SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGNBACHELOR OF QUANTITY SURVEYING (HONOURS)

QSB2414 Management Science

Time Management

April Semester 2014

Management Science Report

Submission Date: 17th June 2013

NameStudent ID

Yam Yih Hwan0305861

Low Rong Tzuoo0304924

Ng Jun Keat0314368

Dixon Cheong0310356

Adrian Ng Kar Chun0314516

Lau Yi Yin0318969

Lau Chong Yen0318973

Table of ContentPage

Cover Page1

Table of Content2

Introduction3 - 4

Time, Cost & Quality in Construction 5 - 7

Time Management Process8 - 11

Time Management Tips12 - 15

Conclusion16 - 17

Learning Outcomes18

References19 - 20

IntroductionWhat is time management? Time itself cant be managed and it always move forward, never move backwards. Every person has the equal amount of time in a day. Hence, if you are managing time, you are not trying to control time; you are trying to make your best use of your time. Time management is the act of taking mindful control over the amount of time spent on specific actions. You apply time management to increase in efficiency, success and productivity. You practice skills and use tools and methods to assist you when achieving tasks, projects or are working toward goals and deadlines. Time management is also all about effective scheduling of your time, aim setting, selecting and also choosing what to do and what not to do, allocating tasks, evaluating and reviewing your spent time, forming your workspace, keeping your concentration and focus at your work and encourage yourself to work towards a goal.Why is time management important? Because it is one of the most important skills you need to learn if you want to become successful in anything you want to do in life. By studying and practicing time management you manage your life in your own hands. Youre in control and you will choose where you want to go to. Practicing time management has lots of benefits and one of it is you will gain extra productive hours because with better time management, you gain additional productive hours. You have a tendency to be more disciplined when at work instead of talking about gossip with your co-worker or aimlessly browsing the internet. Secondly, it will increase in your efficiency and productivity. More work done, means more things learned. Thus you'll collect much more knowledge than others for the same time invested. Youll learn faster how to do your work faster. You will be more attentive and therefore you will pay more attention to your work. You'll progress more quickly than without using time management skills. Thirdly, you will have more control over your life. By practicing time management, you can manage the way how your life goes. You will have a better perception on what work you can do and what work you cant do. You are better in organizing your stuff and prevent deadlines from becoming a problem. Deadline difficulties are unfamiliar to you; instead you use your time relaxing when others are stressing about work. Lastly, you can spend more time for enjoyment. If you love life, you need to practice time management. Because it will allows you to appreciate life to the fullest, do what you want to do and practice what you want to practice. 'Do you love life? Then don't waste time, because time is life! Benjamin Franklin.Why is time management important in the construction industry? One of the reasons is that the workers are often paid by hour, so time management will help to control or manage the salary costs. Another reason why time management is important in the construction industry is that having work being delayed or behind the working schedule can hinder the entire project, mainly when one group or company must wait for another company to finish a certain type of work before commencing the next step of the project. Time management in a construction industry are also vital because, if the projects that are been taken are not finish within the deadline that is given, then this can void the contract and cause the construction company to lose a pile of money for breach of contract. In construction industry, one of the biggest costs besides materials is paying the labours. Skilled workers are also paid by the hour. So by taking effective time management in construction projects includes giving workers reasonable aims, workable timeframes and the resources to do their jobs, and expecting them to broad their responsibilities in a timely manner. The more efficiently, precisely and effectively that worker completes their jobs, the lower the overall cost will be. Time management in construction is essential, as well, because construction projects are usually under official written and legally binding contracts by which they must stand for. Workers and supervisors must honor the contracts as written and approved upon. That company that is responsible for constructing an office building does not have the project done by the date that is already been set, it may lose part or all of the money it otherwise would have earned because of a breach of contract. Time management, which consists of the firm goals, is, therefore, vital for construction projects.

Time, Cost & Quality in Construction ProjectThe three primary elements in a construction project are progress against time, cost against budget and quality against specifications (Austen & Neale, 1995). These elements are interdependent on each other (Mincks & Johnston, 2011). The three elements are the factors in attaining the clients objectives. Their goals are to achieve are lowest cost, highest quality and shortest time. Figure 2.1 shows the interdependency of these three elements.

Figure 2.1 Relationship of time, cost and quality In practice, most projects will achieve the equilibrium of the three elements, because usually a reasonable standard is required, costs must be affordable and projects can rarely be allowed to run very long. However, in some circumstances, only two of the three parameters can be optimized. For instance, when cost is of little concern, time and quality dominate; when time is of little concern, cost and quality dominate; when quality is of little concern, time and cost dominate (Woodward, 1997). If the project is built in a compressed time frame and quality of work is maintained, then the cost will increase (Mincks & Johnston, 2011), this is an example for where the cost is of little concern, time and quality dominate. A trade-off is compromised in this situation. The cost increase in this situation includes overtime work and surplus labour and equipment (Woodward, 1997). Despite of cost increase, this does not mean that costs are not carefully controlled. When cost and quality are dominants, time is of little concern. For example, the construction of roof of a building where the work required more time to ensure that it is up to specified standard (Woodward, 1997). While when longer time is used, larger cost will be incurred in term of labour cost.However, the last situation where quality is of little concern and time and cost dominate does not work well in real life. This is because the consequences of failing below specified standards will usually incur additional costs (Woodward, 1997).TimeTimely completion of a construction project is frequently seen as a major criterion of project success by clients, contractors and consultants alike (Bowen, et. al., 2002). Effective planning and programming the design and construction is fundamental to the timely completion of the project. A project manager should fulfill time management skills in order to complete a project within acceptable period. To achieve time control, project plan and programme will be established using hierarchical system of program over a period of time, namely Gantt chart. Progress throughout the stages of pre-contract and post-contract will be monitored on a regular basis. By this, delays will be noted as early as possible and ways to overcome can be implemented as early as possible. Besides, another tool to aid in time control is Critical Path Method (CPM), where it is used to identify and interface the activities that are required to complete a project. Free float, total float, and critical activities can be determined through CPM.CostThe aim of cost control of a construction project should be ensuring the final cost of the project does not exceed the budget. To achieve the aim, cost plan should be established, where based on an approximate cost estimate, indicating the quality, quantity and unit price for major cost elements (Austen & Neale, 1995). The cost plan should cover all stages of the project and will be essential reference against which the project costs are managed. The cost plan provides the basis for a cash flow plan, based upon the master schedule, allocating expenditure and income to each period of the clients financial year. QualityTotal quality management is a process of bringing quality to the construction project. Mincks and Johnston (2011) stated that the quality of a construction project is the product of innovation, quality improvement, and productivity improvement, implemented by an involved and responsible workforce. Quality control should be exercised during all stages of a project, initiating from briefing stage to commissioning stage (Austen & Neale, 1995).

Time Management Process

There are nine types of time management process in construction. There are Activity Definition, Activity Sequencing, Activity Resource Estimating, Activity Duration Estimating, ScheduleDevelopment, Schedule Control, Activity Weights, Progress Curves Development, and Progress Monitoring. Activity Definition, Activity Sequencing, Activity Resource Estimating, Activity Duration Estimating, Activity Weights mostly happen at the planning stage of a project. Activity definition is a processto identify the specific schedule activities that need to be performed to produce the various project deliverable. Implicit in this process is defining and planning the schedule activities such that the project objectives will be met.This means that before a construction project begins, everything must be plan step by step first so that the project will run smoothly. This is to prevent argument during the construction. Other than that is also to save time so that the project will not be delayed. To ensure functional requirements are met, the quality of the project met the requirement. Activity sequencing is the process ofidentifying and documenting dependencies among schedule activities and which tasks have to be started or finished before or after other tasks. You cannot test a system without building it first. So if your schedule testing before the development phase, your project is almost doomed. The goal of the activity sequencing process is to determine the dependencies among the schedule activities and sequence the activities accordingly.Activity sequencing for construction requires creating and following a work schedule that balances the timing of land disturbance activities and the installation of measures, in order to reduce confusion on-site and off-site sedimentation. In a construction site is very important, for example, a floor slab is already built but the foundation is not. Everything needs to be built step by step and according to the plan. This process includes activity list, activity attributes, milestone list, project scope statement and organizational process assets. Activity list contains the schedule activities and needs to be arranged into the order. Activity attributes provides additional insight into which activities need to be performed before others. Milestone list provides you with key milestones that might influence the order of your activities. Project scope statement helps you ensure nothing is missed, and could often influence your activity performance.Organizational process assets exist to help in case there is some relevant information from a similar project.An activity resource estimating is a process in which the project team carefully list out all of the resources that will be needed in completing a project. For example are the total men, materials and machines that are required to perform different project activities. This is also to determine different type of resource required, in what quantity and when each resource will be available to perform the activities is worked out in this process. The resource estimates may be useful for purposes of project monitoring and cash flow planning. In a construction site, all the men, materials and machines are calculated before the project begins. The successful utilization of activity resource estimates will help assure that enough resources are acquired without waste and excessive material. This will save a lot of time, so that the project will finish on time. It is important to estimate activity resources because it helps create realistic schedule and budget, affects procurement and contracts, ensures projects are properly resources, helps manage stakeholder expectations. There are a few informations needed to estimate activity resources which is the type of resources, physical and human resources, quantity of resources, required skill sets to complete activity, project team roles and availability.Activity duration estimating is the time between the start and finish of a schedule activity.This is to estimate the required time is done to carry out an activity based on the scope and resource available. Normally it takes place before a project is kicked off, during the conception phase, but sometime it is possible for the actual activity duration estimating period to take place later, close to or even slightly after the project has officially kicked off, however, even in those cases a draft or preliminary estimation has typically been made.These durations are used extensively in preparing a schedule. In a construction project, preparing a schedule is very important so that there would not have anything miss out during the construction. A schedule is also use to show the process of building in a construction.Schedule Development Process is the process of analyzing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints to create a project schedule. This provides a basis to monitor, control, and track down project activities. Also, it helps to determine how best to allocate resources in order to achieve the project goals. These help to figure out where excess resources are available, and able to reallocate onto other projects. Entering the project scope, activity list, duration estimates, and resources requirements into the scheduling tool generates a project schedule along with completion dates for the activities. This also helps to assess how time delays will affect the project, and prevent it from happening.Construction scheduling tools is a collection of programme, processes and information used in Schedule Development Process to manage a construction project. By implementing project management software, it allows to standardize processes, gain insight into existing and potential problems, and increase the accuracy of time and cost estimates. There are some tools and techniques for combining these inputs to develop the schedule; for examples: Schedule Network Analysis, a graphic representation of the project's activities, the time it takes to complete them, and the sequence in which they must be done. Project management software is typically used to create a Gantt charts or PERT Charts. Critical Path Analysis, a process of looking at all of the activities that must be completed, and calculating the best solution or critical path to take so that the project can be complete in the minimum amount of time. The method calculates the earliest and latest possible start and finish times for project activities. Schedule Compression, to help lesser down the duration of a project by decreasing the time allotted for certain activities. It's done so that it can meet time constraints, and still keep the original scope of the project. Outputs of Activity Process along with outputs of Schedule Development Process allow preparing of progress curves. Schedule Control and Progress Monitoring processes are normally used to control and monitor actual project progress and as a result of these two processes outputs for required project correction are developed, such as the schedule updates, progress monitoring plan updates, progress curves update, corrective actions and lessons learned. Poor planning, lack of updated project plans and a failure to apply a critical path analysis technique affect project performance and results.

Time Management TipsIn order to improve your time management skills, there are some tips to manage your time better. First of all is to write things down. It is a common mistake made by many people to use their memory to try to remember details. When they try to keep every single detail in their mind, it tends to lead to information overloaded. If ones mind is overloaded with too much information, they might forget the little details or the details might get mixed up, then the end result might be incorrect. For example in the construction industry, if a person tries to remember all the values from the tender in their head, they might miss out a digit/value, which will lead to a huge loss in their company. Therefore, it is important to write things down, using a to-do list, to take control of their project and tasks and keep yourself organized. With this tip, they dont have to waste time to crack their head for information when they start their project because all the details are already written down. It also helps to finish their project in a shorter period.The second tip to improve your time management skill is prioritizing your to-do list. Without prioritizing your to-do list, in an order which is more important, they might end up wasting time on less important stuff. Therefore they might be unable to finish their project on time. On the other hand, by prioritizing your to-do list, it helps focus and spend more time on the things that really matter. This can be done by rating your tasks into categories using ABCD prioritization system. For example, after making your to-do list that you have made, categorize them by which of the list is more time consuming or by which is more difficult. Therefore, as the project progresses, it gets easier and faster to finish since the tougher tasks have already been completed. Hence, prioritizing your list is one of the ways that will help improve time management skills. Besides that, a tip that will help develop better time management skill is by planning your week. Spending some time at the beginning of each week to plan your schedule plays a big role to improve ones time management skills. If your week is not planned beforehand, tasks on the to-do lists might not be able to complete on time. Without planning your week in advance, you might also end up wasting time doing unnecessary activities while you could have been finishing up the tasks on the to-do list. Thus, by taking extra time to plan your week can help increase productivity and balance your important long-term projects with your urgent tasks. For example, during the week, instead of using more time thinking about what to do next, you already know what you are supposed to do because you have already planned out your schedule at the beginning of the week. In addition, it takes only fifteen to thirty minutes each week to do your planning. The next time management tip is carry a small notebook. If you do not carry a notebook around, you might miss out or forget some great ideas that you had thought of during the day because you did not manage to write the ideas down in the notebook. Besides that, you might forget to do something that you were told to do because you did not manage to write it down. For instance, you thought of a great idea to help on the project you are working on during your lunch break, but unfortunately, you forgotten what the idea was because it was not written down. Hence, having a notebook is essential because you never know when you are going to have a great idea or brilliant insight. Irony, sometimes, little things make a big difference (Varsimashvili), said Nino Varsimashvili.Some people say they dont have enough time to do what they want to do. This is so because always say YES when they are already overloaded with work. Thus leading us to our next tip which is learning to say NO. If you dont learn to say NO, you might end up using your precious time doing low priority tasks rather than higher priority tasks. For example, if your colleagues asks you to go clubbing with them and you say YES, a lot of time which you could be finishing your project is wasted/gone in a blink of an eye. Therefore, by learning to say NO to low priority requests, you will free up time to spend on things that are more important.Another time management tip is to think before acting. It is better to allow time to ponder before a decision is being made. By thinking before act, it will help a person to avoid conflicts, potential problems and unnecessary works (Silber, 1998). There should be a plan on making time to think and get organized. It is a sound investment and it should be one part of your daily routine. There are some people who prefer to plan first thing in the morning while other prefers the end of the day. It is better to keep the plan simple and flexible. Even though a persons priorities will change from time to time, it does not matter as long as the person is heading for the right direction. A person can plan each days work by using small note book or a planning diary or even electric note book. The planner should be keep handy at all times (Moss, 2007).Next, good time management skill can also be owned by continuously improve yourself. A person should make time to learn new things and the results will eventually develop a persons natural talents and abilities (Richard & Bohlke, 2011). Personal development enables a person to form the habit to learn more. With continuously self-improvement, there comes the discipline to manage and use your time more effectively to accomplish more goals. To do so, self-motivation is always the priority as none can continuously improve without the aid of self-motivation (Joshua-Amadi, 2013). Examples of ways to improve self are by reading books, attending a training program or a course. Besides, another tip is by thinking about what you are giving up to do regular activities. There are many people complain that time is moving fast or they are always pressed for time. The reason they are hurry is that they want to do everything and we have only 24 hours a day (Sahoo, 2007). It is a good idea to regularly evaluate how a person spends his time. In some cases, the best thing you can do is to stop doing an activity that is no longer serving you so you can spend the time doing something more valuable. Consider what you are giving up in order to maintain your current activities (Mokhetho, Moupanaga & Lerotholi, 2013). It is better to have a very good balance in all your activities. A person has to give up something to get something especially time. This is a skill. The better you become at this skill, the more enjoyable the life will become (Sahoo, 2007).Besides, there is another tip which is by identifying bad habits. Bad habits are easy to learn but very difficult to break. It is a need to develop skills like self-awareness. It is essential to identify ones bad habits or during practicing a bad habit. To break and change the habits, one can start self-motivation by using structures as a reminder on the benefits of changing the habit and what is at stake if one failed to change the bad habits. There are ways to identify bad habits. Partners, colleagues and family also helps in changing bad habit. They can point out the blind spots, or act as an accountability partner for the bad habits. In the end of the day, a person can reward himself when he starts to associate with new behaviour rather than practicing bad habits (ODonovan, 2013). Lastly, creating blocks of time is also another tip for time management. First of all, each day is divided into blocks of time. By doing so, it does not only make it easier to plan or organize the day in advance, it also makes better use of time. Instead of switching from one task to another as things pop into mind, focusing on one task at a block of time is always much more efficient. If a person has regular task to do every week, time should be blocked for the same time each week (Evans, 2008). Time that has been blocked out can also include own recreation, play or personal activities. Always stick to own schedule which is the main priority. Tell those people who ask for your personal time that you are busy and need not to explain (Dodd & Sundheim, 2008).1. Write things down2. Prioritize your List3. Plan your week4. Carry a notebook5. Learn to say NO6. Think before acting7. Continuously improve yourself8. Think about what you are giving up to do regular activities9. Identify bad habits10. Block out time

ConclusionBased on the result of the study carried out for our Time Management report, we have realized that Time Management has an important role in the construction industry. Time management shows that, how the construction workers attitude, behavior and how much of effort they put in their respective construction project. Employees should know and learn to manage their time efficiently as they have never thought of managing time in an effective manner. It is said that time and tide waits for no one, so our attempts would be to make the best use of time and prevent others from wasting our time too. Time Management winds up all the construction workers observations on time management during their project. It also summarizes the causes that make us subconsciously waste our time during a work process and at the same time suggests solutions to save time as much as possible. It also offers tips to make the best use of time. If the construction project provide a good schedule for workers to do what they need to do each day and when they should finish their work, it will let the construction project to be carried out smoothly, finish on the targeted dates, save cost and other benefits. Besides that, as with all the precious resources, time is a scarce resource. The wisdom lies in making the most of it. Furthermore, for the nine processes that we have discussed in our report, they were described in the Project Management Institute guides and they can be overlapped during project stages or run at the same time. During practice, especially for small and medium sized construction project, Time Management activity is decreased to a few major processes. Also, some employees in their publications have narrowed a number of processes required for an effective Time Management. It means that an effective Time Management as an entire Project Management is all about planning, scheduling, monitoring, control, and reporting as well as about making decisions on required changes and their performance during construction project. Moreover, for other Time Management activities such as resource allocating, setting goals, prioritizing tasks, and analysis of time spent are also vital. Every construction project must be able to provide a good planning to achieve their goals. For example, if the construction company has lack of updated project plans and a failure to apply a critical path analysis technique, it will affect project performance and results. The most common way to design a project plan for construction project is by using a Gantt chart which is developed from a precedence network diagram indicating a critical path of the project. Bottom-up estimating, analogous estimating and expert judgment are most popular techniques for activity resource and duration estimating. The accuracy of this estimation is vital for project plan, effective Time Management and when the result of the project is out. The differentiation of priority for project tasks within a project can be very important and very effective for Time Management. The priority is also helpful, if the project manager is required to make some time related trade-offs between projects. Therefore, Time Management is a vital part in construction industry; it will easily affect the cost, time to use, workers' attitude and other activities in a construction project. Construction Company should provide a good Time Management planning or schedule before the construction work start. Hence, the construction work will be finish on time.

Learning OutcomesThrough this assignment, we learn: To be much more disciplined To plan for things which is more value to us & improve the quality of life Good personal time management skills Systematic techniques To have good follow up To reduce wasted time To improve productivity & performance Balance and fulfillment To keep track of everything

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