In Defense of Multitasking

Despite the popular opinion that multitasking is bad for business and well-being of employees; there is some evidence that would suggest that multitasking is integral to what makes the most successful companies.

Vangelis Souitaris a Professor at Cass University and Maestro Marcello a managing director at a NY based investment firm researched and interviewed CEOs in over 200 tech companies in London. They discovered that companies that had top management teams with a strong ability to multitask were financially stronger companies (Maestro M. & Souitaris V. 2011).

These researchers believe that the correlation stems from top management’s ability to process data and form a strategic plan faster due to their ability to multitask. Companies who had teams who avoided multitasking tended to get bogged down in analyzing data and then took longer to make decisions (Maestro M. & Souitaris V. 2011).

The Evidence for Single-tasking Remains Overwhelming

It’s important to note that the data really only reflects the importance multitasking in smaller business ventures. This is due to aggressive competition and the necessity to make decisions as fast as possible. It’s also important to note that I had great difficulty finding any information in support of multitasking. This Journal was one of the only academic resources I could find and even then it comes with a number of caveats and limitations.

Opponents may argue that multitasking is not switch tasking or vice versa but they’re really only arguing about a definition. Arguing that driving is technically multitasking because the driver needs to look, hear and steer is missing the point entirely. Driving counts as one task. Driving and texting counts as a couple more because it involves reading and writing.

There are countless studies supporting the premise that the brain’s efficiency is reduced when there are multiple distractions. The more distractions there are, the less productive the person becomes. I can therefore end this blog series conclusively stating that multitasking does not make work easier.

Maestro M. & Souitaris V. (2011). The case for multitasking. Harvard Business Review, 34(2), 40–56.