PUNCTUALITY, ATTENDANCE POLICY AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE.

Abstract

Studies on Punctuality and workplace attendance limit their scope on the usefulness and their implementation in organizations without emphasizing on the issue of “African time” and how to annihilate it in African public administrations. The purpose of this paper is to fill that gap by providing practical and theoretical answers to the problematic of time performance in the African public sector in general and Cameroon Customs department in particular. To reach that objective, our conceptual framework was based on variables such as punctuality, workplace attendance, organizational culture and organizational performance. The theories used for our analysis laid on the followings: Game theory; Self-Determination Theory (SDT); the multiple resource theory; the Parkinson’s Law; the 80/20 or Pareto Rule; the Pickle Jar theory and the ERG theory. Research methods used for this study wax a mixed method implying quantitative (Sample Size; Determination; Hypothesis Testing) and qualitative methods such as ( Direct observation ;Open-ended surveys; Focus group; In-depth interviews; history; Content; Ethnographic observation and Participant observation).The researcher also verified the validity and reliability of the data collected and analyzed through the sampling validity and constructs validity and followed the under mentioned procedure to guarantee validity of the survey. The sample for the study is comprised of 200 employees draw from the 4107 personnel in the most recent year that is 2016 constituting the population of Cameroon Customs administration. A total of 200 questionnaires were distributed to selected employees. Out of these, 150 questionnaires were duly filled and returned. 50 questionnaires distributed were not returned. We assert the response rate to 80 % around. The study found that the overall regression model (Model in table 3 below) was significant. This means that punctuality and attendance at work have a significant impact on organizational performance. It appears that 75% of respondents believe that there is an inverse relationship between punctuality and performance. Thus, tardiness impacts negatively on performance. The above analysis also indicated that punctuality and performance have a positive correlation which means that as punctuality increases, employee performance also goes up. This presupposes again that disciplinary procedures should be tailored to enhance Punctuality and performance driven goal. Although this research was carefully prepared, the author is still aware of its limitations and shortcomings especially methodologically, since the assessment of the pretest and post test was conducted by the author himself, it is possible to find in this study a certain minimal degree of subjectivity