Introduction
The origin of this principle is from an Italian by name of Vilfredo Pareto. In 1906 he realized the unfair distribution of wealth in America and that’s when he came up with the formula that 20% of the people owned 80%of the wealth. Later a Dr Joseph Juran would apply the same principle to demonstrate that 20% are vital while 80% are trivial. His observation summarized as vital few, trivial many. This was called Paretos principal of 80/20 rule (Ng, Yew-Kwang, 1983).
Pareto Principle and its application
The principal is related to my studies in many ways. This is because it focuses on our everyday lives. The principal says that only 20%of what you do matters. It also says that 20% generate 80% of the outcome. This reminds me that I should focus on 20% that is effective for the day. In management it reminds me that I should focus on the 20% who produce 80% of the output (Ng, Yew-Kwang, 1983).
Pareto’s principal can be applied in hospitality as seen in a case study of (Luchars, 1996).The hotel businesses are working hard to improve on the value of services. This can only be done from the management levels who try to impose the principal in whatever they do. Knowing that the cost of repair is always higher than prevention of the error cost, the use of quality auditors and mangers help detecting the errors earlier. So the research confirmed that service quality gave higher returns than the quality of the facilities. With the 80/20 rule reminding to spend 80% of your time on 20% of your quality work, your production will definitely be higher (Porreca, 1991).
Pareto principal can apply into my life. When it comes to savings, i will not spend time on low yield activities but instead I will spend it on the effort inserted to make it happen. I will not drive an extra 5 miles to save a few pennies on my gas. The principal made me realize how our calculations are sometimes wrong. In management you might spend a lot of time on people who are not productive trying to make them perfect (Jovanovich, 2005). We know that 80% of your income is from 20% of your output. This means I spend a little amount of time to make the best outcome in life. With this am able to check the areas in my life that produce best results and the ones holding me back .I also realized that some everyday habits are just time wasting. So I have to eliminate some of them e.g., watching unnecessary television programs. By applying this 80/20 principle, I have improved both my professional and personal life (Jovanovich, 2005)
This principle is indeed worth application in everyday’s life and should be used by all. It makes time wasting a thing of the past among other things. We know time is money and should be utilized in best way possible .Paretos principle removes the clutter and picks only the relevant issues of life. If there are any shortcomings on this principle they could be negligible. It cannot be followed blindly because this is just a rule of the thumb .This is seen in a case where only one person supports an issue and since it does not affect the rest of the people its given a go ahead. This brings us to the conclusion “don’t just work smart, work smart on the right things’ (Ng, Yew-Kwang, 1983).
References
Jovanovich, M. (2005). The Economics of European Integration: Limits and Prospects. Edward
Elgar, 918 p.
Ng, Yew-Kwang (1983). Welfare Economics. Macmillan.
Robert A. Porreca (1991). Lodging: An Industry Overview (New York: Dun and Bradstreet.
falsen Luchars, James Y; Hinkin, Timothy R. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly37. 1 (Feb 1996): 34.
