GMAT Essays (AWA)

“Some people believe that the best approach to effective time management is to make detailed daily and long-term plans and then to adhere to them. However, this highly structured approach to work is counterproductive. Time management needs to be flexible so that employees can respond to unexpected problems as they arise.”

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion expressed above. Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.


In the issue above the author first presents the viewpoint that the best approach to effective time management is to adhere to detailed daily and long-term plans. The author then criticizes this approach as counterproductive, and instead stresses the need to be flexible and states that employees should be able to respond to unexpected problems as they arise. The author fairly represents two popular leading attitudes regarding time management, which is a current hot-button issue in regard to leadership in the workplace. Based on my experience with Software Development and the rise of the SCRUM methodology, an attitude that takes the best of goal setting and flexibility is the most optimal and productive combination in the workplace.

First of all, detailed, long term goals are an extremely important with any kind of management. How can an employee know when he or she has achieved the desired outcome without a metric? Moreover, achieving a milestone allows a boss to reward the workplace, rewards being a great way to boost morale. Finally, consider the example of a marathon runner, whose training regimen varies greatly whether he or she must run a race of 400 meters or 25 miles.

Second, Flexibility while working towards a goal is just as vital to the long term success of an organization. Outside influences on a team can and will change unpredictably. Consider a team developing a large piece of software, for example. If the team draws a detailed blueprint of the end result and develops that blueprint for over two years, which is a huge opportunity for change in the fast paced world of software, and does not consider all the outside changing variables, then the team is almost certainly destined to fail. Even if, by chance, the team started with a perfect blueprint the changes in technology and client needs will have rendered the plans obsolete.

Finally, a combination of long-term plans and short-term flexibility is the key to success. The lack of one or the other will certainly damage any chance of success for an organization.