Every organization is majorly made up of people, machines, land, money and time. These resources are the lifeline of your product if utilized well; you gain profits, customers and a good return on investment (ROI) on those resources. However, the art of running a business not only lies in making a good product but also managing your resources at hand effectively.
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Resource management is all about the creation and execution of plans and systems to manage the resources for extracting the maximum value out of them. Organizations with complex systems and process usually use spreadsheets, documents, or project management software. However, the primary goal would be to continuously manage all your resources until task completion so that you achieve the best possible ROI on the task performed.
Understand your resource
One of the commonly used methods to understand the capability of the resources to provide a competitive advantage is the VRIO framework. Is the resource valuable enough to enable the firm to exploit the opportunity in the market place? Is the resource rare to give you the advantage? Is the resource imitable or easy to acquire by other firms? Does the organization have the capability to exploit those resources? Understand your resource and make an investment in them only after setting a benchmark return on investment (ROI) and designing processes to effectively use them.
Responsibility and Resource Allocation
With the acquisition of resources in place, now it is time to allocate responsibilities and resources to relevant members. The team’s workload is an important metric in resource management. If the majority of the work is the responsibility of few, these few employees will face occupational fatigue leading to employee attrition. On the other hand, idle employees would be de-motivated due to lack of work. One of the most sought ways for resource management is Responsibility and Resource Allocation matrix.
| Sales Team Task Matrix | Prospecting of new customers | Sales to present customers | After sales support |
| John | X | X | |
| Smith | X | ||
| Michael | X | X |
| Sales Team Resource Matrix | Telephone and Internet | Motorbike and catalogs | Parts and Machines |
| John | X | X | |
| Smith | X | ||
| Michael | X | X |
Develop an activity calendar and track progress
With work and resources assigned, develop a work schedule calendar for every employee on a micro level and every department on a macro level. Develop relevant KPIs to effectively track your work progress on the hourly, daily and weekly basis. Compare the actual work progress with a proposed plan to understand if there is a problem with resources and planning. One of the best ways to track progress is via Gantt chart. A Gantt chart a project schedule which helps to track several parameters like resources, tasks, etc. on a single graph.
Get regular reports to review resources
It is also necessary to optimize the resource usage on the way of project completion. Saving on resources reduces cost. Get regular resource report to track the consumption pattern and rate. Review your resources and measure resource productivity KPIs.
In conclusion, Resource management is all about scheduling and management of your project so as to get the desired output without over-utilizing the resources as they are rare and costly.
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