Book/Printed Material Don't spread yourself too thin the impact of task juggling on workers' speed of job completion

About this Item

About this Item

Title

  • Don't spread yourself too thin the impact of task juggling on workers' speed of job completion

Summary

  • "We show that task juggling, i.e., the spreading of effort across too many active projects, decreases the performance of workers, raising the chances of low throughput, long duration of projects and exploding backlogs. Individual speed of job completion cannot be explained only in terms of effort, ability and experience: work scheduling is a crucial "input" that cannot be omitted from the production function of individual workers. We provide a simple theoretical model to study the effects of increased task juggling on the duration of projects. Using a sample of Italian judges we show that those who are induced for exogenous reasons to work in a more parallel fashion on many trials at the same time, take longer to complete similar portfolios of cases. The exogenous variation that identifies this causal effect is constructed exploiting the lottery that assigns cases to judges together with the procedural prescription requiring judges to hold the first hearing of a case no later than 60 days from filing"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.

Names

  • Coviello, Decio
  • Ichino, Andrea
  • Persico, Nicola, 1967-
  • National Bureau of Economic Research

Created / Published

  • Cambridge, MA : National Bureau of Economic Research, c2010.

Notes

  • -  Title from PDF file as viewed on 1/13/2011.
  • -  Includes bibliographical references.
  • -  Also available in print.
  • -  Mode of access: World Wide Web.
  • -  System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HB1

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2011655747

Access Advisory

  • Unrestricted online access

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Coviello, Decio, Andrea Ichino, Nicola Persico, and National Bureau Of Economic Research. Don't Spread Yourself Too Thin the Impact of Task Juggling on Workers' Speed of Job Completion. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2010. Pdf. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/2011655747/.

APA citation style:

Coviello, D., Ichino, A., Persico, N. & National Bureau Of Economic Research. (2010) Don't Spread Yourself Too Thin the Impact of Task Juggling on Workers' Speed of Job Completion. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/2011655747/.

MLA citation style:

Coviello, Decio, et al. Don't Spread Yourself Too Thin the Impact of Task Juggling on Workers' Speed of Job Completion. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2010. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/2011655747/>.