Category: Bangalore University B.com Notes

The term ‘retail sales by ownership’ refers to the basic system or basic format of doing business. In India, around 12 million retail outlets are covered under this format. Under this format, proprietor is responsible for the success and failure of the store. It is a type of format, which legally has no separate existence from its owner. Opportunities in retail ownership are in plenty. From market positioning and operating perspectives, each ownership format serves a particular market and has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Over Ninety percent retail firms / outlets in India are independent and hence unorganized. With the globalization and borderless economies, this percentage is coming down but still unorganized stores (mom and pop stores) are in plenty. This number may be because of ease of entry. Ownership pattern has its own competitive advantages and disadvantages. Among independent competitive advantages, main are flexibility, low investments, less interference, quick decisions, direct strategic control, image, consistency, personal attention and entrepreneurial spirit.

Among disadvantages, common are limited finance, less bargaining power, labor intensity, reduced media access, few economies of scale, less expertise, over-dependence on the owner, excess workload and limited planning and supervision due to individual’s limitations.

The retail sale by ownership is classified as under:

• Independent Retailer
• Chain stores
• Franchising
• Leased department stores
• Vertical Marketing system
• Consumer co-operatives

1. Independent Retailer

An Independent Retailer usually is a small retailer (always not true) and is found in all lines of trade and in all communities. He may be a young man, fresh graduate just starting his own business or he may be a man of advanced years with many of them spent in the field of retailing. In India, many of the independent stores tend to be passed on from one generation to another. In either case he has a business of his own. He is independent in-fact as well as in name. The high numbers of independent retailers is associated with the ‘ease of entry’ into the market place. The entry and growth of independent retailers in India is a big reason in the high rate of new retail outlets failure.

Merits of Independent Retailer

• The independent retailer has no restrictions on who, how or where the business to be set up. He is free to do what he wants and to select a convenient location.
• The independent retailer takes all decisions related to the store functioning. It drastically saves the time that usually exist between decision-making and the implementation process. Therefore, an independent retailer can respond quickly to the environmental changes and adopt proper strategies.
• The independent retailer can concentrate on a local area to achieve its business goals.
• To serve the local demand, a retailer can decide the trading hours, merchandise to be sold / removed and prices as and when desired.
• It avoids duplication of work, ambiguity of role and excess stock due to clarity of role, thus resulting in increased productivity and time utilization.
• To start an independent store is comparatively an easy task as it requires low investment, modest fixtures and merchandise.
• The independent store by providing limited but deep merchandise can act as a specialized store to serve a particular consumer segment.

Demerits of Independent Retailer

• Due to limited exposure and small investments, in most of the cases, they don’t stand in competition with the emergence of giant retailers and international store outlets.
• As independent stores are dependent on labor intensive techniques, they find themselves difficult to improve store-productivity when it comes to stock-keeping, ordering, merchandising, displays, accounting and dispatching.
• Undoubtedly, the bargaining power of independent retailers is comparatively less as they offer limited merchandise. On the other hand, big retailers (like supermarkets, hypermarkets and chain stores) due to bulk buying, negotiate vendors effectively and offer less prices, better quality goods and great service at short notice or in small lots create problem for independent stores.
• Due to limited operations, less working capital, improper logistic arrangements, retailers are not able to have benefits of economies of scale.
• Independent retailers due to limited funds cannot go for mass sales promotion programs resulting in limited target market and geographical coverage.

2. Chain Store/Chain Retailer

A chain retailer or a chain store is a group of two or more outlets carrying the same sort of merchandise assortment, owned and controlled jointly and usually supplied from one or more central warehouses. The main advantage of such a retail format is to make retailer enable to bargain well with the suppliers. Another advantage is cost effectiveness in advertising and sales promotions. Thus, a very small number of stores constitute a chain-store system.

Merits of Chain stores

• Good bargaining power with suppliers
• Cost effectiveness due to centralized operations
• Ease of managing store operations
• Use of advanced technology increases their working efficiency

Demerits of Chain stores

• The establishment cost to set up such chain of outlets requires huge money and expertise.
• Difficulty in managerial control due to geographically dispersed branches/outlets
• Due to centralized decision-making, some outlets may have difficulty in adapting to local needs.
• Due to huge network of outlets, it is difficult for management to monitor their day to day activities resulting in communication gap, inefficiencies, and delay in decision making.
• Expense on safety stock remains high.

3. Franchising

A Franchise is a contractual agreement between the franchiser and the franchisee that allows the franchisee the right to supply its brand (goods and services) exclusively within a defined area, as per a particular format for a specified period of time. In return, franchisee pays a fixed fee in advance and a monthly percentage of gross sales made by him under franchiser name and fame in the form of royalty. In India, franchising business is becoming very popular and growing rapidly.

The small businesses find it convenient by being a part of large, multinational firm because franchiser provides great assistance to franchisee for locating and constructing the retail store (including interiors, and exteriors), developing the goods and services for selling, hiring employees, training, advertising and administering the store effectively.

Types of Franchising

In commerce, franchising structure can vary according to the goods and services provided. In most of the agreements, the franchisee is prohibited from selling goods and/ or services of other brands from the same retail outlet in any circumstances.

The franchising may be of three categories:

(i) Product or a trademark franchising

In this sort of franchising, a franchisee with mutual consent acquires the name and identity of the franchiser by agreeing to sell the franchiser’s goods and services exclusively made and supplied by him under his name. In actual, under such an arrangement, franchisee use the franchiser’s business methods, selling techniques, standardized product lines and advertising on co-operative basis.

Although, franchisee adheres to certain operating rules and regulations, but still is independent in their day-to-day operations. In consultation with the franchiser, franchisee can decide the store hours according to the locality needs. Archie’s Gallery, Hallmark stores, which are spread all over India, is the best suitable examples of a product/ trademark franchisee.

(ii) Business Format Franchising

In business format franchising, there is a more synergetic relationship between a franchiser and the franchisee. The franchisee receives assistance on the issue of site location, building the store, quality control, accounting practices, training to store employees, and the problems faced in conducting the store.

Besides these services, a franchisee enjoys the benefits of prototype stores, standardized product lines, selling and presenting skills and co-operative advertising. McDonald’s outlets, Domino’s, Pizza Hut are the best suited examples of business format franchising. In India, since 2000, most growth has been observed under this type of franchising format.

(iii) Area Development Franchising System

In an area development franchisee system, the franchiser grants development rights of a particular area to the franchisee in turn for a front-end development fee. The franchisee on his part is responsible for developing a certain number of units within a given period of time. Excel InfoTech EIIT has adopted this unique mode of franchising.

4. Leased Department Stores

A leased department which is also known as shop-in-shops or store-in-store, is a section of a department in a retail store in the form of specialty/discount store given to any outside party on monthly rental basis. The person who provides the store space to outside party is known as lessor, and the person who takes the shop/store space is known as lessee.

The payment made by lessee to lessor for the use of store space is decided in a contract in the form of monthly rent. The lessee (the proprietor) is usually responsible for all aspects of business such as managing fixtures and furniture. In order to maintain the overall consistency and co-ordination, the store has some operating and administrative restrictions for each lessee in a uniform manner. For a lessee (retailer), the main reason to have rented premises is the property price that usually is so high that buying the premises is beyond the reach of the retailer.

Leased Departments in India:

In India, leased departments are an emerging trend in the field of retail business. Most of the renowned retail chain stores set up their outlets or extension counters in commercial complexes of residential areas, malls, PVR multiplexes, public places like bus terminals, railway stations, metro stations, airports and on national highways. The reason behind their popularity is the business and marketing philosophy of the retail chains that insures the availability of their brands to the consumers near their place of work or home.

Advantages of leased departments

• Following are the advantages of having leased departments from stores’ point of view:
• It provides one-stop shopping experience.
• Leased stores pay for property, personnel and other expenses resulting in fewer burdens on lessor.
• Lessor gets regular monthly income in the form of rent.
• Employees’ management, merchandise displays and arrangement, reordering of items, complaint handling and so on are handled by individual lessees.

Disadvantages of leased departments

• Operating hours may vary from store to store on the basis of goods and /or services sold.
• Items sold /business lines are restricted.
• If lessees are performing well, the store owner may increase the rent or lessees themselves can create problems by changing /not obeying agreements’ rules and regulations.
• The bad image of one lessee can spoil the image of entire store.

5. Vertical Marketing System

A Vertical Marketing System (VMS) is a system in which almost all the members of distribution channel such as manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers work together to satisfy human needs and wants by facilitating the smooth flow of goods and services from manufacturer to ultimate consumer.

In traditional marketing system, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers are separate entities that try to maximize their own profits. The philosophy behind developing vertical marketing system is that when one member of distribution channel tries to maximize its profits on the expense of rest of the members, it will create conflicts resulting in decline in profits for the whole channel of distribution. To avoid these conflicts, now retail firms have started forming vertical marketing systems. Three types of VMS are in existence through which goods and services are usually distributed to customers.

These are:

• Independent firm VMS
• Partially integrated VMS
• Fully integrated VMS

6. Consumer Cooperatives

Consumer Cooperatives are retail outlets owned and managed by its customer members. A group of interested customers (members) start retail operations by investing money, receive stock certificates, elect members to run day to day activities and share the profits on the basis of investment made or certificates held.

The reason to setup consumer cooperative is that local retailers are not able to satisfy consumers’ needs (whatever the reason may be). Therefore, consumers are left with no option but to open their own store. Examples of cooperatives in India are the ‘Kendriya Bhandaars’, owned and managed by government, ‘Apna Bazaar’ shops in Mumbai and ‘Super Bazaar’ stores in Delhi. In some cases, these stores are run by the local residents of society/colony/apartment residents.

A retailer is a person who has set up a commercial establishment to sell goods and services in smaller quantities to the end consumers for their personal use. He sells these goods at a markup or profit margin considerably higher than that of the wholesaler.

Functions of Retailing

Retail trade performs many valuable functions for the trade and commerce as a whole. Some of them are as follows:

1. Delivery of the goods to the end consumer

This makes shopping for all requirements quite hassle-free for the consumers. This also facilitates consumption and maximizes consumer satisfaction. Because the company cannot take responsibility of delivery to every single customer, it appoints retailers. One of the functions of retailing is immediate delivery.

2. Is an essential part of the distribution chain

Because the retailer takes over the cumbersome task of distribution of goods manufactured to the target market, the manufacturer is relieved of this responsibility and can divert his resources to manufacturing activities.

3. Finances the wholesaler

While booking his order of goods with the wholesaler, the retailer pays some percentage or the whole of the order price in advance. This helps the wholesaler to carry on with his operations seamlessly. In some industries, it is the retailer who pays cash to maintain stock and in others the wholesaler has to carry the stock as paid capital. Nonetheless, financing is one of the major functions of retailing. A retailer who does not contribute to financing will bring down the effectiveness of the supply chain.

4. Stores the goods according to market requirement

The retailer invests his working capital in building a gamut of inventory reflecting market requirements. He also sells the requisite quantity, however small or big, to the final consumers satisfying their needs. The retailers know the complete demand and supply potential due to their years of experience. Hence it is one of the functions of retailing to balance the demand and supply as per external market conditions.

5. Lends a hand in manufacturer’s marketing initiative

Retailer plans and executes many advertising and promotion activities at the point of purchase i.e. right in his store. This leads to gain in popularity of and favorable market conditions for the product of the manufacturer.

6. Assumes storage and credit risks

When the retailer orders and stores a large quantity of goods from the manufacturer, he makes sufficient provisions to store it safely for some days. This involves costs. Also, there is also a risk of loss of these goods on account of destruction, theft, spoilage etc. The retailer assumes these risks while storing goods.

7. Extends credit facilities to the consumers and assumes credit risk

The retailer does so to encourage shopping. This adds to the vigor of commercial activities in the economy. But there is also a risk that the customers won’t pay for the goods bought or may return damaged goods to the retailer. This inherent risk in trade is assumed by the retailer.

8. Offers wide variety of customers and enticing price range in a product line

In order to attract more customers, a retailer offers a wide range of merchandise at attractive prices. This results in higher consumer satisfaction and higher standards of living in any economy.

9. Provides convenience in shopping

Retailers try to set up their shops nearby housing areas or near parks, schools the areas where the customer finds it very convenient to shop. This enhances the consumer welfare.

10. Offers after sale services, differentiated packaging, giving more information about the use of the product

All these activities add value to the retail transaction and cater to various requirements of the consumers suitably.

11. Hears the voice of the market

The retailer measures the pulse of the market by listening to the consumer feedback, expectations, complaints, and by observing a shift in the tastes and preferences of the consumers. This arms him with very critical market intelligence enabling the entire commercial fraternity to gear up for the changing economic scenario.

12. Generating employment for masses

Retail trade, especially the brick-and-mortar models, are human resource-centric establishments. They require many employees for numerous functions such as stock taking, over the counter selling, packaging, after sales services, floor management etc. Thus, retail sector thrives with lots of lucrative employment opportunities for all the talented job aspirants.

Goal setting does not have to be boring. There are many benefits and advantages to having a set of goals to work towards.

Setting goals helps trigger new behaviors, helps guides your focus and helps you sustain that momentum in life.

Goals also help align your focus and promote a sense of self-mastery. In the end, you can’t manage what you don’t measure and you can’t improve upon something that you don’t properly manage. Setting goals can help you do all of that and more.

The Importance and Value of Goal Setting

Up until 2001, goals were divided into three types or groups (Elliot and McGregor (2001):

1. Mastery goals
2. Performance-approach goals
3. Performance-avoidance goals

A mastery goal is a goal someone sets to accomplish or master something such as “I will score higher in this event next time.”

A performance-approach goal is a goal where someone tries to do better than his or her peers. This type of goal could be a goal to look better by losing 5 pounds or getting a better performance review.

A performance-avoidance goal is a goal where someone tries to avoid doing worse that there peers such as a goal to avoid negative feedback.

Research done by Elliot and McGregor in 2001 changed these assumptions. Until this study was published, it was assumed that mastery goals were the best and performance-approach goals were at times good, and other times bad. Performance-avoidance goals were deemed the worst, and, in fact, bad.

The implied assumption, as a result of this, was that there were no bad mastery goals or mastery-avoidance goals.

Elliot and McGregor’s study challenged those assumptions by proving that master-avoidance goals do exist and proving that each type of goal can, in fact, be useful depending on the circumstances.

Elliot and McGregor’s research utilized a 2 x 2 achievement goal framework comprised of:

1. Mastery-approach
2. Mastery-avoidance
3. Performance-approach
4. Performance-avoidance

These variables were tested in 3 studies. In experiments one and two, explanatory factor analysis was used to break down 12 goal-setting questions into 4 factors, as seen in the diagram below.

Confirmatory factor analysis was used at a later date to show that mastery-avoidance and mastery-approach fit the data better than mastery alone.

Why Set Goals in Life?

The truth is that some goals are achieved while others are not and it’s important to understand why.

Mark Murphy the founder and CEO of LeadershipIQ.com and author of the book “Hard Goals: The Secret to Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be,” has gone through years of research in science and how the brain works and how we are wired as a human being as it pertains to goal setting.

Murphy’s book “Hard Goals: The Secret to Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be” combines the latest research in psychology and brain science on goal-setting as well as the law of attraction to help fine-tune the process.

A HARD goal is an achieved goal, according to Murphy. Murphy tells us to put our present cost into the future and our future benefit into the present.

What this really means is don’t put off until tomorrow what you could do today. We tend to value things in the present moment much more than we value things in the future.

Setting goals is a process that changes over time. The goals you set in your twenties will most likely be very different from the goals you set in your forties.

Whatever your age doesn’t really matter in the end, as long as you continually revisit your life goals and work to update them.

Benefits of Goal Setting

Edward Locke and Gary Latham (1990) are leaders in goal-setting theory. According to their research, goals not only affect behavior as well as job performance, but they also help mobilize energy which leads to a higher effort overall. Higher effort leads to an increase in persistent effort.

Goals help motivate us to develop strategies that will enable us to perform at the required goal level.

Accomplishing the goal can either lead to satisfaction and further motivation or frustration and lower motivation if the goal is not accomplished.

Goal setting can be a very powerful technique, under the right conditions according to the research. (Locke and Latham).

According to Lunenburg (2011), the motivational impact of goals may, in fact, be affected by moderators such as self-efficacy and ability as well.

5 Proven Ways Goal Setting is Effective

Locke and Latham’s research have shown us that goal setting is indeed very effective.

In the 1968 article “Toward a Theory of Task Motivation” Locke showed us that clear goals and appropriate feedback served as a good motivator for employees (Locke, 2004).

Locke’s research also revealed that working toward a goal is a major source of motivation, which, in turn, improves performance.

Locke reviewed over a decade of research of laboratory and field studies on the effects of goal setting and performance. Locke found that over 90% of the time, goals that were specific and challenging, but not overly challenging, led to higher performance when compared to easy goals or goals that were too generic such as a goal to do your best.

Dr. Gary Latham also studied the effects of goal setting in the workplace. Latham’s results supported Locke’s findings and showed there is indeed a link that is inseparable between goal setting and workplace performance.

Locke and Latham published work together in 1990 with their work “A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance” stressing the importance of setting goals that were both specific and difficult.

Locke and Latham also stated that there are five goal-setting principles that can help improve your chances of success.

1. Clarity
2. Challenge
3. Commitment
4. Feedback
5. Task Complexity

Clarity is important when it comes to goals. Setting goals that are clear and specific eliminate the confusion that occurs when a goal is set in a more generic manner.

Challenging goals stretch your mind and cause you to think bigger. This helps you accomplish more. Each success you achieve helps you build a winning mindset.

Commitment is also important. If you don’t commit to your goal with everything you have it is less likely you will achieve it.

Feedback helps you know what you are doing right and how you are doing. This allows you to adjust your expectations and your plan of action going forward.

Task Complexity is the final factor. It’s important to set goals that are aligned with the goal’s complexity.

Goal Setting Improve Performance

Goal setting and task performance were studied by Locke & Latham, (1991). Goal setting theory is based upon the simplest of introspective observations, specifically, that conscious human behavior is purposeful.

This behavior is regulated by one’s goals. The directedness of those goals characterizes the actions of all living organisms including things like plants.

Goal-setting theory, according to the research, states that the simplest and most direct motivational explanation on why some people perform better than others is because they have different performance goals.

Two attributes have been studied in relation to performance:

1. Content
2. Intensity

In regard to content, the two aspects that have been focused on include specificity and difficulty. Goal content can range from vague to very specific as well as difficult or not as difficult.

Difficulty depends upon the relationship someone has to the task. The same task or goal can be easy for one person, and more challenging for the next, so it’s all relative.

On average though the higher the absolute level is of a goal, the more difficult it is to achieve. According to research, there have been more than 400 studies that have examined the relationship of goal attributes to task performance.

According to Locke & Latham, (1991), it has been consistently found that performance is a linear function of a goal’s difficulty.

Given an adequate level of ability and commitment, the harder a goal, the higher the performance.

What the researchers discovered was that people normally adjust their level of effort to the difficulty of the goal. As a result, they try harder for difficult goals when compared to easier goals.

The principle of goal-directed action is not restricted to conscious action, according to the research.

Goal-directed action is defined by three attributes, according to Lock & Latham.

1. Self-generation
2. Value-significance
3. Goal-causation

Self-generation refers to the source of energy integral to the organism. Value-significance refers to the idea that the actions not only make it possible but necessary to the organism’s survival. Goal-causation means the resulting action is caused by a goal.

While we can see that all living organisms experience some kind of goal-related action, humans are the only organisms that possess a higher form of consciousness, at least according to what we know at this point in time.

When humans take purposeful action, they set goals in order to achieve them.

Goal Setting is an activity that many coaches undertaken with their teams to try to set a point in the horizon for individuals and the team to work towards. Setting targets if completed properly can lead to increased performance and the ability to monitor and evaluate a program on a number of different levels.

When undertaking this type of exercise it is important to realize there are three categories goals, targets or Keep Performance Indicators (KPI’s) can be utilized within. These are short, medium, and long-term goals. The exact length of time for each target depends on the overall length of time a program is in operation for. For example, if a program ran for six months, then the long-term goals would be built around a six-month period. Medium term goals could be up to a month in length with short-term goal being based on weekly stages.

Short-term targets or KPI’s should build up to achieving what the desire medium term goals are. These medium term goals once cumulated, should then attain the long-term objectives. By structuring the ambitions of an individual or team in this way, they will link together and make often complicated or significantly larger goals more manageable and easier to plan in achieving.

Short Term Goals should be developed with a finite amount of time in mind. These goals should be the easiest to achieve in regards to minimal time allocated to the task. This may include for instance an individual player aiming to improve their road running time over three kilometres by five seconds each week. This goal during seasonal competition can then be aimed for each week and achieved within this time.

Medium Term Goals should be the result of an individual/team achieving or completing a task because of consistently satisfying the requirements of their short-term goals. An example of a medium term goal for the individual in our earlier referenced running scenario might be that the player increases the distance to four kilometres at the end of the first months training.

Like with the cumulative effect of the short-term goals leading to the completion of a medium-term goal, so too when a series of medium-term goals are completed then a Long Term Goal should be satisfied. Continuing with our example of the players running efforts, by the end of the season the player will be aiming to be running a total distance of eight kilometres.

Goals’ setting is a valuable tool once it is implemented properly and with purpose. By building goal setting into your team’s activities players will be able to better identify what is expected of them from the team. Additionally as a coach, you will also be able to remind players or teams of their responsibility and commitment to the team goals and hold the individual/team accountable to these.

Have you thought about what you want to be doing in five years’ time? Are you clear about what your main objective at work is at the moment? Do you know what you want to have achieved by the end of today?

If you want to succeed, you need to set goals. Without goals you lack focus and direction. Goal setting not only allows you to take control of your life’s direction; it also provides you a benchmark for determining whether you are actually succeeding. Think about it: having a million dollars in the bank is only proof of success if one of your goals is to amass riches. If your goal is to practice acts of charity, then keeping the money for yourself is suddenly contrary to how you would define success.

To accomplish your goals, however, you need to know how to set them. You can’t simply say, “I want” and expect it to happen. Goal setting is a process that starts with careful consideration of what you want to achieve, and ends with a lot of hard work to actually do it. In between, there are some very well-defined steps that transcend the specifics of each goal. Knowing these steps will allow you to formulate goals that you can accomplish.

The Five Golden Rules

1. Set Goals That Motivate You

When you set goals for yourself, it is important that they motivate you: this means making sure that they are important to you, and that there is value in achieving them. If you have little interest in the outcome, or they are irrelevant given the larger picture, then the chances of you putting in the work to make them happen are slim. Motivation is key to achieving goals.

Set goals that relate to the high priorities in your life. Without this type of focus, you can end up with far too many goals, leaving you too little time to devote to each one. Goal achievement requires commitment, so to maximize the likelihood of success, you need to feel a sense of urgency and have an “I must do this” attitude. When you don’t have this, you risk putting off what you need to do to make the goal a reality. This in turn leaves you feeling disappointed and frustrated with yourself, both of which are de-motivating. And you can end up in a very destructive “I can’t do anything or be successful at anything” frame of mind.\

2. Set SMART Goals

You have probably heard of SMART goals  already. But do you always apply the rule? The simple fact is that for goals to be powerful, they should be designed to be SMART. There are many variations of what SMART stands for, but the essence is this – goals should be:

• S
• M
• A
• R
• Time Bound.

Set Specific Goals

Your goal must be clear and well defined. Vague or generalized goals are unhelpful because they don’t provide sufficient direction. Remember, you need goals to show you the way. Make it as easy as you can to get where you want to go by defining precisely where you want to end up.

Set Measurable Goals

Include precise amounts, dates, and so on in your goals so you can measure your degree of success. If your goal is simply defined as “To reduce expenses” how will you know when you have been successful? In one month’s time if you have a 1 percent reduction or in two years’ time when you have a 10 percent reduction? Without a way to measure your success you miss out on the celebration that comes with knowing you have actually achieved something.

Set Attainable Goals

Make sure that it’s possible to achieve the goals you set. If you set a goal that you have no hope of achieving, you will only demoralize yourself and erode your confidence.

However, resist the urge to set goals that are too easy. Accomplishing a goal that you didn’t have to work hard for can be anticlimactic at best, and can also make you fear setting future goals that carry a risk of non-achievement. By setting realistic yet challenging goals, you hit the balance you need. These are the types of goals that require you to “raise the bar” and they bring the greatest personal satisfaction.

Set Relevant Goals

Goals should be relevant to the direction you want your life and career to take. By keeping goals aligned with this, you’ll develop the focus you need to get ahead and do what you want. Set widely scattered and inconsistent goals, and you’ll fritter your time and your life away.

Set Time-Bound Goals

Your goals must have a deadline. Again, this means that you know when you can celebrate success. When you are working on a deadline, your sense of urgency increases and achievement will come that much quicker.

3. Set Goals in Writing

The physical act of writing down a goal makes it real and tangible. You have no excuse for forgetting about it. As you write, use the word “will” instead of “would like to” or “might.” For example, “I will reduce my operating expenses by 10 percent this year,” not “I would like to reduce my operating expenses by 10 percent this year.” The first goal statement has power and you can “see” yourself reducing expenses, the second lacks passion and gives you an excuse if you get sidetracked.

4. Make an Action Plan

This step is often missed in the process of goal setting. You get so focused on the outcome that you forget to plan all of the steps that are needed along the way. By writing out the individual steps, and then crossing each one off as you complete it, you’ll realize that you are making progress towards your ultimate goal. This is especially important if your goal is big and demanding, or long-term. Read our article on Action Plans  for more on how to do this.

5. Stick With It!

Remember, goal setting is an ongoing activity, not just a means to an end. Build in reminders to keep yourself on track, and make regular time-slots available to review your goals. Your end destination may remain quite similar over the long term, but the action plan you set for yourself along the way can change significantly. Make sure the relevance, value, and necessity remain high.

Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity. It involves a juggling act of various demands upon a person relating to work, social life, family, hobbies, personal interests and commitments with the finiteness of time. Using time effectively gives the person “choice” on spending/managing activities at their own time and expediency. Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects, and goals complying with a due date. Initially, time management referred to just business or work activities, but eventually the term broadened to include personal activities as well. A time management system is a designed combination of processes, tools, techniques, and methods. Time management is usually a necessity in any project development as it determines the project completion time and scope. It is also important to understand that both technical and structural differences in time management exist due to variations in cultural concepts of time.

The major themes arising from the literature on time management include the following:

• Creating an environment conducive to effectiveness
• Setting of priorities
• The related process of reduction of time spent on non-priorities
• Implementation of goals

Time management is related to different concepts such as:

• Project management: Time management can be considered to be a project management subset and is more commonly known as project planning and project scheduling. Time management has also been identified as one of the core functions identified in project management.
• Attention management relates to the management of cognitive resources, and in particular the time that humans allocate their mind (and organize the minds of their employees) to conduct some activities.

Organizational time management is the science of identifying, valuing and reducing time cost wastage within organizations. It identifies, reports and financially values sustainable time, wasted time and effective time within an organization and develops the business case to convert wasted time into productive time through the funding of products, services, projects or initiatives at a positive return on investment.

Analysis

ABCD analysis

A technique that has been used in business management for a long time is the categorization of large data into groups. These groups are often marked A, B, and C—hence the name. Activities are ranked by these general criteria:

A – Tasks that are perceived as being urgent and important,

B – Tasks that are important but not urgent,

C – Tasks that are unimportant but urgent,

D – Tasks that are unimportant and not urgent.

Each group is then rank-ordered by priority. To further refine the prioritization, some individuals choose to then force-rank all “B” items as either “A” or “C”. ABC analysis can incorporate more than three groups.

ABC analysis is frequently combined with Pareto analysis.

Pareto analysis

The Pareto Principle is the idea that 80% of tasks can be completed in 20% of the given time, and the remaining 20% of tasks will take up 80% of the time. This principle is used to sort tasks into two parts. According to this form of Pareto analysis it is recommended that tasks that fall into the first category be assigned a higher priority

The 80-20-rule can also be applied to increase productivity: it is assumed that 80% of the productivity can be achieved by doing 20% of the tasks. Similarly, 80% of results can be attributed to 20% of activity. If productivity is the aim of time management, then these tasks should be prioritized higher.

The 7 Principles of Time Management

1. Have a clear vision

• Ask yourself “What am I actually trying to achieve?”

• The clearer you are about your vision, the more likely you are to achieve it.

• It’s as much about what you’re not going to to do as it is about what you are, you are establishing limits. For example, “I will process my emails for no more than 20 minutes.”

2. Do one thing at a time

• Successful people don’t take on too much. They concentrate on doing and finishing one thing at a time as far as possible.

• Little and often: The human mind works best when we apply this principle.

3. Define your limits

• The best way to be creative is not to try to think without limits, but to carefully define what those limits should be. Limitations actually encourage creativity.

• If you feel you can’t get going or you’re getting nowhere, it’s probably due to poorly defined limits. For instance, if you have a limited amount of time you will be able to concentrate your efforts better than if you have unlimited time.

• In the early stages of high resistance tasks, try short limited time bursts for overcoming procrastination.

4. Use closed lists

• Any list that has a line drawn at the end of it can’t be added to. This enables you to deal with all the items on it without the distraction of new work being added. 

• Once defined, it can only stay the same or get smaller. 

• It doesn’t matter which order you do things, provided you are going to clear the whole list.  

• If you have a backlog of work to deal with, use the closed list principle.

5. Isolate your backlog don’t add to it

• Get the system for new stuff right. You need to be able to process a day’s work.

• Get rid of the backlog if you’ve got steps 1 and 2 right you can chip away at the backlog. It will only get smaller, until it disappears altogether.

6. Reduced random factors

• These are things that stop us from completing our planned actions and can never be eliminated. Your day starts to run you rather than you running it.

• We tend to react to random elements; that is, we use the reactive part of our brain to react to who, or whatever, makes the most ‘noise’. 
• We tend to prioritize by this noise.

7. Commitment v Interest

• Compare ‘I’m interested in writing’ to ‘I’m committed to getting a regular column into the local newspaper’. Nothing is likely to come of it unless interest is turned into commitment.

• What are you prepared to commit to? Commitments are limited. Knowing your commitments is an essential part of making decisions and therefore one of the key principles of time management that can be called effective. They are what make the real difference in your life and work.

• Often, our rational and reactive minds pull in opposite directions. For example, “I want to be slim, but I also want some cake”. The question to ask is “How will you feel when you’ve done it?” This is where commitment counts.
• If you’re considering a commitment, ask yourself three questions: (1) What would I need to start doing in order to commit myself fully to this? (2) What would I need to stop doing in order to commit myself fully to this? (3) Would I be prepared to pay the price for full commitment to this?

Creativity is something that you can turn on at will just like a light switch.

All you need are the four essential elements of Creativity: Focus, People, Tools and Time.

• Focus: Find an area of general or specific focus finish this sentence: “I want to generate ideas in the that will help me”
• People: The number of people only depends on who is around you can do it with Numero Uno, 15, 50 or more. Try to get a few mavericks to attend more formal planning sessions to help you see a different picture.
• Tools: Thinking tools are essential you can use simple tools such as SCAMPER to generate ideas (divergent thinking) and harvest those ideas (convergent thinking) are easily grasped and applied.
• Time: Taking time out to think in a deliberate manner will allow you to have creativity on demand. Use that time to take walks, meditate, muse over things will give you those.

Creative thinkers try to play with the fundamental concepts of all established facts using different analogies and metaphors and through the usage of unique symbolisms. They try to find as much similarity of their idea with the present situation so that the listeners do not get alienated and then pitch in their individual thoughts. This saves them from premature judgement and filtering.

Creative thinkers take caution that they don’t sound too extreme in their ideas. They always opt for the intermediate approach while building imaginative and ideal situations. They also share techniques in which their vision can become a feasible reality and they do it by relating their ideas with previously mentioned processes and find links with them, which makes the listeners think about the idea in a different light.

The most effective methods to increase creativity in a team are:

• To be happy and cheerful
• Encourage transparent communication
• Trust people and accept failures
• Be in contact with external information
• Be independent of apprehensions
• Support participation in decision making
• Encourage new ideas

While innate creativity doesn’t need to be particularly nurtured, training the management staff in creativity should be done by experts on how to stimulate creativity in their team members and how to provide motivation. The management should also encourage people for the use of creative techniques and initiate their team mates towards them.

Application of Creativity

Creativity uses a generation of ideas with value to combine various features from them and create a new path to solve concrete problems. This helps people in adapting to change, while still improving the performance of the organization. Creative thinking encourages participation in crucial decisions which immediately changes the attitude of the staff of the organization in a positive direction.

Some expected results of the creativity process are as follows:

• Innovation through new product and processes
• Improvement of existing products or services
• Increase in employee productivity
• Increase in work efficiency
• Increase in flexibility
• Increase in quality

Characteristics of Providers

The implementation of creative techniques in an organization needs the assistance of external consultants and experts who undertake such projects and are well acquainted with the implementation of such processes within the boundaries of the organization.

Their job description revolves around presenting different techniques, teaching their application, profiling people based on their job requirements and providing them with focused training methods. They also define the problems and initiate the changes as per the needs of the process.

Creativity is something which cannot be taught as well as not something you are born with either. But it certainly is the most important part of any brilliant innovators success. When talking about creativity the conversation can’t be constrained to artists like musicians, dancers, painters, etc. It is a broader term under which multiple segments flow and it includes everyone from a school student trying to embellish his school project to an entrepreneur with his budding brilliant idea. But why some turn out to be amazing while some fail? Well there are several factors that influence one’s creativity, have a look at them and find out why you are so creative or why you are not. It also includes the reason why one’s creativity levels fluctuate.

• Experiences: Experiences are a key player in creative thinking, the more you experience more influenced you get. These experiences define your ideas and creativity which are presented through your work.
• Fearlessness: Fearlessness is a major factor having impact on one’s creativity. A person who thinks that he is not creative can never be. Having doubts is ok, but being worried about the success of an idea clearly shows that you lack faith in your ideology. Experts say ‘Be fearless with your creativity and you’ll open more doors for new ideas.’
• Desire: Desire is factor of creativity which is often overlooked but it is as vital as any other criterion for growing as a creative individual. Science bluntly states that, if you simply don’t want to change things (or solve problems or inspire others or do new things) then you won’t.
• Atmosphere and Environment: Yes! It all about the world around us. Atmosphere and environment both go hand in hand to influence an individual’s creativity levels. ‘Environmental Factors Affecting Creativity and Innovation’ says: Although innovation and creativity can emerge in a variety of settings and situations, some environments are more conducive to the creative process. In one large study, it was found that having a vision, being task-oriented, and engaging in external communication had a strong relationship to creativity and innovation.
• Space and Time: Productivity may increase under pressure but creativity has no positive influence if the undisturbed space and right amount of time is not provided. John Cleese’s talk on creativity states: That having a start and end time to keep your creative space open is essential. Without a dedicated time block, it is easy to leave a creative mindset to focus on trivial matters that are easier to deal with than to take the time to do things that are important. It also takes time to get into your creative mode.He says that you must realize that it will take time to achieve something truly original and creative. There is a sense of discomfort.

Creativity can be enhanced through many creative techniques. In fact, creativity can not only be enhanced but also directed and focused on a branch of study or craft. For example, people in sales and marketing may utilize a different set of creative techniques, as compared to those in quality management.

Attempts to enhance the creativity in the minds of people can be put under two important classifications:

Techniques suited to enhance creativity in individuals, and

Creativity enhancing techniques for a group of individuals, which suits the needs of the working force.

Improving creativity for individuals is the act of enhancing the powers of intuition and removing mental blocks, such as fear of criticism and ridicule. At the basic level, enhancing creativity in work circles is not possible without first enhancing team building. This will bring a change in group dynamics and will pave the way for creative thoughts and innovation.

All group creativity techniques can be applied to individuals successfully. That is because Creativity is an attribute of an individual person, however it can be developed more efficiently in a group or a team because individuals need to interact with other individuals to express their creative ideas and make a practical working model based on it.

Creativity

There are many computer-based creativity supporting tools, such as artificial intelligence models, information systems, etc. which can be used to enhance creativity, explore alternatives to fixed ideas and to encourage imagination.

Analytical Techniques

Analytical Techniques involve a linear approach to thoughts as in a sequence of steps to follow. A prime examples of this technique will be the “Wh-question” technique, where the participant is encouraged to carry his thought forward by asking him leading questions such as, “Who, What, When, Where, Why and How). These questions are known to stimulate different directions of thought and help in organizing all the points of these thoughts under one context or narrative.

Intuitive Techniques

In comparison, Intuitive Techniques are less structured techniques, where the instructor has the option to skip a few steps and allow the participant to give a whole answer at the end, as per his narrative. It is often compared with the “Wishful Thinking” technique.

Divergent and Convergent Thinking

Thinking

A third classification of creativity, apart from the Analytical Approach and the Intuitive Approach, is dependent on Divergent Thinking and Convergent Thinking.

Divergent Thinking is the process of encouraging generation of free-flowing ideas, which are then channelized in different directions depending on the requirements of the process.

In contrast, Convergent Thinking is all about filtering all the free-flowing thoughts generated during the Divergent Process and subjecting them to further filtration to single out those ideas that have a truly innovative and practical value.

Both these thinking processes are complementary and help people find numerous alternatives to seeing the same situation and finalizing the one that can be implemented. Caution must be observed in comparing divergent thinking with combination thinking, which may sound the same but are different.

In combination thinking, the conflicting ideas of people are put in a coherent context, so that everyone agrees to the final suggestion without feeling that his/her idea has been stifled or compromised with.

An individual needs to possess certain skills for effective managerial communication.

• Body Language and overall personality of an individual play an essential role in effective communication. It is essential for managers to express their thoughts in a positive way. Remember shouting at team members and quarrelling with them lead to no solution; instead make the situation all the more worse. There are several other ways of expressing your displeasure. Make sure you do not lose your temper while communicating. Take care of your pitch and tone. Speak in a convincing way for people to understand what you intend to communicate.
• People generally like to communicate with someone who is nicely dressed and presentable. No employee would ever like to communicate with a shabbily dressed manager. Be an idol for your team members. It is really important for managers to dress well for co workers to look up to them. Clothes must be clean and ironed properly and you really need to create that much needed first impression.
• Take care of your facial expressions and gestures. A smile on your face will attract employees and they would readily come to you to discuss their problems.
• Be Honest. Pass on information to your team members in its correct form. Playing with information and data tampering lead to ineffective communication. Communicate directly with your team members rather than appointing middle men.
• Speak Relevant. The choice of words is really very important in verbal communication. Do not use slangs and abusive words in your speech. Loose talks must be avoided at the workplace.
• Be Focussed. Know what you intend to communicate. Managers must prepare their speech well in advance before addressing their team members. Do not communicate just for the sake of communicating. Deviating from the topic only confuses recipients. Managers must ensure their team members are able to understand them well.
• Be Confident. You must believe in yourself for others to believe you. Learn to stick to your words. It is really important for effective managerial communication. Never be low on self belief.
• The pitch and the tone need to be taken care of. Do not be too loud or too soft. A manager must know how to keep a control on his anger. Stay calm and composed. Do not overreact.
• As a good manager, you ought to be impartial towards all your team members. Giving special attention to one of your team members just because he is your friend is something which is not at all expected out of a good manager. As a manager you are responsible for all your team members and you need to interact with them on a regular basis. It is your duty to address their grievances and problems. Be available to them and let them express themselves.
• Know when to communicate. Avoid calling your team members at late evenings or early mornings. They would never pay attention to your communication and the message gets diluted. Prefer not to interact with them during lunch hours unless there is an emergency.

Tips for Effective Managerial Communication

It is essential for employees to communicate effectively with each other for better understanding as well as increased productivity at workplace. Employees doing everything on their own are generally overburdened and eventually fail to deliver their best.

Effective managerial communication enables the flow of information and knowledge among employees in its desired form. Managers need to interact with their team members to extract the best out of them. Problems remain unsolved if employees do not communicate with each other. Discussions go a long way in reducing confusions and also improve the relations among employees.

• Remember a manager’s task is not only to sit in closed cabins and shout at subordinates. He needs to interact with his team members on a regular basis. Speak to your colleagues more often. Find out what they are upto? Treat all your team members as one. There is absolutely no harm in taking lunch with your team members. This way you tend to discuss lot many things apart from routine work.
• Promote the concept of morning meetings at workplace. Morning meetings help you interact with your team members on an open platform where everyone has the liberty to express his/her views. Communicate with your team members and help them plan their day. Let them come out with their problems. Walk up to their workstations once or twice in a day.
• Increase your listening skills. A good listener is always a good communicator. It is really important to listen to the other person carefully before speaking. Interrupting a conversation breaks the momentum and the message loses its impact.
• Working in a team leads to effective managerial communication. Employees working in isolation hardly interact with their fellow workers and superiors. Make sure your team members discuss things amongst themselves and work together. Instruct them to keep you in the loop as well. The employees must mark a cc to their immediate reporting managers to keep them updated of the latest developments at the workplace.
• Master the art of writing emails. Also train your team members how to write an official mail. There is a huge difference between a personal and official mail. The subject line needs to be relevant for people to open the mail.
• Do not call your team embers one by one for any kind of communication. Address them together.
• Think before you speak. Make sure whatever you communicate is relevant. Avoid using complicated words and terminologies in your speech. The message has to be clear and precise for effective managerial communication. Be straightforward and communicate clearly as to what you expect out of your team members.
• No communication is complete unless the message is understood clearly by the recipients. There should be absolutely no room for confusion in effective communication. Once you are through with your speech, give some time to your team members for them to ask whatever they have not understood.
• Never communicate at a noisy place. Choose conference room, meeting rooms or any noise free zone for communication.