The interruption of tasks: Methodological, factual, and theoretical issues.

Butterfield, Earl C.

doi:10.1037/h0039873

Cited by 75 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(74 reference statements)

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“…"Donald thought he might cross the Atlantic in a sailboat"). The results indicated that thoughts related to a priming task were more likely to persevere beyond the prime task when the performance of this task has been interrupted than when it has been allowed to continue to completion (see also ButterWeld, 1964;Deutsch, 1968;Zeigarnik, 1927). Consequently, trait priming was more likely to result in an assimilation bias when participants had not yet completed the priming task at the time they started the judgment task.…”

mentioning

confidence: 93%

RETRACTED: Unfinished business: How completeness affects the impact of emotional states and emotion concepts on social judgment

Maringer

Stapel

2007

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

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mentioning

confidence: 93%

RETRACTED: Unfinished business: How completeness affects the impact of emotional states and emotion concepts on social judgment

Maringer

Stapel

2007

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

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“…In addition, interrupted tasks were recalled more frequently than finished tasks (Butterfield, 1964). In a 1988 study, Kirmeyer used an observational recording system whereby the objective assessment of the workload of police radio dispatchers could be obtained.…”

Section: Interruptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meetings and More Meetings: The Relationship Between Meeting Load and the Daily Well-Being of Employees.

Luong

Rogelberg

2005

Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice

125

149

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Meetings are an integral part of organizational life; however, few empirical studies have systematically examined the phenomenon and its effects on employees. By likening work meetings to interruptions and daily hassles, the authors proposed that meeting load (i.e., frequency and time spent) can affect employee well-being. For a period of 1 week, participants maintained daily work diaries of their meetings as well as daily self-reports of their well-being. Using hierarchical linear modeling analyses, the authors found a significant positive relationship between number of meetings attended and daily fatigue as well as subjective workload (i.e., more meetings were associated with increased feelings of fatigue and workload).Meetings are an integral and pervasive experience of organizational life. As a forum in which employees communicate and coordinate the organization's goals and objectives, the meeting is a vehicle for many activities, from problem solving to interdepartmental interactions. Given their utility, it is not surprising that meeting load (i.e., the frequency and length of meetings) has steadily surged in the last few decades (Mosvick & Nelson, 1987). Since a 1973 study by Mintzberg, which found that the majority of a manager's typical workday (69%) was spent in meetings, more recent surveys have suggested that meeting loads are increasing. Mosvick and Nelson (1987), for example, reported that relative to the 1960s, the average executive participated in twice as many meetings in the 1980s. Tobia and Becker (1990), in a survey of 1,900 business leaders, found that almost 72% of individuals currently spend more time in meetings than they did 5 years ago. In addition, more than 49% surveyed expect to be spending even more time in meetings 4 years from now.Given these statistics indicating the rise in frequency of and time spent in meetings, it behooves us to ask whether increased meeting load is indeed beneficial for the organization and the individual employee. To the extent that meetings help organizations and employees achieve their goals, their utility is quite apparent. The question remains, however, as to whether an ever-increasing meeting load may affect the employee at the individual, psychological level. In our search of the extant literature, we found no research that addresses the psychological effects of meeting load; in fact, we found that few empirical studies have been conducted on the phenomenon of the meeting itself. In taking heed of Schwartzman's (1986) declaration to examine the meeting as a topic in its own right, with the present study we attempt to contribute to research by examining the meeting load of a sample of employees and how it affects how these employees feel at the end of each day, for 5 days.We propose that despite the fact that meetings may help achieve work-related goals, having too many meetings and spending too much time in meetings per day may have negative effects on the individual. In other words, we fully acknowledge the work-related benefits and the utility of me...

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“…On the one hand, the activation level may subside or even show the inhibition effect of a completed intention because it is no longer a prospective memory. On the other hand, the heightened activation level in memory may persist because the intention has gone unfulfilled, much as when uncompleted tasks are remembered better in the Zeigarnik effect (see Butterfield, 1964, andBink, 1998, Experiment 4). We believe that postponed intentions should display heightened activation, whereas canceled intentions (like those tested in Experiment 2) would display inhibition.?…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%