Monochronic & Polychronic Views of Time

Monochronic & Polychronic Views of Time 

Just as a person’s overall personality is made up of and represented by his or her
traits, a person’s time personality is made up of a series of time styles – monochronic
or polychronic. It is expected that a person’s awareness of the monochronic/polychronic
side of personal time style affects his or her overall approach to time use, perceptions
of time pressure and the amounts and order of time spent on tasks. This, in turn,
affects his or her personal efficiency.

Monochronic approach to time management is essentially objective and lays emphasis
on promptness, speed, brevity and punctuality. It is a very efficient and focused
way to manage work and life. Monochronic time managers are those who thrive on
detailed planning and organization. They prefer to focus on one task at a time and they
follow a schedule from which they don’t like to deviate. They tend to get upset by distractions
or interruptions and are inclined to put new tasks off until a later date, when
they can be worked into the schedule.

Polychronic approach to time management is subjective and lays emphasis on
inspiration, imagination, flexibility, intuition and dedication. Trust, bonding, pleasure
and quality of life influence more strongly the decisions of a person who ‘ticks’ in
polychronic time. Polychronic time managers prefer to have many projects under way
simultaneously, enjoy changing from activity to activity and are unflustered by
distractions and interruptions. 

Unlike their monochronic counterparts, polychronic managers believe they perform well under pressure Clearly, monochronic approach is better suited for dealing with routine and predictable tasks, while polychronic approach is better suited in dealing with things such as creating a new concept or resolving an argument. Conflict arises when managers apply a monchronic style to a situation that demands polychronic time, or managers prefer polychronic style

while the situation warrants the use of monchronic style.
So how do the people cope with a healthy need for subjective, polychronic, self-imposed
time and at the same time fit in with the monochronic and objective time measures? The
only way managers can figure out which method works best in a given situation is based
on sound reasoning and acumen.