Management - Case Study

This case study explores the key issues in time management practices and provides strategies for effective time management. It also discusses how to assess and prioritize workload, plan and organize work commitments, communicate with managers, seek and provide feedback on performance, and identify sources of stress and personal learning and development needs.

Management
MANAGEMENT – CASE STUDY
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Management
Scenario – Managing workload
Question 1  What are the key issues for John in terms of his time management
practices?
Answer 1  John is facing a number of key issues when it comes to the management of his
time in the workplace. John clearly is a hard-working employee who wants to be the best at
everything. A key issue that John is facing in his time management practices is that has not
clear set of work that he needs to do and the work that he needs to delegate. He has no
particular schedule, which could allow him to allocate time to different things scientifically
i.e. in accordance to their importance (Polevio, 2018)
Question 2  What could John do to be more effective with his time?
Answer 2  To be more effective with his time, John should clearly plan his schedule at the
very beginning of the day. He should list down the activities that he needs to perform in a
single day in order of their importance and urgency and should also allocate an average time
that he would spend on a particular activity. Once an activity is completed, he can then strike
it off from the list and can move on to the next activity
Question 3  How could John better assess and prioritize his workload to ensure that
tasks are completed within identified timeframes?
Answer 3  John needs to follow a scientific time management approach, which would
allow him to allocate a specific time period to an activity on the basis of its importance and
urgency. The condition that John is facing can be dealt with in a better way if John starts to
assess his work load a day before itself (FOJUT, 2018). This would allow John to prepare
himself for the upcoming tasks and assess his workload in a better way.
In addition, John can also keep a time-log with himself, which would help him in keeping a
track of his time and important activities. Before the start of a day, John can also create a to-
do list, which would comprise of all the important tasks that John is required to do in a
particular day in accordance with the priority. Eisenhower Matrix can also be used by John to
identify tasks that need to done first, scheduled, delegated and the ones that are not to be
done.
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Question 4  How could John better plan and organize work commitments to ensure
that deadlines and objectives are met?
Answer 4  John needs to start delegating authority to his juniors as soon as possible and
hold them accountable for their job duties and responsibilities (Graham, et al., 2015). John
should set out clear deadlines for his employees and should also ensure that their performance
ratings are based on their ability to achieve a desired outcome within the time period that has
been specified to them.
Question 5  What systems and tools could John be using to better manage the store?
Answer 5  John can use a number of systems and tools to manage the store in a better way.
John can make use of Gannt charts to prepare work schedules and can also acquire an ERP
business suite that would help them in their supply chain management operations, employee
schedule management and customer relation management as well.
Question 6  How could John communicate with his manager to ensure that work
goals and objectives are understood and agreed in accordance with organizational
requirements?
Answer 6  John can involve his manager as well as his juniors to ensure a better
understanding and fulfilment of work goals and objectives. John can set out a clear
organisational goal or objective by getting in touch with his manager and can then break that
goal or objective down into smaller and achievable work goals and objectives with the help
of his employees. Involving the employees will ensure formulation of better goals and the
employees will also be able to have a better clarity.
Question 7  How could john ensure that feedback on performance is actively sought
and evaluated from colleagues and clients in the context of individual and group
requirements?
Answer 7  John can start a system of 360-degree performance feedback where every
employee receives performance feedbacks from their co-workers, juniors, seniors as well as
the customers (Das & Panda, 2017). The feedback can be obtained from the stakeholders at a
regular interval and can be assessed at a gap of three months.
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Management
Question 8  How could john ensure that feedback on performance is actively provided
to staff in the context of individual and group requirements?
Answer 8  John can introduce a system of performance reviews along with a 360-degree
feedback system where the employees can provide a self-assessment of their own
performance, which can then be compared to the performance reviews in presence of their
managers in every quarter.
Question 9  How could John identify sources of stress and access appropriate
supports and resolution strategies?
Answer 9  John can include an employee well-being survey with the performance
management system. Along with the self-assessment questionnaire, the employees can be
asked to fulfil an employee well-being survey feedback form that would ask them questions
related to their workplace environment, culture and any obstacles that prevent them from
meeting their goals and objectives. Based upon the information received, John can design
appropriate support programs to deal with employee well-being issues.
Question 10  How could John identify personal learning and professional
development needs and skill gaps using self-assessment and advice from colleagues and
clients in relation to role and organisational requirements?
Answer 10  As discussed above, self-assessment performance feedbacks are an important
part of a performance management system, which can also be used to analyze the training and
development needs of the employees. In self-assessment feedbacks, the employees can also
be asked if there are any skills or competencies that they feel the need to learn in order to
demonstrate better performance levels. Further, in 360-degree feedback as well, the reviewers
can analyze the performance of an employee and can suggest if they need to acquire a
particular skill or competency to perform better. Combining this information can be helpful in
designing training and development programs for the employees.
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Management
Scenario – Managing stress
Question 1  Imagine that a colleague is experiencing stress due to an increased
workload since a co-worker left the organisation recently. They have been working long
hours, they are not sleeping well, and they have become difficult to work with as they
can be abrupt and snappy at times. What support and resolution strategies might help
this person?
The manager of such an employee should provide them support by dividing the work equally
amongst 2-3 other employees. They can also be offered a work from home opportunity for 4
days in a month.
Question 2  Imagine that a colleague is experiencing severe stress at work. They are
working on a number of challenging projects and have had to deal with some tricky
problems lately. They spend a great deal of time in meetings and they take a lot of work
home with them most nights. They have told you that their family life is starting to
suffer. Some of their projects still have at least another six months to go until they are
completed. What support and resolution strategies might help this person?
Clearly, the person involved in the case is a hard-working employee who takes full
accountability of his or her work. Analyzing the situation, it is best possible for the manager
of such an employee to provide him a work from home opportunity for at least 2 days a week.
This would allow the employee to manage a better balance between his or her work life and
personal life, which would ultimately bring down his or her stress level (Timms, et al., 2015).
Question 3  Imagine that a colleague is experiencing problems in their family life and
has separated from their partner. They are spending more time at work, working long
hours, and you know that they are spending little time with their family. They seem
very unhappy and have become forgetful. They have also been making quite serious
mistakes at work. What support and resolution strategies might help this person?
Employee well-being is an important part of a company’s CSR. The support and resolution
strategies that can help such an employee can be a flexible work schedule, work-from home
opportunity for a while, a complimentary paid leave for 2-3 days, etc.
Scenario – Managing development needs
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Management
Question 1  What personal learning and professional development needs and skill
gaps does Beau appear to have?
Answer 1  There are some basic skills or competencies that Beau needs to learn or develop.
The first competency that he needs to learn is in the field of accountancy and the software
that the company uses to carry out its account’s operations. The second competency is in the
field of presentations. Therefore, he needs to undergo a certified course in PowerPoint.
Lastly, he needs to improve his time management skills so that he is able to carry out all his
important tasks within the desired time frame.
Question 2  What possible opportunities might there be for Beau to develop his skills
and knowledge in all the areas that you identified?
Answer 2  Beau is already using a number of software packages and has enough
knowledge in the field. It would act as an opportunity for him to learn or develop his
competency in using MS PowerPoint. He is a hard-working employee and once he learns to
manage his time efficiently, he would have enough time to develop his skills and
competencies, which would also be supported by the management of his company.
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References
Das, U. & Panda, J., 2017. The Impact of 360 Degree Feedback on Employee Role in
Leadership Development.. Asian Journal of Management , 8(4), pp. 962-966.
Fojut, B., 2018. Workload Management for Better Employees. [Online]
Available at: https://appfluence.com/productivity/workload-management-for-better-
employees/[Accessed 29 April 2019].
Graham, J., Harvey, C. & Puri, M., 2015. Capital allocation and delegation of decision-
making authority within firms.. Journal of Financial Economics, 115(3), pp. 449-470.
Polevio, L., 2018. 8 Tips for Effective Time Management. [Online]
Available at: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/employees/8-tips-for-effective-time-
management/[Accessed 28 April 2019].
Timms, C. et al., 2015. Flexible work arrangements, work engagement, turnover intentions
and psychological health.. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources , 53(1), pp. 83-103.
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