When is an Hour Not Sixty Minutes? Deadlines, Temporal Schemas, and Individual and Group Performance

When is an Hour Not Sixty Minutes? Deadlines, Temporal Schemas, and Individual and Group Performance
Author(s): Labianca, Giuseppe and Henry, Moon and Ian, Watt
Year: 2004
Paper Number: GBS-OM-2004-001
Goizueta Department: Organization and Management

Abstract

We sought to understand how an externally provided deadline is experienced differently based on whether it meshes with culturally entrained milestones, and the consequences for task performance. In a series of experiments we manipulated the starting times between prototypical (e.g., 3:45pm, 4:00pm) and atypical (e.g., 3:52pm, 4:07pm) starting times. First, twenty task groups were charged with creating and taping a television commercial in one hour. Results indicate significant differences in groups' time pacing and performance, with prototypical groups achieving higher performance. Second, we asked 73 individuals to pace their time equally between two sets of tasks in a thirty-minute period. Individuals beginning at atypical times spent significantly longer on the first set of tasks, thus leaving them with less time for the second set of tasks, increasing perceived time pressure, and resulting in poorer performance on the second set of tasks.