Prioritizing and Information Management
(1) Ana Maria arrived at the office a few minutes early to review the items on her task list for the day. Just as she was about to begin, her supervisor Ms. Baldwin arrived and told Ana Maria she had received a call at home last night. The national sales meeting scheduled for three weeks from today had been moved to one week from today because of an emergency. Ana Maria said to Ms. Baldwin: "This definitely changes the priorities for today." The items that Ana Maria had on her task list for today are shown below. She had not prioritized them:
- Revise sales contract for national sales meeting in three weeks
- Complete weekly sales report due in three days
- Start planning monthly sales meeting two weeks from today
- Call Tom about the Patterson report for the monthly sales meeting
- Call Lisa for lunch
- Look in tickler file
- Check e-mail messages
- Schedule room for monthly sales meeting in two weeks
- Make airline and hotel reservations for national sales meeting
- Verify travel expense vouchers
- Replenish desk supplies
1. Think about the changes Ana Maria needs to make in her task list. List the items that will be affected by the supervisor's news. Will other items be added to her task list? If yes, list them.
2. Prioritize the items to reflect the change in the date and time of the national sales meeting. Key a revised task list.
(2) At a department meeting your manager, Mr. Joe Petersen, discusses a memo regarding company security. He shakes his head and says: "This is the second memo the managers have received about security leaks. One of our competitors has just introduced a new product, and it's identical to a product we have been working on. Apparently they discovered our plans. The president wants our thoughts on how to improve our product security. In addition to the main shredder in the copy center, he is suggesting a shredder for each office. Well, I'm just glad everyone in our department can be trusted. "As you hear this, you remember several situations you have observed in the office:
- You have seen poor photocopies, even photocopies of confidential material, discarded in the wastebasket.
- Computer printouts with product-testing results are left stacked next to the filing cabinets rather than being locked inside them.
- Workers often talk about current projects during their breaks.
- Workers have a habit of using the offices of other workers who are out of town or on vacation.
- Workers too freely give out unnecessary information to callers, such as telling a caller exactly where the individual is.
"Tell me," Mr. Petersen says, "do you think we need a shredder? What other measures can we take to tighten security? Please give this matter some thought and send me your ideas." How do you respond to him? What suggestions can you make for tightening office security?
1. Prepare a response to the questions Mr. Petersen asks in the form of an e-mail message. Send the message to your instructor's e-mail address (or save and print the message). Prepare a memo to Mr. Joe Petersen instead if you do not have access to e-mail.
2. In the message, include suggestions for correcting the problems discussed as well as other security measures that you think would be effective.