Douglas Merrill's Article 'Why Multitasking Doesn' T Work
BMGT 2211-901 Dr. Bartlett
Writing Assignment Two
In Douglas Merrill’s Forbes article titled “Why Multitasking Doesn’t Work”, the contributing author makes various statements on the scenario-based appropriateness of multitasking. It is the opinion of the author that multitasking during simple, menial tasks such as folding clothes and speaking on the phone does not require a high order of mental capacity to execute; therefore, it is acceptable to multitask when engaging in these activities. On the flip side, the author argues that when tasks require brain engage and the goal is for long term memory capture, then multitasking does not allow short term memory to engage and therefore has no opportunity to commit to long term memory. The author also recounted a story of while employed at Google, many workers employed laptops during meetings to accomplish other work tasks during meeting times. This slowly led to the realization that those on their laptops diminished the effectiveness of the meetings due to lack of attention and engagement. Soon the company began a strategy of laptop free meeting zones. …show more content…
My capacities to think clearly, mitigate issues, and communicate effectively are greatly reduced. I oftentimes find myself mentally frustrated after long periods of multitasking and my ability to pivot to other tasks is greatly diminished. At times, this has had a serious, negative impact on my work performance. For instance, once I was juggling so many tasks that when a superior had a time-sensitive data request I forgot to record the need and subsequently did not provide the data. I did not even occur to me by day end that I had not accomplished this task. The next day, my superior angrily appeared at my desk telling me to forget the data request since a meeting to discuss the data had already taken place. I obviously felt disappointed in myself and apologized to the
Writing Assignment Two
In Douglas Merrill’s Forbes article titled “Why Multitasking Doesn’t Work”, the contributing author makes various statements on the scenario-based appropriateness of multitasking. It is the opinion of the author that multitasking during simple, menial tasks such as folding clothes and speaking on the phone does not require a high order of mental capacity to execute; therefore, it is acceptable to multitask when engaging in these activities. On the flip side, the author argues that when tasks require brain engage and the goal is for long term memory capture, then multitasking does not allow short term memory to engage and therefore has no opportunity to commit to long term memory. The author also recounted a story of while employed at Google, many workers employed laptops during meetings to accomplish other work tasks during meeting times. This slowly led to the realization that those on their laptops diminished the effectiveness of the meetings due to lack of attention and engagement. Soon the company began a strategy of laptop free meeting zones. …show more content…
My capacities to think clearly, mitigate issues, and communicate effectively are greatly reduced. I oftentimes find myself mentally frustrated after long periods of multitasking and my ability to pivot to other tasks is greatly diminished. At times, this has had a serious, negative impact on my work performance. For instance, once I was juggling so many tasks that when a superior had a time-sensitive data request I forgot to record the need and subsequently did not provide the data. I did not even occur to me by day end that I had not accomplished this task. The next day, my superior angrily appeared at my desk telling me to forget the data request since a meeting to discuss the data had already taken place. I obviously felt disappointed in myself and apologized to the