multiducking

Vinay Kamat

A month from now you could be sitting in front of your boss trying to answer that tricky question. "Well, tell me, how well have you multitasked?" Your performance appraisal would depend upon how effectively you have applied the multi logic to work.

Have you, for instance, mentored subordinates, upheld organizational values, listened to 100 customers on average every month, suggested 10 business ideas during the year, helped hire talented people, met delivery schedules every time, doubled team productivity, suggested smarter ways of production, and remained virtually connected to your boss when not in office? And, do you promptly answer 400-odd emails a day and read enough books and journals to maintain your cutting-edge?

Before you protest, let us accept multitasking as a given in an economy where multi is the norm: multiplex, multinational, multimedia, multigaming…

Plain words like task, chore, assignment, stint, project, undertaking and duty have all begun to resemble multitasking. Naturally, the Dept. of HR revolves around one performance criterion and measures you accordingly. Shorn of Excel and Word formats, a typical HR performance review form would encompass the following:

1. How many tasks can you perform at a time?
2. Will you have the RAM to add two more tasks?
3. Do you compromise organizational values when you multitask?
4. How many multitaskers do you have in your team?
5. Have you been able to save cost by multitasking?
6. Are you able to implement a project end-to-end? Give examples.
7. Can you resolve all HR issues yourself?
8. Have you declined any task because of lack of time?

US researchers Joshua Rubinstein, David Meyer and Jeffrey Evans, who investigated the new corporate phenomenon, point out that "subjects lost time when they had to switch from one task to another, and time costs increased with the complexity of the tasks." So much for productivity.

How about an alternative? Management consultant Lisa Haneberg suggests the idea of "multichunking" in her blog: "Chunking means carving out blocks of time to work one task, project, or activity. The blocks should be at least one hour long and you should get in several two-hour chunks per week."

Despite its flaws, multitasking just can't be wished away. It will keep figuring in job interviews and performance appraisals until someone comes up with a better idea of performing. Nobody will. For, multitasking allows bosses to shift goal-posts. Its ambiguity attracts HR managers.

For all its complexity, multitasking develops one dominant trait, or skill, in an individual. Other traits, then, become accessories. In the case of Alexander the Great, his "connective style" defined his personality. Says Partha Bose, in Alexander the Great's Art of Strategy: "Before any battle he would ride up and down the front, speak to his men directly, call out to familiar faces by name, and remind them of previous acts of bravery." It was a simple gesture , not a process called multitasking.