Concept Of Time

Time is a concept that its value and definition is perceived differently by everyone from culture to culture and person to person. There are two types of time perception. One is monochronic time and another is polychronic time. Monochronic time means time is the given and people are the variable while polychronic time means time is servant and tool of people. People who practice monochronic time will make sure to do one thing at a time and completed before starting something else, regardless of any circumstances. This type of people feel that time is gold and schedule is sacred. American is one of them. On another hand, people who practice polychronic time often multi-task, as required by circumstances. They feel that interruptions are life and deadlines are approximation. This type of people can easily be found in China. Most of the China's citizen tries to be punctual but as they often do several things at a time, it is always impossible to achieve. They are always late for meeting and appointments because they have bad time management. For example, a meeting starts at 8.00am but some of the employees only reach at 8.45am. The common excuse for them: there was a lot of traffic at that time. They could leave the house earlier to avoid the traffic but they always delay or postpone the activities because they are too busy doing other stuff and they do not have enough time to complete it. They seldom change this bad habit and let it be.