The Case for Multitasking

Research on executive teams suggests that this bias against multitasking may be misguided. In fact, executives who doggedly plow through each task until it's finished may be doing their companies a disservice. Under some circumstances, top management teams perform better when they accept - even relish - interruptions. We found that the financial performance of companies with highly polychronic teams was significantly better than that of companies with average or monochronic teams. Why the difference? The polychronic teams proved to be superior information brokers, absorbing and disseminating more-insightful information than their average and monochronic counterparts. As a result, they were much less apt than the other teams to bog down: They could make strategic decisions faster, placing less emphasis on analyzing large quantities of data. Their expedited decision-making process, we believe, boosted their companies' performance. Executive polychronicity may benefit other sorts of companies, too; after all, effective information brokering and quick decision making can aid established corporations and firms in a variety of fields. But the research suggests that these skills are essential for new ventures and small companies that must negotiate dynamic business environments. A polychronic culture can position the executive team for success.