Managing time effectively

After reading Paula's Blog on Key Features of Project Management I realised that a key element of the inquiry is PLANNING. You can steam through the tasks but without and effective plan in place it is easy to get lost. Part of being an effective manager is having good organisational skills and often meeting deadlines.

Although I have made a start to my inquiry I started to feel that the days are rolling by and I am not getting many tasks completed. So far I have:

- Read through the module handbook and Reader 7 making notes

- Reviewed my initial plan and made the necessary changes due to my current circumstances

- Researched literature relevant to my inquiry and carried out a couple of reviews

- Written the aims and objectives of my inquiry

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by what I still have left to do I have created this ‘plan of action’ to the best I can for now in order to see week by week what tasks need to be completed. Currently living in the US cuts a week from my schedule in order to mail the coursework to England so I have had to take that into consideration. I also need to consider a new contract may come up forcing me to leave the area; therefore it is important I try to gather all the data using the inquiry tools as soon as I can. So with that in mind here is my action plan, which may change but allows me to see clearly what I need to complete.

PROFESSIONAL INQUIRY ACTION PLAN

WEEK                                    TASKS TO COMPLETE

10^th-16^th Oct               - Complete Literature Reviews

- Gain permission from Patrick Henry to carry out inquiry to theatre

- Ask selected participants to take part in an interview and send information on inquiry- summary, aims and objectives

- Arrange interview times

- Prepare interview questions

17^th-23^rd Oct              - Prepare for interviews: List of questions, video camera

                                     - Conduct interviews

- Complete survey on Survey Monkey. Post link on blog for BAPP network and email to professional community

24^th-30^th Oct                 - Start editing showreel for Professional Artefact

(New York 26^th-27^th)     - Start on pamphlet information for Artefact

31^st Oct-6^th Nov              - Carry out last interviews

                                         - Continue working on Artefacts

                                         - Catch up on any remaining tasks above

7^th-13^th Nov                       - Write first draft of introduction

                                           - Continue on Artefacts

14^th-20^th Nov                      - Analysis and Development of findings: discussion with SIGS and blogs

                                            - Start writing Evaluation of the Inquiry Process

                                            - Continue working on Artefacts

21^st-27^th Nov                       - Start writing Analysis of the Findings

(Thanksgiving Week)           - Continue Artefacts

28^th Nov-4^th Dec                 - Complete Professional Artefacts and send to Paula for feedback

                                             - Start writing Critical Reflection

5^th-11^th Dec                         - Catch up on above tasks

12^th-18^th Dec                       - Send first draft of Critical Review to Paula for Feedback

19^th-25^th Dec                       - Work on completing tasks

(University Holiday/Christmas)

26^th-31^st Dec                       - Make any necessary changes to coursework using feedback from Paula

(University Holiday/New Year)

2^nd-8^th Jan                            - Mail coursework to Middlesex University

9^th Jan                                   DEADLINE for submission of coursework 4pm Trent Park

Professional Artefact

When discussing my inquiry with Paula, something that was brought up was the Professional Artefact part of this module. She suggested getting a start on it and making sure it was not left till the last minute. In order to understand this further I looked at Rosemary McGuiness' slideshow, 'What is a Professional Artefact'. One thing stood out here and that was it should "Impress employers with your professional knowledge" (Rosemary McGuiness, 2011). This then led me to think about where I stand in my current professional practice.

As the theatre I was working at has now closed something that would be of great value for me to do is an updated resume and showreel. In doing this I plan to display my new found choreographic skills. It will have significant value to me when applying for jobs and takes what I have learnt from my previous job and puts into an artefact I can show to potential new employers. It relates to the career transition part of my professional inquiry as I have expanded my resume being the dance captain and choreographer. I have also learnt new management skills from my last job- managing the dancers, casting, producing and staging new shows which I wish to display in this artefact too. I plan to present this in a video format that will be clear and concise for my audience to view.

My second professional artefact I wish to present will be a book or pamphlet on Arts Management that will display what I have learnt from my inquiry by writing about the key management principles that underline the business of running an arts organisation or theatre. I aim to discuss the key skills an arts manager needs such as business, marketing, finance, organisation structure.  I also wish to discuss the key tips I have found to running a successful company and the common mistakes that are made in setting up a new business.

Literature Review 1

Literature Review: ‘How Six Companies Failed to Survive 2010’

by Eilene Zimmerman. New York Times (5^th Jan, 2011)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/business/smallbusiness/06sbiz.html

This article sets out to inform people about the difficulties faced in setting up a new business.  It makes its readers aware of the problems small companies can encounter in their first year of opening, what went wrong and how its owners reflect back on the issues they faced. 

I came across this article on the New York Times website ( above) which gets more than 30 million hits a month. It was published in the business section of the ‘New York Times’ therefore its target audience would be business professionals, however being a national newspaper it is also geared towards general readers. It was written at the start of this year and I feel is still every relevant in the current economic situation regarding struggling businesses. The photograph used to illustrate the failure of businesses is of Elizabeth Kavanaugh and Jeff Rank standing outside their former business, Large Format Digital, in Edgerton, Wis. The photograph taken by a photographer for the New York Times represents the article well in the sense that it is bleak and snowing in the photograph. It reflects how the article sis concerned about how the people are affected in this type of situation, something I will look into in my inquiry.

The article starts with some statistics taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that show it was a better year for small businesses in 2010 than it was in 2009- in 2009 the net loss was 400,000 companies compared to 96,000 companies in 2010. Much of an improvement I’d say. However the article claims that “numbers do not tell the whole story” and sets out to look closely to how it has affected six small companies.

Eilene Zimmerman is a journalist based in San Diego, California that writes about a variety of topics including business, social and political issues and family life. Her article covers the topic of why companies failed to survive with a brief paragraph on the six companies with the headings; At its peak, What went wrong and Looking back. I was very interested in analyzing the ‘What went wrong’ section.

Findings that relate to and support the arguments in my inquiry:

-          “she spent thousands of dollars on advertising that didn’t work” -Ms. Kero of Gotham Concierge in Manhattan. This statement supports one of the issues I will be examining with Celebration Music Theatre.  Within the first few months of opening the company had signed a contract with an advertising agency for thousands of dollars of adverts. They charged for everything- each new graphic design or logo, the running of the theatres website to even their Facebook, which is free! The marketing guy at the theatre had a friend who was a graphic designer. He eventually got hired to start doing new graphics for the theatre.

-          “too much time and money were spent on enhanced functionality”- Mr. Milley of iParents.com . Our theatre got off the beaten track when the decision was made to do three Broadway Shows and a Kids Show for the summer that was then to be taken on tour. They were too ambitious. Simple is better. We got carried away with trying to produce so many shows we lost what we were really about and that was ‘Superstarz Live’.

-          “potential investors skittish about the economy, pulled out” -Lisa Beels and Christine Naylor of Petite Palate. One of the major struggles the theatre went through was finding an investor to keep the theatre operating as well as pay the employees back. The main problem was by this time we had accumulated a big debt already that no investor wanted to take that on.

Although brief, this article touched on some reasons companies failed to survive that support some of the points I will be looking at in my inquiry. It has helped me to discover further questions I plan to use in my interviews:

-          Why was the Colin’s Company chosen to be the main marketing and advertising agency for the theatre?

-          What was this agreement like and was it over budget?

-          Who made the decision on bringing in the Broadway revue shows and using the same employees to help make this happen?

-          How were these shows budgeted for?

-          When did you realise there was no money to produce these show?

Benchmarking

So I came across a new term today whist looking through Reader 7 and that is benchmarking.

"Benchmarking is the search for industry best practices that lead to superior performance"
- Robert Camp, logistics engineer who initiated Xerox's benchmarking program.

It is a way to compare how your own business is doing with some of the best organisations out there. The aim is to learn to how to achieve this great standard and then set out to implement it in your own company. It is a good way to inform top level management how the company is doing, measures how successful you are being, what is working and what needs improvement. In a theatre setting it would be a good way to see what has worked, what hasn't and whether the audience is changing over time.

This made me think about what if our theatre had engaged in some benchmarking of their own. It seems that it needs to be a continuous process. you have to understand the way your company is currently operating and look for the best organisation in the business to compare it against. You then need a method to collect the data and a way to implement changes in the problems that emerge. We could have done some benchmarking on the financial aspects as well as management processes. For example, housing all our production staff as they were not from the local area was money wasted. If you compare to other entertainment venues around the beach, none house their production staff.

I feel that although the theatre is now closed benchmarking might still be useful in my inquiry to compare how we were operating and  running, what were our management practices like and compare this to other theatres. This should help me to uncover what were the weaknesses and the areas that needed improvement, which helps to discover what went wrong.

Inquiry Aims and Objectives

In order to make a start on my final inquiry I felt it would be beneficial to make a list of my aims and objectives. As my inquiry has taken a slight turn from what it originally was this has helped me to put my thoughts in order and also have a base to work from. I also plan to have print outs available to inform my participants about my inquiry so they know exactly what it entails and my overall goal. The following is still a work in progress. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

TITLE (in progress):
An inquiry into the life and death of Celebration Music Theatre. What led to the downfall and whether we were on a downward spiral from the beginning? What happened in management? How did this affect the employees and performers?  What makes a successful theatre company? How can dancers work through this type of situation whether preparing for the next job or in career transition? How does this compare to the national and international performing scene?

AIMS:

* To look into the breakdown of Celebration Music Theatre, discovering what happened in management and what led to the downfall of the company. Comparing that to my professional background so far and to theories about running theatres/arts organisations.

* Discover what organisational structure works best in a professional theatre and what key factors help run a successful entertainment company.

* Inquire into the local entertainment venues, what problems they may be facing and comparing that to the national and international theatre scene

* Look at the dancer perspective. Inquire into how dancers cope with unemployment periods and how you can prepare yourself for future contracts

* Look at career transition for dancers. Mainly focusing on what skills a dance professional needs in order to gain a career in dance/arts management. .

OBJECTIVES:

* To carry out research into the following areas; the life and death of companies, dance management, skills for production managers, theatre organisation structure, entertainment in the Myrtle Beach area an information on first year of a new business

* To discover what it takes to set-up, run and manage a successful theatre company

* To conduct interviews with ex-employees of the theatre, other entertainment managers in the surrounding area not related to the theatre and investors and/or the theatre owner

* To create a new show-reel for future employers to view that showcases my skills as a dancer as well as my new skills learnt from the theatre in choreography. To aid my professional development as a performer.

Revising my Inquiry Plan

                                               RE-DIRECTION

 I have had to make some changes to my inquiry plan due to the fact that the theatre I was working at closed over the summer. The main reason for this was lack of funds. Since my inquiry was centered around the theatre and looking into the management there etc I have had to make some changes.


At first I was unsure what route to go. My inquiry involved looking at management and helping the theatre to succeed. Now there is no show and it has closed what could I inquire about? After my conversation with Paula yesterday, I realised that there are many issues there. What led to the downfall? What happened to management? How are the dancers dealing with this family organisation breaking up? When I say family organisation, it was not run by a family but felt like a home to many of us. We were all very close and treated eachother as such. But there are many issues with the way in which the theatre was run, what decisions were made and by whom and the organisational structure.
I also feel my time there developed my skills as a manager, being the dance captain and choreographer. I had never choreograhed in a professional setting before and now can put that on my CV. So some good came out of the experience for me personally. Financially there are still many ex-employees owed a lot of money, myself inclded and law suits going ahead. I still plan to interview employees of the theatre but will ensure they are kept anonomous for ethical reasons.

I am still focussing on the theatre, looking at what led to the downfall rather than how to improve management. This will still touch on management and marketing issues, what skills are needed for roles in arts and dance management as well as moving on from one job to another as a performer and career transition.

I decided to edit my plan using Wikispaces. This way you can see my original plan and the altered parts highlighted in blue. You can check this out at: https://inquiryplan.wikispaces.com/Inquiry+Plan

Back in the game...

Hello my fellow BAPP friends!

Well after 3 days of trying to log onto myUniHub, I finally got a new password and I'm in! I like the new layout and the fact that I can access everything on one site.

It has been a crazy summer. Things have been..well hectic. The theatre I was working at has now shut its doors due to not making enough money this summer. There are deals in the work to sell the building and produce a brand new show. I am currently involved in the set up and some initial ideas to start this brand new theatre, so we will see what happens. Needless to say I haven't thought much about the course what with planning a wedding although I feel things have happened that I have made note of that may come in handy to my inquiry.

I have now downloaded the new 3760 modules, which I plan to read through this weekend. I may be making a slow start but I am now ready to tackle this final module and really focus on my inquiry. I will be writing some upcoming blogs on my thought and ideas.

Unfortunately, I will be unable to make any campus sessions this semester so I am relying on all your blogs to keep me updated as to what went on.