Multi-tasking with Work Constraints
Many people think that multi-tasking is not possible due to the prior beliefs they built upon whether or not they can complete a task without hindering the performance on another. William M. Czander wrote in his book The Psychodynamics of Work and Organizations that there is indeed the existence of subcategories that hinder one’s abilities to multi-task.
“Task constraint is generally apparent when subsystems define their primary task(s) or their work in ways that are different from those of other subsystems, or their work is at odds with the task(s) of these other systems.” (Czander, 1993)
Czander then explained that the learning of a secondary task can constrain one’s abilities to fulfill their first task properly. He then gave examples of a person attending dental school not being able to drill a patient’s teeth properly due to neglecting his primary task as a dentist and putting some of that focus on another task. All in all, Czander tried to explain that the difficulty that multi-tasking faces is the existence of poor boundary management, which then constrains another task to be performed effectively.
To simplify what he meant, Czander thinks that the best way to solve the problem of task constraints is by conceptualizing the hierarchical nature in tasks in order to fully organize the tasks and put them into place. By doing so, it will increase the success and proper allocation of necessary resources needed in order to perform these tasks under conditions which would meet and destroy the boundaries hindering multi-tasking.
Citation: William M. C. (1993). The Psychodynamics of Work and Organizations. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
In hopes of improving my own ability to multi-task, I continued to practice and work on complementing my tasks so that the different components of tasks I work on do not hinder each other and are things that would actually work well alongside. Even while in a classroom setting, I can now look at class power points, while listening to the teacher and typing notes down and still being able to understand what is going on. Back then, I would have never thought that I would be able to listen and write at the same time. I would always choose one thing to focus on, so if I want to understand what the professor is saying I would focus all my attention to my ears and listen carefully. Then if I hear something super important I would try to jot down a few words. But now, from looking at the notes I have taken I can see progress in how much I can take in during lectures.
