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ABSTRACT
This research study was the first to investigate the nature of time-use behaviour of the
South African Clinical Research Associates (CRA’s) and Clinical Trial Managers
(CTM’s). The study determined the relative polychronicity of project members in clinical
trials in South Africa and identified possible non-alignment in the approaches and
expectations between managers of clinical research projects and that of their project
staff members. The study assumed that the clinical trial project environment is
monochronic by nature. Information about a possible mismatch in expected temporal
orientation of project staff and real temporal orientation of project staff would constitute
grounds for adaptation of project management execution guidelines and staff selection
processes for CRA’s and Managers of clinical trials.
Quantitative data were collected through the Inventory of Polychronic Values measuring
instrument from a sample of the total registered membership base of the South African
Clinical Research Association by means of a web based questionnaire. The study
analysed the relationships between the following three constructs of relevance:
1. CRA’s own personal preferences for time-use, and
2. CRA’s perceptions of what time-use behaviour their direct managers expect
from them, and
3. Managers’ expectations for the time-use behaviour of CRA’s.
CRA’s were found to be relatively monochronic in their work behaviour towards time-use
and Managers to be more polychronic than CRA’s. Within each group a range of timeuse
opinions and preferences were found. Within the constraints of sample size, Cultural
Heritage and Age were the only demographic variables found to exert significant
influence on the dependent variables in this study. A good alignment was found between
the CRA’s perceptions of the time-use behaviours expected from them and the
Managers’ expectations for time-use behaviour.
The results of this study relate to complementary role differentiation between
monochronic and polychronic people in project execution and management.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:umkn-dsp01.int.unisa.ac.za:10500/74 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Ras, Koretha |
| Publisher | University of South Africa |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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