Time Management and Employee Productivity and Performance - Essay Example

TIME MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY AND PERFORMANCE By Location Introduction Employee productivity comes from many sources where in some instances they may fall sick, unmotivated, or simply distracted by events besides their routine tasks (Singh, & Mohanty, 2012). Though some causes of low employee productivity are sometimes unavoidable, the human resource managers have myriad of ways of minimising elements that are contributing to poor employee productivity. In most organisations, time management has been identified as the cause of poor productivity among employees (Rummler, & Brache, 2012). Strategies for time management are approaches that can help the employees to manage their time so that they can lower work stress and increase their productivity (Singh, & Mohanty, 2012). Time management, in particular, is important for project managers who have to beat deadlines and also accomplish their desire to undertake as many projects as possible. On the other hand, time management is important for other employees since the focus is to ensure that they plan their schedules properly and also meets the set goals and objectives of the organisation(Rummler, & Brache, 2012).. Therefore, this essay discusses the extent to which time management improves employee productivity with the recommendations of the best strategies for managing time. Time Management Time is a resource that is always under control of the user who has it in plenty to accomplish his or her goal. Some studies on human resource management have identified time as one of the scarce resources that require proper management otherwise it might be difficult accomplishing other missions (Drucker, 2012). On the other hand, supply of time is usually limited while demand is limitless. The implication is that time that has been lost can never be retrieved where cultures like the European perceive time as money. Effective managers consider that time is a limited resource and use available strategy to ensure full utilisation of time for achieving goals and objectives of the organisation. Moreover, managers have the obligation to use skills and tools of mastering time management if at all they want to improve operations within the organisation (Pies, Beckmann, & Hielscher 2010). On the other hand, effective time manage creates more time for accomplishing more tasks in the organisation thus the end result is improved performance and productivity. Strategies/techniques of time management Delegation is a time management technique that the human resource manager must get their employees accustomed to (Karmenter 2006). In fact, the technique is very crucial at it helps in saving more time by breaking the tasks into smaller steps. Therefore, the executive management should implement the strategy if at all it wishes to see improvement in handling of tasks by employees as it breaking the tasks into finer details speeds up their execution. Delegation as a time management technique works well with the personnel who head various departments in the organisation since they delegate tasks to other staff resulting in faster handling of tasks as well good performance (Karmenter 2006). The implication is that people have different and unique abilities within the organisation thus dividing or sharing work ensures better accomplishment within the shortest time possible. Moreover, handling tasks in the shortest time possible saves time that the organisation can use on other tasks thus resulting in improved productivity for the particular company. Another effective strategy for time management is tackling the problems head on without waiting for the days to come (Paul, & Berry 2013). In fact, proper time management should not result in procrastination as it has negative effects on employee morale and overall productivity. Therefore, when implementing time management strategies, the executive management especially the human resource manager must advise employees about the dangers of procrastination. The implication is that procrastination consumes more time as employees spend their efforts trying to find the best options out of the particular problem. Therefore, the time management strategies help in handling tough tasks prompting thus saving the company resources it could have used in another day. On the contrary, procrastination may also work to the advantage of the company as employees will spend more time diagnosing the problems and finding the best solution and this requires ample time (Paul, & Berry 2013). Moreover, taking time to think over a problem ensures that there is enough brainstorming for alternative that can improve the organisation’s productivity. Time management strategies work best when individuals are given time to think about the best ways of improving their time management (Werner, Gast, & Kraus, 2014). In fact, there is substantive evidence that freedom to employees increase productivity since they have the autonomy to choose the best strategies that suit their job situations. Offering freedom to employees shows that the organisation takes into consideration that fact workers have different methods of accomplishing tasks. Some may work effectively when handling unpleasant tasks and also able to manage their time well under such situations while others may find joy in fulfilling easier to handle and manage tasks. Some employees find it easy and efficient in taking up urgent tasks first and then proceeding to easier ones while others like it the opposite way. Furthermore, studies have shown that employees perform best when they have the freedom to do whatever they wish (Werner, Gast, & Kraus, 2014). The bottom line is that is impossible to teach employees about being free, but the executive management should offer this freedom. Briefly, the underlying assumption is that freedom to employees is a very important aspect of time management as they get the autonomy to act and think themselves. It is nearly impossible to ensure proper time management without clear goals and objectives. In this case, the executive managers should ensure that the goal of time management is to change the behaviour of the employees to better themselves in organising their work and accomplish tasks effectively and in a timely manner (Luba, 2014). A good example of setting up time management goals is to encourage the employees to have their priorities set. For instance, it is more appropriate for the employees to refrain attending to personal issues during the work period unless they require utmost urgency. Also, in this case, the underlying assumption is that when a manager helps his or employees with goal setting, he, or she is working towards improving their productivity and efficiency in service delivery. Training on time management After realising that time management was crucial to improving performance and productivity of employees, pioneers in the field of human resource management proposed that training would improve the extent to which employees manage their time (Luba, 2014). In this case, they recommended that the best approach to such training is by emphasising on important issues because time management training can only benefit employees if it takes a practical approach. Conversely, it is imperative to note that training on time management should recommend or implement appropriate changes to routine activities of the employees. Moreover, time management training involves the use of templates as well as other time management tools if any case an organisation wishes to achieve positive outcomes from such trainings (Denning, & Raj, 2011). Factors that lead to poor time management Even though all the recommended strategies for time management may work to the advantage of an organisation, they may have negative implications if not implemented properly (Denning, & Raj, 2011). For instance, setting priorities right helps in minimising time wasted during the work period. However, problems may arise where there occurs misunderstanding of the priorities between the organisation and its employees. Wrongly placed priorities imply that the employee might be working on the wrong task at the wrong time (Goetsch, & Davis, 2014). The underlying assumption is that knowing what is expected from the job task improves performance of the employees as they focus on achieving the desired quality set forth by the job description. Therefore, strategies that aim at prioritising tasks of employees clarify the tasks by defining the schedules as well as deadlines that the work requires. Ineffective delegation is also a major drawback to proper time management (Goetsch, & Davis, 2014). The implication is that poor delegation lead to frustrations as well as mistakes for both the employees and their bosses thus it is a negative implication on employee productivity and performance. Besides, there is enough evidence that poor delegation can cause even the most talented employees to record poor performance at work thus ending up unhappy and frustrated. When implementing the time management strategies, there should be incentives for directing employees through clear authority (Luba, 2014). In this case, unclear lines of authority or command may hinder an organisations bid to save time. Unclear responsibility and authority lead to time wastage as employees have the faintest idea on the type of job they are supposed to undertake, the time to complete them and standard of quality to expect. Poor authorisation also leads to incomplete information leading employees to make erroneous assumptions, as well as conclusions thus reducing their work performance (Goetsch, & Davis, 2014). In this context, a manager can solve the situation by setting time to answer questions from the employees as well as listening to them carefully before arriving at a decision. Recommendations Since drawbacks of the time management strategies occur when they are not properly implemented, it is clear that time management influence employee performance and productivity positively. Therefore, managers or leaders have a myriad of ways through which they can improve the concept of time management in their organisations. Firstly, it is highly recommendable for the managers to develop concrete leadership budgets that will help them to determine the leadership attention, intervention and guidance the time management process will require (Luba, 2014). For instance, an organisation can form a time budgeting committee that sits down and evaluates how employees spend their time and propose methods of addressing time wastage. Time management should also take centre stage during change initiation where the organisation focuses on explaining to employees how time management is crucial for implementing changes. On the other hand, it is vital to ensure that the employees are constantly reminded of the need to save time since it has positive implications for performance and productivity. Moreover, employee rewards have also proved successful in encouraging time management where the management sets standards for rewards only attainable through proper time management (Drucker, 2012). Conclusion In summary, time management is an issue of great importance in the contemporary business environment owing to the effects it has on productivity and overall performance of the employees. Therefore, organisations are justified in implementing these strategies since saving time as a limited resource imply that the organisation will spend it on other tasks thus adding to the overall performance and productivity of the organisation. The essay discusses some of the strategies of time management like delegation, goal setting, avoidance of procrastination, offering employee freedom among others. However, the strategies can also fail if not properly implemented implying that they might not be 100% effective. In this case, the essay recommends some of the strategies that executive managements can use in implementing the time management plans including forming a time leadership budget, monitoring and reminding employees managing their time, and measuring individual’s competence in time management. Bibliography Cristina MG, & Amy EHH 2011, ‘Frederick Winslow Taylor: Reflections on the Relevance of The Principles of Scientific Management 100 Years Later’, Journal of Business and Management vol. 17, no. 1, pp.23-34. Denning, PJ, & Raj, R 2011, ‘Managing time, part 2. Communications of the ACM’, vol. 54, no. 9, pp. 31-33. Drucker, P 2012, Management, Routledge, London. Goetsch, DL, & Davis, SB 2014, Quality management for organizational excellence, Pearson, New York. Karmenter, D 2006, "TIME MANAGEMENT ; Seven Time Wasters - And how to evict them; Ensnared by time-wasting traps, managers can fast get bogged down in repetitive tasks and irrelevant details. 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