ABSTRACT

Regional Treasury faces a number of problems and challenges centering on inefficiencies in its time management. These could be due to lack of Job security and poor working conditions of employees manifested by lack of adequate maintenance of human resource policy, lack of proper structuring of the organization which is required to have a new trend that would enhance its efficiency and make it feasible, poor team building and lack of self- discipline. The study was about time management and employees performance: A case of Regional Treasury. The objectives of the study were: to examine the effect of time planning and scheduling and employee performance; To assess the effect of time attitude on employee performance at Regional Treasury; the effect of team building on employee performance at Regional Treasury. The study used a descriptive research design with both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. A sample size of 32respondentsparticipated in the study. Findings of the study revealed that use of good time plans and schedules was found with a significant positive effect on the employee performance at Regional Treasury, as indicated by (p=0.031<0.05). Findings also revealed that time attitude was found with a significant effect on employees performance of Regional Treasury, as indicated by (p=0.015<0.05). Findings further revealed that team building was found with a significant effect on the employee performance of Regional Treasury, as confirmed by (p=0.021<0.05). The study concluded that time management was satisfactory at Regional Treasury and it had direct link to the employee performance because, the majority of the respondents to a larger extent understand and implement time management although to a smaller extent there are still challenges that limit the implementation of time management policies in organizations which hinder employee performance.

Keywords: Time Management, Employee Performance, Time Planning and Scheduling, Time Attitude, Team Building.

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the background of the study, statement of problem, research questions, study objectives, research hypothesis, scope of the study, significance of the study, and definition of operational terms.

1.2 Background to the study

Time is a very important asset to an organization and the proper and efficient use of time is a vital role to the management. Unlike energy, money and skill, time by no means returns nor be able to be recreated. Wilkin Sona advocate that, “begin to managed and invest time, it could be the best speculation you will ever make for yourself and your organization.”Time is capital, when it is saved it result into saving of fixed overhead cost reducing the final total and per unit cost of output. It is debatable whether time can be saved and invested. According to Jitendram Mishre & Prabhakar Mishra (2010) holds an opposite view. According to them, time is an outstanding resource, it cannot be saved; it can only be spent wisely. Time is a non-renewable resource and once it is gone, one cannot recover it. Time is predetermined and identical for everyone. It elapses at a standardized rate. Time may be divided into two that is commitment time and discretional time, but only the discretional time can be managed. With this in mine, it makes sense to make the best use of the available time by prioritizing and doing the more important activities first.

According to H. Baker and Steven Holmberg (1996) have also opinioned, “time management is really self- management”. The objective is not to become super-efficient or super-productive. Time should be used to achieve one’s objectives, to work matters, not harder, as the saying goes “time management requires self-management in terms of change of habits, perception, attitudes. This change is difficult. It requires efforts, patience, commitment and willingness

to change. To effectively manage time employees, need to have good time managementskills. Time management is defined by DeJanasz et al. (2006, p84) as “the ability to allocate our time and resources to accomplishing our objectives”. Time management try to come out with the most efficient manner in which to utilize the time that employees have available. Time is an infinite commodity and it.Time management is one of the main ingredients to success of any business today in the contemporary world. Thechoices andprospectof the anybusiness (organization)on themanagement,but makingsurethat the choicesare madetherightwayandtheactionisacteduponpunctuallydependsontheindividual‟s time management.One ofthe majorinvestment orasset istime managementtoday: it aims toget mostoutof resources which are there to be used; it adds value or gets most profit.According to Philpot (2008) the term time management can be defined as a planning tool which helps you to get most use of the time. This tool or a technique we call time management had its beginning at thestarting ofthe industrialrevolution. The concept oftime management has changed but gradually to the knowledge oftime management we call today, it can be described as the idea of gaining control of your life.People mostlystrugglewith themanagement oftime becausethe peoplefailtothinkof timemanagementasa business.Proper use may increase employee performance in an organization. To better manage time, employees needs to know how vital each job activities ho Proper use may increaseemployeeperformance inanorganization.To bettermanagetime,employeesneedto know how vital each job activities holds in an organisation. According to the pickle jartheory, a scale ofpreference ofactivities needs to be develop. He says we are supposed to do the important things first and then move to the least important things and finally if we have the time, we can do the other things which are important or critical to our job success. According to the pickle jar theory, scales of preference of activities need to be develop.

Hesays wearesupposedtodothe importantthings first andthenmovetothe least important things and finally if we have the time, we can do the other things which are important or critical to our job success.

According to Ojo & Olaniyan (2008), the following are the attributes of time: Time is a unique resource;It is the scarcest resource intheuniverse;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 involveshow 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 organization towardsmeetingthegoals. Thevalueoftime management lies inthe fact thatpeoplehavetoo 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 aboutorderliness and enables one to be more productive and fulfilled.

As a manager, time is an important factor needed to enhance employeeperformances i.e. the way timeisbeingmanagedinanorganizationwillreflectonits employee” performanceeitherpositivelyornegatively. AccordingtoJoshua(2008),the performance of an employeeis evaluated in terms of the degree ofachievement to the organizationalgoals and objectives atwhat monetary costs and efficiency.

Effective time management is a major challenge managers in Cameroon are facing today as they have a lot of duties to perform within a limited time.Employee Performance in an organization revolves round the monetary costs, efficiency (i.e. ability to do somethingwell or achieve a desiredresult without wastedeffort) and effectiveness (i.e. doing the right things more than performing them efficiently).

As a manager, boththeresourcesand employees must beproperly managed and all priorities must be placed in order of theirimportance.Time management strategies are often associated with the recommendation to set personalgoals. These goals are recorded and may be brokendowninto aproject, anactionplan, or asimpletask list.For individualtasks 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 dayto 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 abilitytochoose betweentheimportant and the unimportant and be determined to follow the correctly chosen sequence is the key determinantofeffectivenessintimemanagement.

In order to manage time, managers must be creative and introduce various ways ofproducing output within a stipulated time. They must be able tomanage theiremails and phone calls, thatis, theymust be able to minimize thetime theyspend receivingphone callsandreadingemails.Thekeytosuccessfultimemanagementisplanningand then protectingtheplannedtime,whichofteninvolvesre-conditioningyour environment,andparticularlyre-conditioning the expectations of others.