Multitasking
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Multitasking has become a virtue in modern business, but it may come at great cost. While the brain can focus on two tasks simultaneously by splitting labor between hemispheres, managing more than two tasks reduces efficiency as time is wasted in task switching. Regular interruptions cost the average knowledge worker over 2 hours per day and $588 billion annually for businesses. Creativity and innovation are higher when focusing on one task or collaborating with one person. Long-term stress from constant multitasking negatively impacts health and task engagement as stress is the number one reason for reduced productivity.
Multitasking
- 1. Multitasking - The Frankenstein of Modern Business World June 2012 New Delhi
- 2. The ability to do multiple tasks at one time is considered a virtue in this competitive business culture. What is it? Are we aware of its consequences?? 2 Think Talent Services Confidential
- 3. Multitasking Multitasking, by traditional definition found in the dictionary is: “the performance of multiple tasks at one time.” Rather than focusing all available attention on one task and completing it before moving on, many tasks are accomplished at one time Thanks to “To do two things at a time is to do neither” – Publilious Syrus 1st century BC Publilious Syrus, a Latin writer of maxims, 3 flourished in the 1st century BC Think Talent Services Confidential
- 4. Today's generation is capable of doing this. But do we compromise something in doing so ?? 4 Think Talent Services Confidential
- 5. Technological help while multitasking Common statement: “Role expansions have resulted in workers having to do more with less, and multiple technologies have made that seem possible” We often thank Intel but research indicates some serious loss of business Research says this: Technologies often translate into multiple interruption. On average, workers are Interrupted once every ten and a half minutes. Once interrupted it takes a worker 23 minutes a day to get back to the task he/she was working on. A report from Basex quantified the cost of interruptions. It found that the average knowledge worker loses 2.1 hours per day to “unimportant interruptions or distractions.” At $21 per hour, the cost of interruptions to businesses would be $588 billion a year Source: Herman miller study, “The siren Think Talent Services Confidential song of multitasking” 2007 5
- 6. Gerald Weinberg proposed Rule of Thumb (Gerald Weinberg American computer scientist, author and teacher of the psychology and anthropology of computer software development) Adding a single project to your workload is profoundly deli-bating by Weinberg calculation. You lose 20% of your time. By the time you add a third project to the mix, nearly half your time is wasted in task switching. Recent study by Mckinsey says, participants who completed tasks in parallel took up to 30 percent longer and made twice as many errors as those who completed the same tasks in sequence 6 Think Talent Services Confidential Source: Gerald Weinberg research, 2006
- 7. How does our Brain function when we Multitask ?? What happens to creativity & stress ? 7 Think Talent Services Confidential
- 8. Multitasking & Brain “ We are biologically incapable of processing attention-rich inputs simultaneously” - Dr. John Medina (Director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University) French biomedical research says: When it comes to task management, the prefrontal Cortex of the human brain is key. The anterior part of this brain region forms the goal or intention. While working on two task brains split the labor: activity in the left side of the prefrontal cortex corresponded to one task while the right side took over the other task. The research also says the brain can’t efficiently juggle more than two tasks because it has only two hemispheres available for task management Source: Science now study, 8 Think Talent Services Confidential “Multitasking splits the brain” 2010
- 9. Loosing Creativity “If the firms don’t innovate they will die” – Philip Kotler (The author of Marketing Management among dozens of other textbooks and books) It demands a lot of creative thinking Harvard Business School evaluated the daily work patterns of more than 9,000 individuals working on projects that required creativity and innovation. They found that the likelihood of creative thinking is higher when people focus on one activity for a significant part of the day and collaborate with just one other person Think Talent Services Confidential Source: Mckinsey study, “Recovering from information overload” 2011 9
- 10. Stress is the biggest reason of reduced Task Engagement What is the root cause ?? 10 Think Talent Services Confidential
- 11. Stress – more and more multitasking “Multitasking, almost by its very nature, creates stress, and long-term stress, in turn, is likely to make us less able to multitask”. - Dr. Jordan Grafman to Los Angeles Times (Director of Traumatic Brain Injury Research at Kessler Foundation) One international survey of more than 1,300 managers found “one-third of managers suffer from ill-health as a direct consequence of stress associated with information overload.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that stress cost American business about $ 10,000 annually per employee – an overall economic impact of about $ 300 billion. The National Institute for Occupational safety and health estimated that 40% of the nations workforce is affected by stress, making it the No.1 reason for work disability. Health at stake Stress can result in depression and anxiety, and put people at risk for diabetes, hyperthyroidism, lung cancer, heart disease, strokes, and other diseases. - Assistant U.S. Surgeon General Marilyn Gaston Dr. Marilyn Gaston is one of the world's foremost experts on sickle cell disease Think Talent Services Confidential Source: Prochain Solution study, 2010 11
- 12. Watch this two video Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bHw AjoIvJw to watch “How the brain makes creative connection” Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v JG698U2Mvo to watch “Selective attention test video” 12 Think Talent Services Confidential
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