EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEES ABSENTEEISM ON ORGANISATIONS PERFORMANCEA CASE STUDY OF MASAKA POLICE STATION

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR AN AWARD OF A DEGREE IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT OF KAMPALA UNIVERSITY.

TABLE OF CONTENTS1. Title of the study Chapter one2. Introduction.3. Background of the study..4. Statement of the problem.5. Objectives of the study.6. Research questions7. Scope of the study8. Significance of the study..9. Definition of key terms10. Conceptual framework.Chapter two: Review of related literature11. Review of related literatureChapter three: Methodology12. Research design.13. Study area..14. Study Population ..15. Sample size and selection..16. Sampling techniques17. Research tools18. Data collection procedure..19. Secondary data20. Data analysis and presentations21. Ethical consideration22. Limitations and delimitationsAppendicesBudgetQuestionnaire

INTRODUCTIONThis proposal shows the background of the study, problem statement, objectives of the study, scope of the study, conceptual framework, significance of the study it also looks at the review of various literature related on the meaning of absenteeism, the research design, study area, population size, sampling strategy, research instrument, viability and reliability, data analysis, research procedures, ethical consideration, limitations and delimitations of the study.Background of the studyAbsenteeism is the avoidance or failure to attend one's place of work hence unable to perform a contractual working obligation owing to absence. In other words, absenteeism is unplanned or planned absence created by an employee intentionally such as deliberately avoiding work through non-attendance for personal reasons or unintentionally like maternity leave, bereavement and ill-health.In general absenteeism is defined as the failure to show for work or any other habitual duty. This usually disrupts work schedules adding workloads to those who are at work which might lead to low morale among employees. Therefore, absenteeism obstructs the good functioning of production and efficient running of an organization. Lokke A.K, Eskildsen. J and Jesen. T. W (2007) similarly reported that the traditional definition of absence is about not being physically present at the place and time the employee is expected to be.

1Employee absenteeism is a costly yet poorly understood organizational phenomenon (e.g. Johns and Nicholson, 1982; Martocchio and Harrison, 1993; Mowday, Porter and Steers, 1982; Rhodes and Steers, 1990; Gellatly, 1995). The consequences of employee absenteeism are widespread and consist of direct and indirect effects. For instance higher costs are a result of absenteeism, which can be caused both directly as indirectly. Direct costs of sickness absence to employers include statutory sick pay, expense of covering absence with temporary staff and lost production. Indirect costs, such as low morale among staff covering for those absent because of sickness and lower customer satisfaction, are difficult to measure, while they also influence the overall levels of output (Leaker, 2008). Other effects associated with absenteeism are disruption of the work flow and reduction in product quality (Klein, 1986). The impact of absenteeism on firms or even a nations economy is enormous, taking account of the costs associated with it. A better understanding of the determinants of absenteeism can be valuable for firms and policymakers (Strmer and Fahr, 2010). As stated by Barmby, Ercolani and Treble (2002), absence is not purely a medical condition. While employee absence often is described as sickness, there are more aspects which play a role or have an effect on the absence behavior of employees. Johns and Nicholson (1982) describe this as an essential problem, because absenteeism is actually a variety of behaviors with different causes masquerading as a unitary phenomenon. Whitaker (2001) also stressed this aspect; sickness is a complex phenomenon that is influenced strongly by factors other than health. Throughout previous research many determinants have been tested upon their possible explanatory abilities on employee absence behavior. While these determinants often showed similar results it is sometimes difficult to compare these outcomes since other exogenous factors influenced them. For example as Gimeno et al. (2004) explained in their article that studies have examined the relation between psychosocial work conditions and sickness absence. Some have found that sickness absence is related to high demands, low control, or a combination of both, while other studies have found no relation. Another example of different relations found in previous research concerns the relation between absence and an employees age, some found positive relations while others found negative. Davey, New burn-cook, and Lo. E. A (2009) have defined absenteeism as the failure to appear to work when planned, and according to them absence is measured by frequency or amount of work days missed. The Entrepreneur described absenteeism as an employee's deliberate or habitual absence from work. Everybody misses a day of work now and then. But it's a problem when an employee misses too many days of work. Not showing up for work can cause serious problems when other employees have to cover for the missing worker.

2STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMDespite the efforts put by the government to train and guide its police officers, follow up against absenteeism, there is still a problem of absenteeism among the employees, the police officers are given duty programmes which must be followed but they end up not turning up at the required time which leads to poor performance and backlog or pilling of work which leads to delay. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDYGENERAL OBJECTIVEThe general objective of this study will aim at establishing the effects of employees absenteeism in organizations with particular emphasis to Masaka police station.SPECIFIC OBJECTIVESTo identify the factors that lead to absenteeism among employees in organizations.To examine the effects of employees absenteeism on organizations performance.To suggest measures that can reduce absenteeism among employees in organizations.RESEARCH QUESTIONSWhat are the causes of absenteeism among employees in the organization?How is absenteeism likely to affect the performance of the organization?In which ways can we suggest solutions to the problems of absenteeism?

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SCOPE OF THE STUDYGeographical scope: the study will be carried out at Masaka police station in Masaka district in the central region of Uganda.Subject matter: the study will be aimed at establishing the effects of employees absenteeism on organizations performance. The focus will be put on the social and economic reasons for absenteeism at Masaka police station.Time scope: this study will cover a period of 3 years (2000-2003) reason being that the practice of absenteeism in Masaka police station has greatly increased in these years.SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDYThe study will help managers to know the effects of absenteeism on employees performance.The study will also remind employees about their duties and responsibilities.The study will be a source of information to future researchers.DEFINITION OF KEY TERMSAbsenteeism: a habitual pattern of absence from a duty or obligation, failure of a worker to report for work when he is scheduled to the work.Performance: The accomplishment of a given task measured against preset known standards of accuracy, completeness, cost, and speed.Organization: A social unit of people that is structured and managed to meet a need or to pursue collective goals.

4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Independent variablesdependent variables

Poor performanceLow productivity

Government policySkillsTrainingLow level of commitmentReward systemWorkplace issuesPersonal reasonsLow moralePoor quality of supervision

Extraneous variables

Extraneous variables

Source: Derived from related literature.

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LITERATURE REVIEWAbsenteeism can happen through authorized and unauthorized absence and these can be grouped into: situational, personal and attendance factors. Causes: headaches, hang-over cold flu, unchallenging jobs and poor management are common causes of absenteeism and managers generally suspicious of employees' reasons for absenteeism. Effects: Unplanned absence is disorganizing, frustrating and expensive for organizations. Absenteeism is positively correlated with employee motivation and satisfaction. Combating absenteeism: absence can be minimized by providing challenging jobs, rewarding attendance and maintaining a zero tolerance to absence. Return-to-work interviews are empirically proven method of reducing absenteeism in local government.Causes of absenteeismAccording to Ericson (2001) issues like child and eldercare, single-parent families are those characteristics that might lead to an impact on absenteeism at any level in an organization. Furthermore, Goff et al. (1990) found that when ones work and family issues are conflicting there is a greater frequency of absenteeism. It has also been noted that management in most organizations are lenient, staffs make excuses of being sick so as not to attend work, consequently, recording a sick leave. This is also common in the aviation sector especially among staffs having odd working hours; they find it easier to register for sick leave so as to be able to manage their own issues. Cuelenaere (1997) showed that most sick women did not resume work until they were fully recovered, whereas most men often (partially) resumed work even when they were not fully recovered. Geurts, Kompier and Grundemann (2000) further state that women are alleged by the media to hold lower work values because they make less serious attempts to resume work after sickness. Two final explanations mentioned by Johns (2003) are that, compared to men, women appeared to be more restless and busier during a scheduled day off. And secondly that women may experience or respond more negatively or proactively to stressful or dissatisfying events at work and use time off as an adjective mechanism.

6Drago and wooden (1992) explain in their research, the higher absence rate among younger workers can be expected because of the greater opportunity cost of foregone leisure. They further state that younger workers are typically very mobile between jobs and thus will be less committed to the firm and work group than older workers.Barham and Begum (2005), Clegg (1983), Hackett (1990) and Leaker (2008) find support for the negative relation Grundemann (2000) find support for a positive relation between age and absenteeism. Although ambiguous results are found in previous research, a negative relation between age and absenteeism is expected. Koopmans chap et al (1993) showed in their research that absence from work is strongly related to education and also that lower educated people have a higher risk of becoming disabled. An explanation for this result could be that increased educational attainment is related to greater knowledge about health this is in line with the statement that education could influence a persons judgement regarding their capacity to work.

Lusinyan and Bonato, 2007, states that the most important indicators of absenteeism are related to the health of employees. While other factors have their impact on influencing the absence rate, health itself, for example general illness, is the most occurring reason for an employee to be absent. Better health associated with lower sickness absence. The factors discussed in this category will discuss how self-assessed health, certain health lifestyles, such as Body Mass Index and smoking, and whether a person is hampered in his normal activities by his illness relate to absence.

Self-assessed health status is an increasingly common measure of health in empirical research and has shown to provide a trustworthy view of a persons health. Linn and Linn, 1980; Crossley and Kennedy, 2002, It could be understood that people who assess their health better, thus rate their own health at a higher degree, are likely to be absent less often. People hampered by their health in their daily activities, for example disabled and chronically ill people, can be expected to have higher absence rates. Disabled and chronically ill people can also be expected to rate their own health lower. Which, as explained, also relate to a higher absence rate. 7

Price and Mueller (1981) describe job satisfaction as the overall degree to which employees like their jobs. As mentioned earlier, when somebody is satisfied with what he is doing he will exert more effort in keeping his promises, which here means showing up at work. Satisfied people are also less inclined to focus on the negative aspects which could result in a more negative attitude.

Gennard, Judge, (2005) are of the view that death, paternity leave, inability to return from planned holidays and alleged sickness' are the main causes of absenteeism. It is abundantly clear that bereavement does cause absenteeism but on limited scale however, this report is less concern with that form of absenteeism because it is natural rather than intentional. Paternity leave being a cause of absence might sound baffling however, paternity leave even though a planned absenteeism, might potential cause some form of authorized absence for reasons like a sudden developments- such as mother falling sick, baby's health, family and family visits and gatherings.

According to Armstrong, (2006). Managers are usually provided with a specification tasks with limited time-frame within which to report back to their superiors for assessment. Consequently, an unplanned absence may significantly affect managers flexibility, time and the speed at which the work and for that reason, may cause irritation for management as a whole.Effects of absenteeismHarvey and Nicholson (1993), recognizes that absenteeism is the major cause of low productivity in business and industry. In a similar vein, Buschak. M, Craven. C and Ledman. R (1996) stated that absenteeism is a difficulty that every organization or business faces creating costs and productivity problems. Thus, leading to a heavier work load on the majority of employees who have shown up for work. This type of situation tends to create dissatisfaction, frustration, stress and fatigue among employees8Pillay (2009:5) (Chauke, 2007:24). Decreased productivity, when an employee is absent from work, but is integral to daily work functions, others take on the added responsibility. When employees who are at work have to carry the extra workload, this has the potential to impact on their overall productivity and outputs.

Demotivated employees: Morale, engagement and retention are affected, especially when there is no recognition or acknowledgement for taking on extra responsibility as a result of absent team members. Staff morale tends to suffer as a result of extra demands on staff time owing to work overload and overtime.

Decreased customer loyalty and satisfaction: Employees are the backbone of any organisation and low morale could lead to dissatisfaction amongst customers. Chauke (2007:24) agrees that employee service delivery may suffer on account of absenteeism.

Decreased costs: These are as a result of lost productivity, overtime, temporary staff and increased overall company overheads initially not budgeted for. These additional financial costs are most likely to be felt in the wage costs associated with any staff replacements

Chauke, 2007:25. Job dissatisfaction: Employees monitor each others behavior, and if absenteeism on the part of some colleagues is not addressed by management, they lose credibility among the staff leading to staff turnover as a result of dissatisfaction. In short, anything that impacts on worker Satisfaction (happiness) with the job can influence an employees motivation and indirectly affect whether they would practice absenteeism merely to stay away from an unhappy work situation An employee's sudden absence may stir up negative feelings among his fellow work- colleagues. It is a convincing fact that more often, managers are unable to fill in or organize a quick replacement for an absent employee but rather, overburden their subordinates with the same magnitude of workload. Nevertheless, they (managers) still expect their workforce to deliver the same level of performance without considering the manpower shortage.9Combating absenteeism.Lusinyan and Bonato (2007) clearly state that shorter working hours reduce absence and that this effect is even larger when flexible working arrangements are apparent. Barham and Begum (2005) state that employees with fewer working days have a reduced chance of taking a day off because of sickness, when they were actually scheduled to work. While little direct theoretical support exists for the relationship between contract type and absenteeism, numerous previous researches showed clear results. Drago and Wooden (1992), Leaker (2008), Benavides et al. (2000) and Barham and Begum (2005) showed a positive relation between full-time employment and absenteeism. A similar relationship is expected in this study. Gimeno et al. 2004; Benavides et al. 2000) explain that even though these non-permanent employees tend to do more hazardous work or work under poorer conditions than permanent employees, they still tend to be less absent. Sickness absence research suggests that the lower non-permanent employee absence rates are attributable to the insecurity of not being reemployed or lack of benefits, which leads non-permanent employees to remain at work.

10METHODOLOGYThe section highlights the research design that will be used, population of the study, sample selection and size, data collection, procedure, data analysis and the limitations of the study.RESEARCH DESIGNThe study will use a descriptive survey research design. This will be used because it is a method of investigation in which self report data collection from interested samples can be done, on top of allowing for a thorough and easy analysis of respondents opinions. Given the nature of this studys focus, it will be descriptive survey research design that can adequately lead to collection of reliable information by giving a focused description of every phenomenon resulting into employees absenteeism in organizations.STUDY AREA The study will be carried out at Masaka police station which is located in Masaka district. Both female and male respondents will be used in the study. Focus will be put on gathering information about the effects of employees absenteeism on the performance of organizations from the selected employees.STUDY POPULATIONThe population of the study will be the staff at Masaka police station. Thirty employees will be the target of the study.

11SAMPLE SIZE AND SELECTIONA few employees at Masaka police station will be selected for the study using simple random sampling. This will be done by writing all the names of different sections on small pieces of paper, the papers will be put in a container and mixed up, five papers will be picked at random without replacement .the names on the picked papers are the ones that will be used in the study. From the five selected sections, their corresponding heads will be purposively selected for the study. Five heads and four subordinates from each section based on their roles in the departments. SAMPLING TECHNIQUES The sample will be selected using both simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques. Simple random sample is a subset of individuals (a sample) chosen from a larger set (population) chosen randomly and entirely by chance such that each individual has the same probability of being chosen at any stage during the sampling process (Yates, 2008) for purposive sampling, this will be used because it will help in selecting typical and useful people that will give relevant data for in-depth study. (Oso and Onen 2009).RESEARCH TOOLSQuestionnaires will be administered to the employees. Questionnaires will be self-administered and will consist of both structured and non-structured questions. The study will use questionnaires because they help to cover a big number of respondents in relatively short time.Interviews, the researcher will conduct face to face interview with the respondents. An interview guide containing questions will be used to guide the researcher while conducting face to face conversations with the participants or respondents.Written documents, the study will make a review of written documents such as books, reports, magazines, news papers, journals and stations records. The information gathered will be important in consolidating the respondents elicited from the interviews and questionnaires.12DATA COLLECTION PROCEDUREThe researcher will first get a letter of introduction from the department of internship and research of Kampala University, which will be presented to the district commander and officer in charge of station seeking for permission to carry out the study at their station. The researcher will then request the officer in charge to introduce her to the sections for sample selection exercise.SECONDARY DATASecondary data from different websites about absenteeism will be used as a source of information. Each online administrative documents, news paper articles, service records, lists of names, survey data and other records will be carefully reviewed and selected.DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATIONThe responses of the subjects will be categorized in frequency counts and score tables with varying percentages calculated. Inferences will be made according to the number of occurrences on each item. Data will be continually analyzed during and after data collection.VALIDITY AND RELIABILITYTo ensure the quality and guarantee validity and reliability, the data to be collected for the study, the tools and instruments will be pretested with the assistance from the research supervisor and few respondents will be involved in the pilot study. This will make it possible to determine whether the items in the questionnaire are tested clearly, understandable and relevant to the study. This will be intended to ensure that all respondents get the same meaning.Mugenda (1999) define validity as the extent to which a researcher tool or instrument will be guaranteed by regular consultations the researcher will do in collaboration with the research supervisor. Reviewing previous and earlier work will ensure reliability by not repeating the mistakes in the previous studies. This will help the researcher to identify gaps in the existing literature.

13Reliability of the instrument refers to the extent to which the instrument is consistent or dependable when measuring phenomenon (Enon 2000) reliability will be ensured by the comprehensiveness of the tool, language to be used, number of respondents and privacy of respondents. The comments of different respondents will be used to effect necessary changes. The items that will be found to be irrelevant and vague will be removed.ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONBefore any data collection, a thorough explanation will be given and the need for their cooperation. The possible benefits of the study will be explained. The respondents will be taken care of during the study so as not to victimize any one.LIMITATIONS AND DELIMITATIONSLack of experience will affect the process of gathering the necessary data within the short time since the researcher will be doing research for the first time.There might be a problem of limited funds this will hinder and delay the research exercise.

14APPENDIX 1: BUDGET RESEARCH ESTIMATED BUDGET ITEMSQUANTITYUNIT PRICETOTAL

Transport to the field2 weeks 10,000@ 100,000/=

Traveling to University Supervisor300020,000/=

Internet charges and library 50,000/=

Ream of papers118,000@18,000/=

Questionnaire typesetting and printing30 copies500@10,000/=

Report typesetting and printing315,000@45,000/=

Binding32000@6,000/=

TOTAL249,000/=

APPENDIX 11: QUESTIONNAIREDear sir/madam,You are requested to fill this form, all the information and data obtained from you shall be kept confidential and only for the purposes of this study and please ask for help if need arises.Thank you.Researcher: NABANOBA FORTUNATEInstruction: Tick the correct alternative.A.DEMOGRAPHIC DATA1. Gender.a) Male b) Female2. Religiona) Protestantb) Catholicc) Muslimd) Orthodoxe) Others (specify)3. Age (20-50)..4. Position/rank ..

5. In which section/department do you work?6. Do you come on duty regularly without dodging? Yes No7. How long have you been at this station?YearsMonths.B.INFORMATION ABOUT THE SUBJECT OF THE STUDY1. In your view, what are some of the problems of the employees in particular and the organization in general?a) b) 2. Have you ever heard about absenteeism? YesNo 3. If yes, what is absenteeism?4. What do you think are the factors that lead to employees absenteeism?a) b) c) 5. In your own view, what do you think may result from absenteeism?a) b) c) 6. What measures has the station put in place to stop absenteeism?a) b) c) 7. Have those measures been effective? Yes NoIf No,Why

Thank you so much for your cooperation .May God bless you.

REFERENCESArmstrong, M (2006) A Hand Book of Human Resource Management Practice, 10th Edition Kogan Page, London, UK.Gaudine, A and Alan M. Saks, M (2001) Effects of Absenteeism Feedback Intervention on Employee Absence Behavior.Gennard, J and Graham J, (2005) Employee Relations: 4th edition CIPD, London. UK.Johansson, P Palme, M (2002) Assessing the Effect of Public Policy on Worker Absenteeism, the Journal of Human Resource.McHugh, M (2002) Employee absence: an impediment to organization health in local government, School of Management. McHugh, M (2001): Employee absence: an impediment to organization health in local government, School of Management, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, International journal of Public Sector Management.Torrington, D, Hall, L and Taylor, S (2008), Human Resource Management, 7th Edition, Prentice Hall, Pearson Education, FT, England and Spain.Hanebuth, Dirk (2008) Background of absenteeism in K. Heinitz (ed.) Psychology in Organizations - Issues from an applied area. Peter Lang: Frankfurt. Johns, Gary (2007) absenteeism in George Ritzer (ed.) The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, Blackwell Publishing.