Question

Time management has become one of the key issues of the second half of the

twentieth century. Managers, grappling with work pressures and deadlines, have

come to recognize that time is a precious commodity to be ‘saved’, ‘gained’, and not

‘wasted’ or ‘lost’. But if time is a commodity, how then can we best describe,

measure and manage it?

To describe and manage it, imagine a line that goes back to the beginnings of creation

and continues into the mists of the future. And on that line are a number of significant

marks − these separate the past from the present from the future. And within each

time zone − past, present and future − we can differentiate periods of time from points

of time. For example, the 1980s gave us a period of rapid economic growth; Black

Monday was a point of sudden financial catastrophe.

How can this brief analysis help the international manager? Firstly, there is the link

between past, present and future. In other words, historical performance should be a

guide to the future, and the present ought to represent last year’s forecast. So change

− that which normally differentiates any two periods on our continuum − can be seen

as a gradual evolution rather than a dramatic revolution.

Secondly, the use of a time-planning system, on which key points and periods are

plotted, enables managers to organize their activities so that bottlenecks can be

avoided and deadlines can be met. So stress, where the jobs to be done exceed the

available time, can be reduced to an acceptable and productive level.

Q1 Pick out words/phrases from the passage which have the following meanings. 10 marks


i coming to grips with something (Para 1)

ii latest time by which an activity must be completed. (Para 1)

iii article which can be bought and sold (Para 1)

iv make a division between two things (Para 2)

v time when the world was created (Para 2)

vi unclear period of time (Para 2)

vii terrible event. (Para 2)

viii short (Para 3)

ix slow and steady (Para 3)

x blockages (Para 4)

Answer 1

i don't know because I don't understand