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Related Experiment Videos

Chronic time abuse.

Steven Berglas1

  • 1Harold Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, UCLA's Anderson School, USA. DrB@Berglas.com

Harvard Business Review
|June 19, 2004
PubMed
Summary

Time abuse in the workplace stems from psychological conflicts, not poor time management skills. Understanding the underlying issues of perfectionism, preemptive behavior, people-pleasing, and procrastination is key to effective management.

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Area of Science:

  • Organizational Psychology
  • Workplace Behavior Analysis

Background:

  • Time abuse, characterized by chronic procrastination or excessive early work completion, significantly disrupts business morale and efficiency.
  • Traditional time management training is ineffective for these employees as the root cause is psychological conflict.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify and describe four distinct types of workplace time abusers.
  • To explain the psychological underpinnings of time abuse, focusing on self-esteem and fear of evaluation.
  • To provide insights into managing these individuals effectively.

Main Methods:

  • Qualitative analysis of workplace behavior patterns.
  • Categorization of time abusers into four distinct types: Perfectionists, Preemptives, People Pleasers, and Procrastinators.
  • Discussion of the psychological drivers for each type.

Main Results:

  • Perfectionists avoid feedback due to fear of negative evaluation.
  • Preemptives seek control by submitting work excessively early.
  • People Pleasers overcommit due to an inability to decline requests.
  • Procrastinators use excuses to mask inadequacy fears.

Conclusions:

  • Time abuse is driven by psychological conflicts related to self-esteem and fear of judgment, not time management deficits.
  • Effective management requires understanding individual psychological motivations rather than generic time management strategies.
  • Some cases, particularly perfectionism, may necessitate professional psychological intervention.

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