The importance of time management in organizations Essay

The importance of time management in organizations - Essay Example Major, Klein and Ehrhart (2002); Jackson and Martin (1996); Teuchmann, Totterdell and Parker (1999) have studied in detail the stress borne by managers and employees of an organisation to deliver on time in the midst of an acute time-crisis. Adding on to these, Palmer and Schoorman (1999) have identified that the shortage of time in organisations result in employees performing multiple activities simultaneously. A number of studies on this subject have stated that time is an important factor to consider while formulating organisational behaviour models as it greatly affects an organisation’s business, operations and human resource (Wright, 2002; Ancona, Goodman, Lawrence and Tushman, 2001; George and Jones, 2000). As a corollary to their research, Macan (1994) studied the means employees of a company resort to for time management and also recommended several ways in which such initiatives can be bettered and integrated into a holistic effort. The shortage of time As per data c ollected from 557 managers of various companies as part of a recent survey by McKinsey & Company, only 124 respondents stated that they are content with the way their time is assigned to different tasks; against a contrasting 433 respondents who stated that they were discontent. These 500 respondents were categorised into 4 groups: 1. Managers who spend most of their time at their desk and cannot find time to provide support and motivation to their subordinates on a personal basis. 2. Managers who mostly spend most of their time away from their desk and cannot find time to attend important meetings or sit down and formulate corporate strategies. 3. Managers who spent most of their time with their subordinates and cannot find time to interact with the stakeholders of the company. 4. Managers who are actively involved in responding to sudden challenges and crises within the organisation, and cannot find time to take part in long-term strategy formulations. The study indicates that man agers are increasingly feeling the heat of performing too many tasks in too little time. Most of them feel that their work hours are not sufficient to cater to all their responsibilities. Some of the reasons for lack of time may be identified as the constant need to communicate with multiple stakeholders on every little work progress; the added burdens of globalisation such as, different time zones and more complex organisational hierarchies; and the over-aggressiveness of companies in the midst of a global financial crisis. The consequences of such shortage of time also flow down to the end employees who are led by the managers. This often leads to unorganised, non-synchronous activities within an organisation. Although companies consider lack of time as a personal problem of employees and not of their concern, its impacts are far-reaching and are directly associated with a company’s working principles and performance. The study clearly shows that time is not considered duri ng formulating corporate strategies and assigning roles and responsibilities. Most companies perceive time as an infinite resource that constantly flows in, but the fact is that just like money, the time-related capabilities of a company are also limited. Time is essential to plan, track and manage