Abstract

Absenteeism is acknowledged as a management problem in all industrialized countries. The estimated cost for the American economy is 30 to 40 billion dollars a year. A large percentage of absenteeism is avoidable in companies committed to creating an. attendance oriented climate. Recent research on absenteeism has shifted from traditional studies on employees' individual motivation to focusing on the role of work group norms on attendance and "absence culture." This new framework proposes that the amount of absences taken by an employee are influenced by the prevailing absence culture of the organization. This study identifies the different absence cultures in various departments of a company. In addition, it examines whether differences in employee patterns of absenteeism operated within the limits prescribed by the particular culture of their departments. Finally, procedures are proposed to reduce absence behavior through the renegotiation of the informal norms that define such an absence culture. The data gathered from the individual absence weekly sheet allow for a further classification of absenteeism in various categories depending on its length of duration. In this way, absenteeism was subdivided into categories such as tardiness, less than eight hours lost per day, voluntary absences (one-day absences), two-day absences, and involuntary absences (three- to four-day absences). Pearson Correlations were computed between the different categories of absenteeism with sex, age, shift, job, seniority, hourly pay rate, and extent of the overtime. Partial correlations for the same variables were computed, controlling for department, to examine the effect of the departments. A stepwise regression analysis was calculated to find the best predictor of the different categories of absenteeism. Means and standard deviations of the various categories of absenteeism were then obtained for the different departments and an analysis of variance was computed. Once the analysis of variance showed significant differences between the various department means, several multicomparison procedures were used to find which specific departments differed from the others. Finally, structured interviews were conducted with the supervisors of the departments to determine the nature of different approaches to absenteeism. The results of this study indicate normative patterns of absences specific to departments and clarify the importance of the work group norms' role on the individual's attendance behavior. Further, based on the results, diverse strategies are proposed for absence reduction at the group level.

Notes

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Graduation Date

1991

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Cook, Ida J.

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Sociology and Anthropology

Degree Program

Applied Economics

Format

PDF

Pages

121 p.

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Identifier

DP0027992

Subjects

Arts and Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic; Dissertations, Academic -- Arts and Sciences

Accessibility Status

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