in small plans can easily be marked off your list so that even at a glance it seems like you’ve accomplished something, at the day’s end.
4. Record How much Time You Spent for Each work
Keep track of the time spent on a certain task that helps you to plan for future.Online businesses are not built in an overnight’s time; you need to keep that in mind. While you are designing action plans or keeping focus with your tasks do not become too overwhelmed or feel overworked. There’s a good many ways you can set your pace, only if you know when to stop. Take your time and cut yourself some slack if you don’t get things accomplished as fast as you have predicted them when you’ve started.

EFFECTIVE WAYS OF CONTROLLING TIME MANAGEMENT

They are as follows.
When we can have control of our lives and selves, we can take control of the things that surround us and influence our lives. Indeed, it is impossible to have control over anything, but we are allowed certain degrees of control over most things that involve us. When you think of implementing an effective time management strategy, you have to zero in on various aspects of life, because all things in life affect us in some way or the other.
When you are alone in the road of time management and pursue all the goals relating to it, you’ll find the road rocky enough. There are people who think time management as something as easy as a pie, when things are far from that. Time management is no quick process. You will notice this, once you start your calculations.
Time management has its own course and route, it has its own stop, go, and yield signs. In order to initiate a time management plan you need to calculate and analyze your plan carefully so that you get rid of the time-wasters, and evaluate where your time is spent most.
You can focus on several areas in life that consume most of your time – factors like family and work. Moreover you have to calculate problem areas like troubles with your computer that may arrive. You have to take stock of the little contingencies, calculate large and small disasters into the equation of time management. There are more miles to go in shaping a good time management path.
There are unending ways to manage time, for we need to include personal factors. While we calculate time management, we have to include details such as, entertainment, relaxation and everything that makes us who we are. If you are spending too much time in one area, you can alter the equation – shift your attention to more important areas instead.
If it takes you a long time in the morning to get motivated you must think about what’s putting you off from getting out of the bed? In most cases, this is caused by procrastinating habit. Start thinking! What takes you so long to get dressed in the morning? Before you are off to sleep, make selection of the suit you’re going to put on the next day, so that when you get up in the morning you only need to dress.
It’s a sheer wastage of time to spend more than 45 minutes while dressing. Move forward, subtract at least 30 minutes from dressing and get on with other areas in your life where your time is either spent well, or wasted.
You can even ask yourself: How well-shaped are your working habits? Do you chat online with someone, or stand around drinking coffee more than often? If your workday means big-time squandering your work-time, you not only waste your company’s resources, you are wasting your time. As long as you lose focus in everything you do, you can never conceive an effective way to time management.

BENEFIT FROM EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT

Benefit from Effective Time Management Techniques
Effective time management skills show us how to utilize our time and get a list of things done in a scheduled time frame. People who are able to accomplish all tasks on a list in the given time, they are known to have good time management techniques. So, how to develop good time management skills so that our hours are not wasted and we are ahead of the feeling of failure!
Weaker time management means more worry and more tasks on our back. We can see the problems it would cause if we lack those skills. It could impact our job if we fail to realize goals. There are emotional impacts when we have the feeling of failure, and that we have wasted away a day when we could have been doing something else.
Good time management skills start with a planner. It keeps heed of our everyday activities. Before we start planning in a day to day planner ywe have to examine the things we are doing to waste time, and eliminate them. Then only go to the next step. Stick to the golden rules of effective time management – and good old common sense. Don’t try to over-plan or achieve something unrealistic. We shouldn’t plan over 168 hours of our week. Make sure we eat and sleep well, and have time for other necessary activities.
Realistic goals are easy to achieve – if we know a project is going to take we 20 minutes, don’t write 15 minutes down.
Employers value people with better time management skills. A squanderer of time is profitable to the workplace, and the boss is not likely to be happy with that outcome. People with poor time management skills are usually deemed lazy and unproductive. It’s hard to hold fast to a job with those qualities on your resume.
Don’t you long for a better life, productive and more rewarding! Consider adopting good time management techniques to reap more time and downsize clutter. Make sure you first start with a goal in your mind and then set off materializing them. Stick to your game plan you have designed for each day. Developing effective time management skills takes some time. That’s why you will need to organize your habits to discard the unproductive ones. When you use your time effectively, you will find yourself feeling less stress, and having more time to enjoy your life, your work, your dreams and desires.

EFFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Effective Time Management Srategies.
The more you give, the more you get – this is the adage for effective time management as well. Not only you get more money when you give them out, the time spent carefully is the time saved! For the children and the older people, there’s virtually no end of time. They don’t rush or crave for anything, the way people do the major part of their lives. We have never enough time and there’s the need to have more. We are always after something or someone or seem to owe time to others from our bosses to our families. Time is such a valuable resource, so we need to make sure that we spend it wisely and carefully. Careful use of our time triggers the need of good time management.
Do you utilize the time you already have in hand! That’s the tragedy – most of the people who are in need of time management don’t even bother to utilize time they already have at their disposal. Still, if you need to know more about spending time logically and beneficially, explore the simple four-step plan named “TIME”. They can really make a difference in your day, your life, and your attitude towards time!
Take Your Time to Plan Your Tasks
You plan to implement. Time spent on planning and organizing your goals will save at least some amount of time when you actually realize your plan. Planning your weekend shopping saves you the shopping rut, and you are saved the wastage of time. Shopping trips without a list, doing errands without prior planning, tasks not wisely laid out often result in wasted time. We all know this is true and yet we still rush forward in a hurry to get something done. Take your time, plan your tasks and see the results.
Involve Others in Your Time Management
If you are planning for your home or workplace, it will save you much time involving other crucial stakeholders in your planning and prioritizing. At times, this helps to cut slack and helps you attend to the essentials and share the work. Share the wise ideas others have to offer. They’ll help you achieve your goals. Even others can benefit from sparking new ideas from you. Often, simply talking things over with a sympathetic audience can help you think more clearly. You will always gain from sharing your work as well as the planning.
Meditate
Reflecting on your day’s work and your goals give you better insights as to proper time management. No matter how busy your life or hectic your schedule is, you must take time to mediate. Take time off to clear your mind from all clutter, focus your energy and rebuild your strength. This mental exercise can revitalize you and help you accomplish more when you swing back into action.
Mediation allows you the much-needed breathing space, so that you can think, prioritize, brainstorm ideas that leads you to a fresh new start. Even if you do not have brainstorms from taking this time off, it will definitely recharge your energy.
Evaluate
Accomplishing tasks need meticulous attention and constant evaluation. Regularly evaluate your priorities and goals to see if things are on track. There may be some accomplished tasks that can now permanently mark off your list or can be set aside until a later date. Perhaps you have achieved certain goals resulting in a change of other priorities. Alternatively, there may be the possibility that you have learnt something along the way that caused a number of shifts in your priorities and goals. Proper introspection and evaluation give you a sense of accomplishment if you look back on what you have achieved and the goals you have reached so far.
The process of TIME for time management pays for itself. When you plan to get more out of time, that may cost you time for planning and organization, but eventually it helps you gain time through efficiency and prioritization. Good time management means less stress and more time on your plate.

SKILLS FOR INCREASING ABILITIES AS AN EFFECTIVE MANAGER

Here are six basic skills to increase abilities as an effective manager:
1. Know Your Stuff
An effective manager must have a sound understanding of general business principles and specific company goals in order to guide employees to the desired objectives. Not only will this ensure that the objectives can be met, but it will also help to instill a sense of confidence among employees. They will be able to look to their manager as the expert and be able to get any help they need to meet their specific responsibilities. If you need to brush up on your skills or get additional education to be competitive, many continuing education ideas, resources and other business skills tips.
2. Organized & Responsible
An effective manager must set a good example by being highly organized and responsible. They will employ those skills to provide structure, set goals and meet deadlines for their team. If a manager is disorganized or irresponsible, it has an incredibly destructive ripple effect on their team’s performance. If this is an area of difficulty for you, it is definitely worth working on.
3. Strong Communication
Not only should effective managers know their stuff, but they need to also be able to communicate it effectively, both verbally and in writing. Effective managers need to be able to relay their objectives, teach employees processes and explain complex issues to their employees. Additionally, effective managers need to develop good listening and comprehension skills to be able to understand the tasks to be completed and, in many cases, understand an employee’s concerns or difficulties.
4. Team Building
An effective manager knows and appreciates the value of a positive and productive work environment and will put great effort into fostering good will through team building and personal rapport. An effective manager should be looked to as a source of confidence, knowledge and professional mentoring and friendship. Most managers are the first contact for Human Resources issues and must be able to be trusted with sensitive information.
5. Measure, Report and Reward
Goal setting is essential to effective management, both for productivity measurement and employee morale. Goals should include measureable milestones and specific timelines. Those should be measured at regularly-appointed times, reported both to superiors in the company and employees providing those results, with proper praise and credit given to the team. This is a great source of pride and motivation for most employees. In addition to praise, you should give occasional rewards to employees to increase morale and motivation. Ultimately, motivated employees will work harder, longer and produce better quality work, so it is a win-win to make sure they are as happy with their job and performance as you are.
6. Provide Accountability
In addition to departmental goal setting, effective managers should work with individual employees to set personal goals and standards and help hold them accountable to them. This is another way to motivate employees and help them to perform at their best. Likewise, as an effective manager, you are responsible to run a tight ship. Ultimately, you are responsible for everything your team does or doesn’t do. You must earn and keep their respect by holding them accountable for mistakes, errors in judgment and poor workmanship to ensure overall work quality.
Ultimately, if you are good at what you do, you have and express confidence in your employees to do a great job, and you hold everyone accountable to the highest standards, you will be well on your way to becoming a very effective manager. With a little practice, anyone can become a titan of industry.

DEMING MANAGEMENT

The idea or thoughts given by W.Edward Deming in the sectors of management is called Deming management.He has given 14 points guidance to increase quality of goods and services. Deming management gives emphasis on quality improvement of goods, involvement of employees and customers satisfaction.

• Quality improvement-strategic commitment needs to improve quality of goods and services.High quality raw materials should be used and technology, method, production process should be modern and improved.The product should satisfy customers wants. Production materials should not be wasted, if any incompetence is found in production process, it should be immediately improved.The quality of goods and services expands markets and provides new business opportunities.
• Worker involvement-For the quality of product, the technique of total quality management can be used to correct process, rather than to blame people. So the workers should be involved in production process.According to Deming the workers can easily identify necessary improvement in product rather than other. So the management should involve them in production process.The employees should be given necessary knowledge and support.According to W.Edward Deming-the purpose to involve the workers is to increase their ability and skills.
• Customer-According W.Edward Deming the management should focus their attention to customer.quality of product should meet customer's wants.So the management should remain effort full to improve the quality of product by studying the markets and customer's wants.The customer's wants and desires may not be always same. So the management should produce the goods or services so that they are satisfied.
  

THE DIMONSON OF MANAGEMENT

Business enterprises and public service institution as well are organs of society. They do not exist for their own sake, but to fulfill a specifics purpose and to satisfy a specific need of society, community or individuals.They are not ends in themselves but means. Management, in turn, is the organs of institutions. It has no function in itself, indeed, no existence in itself.Management divorced from the institution it serves is not management.There are three tasks equally important but essentially different that face the management of every institution.

• to think through and define the specific purpose and mission of the institution,
• to make work productive and more worker achieving and
• to make social impacts and social responsibilities.

These might be called the dimension of management.

PURPOSE AND MISSION

An institution exists for a specific purpose and mission, a specific social function.In the business enterprises this means economic performance.With respect to this first task, the task of specific performance, business and non business differ.In respect to together they are similar.In all other institution-hospital, church, university and armed services, economic is a restraint.In business enterprise, economic performance is the rationale and purpose.Business management always must, in every decision and action, put economic performance first.It can justify its existence and its authority only by the economic results it produces.A business management has failed if it fails to produce economic results.The first definition of business management is that it is an economic organ, the specifically economic organ of an industrial society.Every act, every decision, every deliberation of management, has economic performance as its first dimension. But business management is not different from the other institutions in one crucial respect; it has to manage.And managing is not just passive, adaptive behaviour, it means taking action to make the desired results come to pass.Off course it is important to adapt to economic changes rapidly,intelligently and rapidly. But managing implies responsibility for attempting to save the economic environment for planning, initiating and carrying through changes in that economic changes.

BENIFITS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Following are the benefits of project management.

1. Result oriented-Project management is result oriented. It is art of getting work done through other people effectively under constraints of time, budget and quality specification in order to achieve overall organizational objectives.
2. Team building-Project team consists of multi-disciplinary people of varying degrees of experiences and expertise. Project management creates a good work environment for these people through establishing trust and developing respect for each other. This encourages and motivates the team members to be creative.
3. C0-ordination-The project manager serves as the responsibility center. Therefor he is fully responsible and accountable for the end result.There are no hierarchy which makes it easy for co-ordination between the functional manager within the project.
4. Environmental adaptation and customer satisfaction-Projects are operated in continuously changing environment. Project management team can make adjustments and changes to cope up with the changes in the environment in which it is operated. Similarly, project management focuses on customer satisfaction. The activities are carried out according to the specification provide by the customers.Efforts are to satisfy their needs.
5. Change management-Project management dismantles barriers and reduces resistances to changes.It facilitates new technology and technique.It serves as tool to introduce and manage change.
6. Organizational restructuring-project organization has temporary nature. The structure could be pure functional and matrix. In many of the technical project, matrix organizational structure is set up by pooling the functional line manager.The work in project management s historical and vertical in cases where services of line manager are used. This facilitates continuous organizational restructuring but doesn't provide long term commitment of the employees.
   

LIMITATION OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Following are the limitation of project management.

• Team related problem-The project team members come from various background and experiences. The line and the staff may not co-ordinate their activities due to ego and attitude of both staff line managers. They may place their loyalty at different place. This result in conflicts between the line and staff personnel.
• Absence of long term planning-The project is temporary activities as it is one shot time bound operation.All activities are planned for short period. This doesn't encourage long range planning.
• Organizational disruption-Projects are operated in changing environment which requires frequent adjustment and introduction of changes. Changes are rested by functional managers. Project also compete with functional department for human and non-human resources. This actually causes disruption in the normal functioning of both functional and project organization.
• Retards human resources development-Project teams are shifted from one project to another or even laid off. This affects training and development of new generation of employees. There might be low levels of utilization of diversified workforce.This retards effective human resources development.
• Conflict-The functional manager supervise and control the project team members. The staff personnel advise the line personnel. Project personnel also enjoy more autonomy and flexibility compared to line managers. The line manager may not co-ordinate and co-operate with the project team.This often leads to conflict and affects the project completion within the stipulated time and allocated budget.
• Unsuitable-Project management is unsuitable for individuals or small project.Smaller organization may not have the request human and non-human resources to adopt a project type ,of organization.