Investigation into the time management behaviours and attitudes of New Zealand library managers in the tertiary, public and legal sectors"

Abstract

This research explores whether there are patterns to how the line, middle and senior managers of New Zealand's public, tertiary and law libraries manage their time. It identifies the time management behaviours, and attitudes to time management, of managers at different levels and in different sectors, and explores whether managers who spend more time on self-care activities and a range of out-of-work commitments display different time management behaviour. It also explores a range of factors that may influence the development of individual time management behaviours. All public and tertiary libraries, and those law libraries with three or more staff, were approached, and 102/126 agreed to participate. A printed questionnaire was mailed to 584 managers in these libraries, and 419 (71.75%) were returned. This questionnaire gathered a range of demographic data, sought opinion as to the factors that had influenced the development of time management behaviour (such as study while working and formal time management training) and included three established survey instruments. These were a modified version of the Time Waster Index (Mackenzie 1972), the Time Management Behavior Scale (Macan 2002), and the Index of Polychronic Values (Bluedorn et al. 1999). A series of semi-structured focus groups and individual interviews were used to collect supporting information, mostly on the influences on time management behaviour. The study found that there is a high level of similarity in managerial time management behaviour between public and tertiary libraries, and that law libraries, being smaller and more focussed on tight deadlines and packaged information, require somewhat different behaviour. The size of library within sectors, and level of management are significant indicators of difference, with senior managers using more systematic time management techniques than line managers. The results of this study are comparable with a large-scale study of time wasters conducted in America in the late 1980's, which implies that aspects of time pressure have remained consistent over time. It would seem that time management behaviour develops over the course of an individual's life. Each person has a core set of time management behaviour, often strongly influenced by their parents or other family members during childhood, which changes over time in response to life events such as a new job, study or parenthood. A library manager will be required to utilise a range of time management techniques that are appropriate to their work environment, which will change depending on the size of library and level of management.