The solution to enhance time management skill at expeditors vietnam co , ltd case of ocean export department

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Nguyen Trong Huu THE SOLUTION TO ENHANCE TIME MANAGEMENT SKILL AT EXPEDITORS VIETNAM CO., LTD CASE OF OCEAN EXPORT DEPARTMENT MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018 UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Nguyen Trong Huu THE SOLUTION TO ENHANCE TIME MANAGEMENT SKILL AT EXPEDITORS VIETNAM CO., LTD CASE OF OCEAN EXPORT DEPARTMENT MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SUPERVISOR: Dr LE NHAT HANH Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018 Tab of content Acknowledgments Executive Summary List of Figures List of Tables List of Abbreviations Chapter Problem identification 1.1 Company background 1.1.1 Company overview 1.1.2 Company’s structure 1.2 Background of problems 1.2.1 An overview to working time in Vietnam 1.2.2 An overview to working time at Expeditors Vietnam 1.2.3 An overview to working time symptom in Ocean Export department 1.3 Problem justification 15 1.3.1 Problem definition 15 1.3.2 Justify existing problem 17 1.3.3 Justify the importance of the problem 22 1.4 Potential causes 25 1.5 Causes validation 25 Chapter 2: Alternative Solution analysis 30 2.1 Alternative Solutions 30 2.1.1 Solution 1: Distinguish between Urgent and Important 30 2.1.2 Solution 2: Planning by setting goal 32 2.1.3 Solution 3: Setting expectation and To-do list to follow 34 2.2 Action Plan 36 Chapter Conclusion 39 In-depth Interviews 44 References 69 Acknowledgments First of all, I would like to sincere gratitude to all who have made this thesis possible and an unforgettable experience of mind, especially, my gracious research supervisor – Dr Le Nhat Hanh Her professionalism and patience provided me the power to overcome any challenges to finish this thesis Besides that, I would like to thank all my friends, family and colleagues at Expeditors Vietnam Co., Ltd – Ho Chi Minh Branch for their great support for me Also, I would take this opportunity to say thank to Mr Manh Hoang Tuan – my manager at the company Everyone was so generous that they provided endless help to make this thesis project a dream come true Once again, thank you and wish you all the best! Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Nguyen Trong Huu Executive Summary Each organization has its own problems and it is very important to determine the right problem Once the real problem is defined, the organization then is able to propose the right solutions with the right time investment Mistakes in determining the real problem may lead to wastes of resources This research study was designed to accesses the real cause of high working time of the company and ineffective time management skill was defined is one of main problem while time management is significant problem for many organizations After finding various symptoms such as excessive working hours, low health of employee, and turnover rate, the author managed to identify the central problem by applying root cause analysis method Then, based on literature reviews, surveys and face to face interview, it was recognized that high working time is the central problem in this organization The question is “Can people be productive after 10, 11, 12 or even 16 hours of working a day?” The 40 hours workweek has run off into the sunset, and overtime working has become a reality for millions of employees It is the time to get a change of value corporate should place on encouraging better balance between work and family with thoughtful leadership, good skill assessment and learn tools to support people in the way of management Therefore, this study focused on a specific of a department to have a deep looks of the problem and propose appropriate solutions The findings revealed that the time management skill tends to play a significant role in working time management of employees Hence, “The solution to enhance time management skill at Expeditors Vietnam Co., Ltd – Case of Ocean Export Department” aims to identify the root cause and improve this skill List of Figures Figure 1: Expeditors’ Location Worldwide Figure 2: EIVN’s structure Figure 3: Vietnamese Overtime Compensation Figure 4: Maximum overtime of an employee in one month between countries in region Figure 5: Percentage of overtime working claimed per year Figure 6: Overtime hours per staff from 2015 – 2017 Figure 7: Revenue contribution of products in 2017 Figure 8: Local Ocean Export structure Figure 9: Overtime per staff in Ocean Export Figure 10: Initial cause – effect map Figure 11: Time management questionnaires Figure 12: Turnover rate in EIVN Figure 13: Updated Cause – Effect map Figure 14: Final Cause – Effect map Figure 15: The Eisenhower Box Figure 16: S.M.A.R.T goals List of Tables Table 1: Company’s information Table 2: Possible causes Table 3: Action Plan List of Abbreviations EIVN: Expeditors Vietnam EPE: Employee Personal Evaluation PDC: Personal Development Center HR: Human Resource CHQ: Corporate Headquarter SOP: Standard Operational Procedure Hrs/hr: Hours Chapter Problem identification 1.1 Company background 1.1.1 Company overview Expeditors was established 38 years ago from the initial idea of integrated services with the combination of transportation services and customs brokerage It is one of the world’s largest logistics corporations at the present Starting with just the Seattle office in 1979, the corporation now has 331 locations in 109 countries Figure 1: Expeditors’ Location Worldwide (Source: Internal) Expeditors Vietnam Company Limited is a branch of Expeditors and it belongs to Expeditors community in Asia where the company spends serious efforts in expanding their business for more success In 1993, the company started their first business through co-operated with Saigon Freight Forwarding Company Limited After years of operating in the Vietnam market, Expeditors saw a big potential there and they did not waste the good chance The first branch was established in Ho Chi Minh in the year 2000 Their first location was located at E Town Buildings, 364 Cong Hoa, Ward 13, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City Currently, it is located on the 8th floor of Flemington Buildings, 182 Le Dai Hanh Street, which is more convenient for business transactions Furthermore, Expeditors went on to establish their settle office in Da Nang and one office in Ha Noi in 2005 This decision helped the company complete their network in the three most important areas in Vietnam: North, Centre and South Fifteen years after their establishment, Expeditors Vietnam is classified as one of the top logistics companies in Vietnam For years, the development of international trade and new model of transports lead to the expansion of forwarding service Nowadays, forwarders are not only performing customs clearance, but also providing all-in transportation services Expeditors’ core services are consolidating and forwarding of air or ocean freight, custom brokerage, vendor management, cargo consolidation, cargo insurance, time-definite transportation, order management, warehousing, distribution and customized logistics solutions Table 1: Company’s information INFORMATION OF EXPEDITORS COMPANY LIMITED - SGN English name Expeditors Vietnam Company Limited Vietnamese name Address Phone Fax Website Type of Company Director Capital Tax code CÔNG TY TNHH EXPEDITORS VIỆT NAM 8th Floor, The Flemington Tower, 182 Le Dai Hanh, Ward 15, District 11, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (84-28) 39621868 (84-28) 39621988 www.expeditors.com Private Limited Company Michael Joseph Mooney 500 million VND 0312545104 1.1.2 Company’s structure Figure 2: EIVN’s structure - At Expeditors Vietnam, we can separate into two big teams: Product team and Service team o The product team is the team who makes the profit for the company directly by handling shipments, such as: Order Management, Ocean (Export and Import), Air (Export and Import), Transcon, Distribution, and Customs Brokerage least if you have the time is managed well; you can adapt all the change of market in peak and low season Then, you are ready to control everything Huu Nguyen: Now I see one of important point with our staffs is lose control on time Hoang Tuan: Maybe you are correct I recently was asked by MP one question about time management It’s surely that if we have a to list to review the jobs, keep prioritizing are the basic view of this issue Huu Nguyen: Oh, I see your point Thank you so much for joining the interview today I hope with this useful advice, I can find the problem in our department and have some proposed solution to solve it Hoang Tuan: That’s perfect! 56 Date: Jun 22, 2017 Responder 6: Phan Nguyen Diem Chau (Diem Chau) Title: Air Export Manager Date of joining company: Jun 01, 2000 Interviewer: Nguyen Trong Huu (Huu Nguyen) Venue: DAD meeting room Duration: 15:30PM – 15:45PM This interview is to support for my MBA Research Your comment will be important advice and really useful to contribute to my research Huu Nguyen: Thank chi Chau for joining our “talk show” today I know you are very busy, so I will focus on the main point so quickly Diem Chau: Ok Huu Let me my best to help you Huu Nguyen: Your department and OM have the same overtime working ratio in last year when I review the working time report Working very late at night, how can you and your team have time with family? Diem Chau: This is really my pain point In the past, we could cover our jobs But the volume is more and more increasing while customer is more and more adding new requirement, we had to look at more details to take care the shipment and as this result take our more time As you know, the time of moving time for one air shipment is really short so any step in the process must be done so quickly, 8hrs per day is not enough for us Huu Nguyen: Have you had any solution to improve this point? Diem Chau: I think we can launch the time management term Actually, we have had trained but it is only for manager level, and general staffs are subjected to their manager As you can see, most of employees seems not have enough time to join the class Even when we joined 57 the Branch meeting or outing trip, there are some staffs in document and customer service team are assigned to have duty to answer the call or promptly reply to customers Moreover, we had online training system; we can suggest adding this topic on it so they can learn anytime they want On the other hand, due to company’s policy, we cannot submit to hire more headcount since employees must change their behaviour to control their time that is not affect to their jobs but also balance in life Huu Nguyen: I had an interview with other staffs and managers; they had the same identify with your comment Diem Chau: Oh really I think if company can solve this issue soon, we can bring more benefits to our employees Huu Nguyen: Thank chi for joining our talk today Diem Chau: You are welcome! And good luck 58 Date: Jun 23, 2017 Responder 7: Nguyen Thi Sang Sang (Sophie) Title: Ocean Export Documentation Date of joining company: left Company already Interviewer: Nguyen Trong Huu (Huu Nguyen) Venue: via phone Duration: 15:30PM – 15:45PM Huu Nguyen: Hello Sang How are you? Sang Sang: Hi anh Huu I am ok How are you? Why you call me? Huu Nguyen: hmm It’s long time not talk to you I hope you are doing a good job I am calling you to need you help to complete my MBA research regarding to Time Management term and want to ask you some questions Are you ok to answer that? Sang Sang: Ok I am happy to that Huu Nguyen: so to save time I will go directly to my question: could you please share me the reason why you decide to leave the company? Sang Sang: When I decided to leave this company, I used to think that there were a lot of jobs/tasks must finish everyday but the company also does not want to hire more headcount to share our workload It makes me stress and lose my control in life It’s made me become stressful and lose control I don’t have time to other personal project Then, I endorsed to other company Huu Nguyen: So, how about then in new job? Sang Sang: However, it happens the same situation in new company; I still have a lot of things to every day I realized that the trend of market is same for almost the companies in this industry I gradually discovered that my main problem is that I have wasted my time 59 working in vainly I then was trained by the company the way to control my time I had more some desk side training about this topic From that, I feel more confident when receive more tasks, I get my life more organized, leave the office on time and I save my time to learn English skills and I had some classes out of working time with my new students Huu Nguyen: Wow! It’s sound great Can you share what did your new company train? Sang Sang: actually, this is not new It may be because E.I is my first company so I was overwhelmed when starting the first job All my time always think about finishing the job on time with the best result Unfortunately, I did have any strategy to achieve that After leaving your company, I spend around two months for travelling and organized my life Then I pointed out some task that I need to overcome and have as clearer plans in my new job It’s now better Huu Nguyen: Fantastic I think I need to learn from you Do you want to find the time to have a coffee this weekend? Sang Sang: Sure I will send you a text later Huu Nguyen: Ok Sang Many thanks for your time today Sang Sang: no problem I hope my comment can help you some ideas in the thesis 60 Date: Jun 23, 2017 Responder 8: Tran Thi Thanh Mai (Mai Tran) Title: Ocean Export Documentation – Lead Agent Date of joining company: 2006 Interviewer: Nguyen Trong Huu (Huu Nguyen) Venue: SGN room Duration: 16:30PM – 17:00PM Huu Nguyen: Thank chi Mai for your time for our conservation This interview is to support for my MBA Research Your comment will be important advice and really useful to contribute to my research Mai Tran: you are still working on it? I knew you study this program and I supposed you have already left your university Huu Nguyen: This is a long story I was busy with the transition since I have been selected in MT program so I could not arrange the time to complete Now deadline is coming so I cannot extend anymore Mai Tran: Understand I hope this time you can finish and focus on your new job Huu Nguyen: Thanks chi I know you worked for this company for long time and now you are a leader in document team So what is the most of challenging you are facing? Mai Tran: Being a team leader, I have to try find the way to manage the job timely and take a responsibly to manage the team (documentation) to ensure no trouble occupied That is a really pressure while I still need to balance the time between job and family I have two babies; I cannot let them go alone without my supervision I even don’t have enough time to complete my job so I am unable to control team’s performance especially in peak season That why I always be reminded by my manager during EPE (smile) 61 Huu Nguyen: How can you balance your job and manage your team? Mai Tran: Actually, I had to try too much I will take responsibility if anyone in the team failed Huu Nguyen: You mentioned about the time so what is the root cause, you think? Mai Tran: I see the main root cause is that I cannot arrange the time effectively for my daily job, and I think others are the same to me Our company does not work on Saturday but you see most of document team is presented here, even very late I hope company can develop some tools can help us to handle more productivity Huu Nguyen: so you know the causes, what you need to overcome that and support your team? Mai Tran: We understand that if we control time in the best way then they can have more time to their job well However, the habits cannot be changed in from day to day even they insist with the current practice I know my manager wants to change this bahaviour but cannot immediately as this will be impacted to service quality Huu Nguyen: Oh I see the problem It’s very hard to change people’s habit as it was taking for a long time Mai Tran: Sure Huu Nguyen: Thanks chi Mai for a great time today I am getting clearer the picture of our company and hope this issue can be settled very soon Mai Tran: ok Huu 62 Date: Jun 26, 2017 Responder 9: Pham Thi Minh Hai (Hai Pham) Title: Ocean Export Customer Service – Pricing Date of joining company: 2007 Interviewer: Nguyen Trong Huu (Huu Nguyen) Venue: SGN room Duration: 10:00PM – 10:30PM Huu Nguyen: Thank chi Hai for your time for our conservation This interview is to support for my MBA Research Your comment will be important advice and really useful to contribute to my research Hai Pham: Ok Huu I will try what I can help you Huu Nguyen: Could you please tell me more about your nature job? Hai Pham: My role is pricing analysis I will take responsibility for filing the rate with carrier, taking from my supervisor – Ms Thuy Do Besides that, I also take the role of booking so you can see why I need to communicate between shipper and carrier daily Huu Nguyen: What you expect in your job? Hai Pham: I want to the job smoothly without any trouble I think others are same Huu Nguyen: Do you plan for your daily job? Hai Pham: Actually not Some time I tried to get the plan by creating an excel file and keep it in my computer I did it sometimes but forget it Huu Nguyen: Do you have you have enough time to handle your job? Hai Pham: time will be never enough if you don’t manage it well Talks about the term time management, I see almost our employees are not trained well this skill We understand that if we are good in managing the time, we can better job, getting more productivity and support 63 to others, so peak season is not the main issue with us However, from the day one, when I started my job in this company, I have not been trained about this I see some people cannot adapt with heavy pressure of the job and they left, some try to “run” with the deadline to finish the job Once they come to office, they turn on the computer and first thing they check email And you know, if you don’t have a specific plan in advance for your day you will stick with the computer to check and reply email, solving the problem (if any) and you don’t have enough time for extra job to getting more even time to drink Huu Nguyen: I know our employees understand the importance of time but they don’t know how to enhance it in their job/life Some people think that they manage well per experience so they don’t need to have any plan on it Hai Pham: Agreed That is because the trouble has not yet come Huu Nguyen: Thanks your time in a great talk today chi Hai I hope you can manage your time well in future so you can save more time with your babies Hai Pham: Thanks Huu 64 Date: Jun 26, 2017 Responder 10: Ha Kim Tuyet (Tuyet Ha) Title: Ocean Export Customer Service Date of joining company: 2009 Interviewer: Nguyen Trong Huu (Huu Nguyen) Venue: SGN room Duration: 17:00PM – 17:15PM Huu Nguyen: Thank chi Tuyet for your time for our conservation This interview is to support for my MBA Research Your comment will be important advice and really useful to contribute to my research Tuyet Ha: Ok Huu Huu Nguyen: Could you please tell me about your nature job? Tuyet Ha: My main role is receiving booking detail from shipper then I will check with customer for approval, place booking with carrier and then send back to shipper for their process Then next step will be transferred to document team Before that, I will log data in our system Huu Nguyen: How you spend time with this role? Tuyet Ha: That is main task so 90% my time is working the same job With shipment, it took me around one hrs to check back and forth Later one more day to check with oversea customers because they are different time zone so the job definitely done by the next day For the shipment export to intra-Asia, this step can be done within 1hr Huu Nguyen: Do you set the deadline to finish this task? 65 Tuyet Ha: No Huu It’s depends on the shipment, customer’s requirements or status from carrier with space issue so I try to complete a shipment as soon as possible Why waiting the shipment is completed, I can mix-up to another shipment at the same time? Huu Nguyen: so this task is repeated day by day Do you want to change? Tuyet Ha: I got familiar with this job for a long time Actually, it’s still better before when I was documentation So I don’t want to change It’s take a lot of time for transition process and training Huu Nguyen: Do you have you have enough time to handle your job? Tuyet Ha: I am quite satisfied with my current job and I can control it Huu Nguyen: So It is because you have a clear list of what to do? Tuyet Ha: Actually not We manage booking by report It will run twice a day to load all shipment that logged into system Huu Nguyen: What if you accidently to delete the important email regarding to an urgent shipment? Tuyet Ha: smile Huu Nguyen: I think if we have a list of pending jobs need to do, we have a better control in time and limited the issue Tuyet Ha: I will consider your suggestion Thanks Huu Huu Nguyen: thanks chi Tuyet for your time today 66 Date: Jun 23, 2017 Responder 11: Le Thanh Loan (Loan Le) Title: Ocean Export Documentation Date of joining company: 2011 Interviewer: Nguyen Trong Huu (Huu Nguyen) Venue: SGN room Duration: 17:30PM – 17:45PM Huu Nguyen: Thank chi Loan for your time for our conservation This interview is to support for my MBA Research Your comment will be important advice and really useful to contribute to my research Loan Le: try my best Huu Nguyen: could you please tell me your nature job in Ocean Export? Loan Le: I am documentation Once receiving file transferred from Booking Team, I will check the deadline to submit data to carrier and then I keep chasing shipper to send us the details for making draft bill Through system, we submit shipment’s detail to carrier, at the same time I sent draft bill to shipper for their checking Shipper is responsible for house draft bill confirmation and we confirm with carrier on master bill Once everything is ok, we hold the file until vessel on board and the next steps Its main responsibility is to submit data to carrier on time, accuracy to make sure shipment is loaded on initial vessel Then you done 80% the job of documentation Huu Nguyen: doing a complicated process, you set the clear task? Loan Le: We have SOP and we will follow it so there is no extra task for me I just follow strictly our process and customer’s requirements to handle Furthermore, I am handling our stable account and I familiar with it even shipper’s style so it’s not take too much time 67 Huu Nguyen: so what if you get a new account? Loan Le: I need to spend a little time at the first time but then it should be ok Huu Nguyen: Are you happy with your current job? Loan Le: actually I want to find another job All my time is with this company is from 8:00am to 8:00pm a day Once coming home, my babies may come to bed and I don’t have time to take care of them Huu Nguyen: How many children you have? Loan Le: Huu Nguyen: I think you can try the way to manage your time by making a to-do list Loan Le: What is To-do list you are talking? Huu Nguyen: it’s a tool in time management that can help people to manage their time better You can write down the entire job list with the priority level of important or urgent to step by step finish it Through this tool, you can save your time for other job, enjoy your life with your family Loan Le: I think I heard this before You are right A better time management is immediately way to improve productivity Huu Nguyen: Sure chi Loan You can try this and see the outcome Loan Le: Thanks Huu 68 References Lott Y Working-time flexibility and autonomy: A European perspective on time adequacy European Journal of Industrial Relations 2015 09;21(3):259 Marianne vW, Nijhof WJ, Nieuwenhuis LFM Critical reflective working behaviour: A survey research Journal of European Industrial Training 2002;26(8):375-383 Van Diermen OG, Beltman S Managing working behaviour towards new ways of working: a case study Journal of Corporate Real Estate 2016;18(4):270-286 Maneenet T Motivation And Working Behavior In Frontier Tourism Business Of Thailand-Laos The International Business & Economics Research Journal 2010 04;9(4):105-112 Ortiz C Say No to Overtime Industrial Management 2005 Sep;47(5):26-28,30,5 Lucy KN, Malel J Time Management and Job Performance in Selected Parastatals in Kenya Australian Journal of Business and Management Research 2012 08;2(5):19 Ziapour, A., Khatony, A., Jafari, F., & Kianipour, N Evaluation of Time Management Behaviors and Its Related Factors in the Senior Nurse Managers, Kermanshah-Iran Global Journal of Health Science 2015; 7(2): 366–373 Christopher D.B Burt, Weststrate A, Brown C, Champion F Development of the time management environment (TiME) scale J Manage Psychol 2010;25(6):649-668 Häfner A, Stock A Time Management Training and Perceived Control of Time at Work J Psychol 2010 Sep;144(5):429-47 10 Marriner A Time Management Through Planning The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing 1983 Jan;14(1):21-26 11 Brigitte J.C Claessens, Wendelien vE, Rutte CG, Roe RA A review of the time management literature Personnel Review 2007;36(2):255-276 12 Macan TH Time-management training: Effects on time behaviors, attitudes, and job performance J Psychol 1996 05;130(3):229 13 Wendelien VE Procrastination at work and time management training J Psychol 2003 09;137(5):421-34 14 Ahmed, H et al The Relationship between Time Management and Job Performance in Event Management SciVere ScienceDirect, Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 65 (2012) 937 – 941 69 15 Fitsimmons G Time management part I: goal setting as a planning tool The Bottom Line 2008;21(2):61-63 16 Joanne BarnFather Time Management or Behaviour Management? 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La Prensa San Diego 2009 Jul 03(27):4 70 ...UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Nguyen Trong Huu THE SOLUTION TO ENHANCE TIME MANAGEMENT SKILL AT EXPEDITORS VIETNAM CO. , LTD CASE OF OCEAN EXPORT. .. appropriate solutions The findings revealed that the time management skill tends to play a significant role in working time management of employees Hence, The solution to enhance time management skill. .. management skill at Expeditors Vietnam Co. , Ltd – Case of Ocean Export Department aims to identify the root cause and improve this skill List of Figures Figure 1: Expeditors Location Worldwide