Employee perception on the importance of a fingerprint based attendance management system and its association with punctuality at information. management unit (IMU) of Ethekwini Municipality.

Abstract

Punctuality is a worldwide phenomenon; critical for fulfilling and satisfying the organisation’s obligations to its stakeholders. Non- adherence to it may result in fatalities especially in organisations offering essential services, while it may mean loss of business to commercial companies. The aim of this study was to establish employee perceptions on the importance of a fingerprint-based attendance management system and its effect on punctuality within the Information Management Unit at EThekwini Municipality. The targeted population was the unit’s staff complement which amounted to 300. The choice of one unit was due to the manageability of numbers seen to be possible within the timelines set for the study. A total of 285 of the total population belonged to the employee component while 15 belonged to management. As the study employed a mixed methodology, the quantitative approach was administered to employees while the qualitative was administered to management. The pretesting of the questionnaire was administered to 10 participants whereby the results showed a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.8. The sample size for quantitative study was 120 randomly selected participants and was administered through an online questionnaire while the qualitative instrument was administered to managers through individual interviews. Five managers were purposively selected based on their experience within the unit. The survey results showed the participants’ perception to be in favour of a fingerprint-based attendance management system. The qualitative portion of the study revealed mixed responses about the importance of punctuality. To some punctuality was mainly important for meetings while others viewed it as important for arriving at their work stations in time as regulated by the collective basic conditions of employment. The study was expected to reveal the employee perceptions of the fingerprint based time management system and its effect on punctuality. It was anticipated that such understanding would encourage extension of the study to other units of eThekwini Municipality thereby enabling employee perception realignment to the fundamental benefits derived from the system; so punctuality, among other things such as performance and productivity, may be enhanced.