An Evaluation of the Impact of Effective Time Management on Employee Engagement
Chapter One
Objective of the Study
This study had one general objective and three specific objectives.
General Objective
The main objective of the study was to assess time management and employee engagement in an organization.
Specific Objectives
To examine the effect of time planning and scheduling on employee engagement at Bamenda Local Government;
To find out the effect of time attitude on employee engagement at Bamenda Local Government in implementing time management;
To explore the effect of team building on employee engagement at Bamenda Local
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter presents a review of various studies and literature relevant to the problem being investigated within the framework of the theory structure. The general orientation of this literature review is then critically to review and contribute the previous work in a relevant area which in turn served as the study guidelines for the researcher.
Theoretical Review
The study was guided by Pareto’s theory of 80-20 rule (1923) that offers a quick and easy way to understand clearly what are important and what are unnecessary. Pareto’s theory requires the following steps to be taken: Identifying 20% that is considered vital, which would probably enable at least 80% of productivity, performance, effectiveness etc. is required. One should retain this 20% and nothing else, unless it serves a crucial point. It should be then tested for effectiveness and implications of the reduced range and it must be then referred to aspects of change management and project management as considered appropriate.
In simple way, Pareto’s theory of 80-20 rule (1923) says that 20% of activities will account to 80% of the results. Each task may take the same amount of time to accomplish, but doing one or two important tasks will contribute five or ten times the value as any one of the others. Productive people always discipline themselves to start on the most important task which is set before them. They force themselves to complete the important one first under any circumstance. Pareto’s augment is related to the topic under study. This is because his views are all about time management which results into productivity among employees.
Beside this Nongmeikapam (2018) explains Pareto’s Principle that the 80- 20 principle says that 20% of activities will account to 80% of the results. Each task may take the same amount of time to accomplish, but doing one or two important tasks will contribute five or ten times the value as any one of the others. Productive people always discipline themselves to start on the most important task which is set before them. They force themselves to complete the important one first under any circumstances.
This principle allows maximum results in minimum time. It offers the opportunity to increase personal effectiveness in terms of productivity.
Relevance of the Theory
This theory is considered very relevant to the study because the issues involved in time management and Employee engagement among which include time planning and scheduling, and teamwork could be explained within the framework of the theory. The central argument is that teamwork facilitates the acquisition of necessary skills which leads to enhanced performance of the team members in the organization. Every member of the team can never be equally endowed but through interaction and joint execution of task, the tendency is for the weak to learn from the strong members.
Time Planning and Scheduling and Employee engagement
Set Priorities
Managing your time effectively requires a distinction between what is important and what is urgent. Kaufman, Lane and Lindquist, (2001) categorize our activities into four quadrants in their time management matrix: urgent, not urgent, important and not important. While activities that are both urgent and important must be done, they suggest that we spend less time on activities that are not important (regardless of their urgency) in order to gain time to focus on activities that are not urgent but important. Focusing on these important activities allows you to gain greater control over your time and possibly reduce the number of important tasks that do become urgent.
Proper Goal Setting
Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating yourself to turn your vision of this future into reality. This is the first and very important step in effective time management. A goal is a specific outcome that is desired; it must be specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic and should have a time frame within which it must be accomplished (Krausz, 2000).
Delegate
Delegation means assigning responsibility for a task to someone else, freeing up some of your time for tasks that require your expertise. Delegation begins by identifying tasks that others can do and then selecting the appropriate person(s) to do them (Janicik 2003).
Stop Procrastinating
You may be putting off tasks for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the task seems overwhelming or unpleasant. Try breaking down the task into smaller segments that require less time commitment and result
in specific, realistic deadlines. If you are having trouble getting started, you may need to do some prep work such as collecting materials or organizing your notes. Also, try building in a reward system as you complete each small task (Campbell, 1993).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter explains how the research was carried out. It is organized under the following sub sections: research design, study area, the population, sampling techniques, research instruments, data collection procedures and data analysis.
Research Design
This study used a cross-sectional research design by adopting both quantitative and qualitative approaches. It was based on variables measured with numbers and analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Using these approaches, this study derived and described the findings on time management and employee engagement at Bamenda Local Government. This study took a cross-sectional research design because the information on both independent (Time Management) and dependent (employee engagement) variables needed to be correlated in order to establish the relationship between them. The degree of relationship between the variables was expressed as a correlation coefficient.
Target population
Bamenda Local Government has staff of 101 employees, both administrative and non- administrative staff, and over 279 stakeholders (KDLG, 2019). The target population comprised 380 respondents including administrative staff, non-administrative staff, and stakeholders of Bamenda Local Government.
Sample size
The sample size was determined by adopting Morgan and Krejcie’s table of sample determination.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
Introduction
This chapter covers presentation, analysis and discussion of findings from the data obtained from the field about Time Management and performance of Bamenda Local Government. Data obtained is presented in form of tables and figures. Presentation, analysis and discussion are done basing on specific objectives of the study. Correlations and regressions are also presented to determine the significance of the relationship of the variables involved and the effect respectively.
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION, SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter is divided into four sections; Discussion of findings, Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations. These sections were guided by the study objectives.
Discussion of Findings
What effect does time planning and scheduling have on employee engagement at Bamenda Local Government
On correlating results from research findings, there was a moderate significant positive relationship between the two variables. The study emerged to reveal that workers at Bamenda Local Government work more hours in a day during working days than agreed hours, however they have tried to mitigate issues related to time planning and scheduling time to do their activities at workplace. Research also revealed that actually a biggest percentage of workers at Bamenda local Government do not engage in job discrimination, they work with equal opportunity basis. Research also revealed that workers at Bamenda Local Government are not aggressive at workplace. Talking about time management, managing your time effectively requires a distinction between what is important and what is urgent. Kaufman, Lane & Lindquist (2001) categorize activities into four quadrants in their time management matrix: urgent, not urgent, important and not important.
How people perceive time and how this might relate to time allocation has been studied within many disciplines over many years. There is a long-standing and broad consensus that time is socially constructed (Gurvitch, 2004; Adam, 2000), and that it is not a single concept (Fraisse, 2003; Hirschman, 2007). The notion of time orientation that individuals place their thoughts more into one of three zones, past, present and future, has received much support (Wallace and Rabin, 2000; Fraisse, 2003; de Volder, 2009; Bergadaa, 2000; Carmon, 2001), together with the notion that different time orientations promote different time allocations (Bergadaa, 2000; Morello, 2008; Davies and Omer, 2006).
Time pressure is another, potentially different perspective where time is seen from an economic viewpoint (Becker, 2005; Juster and Stafford, 2011) that of something of value. Time pressure is also a theme in the psychology literature, as a cause of differences in decision making compared to when time pressure is absent (Wright, 2014). A feeling of time pressure causes us to reallocate activities, reducing the time taken for some often routine activities, so as to increase the total amount of discretionary time available (Jacoby et al., 2016; Berry, 2018). Time here is time as duration, specifically that of clock time. The key element in a person’s attitude to time is that it is a scarce resource, something that cannot be wasted. Time within this perspective has a value; time and money become exchangeable.
Fraisse (2014) emphasized the distinction between time as duration and time as succession, where time is characterized by a series of events by which individuals construct their sense of time and by which they navigate their lives. Time as succession is in the latter sense closely linked to the way we plan our lives.
Therefore, research rejected hypothesis one that stated that time scheduling and planning has no significant effect on employee engagement.
What effect does time attitude have on employee engagement at Bamenda Local Government?
The study established a very high positive significant relationship between time attitude and Employee engagement. Thus null hypothesis was rejected. On the above hypothesis in conjunction with the second objective of the study which aimed at finding out the effect of time attitude on employee engagement of Bamenda Local Government.
Most employees at Bamenda Local Government expressed positive time attitudes towards serving their organization. Therefore, if positive attitudes to time are universal, the same underlying attitudes to time will be observable in all societies/organizations. The different socialization experienced by any one individual will only affect the dominance of individual facets. If, on the other hand, positive time attitudes themselves are socially constructed, any attempt to apply the same measurement scale universally will fail, as cultural effects will dominate. Attitudes to time will be unique to individual cultures (Davies and Omer, 2006). Positive time attitude scales will only be useful at the level of a single society. We might expect reality to fall between these two and for scales derived within one culture to have at least some relevance in another. The greater the relevance, the more useful it would be to derive a cross-cultural scale of time attitude.
Therefore null hypothesis two that stated that ‘there is no significant relationship between time attitude and employee engagement’ is rejected since the study established a strong positive relationship between time attitude and employee engagement at Bamenda Local Government.
What effect does team building have on employee engagement at Bamenda Local Government?
On testing the hypothesis, results revealed a significant relationship between, Team building and Employee engagement of Bamenda Local Government, thus null hypothesis was rejected. This implies that when there is team building among the employees of an organization like Bamenda Local Government, there is always cohesion, trust, commitment, and understanding of the team dynamics, thereby improving the employee engagement. More so, the result implies that as harmony (team building) exists among the employees, trust, lesser conflict, accountability, and commitment give way to results of better service in the organization. These findings are in line with the previous findings of Kirkman and Shapiro (2011) who investigated the relationship that exists between harmonization and employee engagement of Bamenda Local Government. The result showed that employee service delivery improved as a result of harmonization, commitment, cohesion and understanding of the team dynamics. This is because harmonization among employees in a team expands the output of individuals through collaboration.
In affirmation of this finding, Onyeneke and Iruo (2015) confirm that a significant relationship exists between effective team building, commitment, and employee engagement.
Summary of Findings
The summary of findings is presented according to the study objectives
The first objective of the study sought to examine the effect of time planning and scheduling and employee engagement. Use of good time plans and schedules was found with a significant positive effect on the employee engagement at Bamenda Local Government, as indicated by (p=0.031<0.05). The second objective sought to assess the effect of time attitude on employee engagement at Bamenda Local Government. Time attitude was found with a significant effect on performance of Bamenda Local Government, as indicated by (p=0.015<0.05). The third objective sought to establish the effect of team building on employee engagement at Bamenda Local Government. Team building was also found with a significant effect on the performance of Bamenda Local Government, as confirmed by (p=0.021<0.05).
Conclusions
It was concluded from the study objective one that planning and scheduling time has positive moderate significant relationship with employee engagement. This was basically related to setting goals for different tasks, setting priorities and time for tasks and listing or scheduling of activities and time for each task. This therefore ensures effectiveness in delivery of services thus improving performance. Therefore, proper time planning and scheduling practices contribute to organizational effectiveness that encourages and thus increases its performance in the long run. Therefore, the study can conclude that, Time management is satisfactory at Bamenda Local Government and it has direct link to the employee engagement because the majority of the respondents understand and implement time management although there are some challenges that limit the implementation.
From objective two, it was concluded that time attitude has a very high positive significant relationship with Employee engagement. Therefore, if positive attitudes to time are universal, the same underlying attitudes to time will be observable in all societies/organizations. The different socialization experienced by any one individual will only affect the dominance of individual facets.
The last objective of the study sought to establish effect of team building on employee engagement. Based on the summary of findings, it would be deduced that as teamwork exists among the employees at Bamenda Local Government, trust, lesser conflict, accountability, and commitment give way to results of better performance in the organization. The researcher concludes that harmonization among employees of an organization always gives rise to better employee engagement. This is because harmonization among employees in a team expands the output of individuals through collaboration, which leads to an increase in organizational service delivery.
The researcher concludes that teamwork plays an important role in improving employee engagement.
Recommendations to Administration
Research objective one sought to examine the effect of time planning and scheduling on employee engagement at Bamenda Local Government. Findings established a moderate positive correlation between Time planning and Scheduling and Employee engagement at Bamenda Local Government. The researcher recommends that the Administrators should increase employee sensitization about how to efficiently create time schedules and how to follow the time plans createdby them if they are to improve performance of their organizations.
Top administration at Bamenda Local Government must frequently motivate employees because motivation drives people to accomplish goals. There should be incentives motivation by providing monetary rewards and bonus to the required people. Managers should not forget social motivation by creating an environment of acceptance and affiliations so that employees can feel they are part of organization hence more production.
Administration should create clear and continuous communication between employees and management so that employees can be free to talk about challenges which limit them in observing time. For example, employees who use public transport face problems which make them come late to work. If there is clear communication between these two sides, the problem can be solved.
Bamenda Local Government Employees should make sure that they come early at work and finish assigned duties before deadlines and must have personal strategies to deal with interruptions by reading different articles which explain about time management strategies so that they can be in position to work without distraction.
Areas for Further Research
The study was limited to Public entity particularly at Bamenda Local Government. This limitation could have hindered some findings in general. Therefore, future researchers should conduct studies in other public and private sectors so as to come up with more findings.
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