It is a common foible of many of us. Putting off until tomorrow what we might do today. We commonly refer to it as procrastination. Research published in the International Journal of Business Environment suggests that time management, perfectionism, and fear of failure often trigger task avoidance. The researchers add that the organisational result is commonly greater stress in our work and lower job satisfaction.
Elif Bilginoğlu and Murat Yalçıntaş of İstanbul Ticaret Üniversitesi, in Turkey, suggest that the common perception is that procrastination is a negative personality trait, a destructive habit, it causes trouble in education, career, and personal life. It interfere with outcomes and success and can be a significant problem in many areas. It’s usually perceived as being born of laziness and is an irrational approach to one’s tasks. The team suggests, however, that a certain amount of procrastination is perhaps normal and necessary. Everyone needs to take a little timeout here and there during the working day.
There have been numerous studies of procrastination in education, specifically among students. The team has now focused on the work environment. Their specific focus is on Turkey where they suggest that many people are chronic procrastinators. With the details of this new research in hands, managers might be guided to help address the problem of procrastination and to plan to overcome its worst effects. Time efficiency habits can be encouraged as well as positive feedback where merited to reduce the fear of failure. Not only will reducing the amount of procrastination that is done by employees help the employer it could benefit the employees through reduced stress and greater job satisfaction.
Bilginoğlu, E. and Yalçıntaş, M. (2020) ‘Procrastination, its antecedents and its organisational outcomes among employees in the public sector in Istanbul’, Int. J. Business Environment, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp.47–68.
Footnote: I have a personal tip for avoiding procrastination, create a circular to-do list of all the things you need to do and use each item to put off the one before that you didn’t want to do. You might around in circles for a while, but ultimately you will have no excuse left but to get the final job done…