International Journal of Entrepreneurship (Print ISSN: 1099-9264; Online ISSN: 1939-4675)

Research Article: 2019 Vol: 23 Issue: 3

Polychronic Behaviors: The Role of Job Residency and Education Level

Rian Andriani, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia

Disman, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia

Eeng Ehman, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia

Tjutju Yuniarsih, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia

Budi Santoso, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia

Abstract

This article mainly aims the cultural differences of polychronic behaviour which refers to a culture in which people value, and hence practice, engaging in several activities at the same time. This is interesting to be studied in some jobs that have more tendencies to behave polychronicity. This study uses some indicators to measure this behaviour in that kind of job, with the differentiators of job tenure and education level. This study analysed 152 workers in several banks in Bandung, Indonesia. The study results provide observational evidence of how residency factor (less than 5 years, 5-10 years and 10-15 years) is related to polycronic behaviour. Workers who experience a job residency of less than 5 years have a high tendency to polycronic behavior, while workers with job residency between 5-10 years are in the moderate classification. Likewise, workers with job residency between 10-15 years have a middle class in directing polycronic behaviour. From the aspect of education, it was found confirmation that diploma graduate workers are in a high classification in high polychronic behaviour, while undergraduate graduates are in the middle classification in directing polycronic behaviour.

Keywords

Forefront Employees, Polychronicity, Job Residency, Education Level.

Introduction

Polychronicity is related to the tendency to do many things or solve various things in parallel (Adams & Eerde, 2012). Polychronic workers have the ability to effectively oversee administrative activities. In this way, they must have the capacity to complete tasks at the same time (Daskin, 2015). König et al. (2005) indicate that polycronic practices affect the completion of tasks. Polycron is exchanged between two forms of control and the ability to control two procedures centred on one process for the same time (Zhang, 2015). In special cases, workers are often faced with a variety of opportunities that change at one time, which leads them to work on various tasks at once (Daskin, 2015). How workers see time administration is known as 'polychronicity' which describes a person's ability to do many things at a given moment. At the point where a person needs to complete more than one task at a given time, execution in some or most of the businesses may be influenced by psychological effects that make it possible to access various jobs (Wickens & Hollands, 2000)

Todd (2009) defines polycronics as the degree to which individuals like to be occupied with various endeavors all the time. Polychronicity will be related to speed, dependence, and temporary depth. As a basic procedure, polychronicity includes reliable decisions about how to participate in various tasks (Waller, 2015). Bluedorn (2007) reveals that polycronics is an opportunity to make a lot of effort on a particular event and a tendency to deal with more complex things. Cotte & Ratneshwar (1999) states that polychronicity is related to the capacity to move a practice to meet a certain condition (Cotte & Ratneshwar, 1999). In various studies, the relational aspect of the relationship between education and job residency in polycronisity has not been widely done. In this study, specific research questions are:

1. RQ1. Are there differences in polycronic behavior based on job residency?

2. RQ2. Are there differences in polycronic behavior based on education level?

3. RQ3. What is the biggest influence on the indicators of Polychronicity based on the job residency and education level?

Literature Reviews

The reason why polychronicity switches to discussing representative turnover goals is because there are specific end goals for job assessment and goal turnover (Jang & George, 2012). Factors influencing polycronicity including age, level of education, and occupational residency have been shown to have a very large relationship (Zhang, 2015). Employees with polycronic tendencies have a greater number of training and residency than employees with lower levels of employment. They also have more number of administrative tasks. Polychronicity is considered more related to longer residency because it is useful for coordination (Daskin, 2015). Forefront workers who have a higher amount of training tend to have greater task execution. Residency is also related to job fulfilment (Barmby et al., 2012). Job residency has an important meaning that is measured in the fulfilment of work. Forefront workers who have longer residency are more likely to have a higher total fulfilment and a greater amount of training and job residency aspects. Here, polycronity is related to the occupancy of workers in training (Arasli et al., 2014).

Materials and Methods

The questionnaire survey began with spreading 180 surveys in mid-2018. The fundamental focus of this examination was forefront of employees consisting of tellers, client administration, and transactions. The study was conducted at a bank consisting of three main branch workplaces in Bandung, Indonesia. This survey consists of eight items of polychronic behaviour that relate to employment residency and education level. The scale in the study used a five-point reaction scale of 1 (firm dissent) to 5 (firmly agreed) (Granberg-Rademacker, 2009). Job residency is divided into 3 types, namely for employees with length of work under 5 years, 5-10 years, and 10-15 years, while the level of education is divided into employees graduating from diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate. Data analysis was performed using SPSS to determine the level of polycronity in order: low, medium or high.

Results and Discussion

The results of the relationship between job residency and polycronity demonstrate that frontline employees who work under 5 years are 114 people (75%), who work between 5-10 years as many as 30 people (19.7%) and work between 10-15 years as many as 8 people (5.3%). It can be concluded that in this study the most researched based on employment residency were frontline employees who only worked under 5 years. The results of the study at the education level found that employees with a diploma level were 124 people (81.6%), undergraduate level as many as 20 people (13.1%) and graduate level as many as 8 people (5.3%), so it can be concluded that in the most researched research based on education level is frontline employees with diploma level (Table 1).

Table 1: Job Tenure And Level Education On Polychronic Indicators
Score results < 5 years 5-10 years 10-15 years Diploma Undergraduate Postgraduate
Highest score 4560 1200 320 4960 800 320
Lowest score 912 240 64 992 160 64
Actual score 3434 854 228 3696 576 244
Range interval
Low 912-2128 240-560 64-149 992-2315 160-373 64-149
Medium 2129-3344 561-880 150-234 2316-3638 374-586 150-234
High 3345-4560 881-1200 235-320 3639-4960 587-800 235-320
Note: job tenure (under 5 years, 5-10 years, 10-15 years) and level education (diploma, undergraduate, postgraduate)

Postgraduate level workers obtained a real score of 244 (high calcification, 235-320) in polycronic behavior. Polychronic behaviour has eight guidelines according to Hall, which consist of (1) completing some temporary things, (2) very loose and subject to intrusion, (3) looking at the responsibility of time as a goal, (4) setting the height and as from now having data general, (5) resolved for individuals and human connections, (6) changing designs frequently and effectively, (7) building speed with respect to criticality of connections, and (8) having a strong tendency to produce connections for life (Singh & Kotze, 2003 ) The results revealed a sequence of polychronic markers from completing several things at the same time (642), building speed in the importance of relationships (634), easily interrupted and subjects for disorder (626) and having a strong tendency to establish connections (562).

Further examination through cross tabulation analyses patterns in exploring findings and classifying them in low, middle or high classification (Harwell & Gatti, 2001). The results revealed that in the context of job residency, employees who worked under 5 years received an original score of 3434 (high classification, 3345-4560). Employees who have worked for 5-10 years have an original score of 854, so they are in a moderate classification (881-1200) in polycronic behaviour. Employees who have worked for 10-15 years obtained score of 228 (moderate classification, 150-234) in polycronic behaviour. From the analysis of education level, employees who graduate from diploma level obtained score of 3696, so that they have a place with high class (3639-4960) in polycronic behaviour. Workers with a bachelor's degree obtained score of 576, so they are in the moderate classification (587-800) in polycronic behaviour (Table 2).

Table 2: Polychronic Behaviors
Polychronic People Total Score
Highly distractible and subject to interruptions 626*
Time commitments as objectives 486
Having high contextuality and general information 556
Committed to people and human relationships 548
Changing plans frequently and easily 462
Promptness on the importance of relationship 634*
Having a strong tendency to build lifetime relationships 562*
Note: score from the calculation of 152 respondents based on job tenure and education level
*it is significant at 0.05 or 95% significance level

Conclusion

This article mainly aims the cultural differences of polychronic behaviour which refers to a culture in which people value, and hence practice, engaging in several activities and events at the same time. This is interesting to be studied in some jobs that have more tendencies to behave polychronicity. This study examines this behaviour with the regard to the human resources management field, or employee management, especially in the frontline employees, such those who are commonly found in banking sector. Moreover, this study uses some indicators to measure this behaviour in that kind of job, with the differentiators of job tenure and education level. The findings reveal that in the context of job residency, employees who work under 5 years obtained score of 3434 (high classification, 3345-4560). Employees who have worked for 5-10 years have an original score of 854, so they are in a moderate classification (881-1200) in polycronic behaviour. Employees who have worked for 10-15 years obtained a score of 228 (moderate classification, 150-234) in polychronic behaviour. From the analysis of cross tabulation between job residency and education level, employees with job residency obtained a score of 3696, so that they have a place with high class (3639-4960) in polycronic behaviour. Workers with a bachelor's degree obtained score of 576, so they are in the moderate classification (587-800) in polycronic behaviour. Postgraduate level workers obtained a score of 244 (high calcification, 235-320) in polycronic behaviour. The results found that employees with high polycronic tendencies were employees who worked under 5 years and employees who graduated from diploma education.

Acknowledgements

We thank the Ministry of Research, Technology and High Education for providing financial assistance to the authors.

References

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