There is a general understanding that the space-time budget analysis is a "logical extension" to tim e-budgeting as it “ ineludes the...activity locations'' (Anderson, 1971:353) as well as their duration (Hedges, 1974:35). In tim e-budget analyses, investigations are focused on how time is allocated to certain activities over a given period. It provides a systematic record o f a person's use o f time and the sequence and duration o f activities, hour by hour, day by day, within a w orking week or a year (Anderson. 1971:353). The tim e-budget method can account for the different location
timing and duration, are or are not pre-planned. Past studies have focused on work and non-work related activities (Hedges, 1974), lifestyles (M ills, 1973), the sociology o f leisure activities (Bevans, 1913; BBC, 1965), hum an m otivation in relation to behaviour (Sorokin & Berger, 1939) and econom ic planning. W ork on the latter was attempted by Strumilin and Prudensky in 1924 and 1959 respectively, and is considered to be am ongst the first studies to use tim e budgets for the purpose o f an historical com parison o f changes in the living conditions o f a population (Szalai, 1966:4; Converse, 1968:43). Simultaneously, the works o f Frederick Taylor were considered as “perhaps the first careful and exhaustive tim e budgets covering [at least] the period o f work represented in the tim e-and-m otion studies” (Converse, 1968:43).
In relation to office work activities, the time budgeting approach was manoeuvred towards time managem ent p er se. One such study was carried out by observing five managers and recording what each did for a week in term s o f who they worked with, when, where and for how long and for what purpose. The data was used to induce a set o f characteristics and roles o f managerial work (M intzberg, 1979: 582).
In this study, the fundamental issue is to com pare the TypicaF tim e-budget in the traditional work organisation with the new ways o f working. The time budget approach will cover the full range o f users across the organisation, and will estimate their proportion o f work time an individual, working group, business unit or organisation devotes to operational activities. This is usually distributed over a fixed period such as a day or a week. The varying proportion o f time which em ployees spend inside and outside o f organisation's prem ises will affect m anagem ent's decisions concerning three am ount, type and location o f facility spaces.
At the individual level, the proportion o f time w hich is devoted to the different work activities is recognised from the locational distribution o f work. As a contrasting example, in the traditional working practice, 75-100 per cent o f an in dividu afs working time is assumed to be spent at his specific w orkstation within the office facility. In comparison to contemporary working arrangem ents (already discussed in Chapter 5.0), it was found that, generally, 27% o f an em ployee's w ork time is spent in the office, 21% working elsewhere and 52% w orking from home (Huws, 1993:26), as shown in Figure 7.2. These observations were based on a sample o f employees who were definitely based at home for at least 50% o f the tim e and were necessarily using a form o f telecom munication in order to carry out their work (Huws, 1993:3). It is possible that these time budgets are reasonably generic, because Bullock (1970) stated that “ [there is an assumption] the broad division o f time between different activities will remain comparable, so time budgets should be independent o f particular locations". However, to date, a com prehensive time budget o f these new work profiles are yet to be documented.
Figure 7.2: Space-time budget profile for an individual
100%-
27% - working in office
% total
working
21% - w orking elsew here time
per week
52% - working from ho me
0°'o . 1
Allocation o f work time per location
At the level o f the working group, the time budget bears significant relationship to the level o f activity functions - usually project based - which require the group to work together. A notional profile o f w orking group time budget is represented by the proportion o f scheduled and non-scheduled events. The form er are governed by tim e tabling and the latter relate to events which fall outside the formal tim e-tabling. It is also necessary to understand on the form ation o f working groups within an organisation, particularly when they are form ed to produce a certain task w ithin a limited time frame (Gersick. 1988) as this will im plicate on their w ork organisation. However, to date the generic time budgets o f working group arrangem ents are still unavailable.
At the business unit level, from one perspective, the time budget is the aggregate o f individuals and working group time budgets. The space-tim e profile o f one business unit will depend on the nature o f events. These are identified from the tim etables and from the key dates o f future plans. Therefore a notional profile o f a business unit time budget will show the differentiation o f activities according to future periods in the business plans. From another perspective, the time budgets could be intended earlier, but these could change as time progresses and business get caught up with the way market moves. To date, no research has been undertaken to docum ent the generic time-budgets o f business units.
At the level o f the organisation, similarly, time budgets are aggregates o f the business units. These reflect the proportions o f time that are focused on different functional activities, typically categorised as support, technical, managem ent and professional as shown in Figure 7.3. It is im portant for organisations to identify the tim e budgets so as to be able to determine the em ployees' demand. In doing so, the distribution and allocation o f activities throughout the available spaces will not be based on the 147
number o f people or headcount, but rather on the num ber o f people hours, o f where and how work is carried out.
Figure 7.3: Space-tim e budget profile for an organisation
100% -
> 70% - w orking hours spent on support activities
% total working time
per week 61-70% - w orking hours spent on
technical activities
21-4 0 % - working hours spent on managerial & professional activities
0 % . < 2 0 % - working hours snent on direc tors' activities
1
S o u r c e : B e c k e r & J o r o f f ( 1995). B e c k e r e l a! ( 1 9 9 1). H u w s ( 1 9 9 3 )
The space-tim e management approach proposed in this chapter sets out explicitly to include a time dimension in space managem ent procedures; in estim ating demand, allocation and reallocation, utilisation and in generating m anagem ent options to respond to problem situations in different time frames. The approach revolves around questions already forwarded in chapter 1.0 o f the thesis. Supplem entary questions are. in what circumstances can the space-time approach be applied? W hat variables are included in the space-time m anagem ent system? What are the space-tim e procedures? Furthermore, to operate the system, managem ent should necessarily consider what time frames should be selected for future cycles o f decision-m aking and how best individual time frames can be synchronised w ithin the overall process o f decisions (Nutt. 1988:133).
We now will consider the basis for a space-tim e m anagem ent method, where param eters and variables are introduced within the circum stances which necessitates the incorporation o f the approach. This is then follow ed by the conceptual framework around which tentative hypotheses are developed together with their key issues.