Page 306 - Business Principles and Management

project:
MY BUSINESS , INC.

PREPARING FOR THE MANAGEMENT FUNCTION
The failure rate for new small businesses is fairly high. Many people start a
business without considering the difficulty of the process, the time required
to manage a business, and the costs of starting a new business and operating
it until it can become profitable. One of the major reasons for failure is that
the owner does not practice effective management skills. Many new busi-
ness owners have never been managers or have managed a specialized part
of another business. They have not had the experience of being responsible
for all aspects of managing. Few new business owners have undertaken any
type of management training to prepare themselves for their new role.
To increase the chances of success for your new business, you need to
prepare yourself for your new role as owner and manager. Through your
study of management, you are now aware of all of the functions that top
managers and executives perform. You know that you will have to devote
much of your time to management activities in order to complete all the
major management functions. In addition, you must be prepared to iden-
tify and solve problems before they negatively affect the business.

DATA COLLECTION
1. Survey five managers of small businesses. Ask them to identify the
types of activities they commonly perform during the day and esti-
mate the amount of time they spend on each activity during the typ-
ical day. Use your own judgment to classify the activities within the
four management functions. You may also need a category for non-
management activities. Prepare a chart to illustrate your findings on
how small-business managers spend their time.
2. Identify two problems you expect to face in operating your business.
Complete the steps in problem solving to develop an appropriate
solution. As you analyze possible solutions, identify several sources
of useful information, including business research.

ANALYSIS
1. Develop a chart with four headings: Planning, Organizing, Imple-
menting, and Controlling. Under each heading, list the activities
you will need to complete to manage your juice bar effectively.
2. Under the list of activities developed above, estimate (a) how much
time you will need to devote to each activity and (b) when you will
need to complete each activity during a typical month. Then develop
a sample monthly calendar on which you schedule management
activities.
3. For each problem identified in the data collection section above, select
the solution you believe is likely to be most effective. Then develop a
written set of procedures to follow to accomplish each solution and
prevent the problem from occurring.

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