Business Finance Homework Help

PART 1

In this week’s discussion, we will look at time management. As you prepare your final portfolio, consider the strengths and weaknesses you bring in managing a project.

READ

Time Management blog posts

“Building a Critical Skill: Managing your Time,” on p. 225. 

REFLECT

The following excerpt is from Psychology Today, which has a team of professionals who blog about time management.

What Is Time Management?

Time management is the ability to plan and control how someone spends the hours in a day to effectively accomplish their goals. This involves juggling time between the domains of life—work, home, social life, hobbies. It is important to establish clear goals and priorities in order to set aside non-essential tasks that can eat up time, and to monitor where the time actually goes. In the 1970s, the ABC prioritization method was the rage. Any project or action item landing on the A list was deemed most important, with second most important items appearing on the B list, and C items marked as least important. Over time, various iterations of this formula floated through the zeitgeist. For example, the most unpleasant tasks wound up on the A list in order to get them out of the way. Today, the work landscape has changed somewhat, with more and more tasks landing on the “Most Important” list.

How to Take Control of  Your Time

Poor time management can be related to procrastination, attention problems, or difficulties with self-control. To counter these behaviors, organizational psychologists promote the idea of setting up work environments that boost efficiency and productivity. An optimal surrounding that emphasizes a conducive work space is key. However, what this means varies from person to person; some  prefer a tidy desk while others thrive in a creative mess. Nowadays, it is critical to ensure that devices are turned off and email correspondence is limited. Deadlines are also imperative for some people, giving them a set period to complete a project at hand.

Balance Your Work and Life

Now that we have the many more benefits of the digital age, work has decided to impede onto home life more and more. It’s not uncommon to find excel sheets and email inboxes open at weird hours of the night. We are always wired. Other cultures do not suffer from this demanding round-the-clock work life. On a scale from one to 10 from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Denmark enjoys a 9.8 in quality of life, while the U.S. scores a 5.3. Not surprisingly, the extended workweek applies to only 2 percent of the population in the Netherlands. But are Danes and Hollanders less productive? In a word: No.

Psychology Today (2021). Time Management. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/time-management

CREATE and POST

After reading one of the blogs on Psychology Today site (you may also select another credible site on Time Management, if you choose). Summarize the  selected piece, include the title, author and a link, and share one tip or fact that you learned from your reading.

What challenges do you have in managing your time and how do you overcome them? 

Do you use any of the tips in  “Building a Critical Skill: Managing your Time,” on p. 225? Quote and cite your text.

If you could share one tip with an incoming student about time management, what would it be?

A minimum word count of 250 words is required and posts should integrate references from the reading. Be sure to quote and cite (both in-text and parenthetically) any share any research you use, including your book. Citations and references should be in APA format. 

REPLY

Respond to two peer posts. 

PART 2

FINISH THE FINAL PROJECT   “PROFESSIONAL POSTAFOLIO” BEFORE FRIDAY

For your final project for this course you will create a professional portfolio. A professional or career portfolio is created to help you stand out from the crowd. The goal is to personalize your resume, education, philosophy and artifacts to leave a positive impression on the those who view your work. Portfolios can be posted publicly or privately depending on your goals. For this course, the portfolio can be 1) privately posted in the Portfolio area in the classroom on the Blackboard platform or 2) completed on Wix for a more usable public portfolio.

Requirements: The following pages are required for the Portfolio. Some of the content had been submitted in the course but should be revised based on feedback provided by your instructor and enhanced with graphics or photos for the Final Portfolio. Pages marked with a star * have been previously composed in the blogs or weekly writing assignments. In total, 10 items should be contained in the portfolio. The list below shows eight pages plus two “artifacts.” Artifacts are letters, memos, emails completed in your weekly writing assignments. You should choose two artifacts that reflect the areas such as positive messaging, promoting diversity, you attitude, and positive emphasis.

Grading Criteria

In addition to the requirements outlined in the rubric, each item in the Portfolio amounts to 10% of the total grade (10 total items required for 100% total). Omission of an item results in a loss of 10% of the total grade. For instance, if you turn in a Portfolio that has 9 out of 10 of the required items, the highest grade you can obtain is 90%, notwithstanding any other issues noted in the rubric.

Required Portfolio Items

-Introduction*

-Resume*

-Goals, Achievements & Community Service

-Professional Philosophy*

-Ethical Philosophy*

-Research*

-Communication: Positive & Negative Messaging

-Leadership: Working in a diverse world: Non-sexist, non-racist, non-ageist and bias free*

-Artifacts (min. of 2) (align with the positive messaging, diversity, you attitude)*

* – indicates items have been completed prior to Week 4

Overview of the Portfolio Items

Introduction:

The first page of your Final Portfolio is an introduction to the readers. It should provide an overview of your professional goals and the path you have set to lead you to success.  It can also include as much (or as little) personal information as you care to share. An introduction should share some of your personality. Photos are required, specifically a head shot or selfie (professional). You may also include work-related photos or other photos or graphics that capture your likes, interests and personality. Introductions often include a relevant or inspiring quote. Revise your introduction from Week Three’s Discussion.

Resume:

This should be posted directly into the page and formatted for visual impact. Consider attaching a downloadable resume, too. Revise your resume from Week Three.

Goals, Achievements & Community Service: 

This list can include any recognition, award, grades, participation in groups, or memorable event or milestone. You may also include future goals.

Professional Philosophy:

A professional philosophy was drafted in the Week One Blog. This should be a revised version of that statement with consideration of feedback received from your instructor and your peers in the Week Three Discussion.

Ethical Philosophy:

Ethical philosophy was drafted in Week Two Blog. This should be revised based on instructor feedback and included on its own page.

Research: 

This should include the professional research writing assignment completed in Week Two. An introductory statement should be included introducing the three sources and why they are relevant to your career.

Communication:

Positive & Negative Messaging  A page should be created sharing your understanding of professional communication and how to use positive messaging in a business setting. Additionally, a statement about how to respond to problems or bad news and how you would handle delivering a negative message.  This page should be 1-2 paragraphs long, (Recommended Length: 250 words)

Leadership: 

A leadership statement was drafted in Week Three Blog. This should be revised based on instructor feedback and included on its own page.

Artifacts (minimum of 2): 

Artifacts are evidence of learning, frequently accompanied by explanatory text. For this portfolio one memo and one formal letter from your writing assignments should be included to demonstrate application of format.  A brief statement should preface each artifact, describing what it is and what it demonstrates. 

Kevin Martin

“Time Management” is an article written by The Psychology Today staff about a topic of the same name. The piece states that streamlining your time is an effective way to boost productivity. The 1970s decade focused heavily on the ABC production method. A was most important, B was mid-priority, and C was of least importance. Procrastination (which I mistook for the ABC method), attention problems, and poor self-control are symptoms of poor time management. Cutting out sleep does not help with time management. Setting a goal, however, goes a long way in time management. It is one of the most effective ways to manage your time and complete projects. Emails are a way that companies have trapped their employees into working off the clock. Being more deliberate about how you spend time away from work can help make time more valuable. Keeping your work and home emails separate from each other is an example of a positive work-life balance. Also, focusing on one task and seeing it through to the end will help you move to the next task more effectively.

I have always had a focusing problem, especially when I am doing work or schoolwork at home. The psychological effect of doing work at home is pretty bad. Home is supposed to be a place of relaxation. My girlfriend always has a movie or something on the tv and I always find myself watching that instead of concentrating. Mixing work and sitting on your couch just does not work for me. I have to go to a coffee shop in order to get things done. Once there, my work production is boosted considerably rather than being distracted at home.

My email has always been a bit of a mess. I never delete emails. I never organize them either. It is one thing that I am constantly wanting to accomplish but I never seem to make it happen. I know that it will help time management considerably, but I have not been in a position yet where it is my number one priority to organize that stuff. I suppose that starting now will be a big help when that responsibilty comes along where I need to start organizing my email. Purging files periodically atleast once a month is recommended by the book (Locker, K. O., & Kaczmarek, S. K. (2014)). In one of my email accounts I have over 23,000 unread emails. That email address is moatly used for spam but a purge would still be helpful.

If I had one tip for an incoming student, it would be to delete your emails. Do not let it get out of hand. It is a pain trying to go back and search through them. If an email is spam, delete it immediately. If it is a purchase receipt, put it in it’s own folder. Organize your email before it disorganizes you.

Locker, K. O., & Kaczmarek, S. K. (2014). Managing Your Time. In Business communication: Building critical skills (p. 225). essay, McGraw Hill Irwin. 

Andrea Castillo

For this week’s topic of discussion, we are going over time management, how to take control of your time, and balancing work and life. On Pyschology Today, Marcia Reynolds discussed the self-care, vision, and courage are needed to realize dreams and achieve the goals you want to. In “A Proven Strategy for Success in 3 Practical Steps”, she goes over key points to understand before going into the article. She mentions creating a visual for your desires and goals, enahncing your energy to achieve the goals you want and be the individual you want. Ms. Reynolds shares in her article that her secret to amplifying her energy is to reserve your personal energy as you go, in order to better connect with people while being genuine.

As for myself, with being a full time student, and a full time worker, managing my time is quite a challange on a daily. Personally, I write down my schedule on a monthly time line. This keeps track of appointsments, homework assignements, as well as the location of my employer since I travel for work. I keep multiple agendas, an electronic one on my mobile device, as well as a physical copy in my home. Based off the textbook, in Building a Critical Skill, it states “Ask for help or negotiate compromises… You won’t be willing or able to eliminate all yor obligations, but sometimes dropping just one or two responsibilities can really help.” (Locker, K., Ksczmarek, S. 2013.). If I could share one tip to an incoming student about time management, I would say to take it seriously. It is very easy to get lost and overwehlmed with student tasks, get ahead of the game and plan for success.

WC: 320

Sources:

Locker, K., & Kaczmarek, S. (2014). Business Communication: Building Critical Skills (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Reynolds, M. R. (2021). A Proven Strategy for Success in 3 Practical Steps. Pyschology Today. Published. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wander-woman/202106/proven-strategy-success-in-3-practical-steps