ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of time management on employees’ performance in microfinance institutions in Bamenda. Time is one of the most important assets for any employees’ in the business world. It is necessary for any employees’ to carry out its operations effectively. As it improves operational efficiency and contributes to employees’ success. Productivity is affected by monochromic culture and polychromic culture. Monochronic time is associated with one thing at the single time while Polychronic carry out many activities at a time and there is less concern of getting work done.To attain this research, the following objectives was designed which was to investigate the effects of time management practices on the employees’ performance in Micro Finance Institutions in Bamenda. This was backed by three specific objectives; to determine the effect of short term planning on the employees’ performance in Micro Finance Institutions in Bamenda. examine the extent to which time attitude affects the employees’ performance in Micro Finance Institutions in Bamenda, and finally, to analyze the effect of long term planning on the employees’ performance in Micro Finance Institutions in Bamenda. For this study, questionnaires were used to collect the necessary information from the respondent. The study adopted the casual research design that involves gathering data that describe events and then organizes, tabulates, depicts, and describes the data collected. Descriptive research utilizes elements of both quantitative and qualitative. In order to test our hypotheses, we specified anemployees’ performance equation based on theoretical considerations, empirical literature and intuition. Results from the construction show that long term planning was found to exert a positive effect on employees’ performance, and short term planning didn’t have a statistical significance on the employees’ performance. It was also seen that there is a direct effect of time attitude on employees’ performance of micro finance institutions in Bamenda and it was statistically significant at 1%. One recommendation for the MFIs is that they should use a timer which will help employees’ committed to specific task for a certain amount of time, this can also give them a valuable feeling of accomplishment.

Key words: Time Management, employees’ performance, monochromic and polychromic culture.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Time is one of the most important assets for any employees’ in the business world (Adebisi, 2013; Forbes, 2016). This is virtually because time is tied to every employee’s activity that feeds into its strategic objectives. As an important asset, its management is critical for employees’ survival and success. As a result, time management could be considered as one of the major competitive tools that can contribute towards improved Employees’ Performance (Ahmed et al., 2012; Nonis et al., 2011). Time management is necessary for any employees’ to carry out its operations effectively. Improved operational efficiency through time management contributes to employees’ success. Studies have empirically demonstrated the relationship between time management practices and Employees’ Performance (Claessens , 2007; Miqdadi ., 2014; Njagi and Malel, 2012; Nonis et al., 2011).

Time management practices are however, influenced by culture (Macan et al., 1990; Nonis and Sager, 2003). As such, different cultural settings could influence employees’ time management practices which would then influence the overall Employees’ Performance. As a result, the findings on the relationship that exists between time management practices and job or firm productivity could be contextual, and therefore, not generalizable. Importantly, the time orientation of a culture affects how time is valued and also controlled (Arman and Adair, 2012; Bouncken, 2004; Kaufman‐Scarborough, 2017; Onken, 1999). The way time is perceived and also controlled has an effect on the productivity of tasks. Thus, arising from the differing perceptions of time and its management across cultures can pose a serious problem for a global or multinational employees’ that has to deal with different cultural settings/context.

In other words, culturally different attitudes to time management can be extremely harmful to such employees’ as it affects cross-cultural communication. Therefore, understanding different attitudes or perceptions to time management forms an important aspect in managing or maintaining intercultural business relationships. In the broad classifications of cultural perspectives on time, two distinct cultural classes have been observed in the literature: monochronic and polychronic cultures (Hall, 1999; Harvey and Kamoche, 2004; Hirschman, 1987). In such a classification, polychronicity refers to the extent 16 to which people in a culture prefer to be engaged in two or more tasks or events simultaneously; and believe their preference to be the best way to do things (Bluedorn et al., 1999; Nonis, 2011; Onken, 1999). Monochronicity, on the other hand, refers to the culture where individuals believe that doing one thing at a time is better than doing several things at a time (Nonis et al., 2005).

In monochronic cultures, time is viewed as “linear and separable, capable of being divided into units, and therefore emphasize doing ‘one thing at a time’” (Nonis et al., 2005, p. 412). These cultural orientations have implications on employees’ culture. This is particularly the case given that national culture has an influence on employees’ culture (Hofstede, 2001; Rosen, 2002). For instance, Rosen (2002) argues that the national culture applies to social interactions and power relationship, both within and outside of formal employees’. The national cultures are usually deeply engraved in employees and influence employees’ culture. National culture influences managerial decision-making, leadership styles, and human resource management practices (Li ., 2001; Willmott, 2000).

Further, managerial functions within the employees’ such as communication, motivation, employees’ design, employee’s expectations of work design, and reward systems are all affected by national culture (Khan and Law, 2018; Nicholls., 1999). As such, polychronicity and monochronicity are both temporal dimensions of employees’ culture. Temporal dimensions basically refer to the perceptions, and thus meaning of time (Hall, 1983; Harvey and Kamoche, 2004; Kaufman‐Scarborough, 2003) in one cultural setting. The cultural dimensions of polychronicity and monochronicity can be further related to the cultural distinctions of low context cultures and high context cultures (Hall, 1976; KoracKakabadse., 2001; Khan and Law, 2018). This cultural distinction is used mostly with respect to language and how this affects communication (Khan and Law, 2018). In this cultural dimension, “a low context culture is one in which things are fully (though concisely) spelled out. Things are made explicit, and there is considerable dependence on what is actually said or written.

A high context culture is one in which the communicators assume a great deal of commonality of knowledge and views, so that less is spelled out explicitly and much more is implicit or communicated in indirect ways” (Rutledge, 2011, p.1). There is more responsibility that is placed on the listener to keep up their knowledge base and remain plugged into informal networks in a low context culture while in high context cultures; there is a strong inclination to indirect methods of communication. In the high context cultures, communication is therefore implicit with the context and relationship has an important role to play than the actual words spoken. The importance of this understanding of the cultural distinction is that it can be related 17 to the time management perceptions. In particular, high context cultures typically use a polychronic perception of time while low context cultures use a monochronic perception (Khan and Law, 2018; Lechner, 2001). Considering the differences in cultural settings and the possible influence on the employees’ practices, it’s imperative that contextual factors are taken into consideration when investigating the relationship that exists between time management and Employees’ Performance. Several studies have shown, for example, that there is positive relationship between time management practices and key job outcomes such as improved job satisfaction, job stress, and health (Macan ., 1990; Nonis and Sagar 2003; Nonis ., 2005; Schuler, 1979). However, most of this literature is focused on non-western cultures which are largely low context monochronic cultures (Nonis., 2011). Thus, the empirical evidence on the positive relationship between time management and their correlates is mainly limited to non-western cultural environment where such effects “can be easily assumed” (Noni ., 2005). Given the differences in cultural perceptions on time and communication, the findings from such studies on non-western (such as Middle Eastern, Asian, And African) cultural environments cannot be generalized to non-western cultural environments. Important, these non-western cultural environments (such as Middle Eastern, Asian, And African) have different perceptions and therefore, meaning of time (Harvey and Kamoche, 2004; Hall, 1983; Khan and Law, 2018; Mopfu., 1996) which has implications on firm productivity. In short, the claims of a relationship between time management and job or firm productivity are yet to be fully investigated in non-western cultures. This study is motivated at making a contribution to this understanding by focusing on Cameroon cultural settings which are typically high context polychronic cultures (Hall and Hall, 1990; Hall., 2017).

Time is an essential resource every manager needs to achieve the goals and objectives of an organization. It is so delicate that it cannot be saved but can only be spent and once misused it can never be regained. Every manager is looking for ways to improve time management. Whether it is the management of an employees’ looking for business improvement or an individual looking for ways to better spend their time, time management is important to both.

According to Ojo and Olaniyan (2008), the following are the attributes of time: Time is a unique resource; It is the scarcest resource in the universe; Time cannot be replaced by man; Time cannot be accumulated like money; Time cannot be turned on and off like machine; Time cannot be stocked like raw materials; Time passes at a pre-determined rate whatever happens; Everybody is equally endowed with the same amount of it irrespective of his position and Time like any other scarce resource must be managed and used judiciously. Therefore, time management can be seen as a period, either short or long, which involves how people use their time judiciously to produce result. Time management starts with the commitment to change.

According to Shirley (2008), better time management can be achieved if goals have been set and then all future work is prioritized based on how it moves the individual or employees’ towards meeting the goals. The value of time management lies in the fact that people have too many tasks they need to do but not enough time for the things that they want to do. Time management helps identify needs and wants in terms of their importance and matches them with time and other resources (Ezine, 2008). Time management brings about orderliness and enables one to be more productive and fulfilled.

As a manager, time is an important factor needed to enhance various Employees’ Performance  that is. the way time is being managed in an employees’ will reflect on its productivity either positively or negatively. According to Joshua (2008), the productivity of an employees’ is evaluated in terms of the degree of achievement of the employees’ goals and objectives at what monetary costs and efficiency.

Effective time management is a major challenge manager in Cameroon are facing today as they have a lot of duties to perform within a limited time. Productivity of an employees revolves round the monetary costs, efficiency (that is. ability to do something well or achieve a desired result without wasted effort) and effectiveness (that is. doing the right things more than performing them efficiently). As a manager, both the resources and employees’ must be properly managed and all priorities must be placed in order of their importance. Time management strategies are often associated with the recommendation to set personal goals. These goals are recorded and may be broken down into a project, an action plan, or a simple task list. For individual tasks or for goals, an importance rating may be established, deadlines may be set, and priorities assigned. Time management involves investing time to determine what one wants out of his day to day activities. Effective time management is the investment of time in such a way that suitable results are achieved from activities within a specific time range and it emphasizes on effectiveness rather than efficiency. One’s ability to choose between the important and the unimportant and be determined to follow the correctly chosen sequence is the key determinant of effectiveness in time management. In order to manage time, managers must be creative and introduce various ways of producing output within a stipulated time. They must be able to manage their emails and phone calls, that is, they must be able to minimize the time they spend receiving phone calls and reading emails. The key to successful time management is planning and then protecting the planned time, which often involves re-conditioning your environment, and particularly reconditioning the expectations of others

1.2 Statement of the Problem

         The recent evolvement in technology and increase in the number of hours spent on social media by employees during normal working time, instead of maximizing or managing time at work has become an issue of great concern in most employees’ as many managers do not know what to do to overcome it and some are still in doubt with what method to use to effectively manage their time to improve their Employees’ Performance . Management in most cases is not helping issues in their employees’ through proper enforcement and schemes for good time usage by employees’. It is for this reasons that, the researcher carries out a study on the impact of time management on employee productivity specifically the Micro Finance Institutions in Cameroon.

The principle and practice of time management embraces collaborations, partnership and networks involved in Employees’ Performance  (Stephen R. Covey, 1989, John Rampton, 2019;). Brain Tracy, argue that the effectiveness of employees’ arises from the appropriate utilization of one key resource, time. The management of time is fundamental to job productivity. Time management typically involves goal setting, establishing priorities, budgeting the amount of time given to a particular activity and planning and scheduling the steps required for the accomplishments of goals (Allen, 2001; Lucchetti, 2011). Alan (2009) argues that the key to successful time management is planning and protecting the planned time, which often involves re-conditioning the environment, particularly the re-conditioning of expectation of others. The perception and meaning attributed to time could be viewed as either a mental construct (Macan, 1994), a social construct (Lewis and Weigert, 1981) or a behavioural issue (Hirschman, 1987). As such, understanding the importance of time attributed to activities is a complex undertaking. Time is an essential resource; it’s irrecoverable, limited and dynamic (Osawe, 2017). As a valuable resource, unless it is managed properly, achievement of employees’ goals can be difficult.

Bregman (2013, p. 5) described time as “a unique resource, it is indispensable, intangible, irreplaceable, irretrievable and therefore invaluable. It is equitably and uniformly distributed”. Similarly, Osawe (2017, 154)) describes time is a “scarce resource and universal, which cannot be replaced by man…time cannot be accumulated like money, be stocked like raw materials nor be turned on and off like machine”. Since time is biologically, socially and professionally determined, it follows therefore, that time management requires both person and the skill, tools and techniques to manage time.

According to Bregman (2013) biologically determined time pertains to “bodily functions, social pertains to self-sanity and social and professional pertains to professional activities such as time spent at work”. As a result, it can be observed that time management should be viewed as embracing a holistic approach in its determinants. Effective time management involves analyzing how employees’ spend their time in deciding how to achieve their goals through Employees’ Performance. As mentioned already, the problematic issues in this study involve reconciling monochromic time practices and polychromic time practices in the Cameroon context, with particular reference to Micro Finance institutions in Bamenda. Further, although time management can be perceived as essentially a matter of self-discipline, it is affected by external factors such as culture and the qualities of leadership that exist within an organization. These aspects should be considered when examining the influence of time management practices on job or firm productivity. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of  time management on Employee performance in Bamenda. Specifically, the study seeks to; determine the effect of goal setting  on the Employees’ Performance inMicro Finance institutions in Bamenda, examine the extent to which goal setting affects the Employees’ Performance of Micro Finance institutions in Bamenda and analyse the effect of priotization on the Employees’ Performance inMicro Finance institutions in Bamenda.

1.3 Research Questions

The following research questions have been formulated.

1.3.1 Main Research Question

1. What are the effects of time management on Employee performance of Micro Institutions in Bamenda?

1.3.2 Specific Research Questions

1. How does goal setting affect Employees’ Performance in Micro Finance institutions in Bamenda?
2. To what extent does priotizatio affect the Employees’ Performance of Micro Finance institutions in Bamenda?

iii. What is the effect of productivity technique on the Employees’ Performance of Micro Finance institutions in Bamenda?

1.4 Objectives of the Study

1.4.1 Main Objective

1. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of time management on Employee performance in Bamenda.

1.4.2 Specific Objectives

The specific objectives of this study are to:

i.Determine the effect goal setting on the Employees’ Performance in Micro Finance institutions in Bamenda.

1. Examine the extent to which prioritization affects the Employees’ Performance in Micro Finance institutions in Bamenda.

iii. Analyse the effect productivity technique on the Employees’ Performance in Micro Finance Institutions in Bamenda.

1.5 Hypotheses of the Study

For a better understanding of the effects of time management on Employees’ Performance of Micro Finance Institutions in Bamenda, the working hypotheses of this study is;

HO₁:Goal setting does not significantly affect the Employees’ Performance of Micro Finance Institutions in Bamenda.

 HO2: Prioritization has no significantly effect on the Employees’ Performance of Micro Finance Institutions in Bamenda.

HO₃: Productivity technique does not significantly affect the Employees’ Performance of Micro Finance institutions in Bamenda