(1) Time is resources that is highly inelastic yet very regular in its supply. It is a resource that can be put to many divergent uses.
(2) A Commander's effectiveness depends to a large extent on the way he manages his time. Observations indicate that most commanders find this problem area difficult to tackle, resulting in worries and tensions. 'Too little time' is the general complaint of these commanders. Since they have now all that they will ever have and have had all along, a critical study of the time management becomes important and urgent, in the interests of the commanders and the organization.
Some studies . A number of studies have been conducted in this field. One of the methods adopted is to ask individuals to estimate how they distribute their time among their usual jobs. Another is to ask them keep an actual record over a period of time of how they really spend their time. Still another is to have their time-management recorded by an observer. Combination of any of these is also used.
Sune Carlson, a swedish professor studied nine Managing Directors of Swedish firms for four weeks each. He was struck by the fact that Managing Directors had little idea of how they really spent their time but were rarely alone except for very short periods which permitted little time for any sustained thinking.
Another study was that of Tom, whose subjects were seventy six British top mangers who kept a diary for three to five weeks. He found that the faster the pace of change, the more time the managers spent talking together and also that managers spent more time among peers than with their immediate subordinates.
This study also revealed that "there was a general tendency to overestimate the time taken by the main divisions of managemnt such as production and accounts, and to under-estimate the time taken by personal matters and discussions on general policy". This conclusion about the general unreliability of estimates is borne out by other studies as well.
Rosemary Stewart's research was aimed mainly at discovering similarities and differences in the way in which managers in various fields spend their time-"the differences between jobs rather than between individuals". A subsidiary aim was to study the ways in which mangers may use their time inefficiently. She found that the problem of 'lack of time' started many managers in the face. "They think of this as a fact of life", she says, "but most have never tried to find out whether it is like the current level of company taxation. a fact their business environment that they must accept, or whether it is like the standard of housekeeping in their department, a fact they should be able to change". It is apparently-the latter.