Chapter 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Time management is the biggest issue faced by current youth. The human brain does

have the capacity to be highly productive but only some of them know how to capitalize it to

improve productivity. For students, it is usual to be stressed and depressed of multi-tasks. A lot

of students complain about running out of time when asked to do a certain task, they get

frustrated because they are not able to make it before the deadline. Laurie & Hellsten (2002)

stated that time management is extremely important, especially when it comes to university

students because it will boost their grades and enhance their productivity. Time management is a

skill that every student should not only know, but also apply.

Time management is self-management with an explicitly focus on time in deciding what

to do; on how much time to allocate to the activities; on how activities can be done more

efficiently and on when the time is right for particular activities (www.sage-

reference.com/organizationalpyschology). Time management is actually a form of life

management and controlling your life means controlling your time and controlling time means

controlling the events in life (Kottler, 2011). This will help them to keep track of their

achievements and will make them thrive to do more as they get to know their capabilities. This

process will help the students to highlight their daily habits which prevent them from doing their

tasks regularly thereby making way for those habits to be ignored.

Gerald (2002) defined time management as a set of principles, practices, skills, tools and

systems that work together to help you get more value out of your time with the aim of

improving the quality of your life. Argarwal (2008) in his contribution asserts that time
management is usually a personal problem and if one instinctively knows what the right is, then

there is no need to worry. Daily life is not actually a gamble and allocating time to every activity

will help. Unlike other things, when your time is lost it will never come back.

Abdülkadir Pehlivan (2013) in his study found that time is a vital resource everyone

possesses but fails to utilize at the same level due to a variety of reasons. All the material and

human resources possessed by organizations can be enhanced in the course of time or be

transformed as time goes on; yet the only asset that cannot be changed or purchased or stored is

“time” itself.

Time management can be described as the act of organizing your schedule in such a way

that you achieve your goals efficiently and effectively (Chen, 2011). Harold (2014), with his

scientific management technic, had a target and his target was aimed at putting an increase to his

worker’s productivity. In order to achieve this, time and motion studies was conducted by him in

order to figure out how he could maximize the amount of work completed in a specific period.

Time management is a tool for increasing the goal of productivity especially for students who

work and study at the same time.

Akomolafe (2005) stated that time really cannot be managed because it cannot be slowed

down, speed up or manufactured. But it contradicts the idea of Quek (2001) since he believed

that time can be managed because when one wants to solve the problem of procrastination, one

needs to learn and develop time management skills. In the mind of the researchers, there is an

indication that Quek feels that procrastination may affect time management. Time is natural;

however, people live and work or exist within time. Therefore, time rolls along with human

existence.
 According to Adebayo (2015) time management is as important as human and material

resources in any organization. From observation, poor time planners seem to be faced with low

productivity, inefficiency, ineffectiveness and low morale, stress and frustration with themselves.

Time is always available although it waits for no one and is no respecter of gender as reflected in

the research conducted by Omolola (2010) that both male and female undergraduate are affected

by time management.

Sansgiry, Kawatkar, Dutta, and Bhosle (2004) added that, the basic time management

skills begin with prioritizing, placing more emphasis on important tasks, being able to say ‘no’ to

less important issue, and being able to stop and start immediately specific activities at pre-set

schedules. They have also argued that implementing such strategy related to time management,

one must engage in a “to do” list and need discipline to stay focused with the list in order to have

better management of one’s available time.

Having the accurate awareness of time usage can help to monitor one’s self at all times and

also to keep track of an unnecessary activity which does not need attention. (Clark, 2014). Time

management is not about getting more things done in a day. It is about getting the things that

matter most done. Time management is the ability to decide what is important in your life both at

work, at home and even in our personal life. Time is that quality of nature which keeps all events

from happening at once. To manage your time, you need to go through a personal time survey

and estimate the way your time is being spent. Time management is a set of principles, practices,

skills, tools and system that help you use your time to accomplish what you want.

Uğur (2000 p 18) stated that time management is the effort of using time efficiently as an

essential resource to reach aims and targets. However, Efil (2000) define it as an individual’s

power to determine a particular target among various priorities, most of which are vital, and
achieving the target(s) determined, and also the skill of using a certain time period most

efficiently to achieve a goal. Özgen (2000) defines it as planning time that enables us to carry out

goals, targets and activities within our social life. Alay and Koçak (2003) added that

comprehending and implementing time management does not solve the problem for individuals

in itself, but it does help individuals reach effective solutions and consequences.

Proper time management becomes important in education especially at higher levels

because it suggests among other factors, how fast manpower can be available in the life of a

nation. King (2002) identified various external forces confronting time and outlines them to be

combination of factors: challenge to one’s ability or expertise, which imposes an unwelcome

demand on time, abilities and emotional reserves.

Shazia, Nasrullah, and Muhammad Saqib Khan (2015) in their study they found out that

there was a significant relationship between the time management skills and academic

achievement of the students. Time management is very important and it may actually affect

individual’s overall performance and achievements. The data was collected from the students of

Qurtuba University of Science and Technology to analyze that how effectively they are

managing their time for achieving their academic standards.

Academic performance is the outcome of education, that is, the extent to which a student,

teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals. Academic performance is commonly

measured by examinations or continuous assessment but there is no general agreement on how it

is best tested or which aspects are more important. Academic performance seems to increase

when time management skills are well-handled (Adebayo, 2015).

including those with various deadlines, lengths and priorities. These multiple tasks, and then

grades are determined by the quality of efforts put in. Thus, academic performance would be

expected to be influenced by time management skills. Therefore, as increasing demands are

placed on students, students’ ability to manage time becomes an essential component for

academic success. Proper time management becomes important in education especially at higher

levels because it suggests among other factors, how fast manpower can be available in the life of

a nation.

However, there are many activities that unnecessarily consume time and its utilization.

These makes time to be wasted or fly away without achieving much. Although, Yager (1999) is

not comfortable with the phrase “wasting time”, to him, time cannot be wasted but mismanaged.

Time wasting is misconception, he says. The Researcher however feels that whatever is

mismanaged is wasted.

In addition, Adebayo (2015) stated in his study that time management is a skill that

perhaps impacts the student’s academic performance. Prioritization of tasks may make studying

and schoolwork less overwhelming and more enjoyable. Academic stress occurs when students

feel the pressure of cramming for exams, rushing through homework and getting minimal sleep

because of disorganizations and worry. Effective time management techniques should not only

be applied to the students’ academic life but to their overall schedule to achieve success and

peace of mind.

Adebayo (2015) observed that students are directly involved in academic procrastination

since at the beginning of a semester, one in five students miss the first class, some sign up early

but never show, while others attend sporadically. Not all students are conscious that academic
procrastination raises students’ anxiety and sinks their self - esteem in view of the fact that time

wasted can hardly be regained. Also, students don’t feel there is the need to prioritize their works

in order of importance.

The lack of proper time management on the part of the students have some impacts on

certain academic activities especially in the area of resumption for the new semester, attending

lectures, doing the assignment, reading for test and preparation for examination to time. These

are the result of procrastination and not paying attention to issues like planning and

prioritization.

It seems everybody procrastinates. Procrastination plagues people of all occupations and

that we all procrastinate at one time or another in our life. Hence, procrastination is everybody’s

problem which implies that everybody delay in one way or the other. Though, the levels of

procrastination vary from one person to another. The truth is that everybody has a way of day-

dreaming and a way of not respecting time; but some do it to the extent of abandoning urgent

task (Adelayo, 2015).

Campbell and Svenson (1992), opined that time management refers to the way students

manage their time in order to have better academic performance which is invaluable for

academic success. Thus, it is important for students to know the first step of time management i.

e. giving priority to the important matters, and should remain focused on issues essential for

success. In line with these notions, Gloe (1999) argued that the techniques of time management

are the best ways to manage course materials successfully. These includes group discussion,

exchanging ideas and sharing views on key points, which ultimately help students to perform

better in the examination leads to superior academic performance.

efficiently accomplishes tasks and goals; having balance, flexibility, and control over time;

setting priorities and scheduling tasks. Recently, Kaushar (2013) found that time management

plays a vital role in students’ academic performance. The researcher also argued that lack of time

management skills act as the barrier to have better academic performance.

Time management has a positive impact on academic performance. Academic success has,

on another perspective, a positive impact on motivation (generating motives) and on work time

(which will be shorter if the task aims rapidity, and longer if the task is complex and requires

continuous effort) performance (Elena-Simona Indreicaa and et al, 2011).

Time management plays a vital role in improving student’s academic performance and

achievements. Each and every student should have time management ability which includes

setting goals & priorities, using time management mechanism and being organized in using time.

Here time management is only possible through self-motivation; performance, ability and

motivation (Brigitte, Claessens, Eerde, & Rutte, 2005). These are the few activities performed by

today’s university students, which act as a barrier between them and their academic performance.

Due to miss management of time they gap behind. There is no one right way to manage our time;

however; it is important to get to know our self, so we can make good decisions about how to use

our time.

Although the connection is intuitively clear, surprisingly little research has been

conducted linking time management to academic performance. There is, however, a growing

body of research that suggests time management is positively related to academic performance

(see Adamson, Covic, & Lincoln, 2004; Britton & Tesser, 1991; Lahmers & Zulauf, 2000; Liu et

al., 2009; Macan et al., 1990; Trueman & Hartley, 1996). For example, in a recent study of
middle school students, Liu et al. (2009) found that the time management skills of planning and

organization were positively related to course grades. These relations held over time and, in fact,

were stronger after 6 months. Further, researchers have theorized that time management

strategies are important cognitive aspects of self-regulated learning that can lead to higher

academic achievement (see Dembo & Eaton, 1997; Eilam & Aharon, 2003; Zimmerman &

Risemberg, 1997).

Furthermore, Britton and Tesser (1991) found that both the time management skill of

short-term planning and time attitudes were related to academic achievement. If the ability to

effectively manage one’s time were indeed positively related to academic performance, then,

presumably, interventions that improve time management would be of value to students.

Time management is a skill that many of us seem to learn through necessity. The problem

with learning a skill through necessity is that, more often than not, bad habits creep in and,

although the skill may be useful in general, we do not use it to its full potential. Time

management is a skill that takes time to development and perfection. It also is a skill that is

different for everyone. Time management refers to the development of processes and tools that

increase efficiency and productivity.