Perception of Employees and Employers Towards Tchat (Catha Edulis) Chewing Habit and their Productivity (The Case of Sheet Metal and Wood Works Organizations in Arada Sub – City)
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Date
2007-07
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A.A.U
Abstract
World wide negative responses towards Tchat can be a clear indication of the substances
some recognized and unrecognized effects on work performance. Unfortunately, not much
research On the issue has been conducted since on the one hand, the issue of Tchat has
been considered aS East African and middle east problem by most of the develop"
countries and on the other hand, developing countries like ours are generating huge
revenue from export of Tchat that might force the policy makers to give a blind eye for the
issue. The study, there fore, took variables such as attendance, personality, Work place
unfavorable events.~ encounter, health and Integrity as productivity measurement variables
in order to see what effects the habit of chewing Tahat can have On work performance. This
study tried to address the effects of chewing Tchat (Catha Edulis) On work performance by
exploring the perceptions of randomly selected 105 sample employees from sheet metal and
wood works organizations found in Arada Sub-City, which are business organizations
characterized by common behaviors such as starting job at 2:00 am local time and closing
down at 12:3() pm local time, as well as requiring full attendance and attentiveness by the
employees who lire mostly working on machines and have to avoid work place unfavorable
incidents. There are 120 organizations in the Arada sub-city engaged in these two sectors.
The number o{ employees found in these organizations was supposed to be registered with
the Trade and Industry Office of the sub-city, which unfortunately is not the case at the
time of the study. There/ore, the research attempted to find out the average number of
employees found in each of the business organizations by making initial assessment Oil
1o% of the organizations revealing an average number of employees equal to five. Hence
the population employees in these two sectors are estimated to be 5 X 120 = 600. Initially
the sample sizes taken were 20% from each sector, which gives 38 employees from sheet
metal works sector and 82 employees .from the wood work sector totaling 120 sample
employees, which later on declines by the rate of response to the randomly distributed
questionnaires bringing down the sample size to 18% of the population amounting to 105
employees. Out of these, 65 employees reported to chew Tchat where as 4 of them do not.
The study attempted to find out the perceptions of the Tchat chewer employees, non-chewer
employees, and 11 randomly selected employers (9% of the total employers) on the issue of
Tcht chewing habit and work performance through questionnaires designed/or each of
the three categories. Besides, interviews have been conducted with randomly "elected
medical professionals working in the area in Amanuel Mental Health Specialized Hospital.
The study findings show that employees who chew Tchat are characterized by a relatively
higher degree of absenteeism, encounter to unfavorable work place events such as physical
damage and mistakes in work (sub-quality or sub-standard work), health problem'.and
associated costs, Insomnia (sleeplessness~) , late wake up, job instability in the form of
Frequent changing of jobs, frequent loan request, and finally unsatisfactory personality
with regard to loss of tolerance and patience, disagreement with bosses, disagreement with
co-workers, being unable to execute .responsibilities; feelings of depression, anger, fatigue,
instability in friendship ties, and carelessness about personal hygiene. Therefore , the study
recommends chat if development goals of' the country are to be really attained, more
researches of' longitudinal ones' should be conducted on the area, managers of business
organizations should build up their knowledge and ability to best monitor and address any
counterproductive behavior of their employees resulting from Tchat chewing habit.
Besides, organizations should try to preserve their human resource quality by assisting the
employees engaged in Tchat chewing habit to the level of affecting their work performance
come out of the habit through different organizational policies as well as employee
assisting program.'. Furthermore the national policies should also address preserving of
the quality of human resource and the productive age citizens and contribute to healthy and
Substance abuse free working environment.
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Keywords
Habit and their Productivity, Organizations in Arada Sub – City)