Entrepreneurship - Level 2 1Future Managers
Entrepreneurship
Module 4: Manage time and work processes
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Module 4: Manage time and work processes
• After completing this module, you will be able to:– Create, use and maintain a task list
– Use and maintain a diary
– Prioritise tasks
– Plan and follow a work schedule
– Compile entrepreneurial goals
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1. Create, use and maintain a task list
• At the end of this outcome, you should be able to:– Know and understand the value of using and maintaining a
task list within a specific work context– Identify the steps or stages required to complete a familiar
set of tasks– Record information and documentation required on the task
list– Capture on-line or manually process additional information
received– Report completed tasks and mark them off on the task list– Draft an action plan to ensure that outstanding requirements
are completed timeously– Compile a task list for your business plan– Schedule the various business plan tasks to ensure that the
business plan is completed in timeEntrepreneurship - Level 2 Future Managers 4
1.1 The need to plan your work tasks
• Why is it necessary to plan your tasks?– Make sure you get what needs to be done, done
– On time
– Prioritise tasks
– Plan your day efficiently
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1.1 The need to plan your work tasks
Steps for a task list1. What results are expected?
– What is required?– When must it be completed by?– Where must it be done / delivered to?– For whom must it be done?
2. How am I going to know I have carried out the instruction correctly?
1. How can I measure quality?2. How can I measure quantity?3. How can I measure time?4. What could I measure for place?
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1.1 The need to plan your work tasks
3. What are all the main tasks (activities) I must do to achieve the result? List them in the order in which you will do them.
4. When will each task/activity start and finish?5. Who is responsible for doing each task? Do I do
all of them or are other people involved as well?6. What documents and administration tools will be
needed for this instruction? How will I present the information to other people?
7. What resources (people, equipment and so on) are needed for each task?
8. How much will each task cost?
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Business plan activity
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• Let’s apply the “8 steps” to help you complete a simplified business plan for the business idea you have identified.
• Your instruction is to complete the task list to ensure that you know what to do and to complete your business plan in time.
Business plan task list
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Step 1: What results are expected? • You need to complete a simplified business plan for your
business idea• The completion date will be determined by your
facilitator• Some parts can be completed at college, but most of it
will be at home or when, for example, you are doing market research at shopping centres or other business areas (CBDs)
• You will compile a business plan, mostly for yourself, but the business plan is your ‘portfolio of evidence’ and you will receive a mark. This will help you towards the successful completion of your course.
Business plan task list
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Step 2: How am I going to measure or know that I carried out the instruction correctly?
• The various components will be assessed by your facilitator when you hand that section in on the different due dates. This feedback will determine how well you are progressing and whether you are on track. Your final mark will ultimately measure how well you have done.
Business plan task list
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Step 3: What are all the main tasks (activities) I must perform to achieve the result?
• All the main tasks are already listed in the business plan check list and in the business plan workbook
• Use this list and determine the order in which you will complete the various tasks. Keep in mind that you will only be able to complete some of the tasks once you have studied that section
• Other tasks can be done simultaneously• The task list headings must be used when compiling the
list
Business plan task list
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Step 4: When will each task/activity start and finish?
• On the task list fill in when you are planning to start and finish a specific task.
Business plan task list
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Step 5: Who is responsible for doing each task? Do I do all of them or are other people involved as well?
• You may complete most of the task, but if you will involve others, put their names down under resources.
Business plan task list
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• Step 6: What documents and administration tools will be needed for this instruction? How will I present the information to other people?
• The business plan workbook is one of the documents you will use. If there are any others, list them too. The nature of your business idea will determine which other documents are needed.
Business plan task list
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Step 7: What resources (people, equipment and so on) are needed for each task?
• If, for example, you obtain advice from a family member – you will list them under ‘Contacts and Friends’.
Business plan task list
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Step 8: How much will each task cost?
• Try to estimate what it will cost to put together your business plan. Think of photocopying, samples, etc.
1.1 The need to plan your work tasks
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Pro-Forma task list
Task name Duration Start Finish Predecessor Resources
1.1 The need to plan your work tasks
• Information and documentation required for tasks– Accurate– Available– Complete– Relevant– Concise
• If a task can’t be completed it should be flagged for later
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Activity 1
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1. Explain the value or benefit to you of using and maintaining a task list
2. Identify the steps or stages in a set of tasks
3. Select one ‘Routine’ task in your daily schedule and then complete the 8-step analysis for each task
2. Use and maintain a diary
• At the end of this outcome, you should be able to:– Know the purpose of keeping a
personal diary and a business diary as a self-management tool
– Record and regularly update relevant information in the diary / information-system.
– Use diary entries to create an action plan.
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2.1 Types of diaries used in business
• The personal diary– Personal organiser
– Filofax
– Bound diary
– Appointment book
– Printed diary
– Calendar
– Electronic organiser
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Activity 2
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• Find examples of each of the above types of diaries used by people in your business (workplace or college)1. What are the common features?
2. What type of diary do you use at work or as a student?
3. What do you record in it?
2.1 Types of diaries used in businesses
What is the business diary used for?
• Record all the activities important to the business
• Coordinate and plan all the regular business activities, so that they do not clash with one another during a year.
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2.1 Types of diaries used in business
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Microsoft Outlook Calendar• Allows coordination between many users• Allows the following:
– Meetings– Holidays– Specific tasks– Out of office– Travel– Phone calls– Anniversaries
2.1 Types of diaries used in business
• Internet – Google Calendar• Creating you own Google Calendar
1. Go to www.google.com2. Type ‘Google calendar’ and click ‘Google
search’3. Register as a Google user4. Click on ‘Google calendar tour’ to get an
overview of Google calendar5. Activate Google Calendar
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2.1 Types of diaries used in business
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Activity 3
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• Find out if your college or company keeps a business/organisational diary1. What information is recorded in it?
2. Who is responsible for keeping the diary up to date?
3. Ask you computer facilitator to demonstrate the Microsoft Outlook calendar function.
2.1 Types of diaries used in business
• Desk diary– Kept on a specific desk– Usually held by office administrator or personal
assistant
• Year planner– Found on office walls– For major events
• Cellphone diary– Has most of the features of a computer based diary– Can synchronise with a computer
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Activity 4
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• Form groups of two, but make sure that at least one person has a cellphone– Insert the following information:
• Birthdays of both. Set the reminder for the day before @ 09h00 with an alarm
• Insert a reminder to call someone in your phone book in a week’s time @12h30
• Make a note of your ‘hand-in-date’ for your next assignment. Again, activate the reminder for the day before
• Go to the date ‘25 December 2008’ What day of the week is that?
Business plan activity
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• Earlier in this module your personal task list and task analysis for one week were discussed. All the tasks and dates should be recorded in your diary to make sure they are completed on time and correctly.
Activity 5
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• Complete your personal diary for one week. Diarise all your planned activities for the week, from a Monday to a Sunday. Hand in the completed diary on the following Monday.
3. Prioritise tasks
• At the end of this outcome, you should be able to:– Identify tasks– Explain the concept of prioritising tasks, using
examples which include timeframes and deadlines– Sort and prioritise identified tasks, according to
type, importance and required deadlines– Identify the time frame for each step and time
needed to complete the task– Complete a schedule, record time needed to
complete tasks and identify achievable deadlines.
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Activity 6
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• On page 164 a list of topics or tasks you may need to cover when compiling a business plan. Your business plan workbook covers all these topics.
• Page through your business plan workbook and write down the page numbers. This will give you a very good overview of the business plan and the usefulness of your business plan workbook.
3.2 Prioritising of tasks
• What are important considerations when prioritising tasks?– The type of task
– The importance of the task
– The deadlines involved
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Activity 7
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1. Consider your business plan task list. In the “NB” column, indicate with a cross (X) the most important task in each category. For example, you are only allowed to mark one task in the marketing-plan section
2. In the deadline column, identify deadlines for all the various tasks. Some of them might already be known to you. Where possible provide your own deadlines.
4. Plan and follow a work schedule
At the end of this outcome, you should be able to:• Identify regular daily, weekly and monthly activities• Record and schedule activities using a dairy (manually or
electronically)• Define the term roster as a tool to identify duties and the responsible
person for each duty• Explain using examples how this tool can be used to develop a work
schedule, include dates, time frames and deadlines the entrepreneur would need
• Draw up a roster up to ensure that all the activities for the identified tasks can be completed timeously
• Define the term internal client• Explain using examples how internal clients are interrelated in the
work process• Explain giving examples, the need for adjustments to schedules• Prepare a short-term activity that allows for a schedule to be followed,
and adjusted when necessary to allow for unexpected interruptions.Entrepreneurship - Level 2 Future Managers 36
4.1 Identify regular activities
• The routine or scheduled task (R) – Can you think of examples?
• The unforeseen priority task (X) – Examples?
• An open commitment (O)– Examples?
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4.1 Identify regular activities
Daily task analysis
Time planned for
this task
Actual time spent on this task
% of total time spent
The routine or scheduled task (R)
The unforeseen priority task (X)
An open commitment (O)
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Activity 9
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• Use the table above to do this activity1. List all the tasks you do at college or work for one
week. Do this from a Monday to a Friday2. Categorise each task into one of the three categories
(routine, unforeseen, open commitment)3. Indicate how much time you planned to spend on each
task4. How much time did each task actually take to
complete?5. Why did it take so long?6. What percentage of these tasks actually relate to your
work as a student or your job?
4.2 Record and schedule activities using a diary
• The following are guidelines to help you keep an accurate and neat diary:– Draw columns in your diary for urgent, routine and
completed work. This will help you keep track of different activities
– Indicate the name, business and contact details of the person in your appointment entries
– Do not allow other people to make appointments in your diary
– List all the regular, annual activities at the beginning of the year
– Enter tentative appointments in pencil. If the appointment cannot be kept, it is easy and neat to just rub it out
– Confirm an appointment again 24 hours prior to the specified time and date in order to remind everybody involved.
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4.3 Rosters
• What is a roster?– A roster is a planning tool that schedules a
series of events. It specifies specific times and where applicable assigns people to a specific task at a specific time
• What are some examples of rosters?
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Activity 10
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• Draw up a roster to ensure that all the different business plan activities can be completed timeously. Alternatively, if there is an event at school or in your community that will need a roster, you may submit that as an alternative
4.4 Internal clients
• Who are internal clients?– People who work in the same company but in
different departments
• Communicating to internal clients– Memo– Email– Company web notice board– Skype– Outlook– SMSes
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Activity 11: Case study
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• An event management business called ‘PR Works’ organises social events for big corporate companies. A typical function they organise includes:– Venue hire– Equipment hire (tables, chairs, PA system, crockery etc.)– Decoration of the venue (flowers, banners or if a theme is required, all the
décor for the theme)– Catering (food and beverages)– Waitering
• Each of these services is attended to by a separate department or business unit in the company. They are all internal clients of one another
• A client requested to move a function that involves all of the above to a different date. The Skype conversation was between the salesperson (Pieter) and the Venue hire co-ordinator (Belinda). All the other departments still need to be informed as well as the employees in each department
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Activity 11: Case study
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1. Draw a table listing all the people who need to be informed of this change of date
2. Indicate which forms of internal communication will best suit a specific group of people
3. Give reasons why your group decided on a specific method.
4.5 Prepare a short-term activity
1. Determine exactly what needs to be done. In other words, ‘what are the outcomes of this activity?’
2. Do research. Research could mean an Internet search, visit to the library, speaking to someone to gather as much information as possible
3. Compile the report. This is the ‘sit down and do it’ part of the task.
4. Putting it together. Language checks, printing and binding takes time and needs to be planned
5. Plan for the unforeseen. What happens if the power goes off on the night before your deadline, or you lost all your data? If it is a group assignment, what if one member just did not do what he or she was supposed to do.
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5. Compile entrepreneurial goalsAt the end of this outcome, you should be able to:• Define goals and a plan of action, and give generic
examples• Explain the concept of time frames by including the
criteria that would be needed for short, medium, or long-term plans
• Identify all aspects of entrepreneurial opportunities to plan short, medium and long-term goals
• Compile and develop short-term goals for self in entrepreneurial context, for a personal growth plan within a new venture
• Discuss short-term goals described• Develop a plan of action for, technical, business,
managerial and personal skills in relation to entrepreneurial opportunity
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5. Compile entrepreneurial goals
At the end of this outcome, you should be able to:• Compile plan to show each stage, and how each stage of
the plan will be implemented• Include task list in action plan to ensure that
outstanding requirements are completed timeously• Support action plan by using diary entries• Differentiate between mentors & coaches• Identify mentors and coaches to assist in implementation
of identified plan and pursue entrepreneurial opportunities
• Identify resources to be utilised to implement plan according to the guidelines.
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5.1 Goals
• Why are goals important?– they help everyone understand what needs to be
achieved– they help all involved to focus on the tasks
ahead– they help you to measure your success – they help you anticipate problems– they help you become aware of potential
changes– they help you reduce uncertainty.
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5.1 Goals
• Short-term goals
• Medium-term goals
• Long-term goals
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5.1 Goals
• Goals should be SMART– Specific
– Measurable
– Attainable
– Relevant / Realistic
– Traceable
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5.1 Goals
Steps to setting goals1. Think and make a decision
– Decide on your goal and identify whether it is a long-term or short-term goal
– Decide if you are you willing to pay whatever it takes to reach your goal
– Specify a time period in which to achieve your goal.2. Formulate and write your goals down
– Specify a time period– Give very specific details about what you want to
achieve– Use a verb that specifies the action to be taken
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Activity 13
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1. Refer back to your SWOT analysis and the growth plan you compiled in module 1. Include them when you develop your personal and business plan goals. You are expected to set at least five short-term goals, three medium-term goals and two long-term goals.
2. Evaluate each of your goals set, using the performance task list provided. Competency is achieved by meeting at least the requirements of the first 5 of the 7 criteria.
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Performance task list Yes No If ‘no’ what do I need to do
1. Did you specify a time period when formulating your goals?
2. Did you give very specific details about what you want to achieve?
3. Did you use verbs that specify the actions to be taken?
4. Can you test/evaluate whether you achieve your goals set?
5. Is it possible for your to reach the goals set?
6. Do you have the resources to achieve the goals set?
7. Did you plan actions to be taken to get to your goals?
5.2 Plan of action (POA)
• A plan of action includes the following:– A goal or set of goals
– A time frame
– Who will do what?
– The sequence or order of tasks
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Activity 14
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1. Revisit your business plan task list. A column named “Seq” was provided for sequencing the various components of the business plan. Try to identify tasks that can be completed at the same time and link them. Other tasks might appear first, but you want to complete them last. Indicate them as such.
2. Many time frames and target dates were identified until now. Enter all these tasks in your diary at the corresponding dates. By doing this you integrate your goals and action plans into your day to day activities.
5.3.1 Mentors
• What is a mentor?– A mentor is an older and experienced person who is
prepared to share his or her experience with someone with lots of potential, drive, but with little or no experience in that field
• Types of mentor support– Psychological support– Business advice– Networking opportunities– Financial support
• Why would you want a mentor?
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Activity 15
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• Revisit your SWOT analysis and include the possibility of finding a mentor as a growth opportunity.
5.3.2 Coaches
• What is a coach?– Senior managers or business owners, who pass on
their skills and bring out the best in employees• Benefits of coaching
– Increase job satisfaction, skills and confidence– Reduce the need for off-site training– Maximise use of resources– Raise standards of performance– Reduce staff turnover– Reduce customer complaints– Increase turnover and profits
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Summative assessment
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1. Think back about your programme of the last two days. What did you do every day? Which activities did you plan beforehand?
2. Which activities were really important and which activities could you postpone to another day?
3. How much time did you actually waste during these two days?4. Take 20 minutes and plan each of the next two days. Make sure that
you write down all the activities you plan (at work, college, and home.)
5. Make sure you highlight the priorities in your schedule – what are the most important things
6. Hand in a copy of this ‘to-do’ list to your lecturer or supervisor7. Check on this list after two days and see whether you actually stuck
to your planned programme. If, not why did it change?
Recap
• Can you create, use and maintain a task list?– Know and understand the value of using and maintaining a
task list within a specific work context?– Identify the steps or stages required to complete a familiar
set of tasks?– Record information and documentation required on the task
list?– Capture on-line or manually process additional information
received?– Report completed tasks and mark them off on the task list?– Draft an action plan to ensure that outstanding requirements
are completed timeously?– Compile a task list for your business plan?– Schedule the various business plan tasks to ensure that the
business plan is completed in time?Entrepreneurship - Level 2 Future Managers 62
Recap
• Can you create, use and maintain a task list?– Do you know the purpose of keeping a personal
diary and a business diary as a self-management tool?
– Can you record and regularly update relevant information in the diary / information-system?
– Can you use diary entries to create an action plan?
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Recap
• Can you prioritise tasks? – Identify tasks?
– Explain the concept of prioritising tasks, using examples which include timeframes and deadlines?
– Sort and prioritise identified tasks, according to type, importance and required deadlines?
– Identify the time frame for each step and time needed to complete the task?
– Complete a schedule, record time needed to complete tasks and identify achievable deadlines?
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Recap • Can you plan and follow a work schedule?
– Identify regular daily, weekly and monthly activities?– Record and schedule activities using a dairy (manually or
electronically)?– Define the term roster as a tool to identify duties and the
responsible person for each duty?– Explain using examples how this tool can be used to develop a
work schedule, include dates, time frames and deadlines the entrepreneur would need?
– Draw up a roster up to ensure that all the activities for the identified tasks can be completed timeously?
– Define the term internal client?– Explain using examples how internal clients are interrelated in the
work process?– Explain giving examples, the need for adjustments to schedules?– Prepare a short-term activity that allows for a schedule to be
followed, and adjusted when necessary to allow for unexpected interruptions?
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Recap
• Can you compile entrepreneurial goals? – Compile plan to show each stage, and how each
stage of the plan will be implemented?– Include task list in action plan to ensure that
outstanding requirements are completed timeously?– Support action plan by using diary entries?– Differentiate between mentors & coaches?– Identify mentors and coaches to assist in
implementation of identified plan and pursue entrepreneurial opportunities?
– Identify resources to be utilised to implement plan according to the guidelines?
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