TMI US: Time Manager Q & A Corner

Time Manager Questions and Answers

Efficiency: A Plague or a Blessing?

We currently live in a world where efficiency is both a method for getting more done and a value that is praised and highly rewarded.

In fact, it is possible to state that efficiency has become one of the strongest, if not the strongest, value of commercial enterprise.

Basically, efficiency means that the amount of time to produce the maximum amount is reduced. This in turn increases profitability, or at least maximizes revenue.

Efficiency, according to social commentator Jeremy Rifkin, is a product of three economic innovations: division of labor, mass production and scientific management.

Division of labor enabled workers to concentrate on a small range of tasks, thereby getting better at them, and able to do more of them with fewer mistakes. Mass production helped streamline the division of labor that already existed. Now groups of workers could stand by each other and divide their labor in an integrated process.

Putting the third leg to this triad was Frederick W. Taylor, developer of "scientific management." This involved work schedules that enabled every activity to be scrutinized and set to time requirements.

One of Taylor's beliefs was that workers would be more efficient if you stripped them of any ability to make decisions.

So far, so good, though it did leave a lot of disgruntled factory workers who weren't always stimulated by their work.

In the last twenty years, we have seen the emergence of the consumer society. The customer is king is shouted loud and clearly from all roof tops, and customers don't like dealing with service clerks who behave like human machines and don't have the capacity to make decisions on their own.

And when these "human machines" don't like what they are doing, they are quite inclined to take it out on the customer.

So, if efficiency a plague or a blessing? Clearly, there are some advantages to looking at speed and effective divisions of labor. However, when the interface is a live customer, some adjustments need to be made.

It's time for efficiency experts to recognize there is another dimension to human interaction that isn't entirely time based. This is particularly true if the organization wants to make either customers or staff feel valued and therefore make they inclined to stick around! Balance is called for whenever we look at efficiency in the modern consumer age.

Janelle Barlow, President
TMI, US

Please submit your questions to Time Manager Questions and Answers. If you have questions, undoubtedly someone else has the same question. By asking a question, you'll help a fellow Time Manager user become more effective.

Previous "Time Manager Q & A Corner" pages:

    #1 Key Areas and Interruptions

    #2 Daily Plans and Home Offices

    #3 Result Statements

    #4 Reading and Responding to E-Mail

    #5 Sending E-Mail

    #6 Filing According to Key Areas

    #7 Setting up Files for the Whole Office

    #8 Controlling Loose Pieces of Paper

    #9 The Value of Time

#10 More on Results Statements

#11 Managing Time on the Road

#12 How to Get Time with Someone

#13 The Downside of Goals

#14 Thinking Types and Time

#15 Feeling Types and Time

#16 Intuitive Types and Time

#17 Sensate Types and Time

#18 What's Real about Strategic Planning?

#19 What Does Being Strategic Really Mean?

#20 How Perception of Time Influences Goal Choices

    #21 The Four Immutable Laws of Controlling Your Desk

   #22 Decision Making and Cultural Groups

   #23 Paperless Office: Fact or Fiction?

#24 Exit Planning

#25 Speed: Does It Free Up More Time?

#26 Time in the 21st Century

#27 Open Office Plans

#28 The Costs of E-Mail

#29 How Do Senior Level People Manage Their Time?

#30 On Saving Time

#31 Paying the Ultimate Price with Time By Not Getting Enough Sleep

#32 Telecommuting and Productivity

#33 How Much Is Your Time Worth?

#34 Goal Setting and Change

#35 Making Career Decisions

#36 Controlling the Volume of Paper

#37 The Soul Catcher and Time Management

#38 Goals and Team Work

#39 Negotiate Better Goals for Yourself!

Please submit your questions to Time Manager Questions and Answers by fax or e-mail . If you have questions, undoubtedly someone else has the same question. By asking a question, you'll help a fellow Time Manager user become more effective.

Link to Time Manager

TMI US
8270 West Charleston Blvd
Las Vegas, Nevada 89117

tel: 702 939-1800

fax: 702 939-1804

email: