Management of Resources

Written and reviewed by Anjali Sharma, Biology & Home Science faculty at UniDrill (M.Sc. Botany, Banaras Hindu University · 8 years teaching). Based on NCERT Home Science Class XI (Human Ecology and Family Sciences Part I), Chapter 4.

One bucket or three?

Two families wash their clothes on Sunday. One uses three buckets of water, the other manages with one. Two students have one month before the annual exam. One makes a daily plan and finishes every chapter, the other spends the month "meaning to start". The resources were the same in both pairs. The difference was management. This chapter explains what counts as a resource, how resources are classified and how a simple five-stage process turns a goal into a result.

What is a resource?

Any activity, from making tea to writing an exam, needs some of the following: time, energy, money to buy material, knowledge, interest or motivation, skills and aptitude, material goods such as pen and paper, water and air, even a school building. All these are resources: anything we make use of while carrying out an activity, which helps us accomplish our goals.

A resource must be used. Anything we do not use is not a resource for us. A bicycle lying unused in a corner is not a resource for you, though it may be one for someone else who needs it. The same thing can therefore be a resource in one situation and not in another.

Three ways to classify resources

The same resource can be placed in three different classifications, depending on the question you ask.

1. Human and non-human resources. Human resources are central to every activity and can be developed through training and self-development. Non-human (material) resources are things outside a person.

Time has three dimensions. Work time, non-work time, and rest and leisure time. Balancing all three keeps a person physically fit, emotionally strong and intellectually alert. It also helps to know your own peak periods, the hours when you work best, and use them for demanding tasks.

2. Individual and shared resources.

3. Natural and community resources.

Sorting a few examples. A resource can belong to several classes at once.

Pause and predict: a village road is built by the government and used by everyone. In how many ways can you classify it?

Check your answer: It is a non-human resource, a shared resource and a community resource. It is not a natural resource, because it is provided by society and not found in nature.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: natural resources are available in nature, such as water, mountains and air. In reality: natural resources are also grouped as renewable (like sunlight, and water that is replenished by rain) and non-renewable (like coal and petroleum), and even a renewable resource can run short if it is used faster than it is replaced. Why it matters: it explains why the textbook insists on judicious use of natural resources.

Four characteristics of resources

Resources can be classified in many ways, but they share four features.

Accessibility has three parts: some resources are more easily available than others, resources are more easily available to some people than to others, and availability changes with time.

Worked example: saving a resource. Suppose one bucket holds 15 litres. A household washes clothes once a week, using 3 buckets. With careful washing it needs 1 bucket. How much water is saved in a four-week month?

This is "maximum output with minimum input": the same output (clean clothes) with one third of the input. The wrong step is to count the number of washes as 7 a month. The example says once a week.

Why resources must be managed

No resource is unlimited. All are finite. They should not be misused or wasted, and managing them well helps us reach goals faster and more efficiently. Everyone has the same 24 hours, but some people plan each day and use every hour for their goals, while others waste it. Managing resources means getting the most from what is available.

Two views. For the exam: time is a resource available equally to everyone, as everybody has 24 hours in a day. Another reading: time-use researchers point out that the number of hours is equal, but how much of it is under a person's own control differs, because paid work, household duties and travel claim different amounts for different people. Both views agree that planning matters. For the exam, state the 24-hour version first.

The management process: five stages

The management process has five aspects: planning, organising, implementing, controlling and evaluation.

1. Planning is the first step. It means producing a scheme of action to reach a goal using available resources, and involves choosing a course of action. Four questions guide a plan.

The steps in planning are: identify the problem, identify alternatives, choose between alternatives, act to carry out the plan, and accept the consequences.

2. Organising is collecting and arranging suitable resources to carry out the plan effectively and efficiently. For the exam plan: books, notes, space to study, light, stationery, energy and time.

3. Implementing is carrying out the prepared plan, that is, starting to study with the resources collected.

4. Controlling means making sure that activities are producing the desired results. It monitors outcomes, gives feedback and helps to check errors so the plan can be revised. If you cannot finish the day's chapter because you watched television, that is feedback telling you to cut the distraction.

5. Evaluation is the final stage. The end result is compared with the desired result and the limitations and strengths are noted for future use. Checking marked answer sheets after the exam is evaluation. If a subject falls short, you find the reasons, and you also note the strengths that helped in other subjects.

Controlling versus evaluation. The difference is when each happens. Controlling occurs during the activity and corrects it while it is under way. Evaluation occurs after the activity and teaches lessons for next time.

Worked example: a time plan. There are 30 days to the exam and five subjects remain. You can give 4 hours a day to study. How many hours will each subject get if time is divided equally, and how would you change that if one subject is weaker?

The common wrong step is to add the extra hours without removing them from somewhere, which gives a total above the time available. Time is finite, so every plan must balance.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: the five stages are planning, organising, implementing, controlling and evaluation. In reality: the same loop appears in quality management as plan, do, check and act, repeated again and again. Why it matters: it shows that evaluation is not an ending. The lessons from evaluation become the starting point for the next round of planning.

Pause and predict: Riya notices on day 10 of her study plan that she is covering only 3 hours a day instead of 4 because she checks her phone often. Which stage is she in, and what should she do?

Check your answer: She is in controlling. She has noticed through feedback that the plan is not giving the desired result, so she should remove the distraction and adjust her plan.

Exam traps

60-second revision

Where this chapter connects

• Previous: Food, Nutrition, Health and Fitness ends by calling health a key resource that influences all other resources.
• Next: Fabrics Around Us looks at fabrics, one of the material resources of daily life.
• Later in the course: Financial Management and Planning applies the same process to money.
• Class XII link: Work, Livelihood and Career uses time and skill management in the world of work.