Projects At Work Study Measures Scope And Dangers Of Organizational Multitasking

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Realization, the leading provider of flow-based planning and execution solutions, has released a study on organizational multitasking conducted by Projects At Work, an online business-to-business magazine for the project and portfolio management industry. To obtain a full copy of the study, visit this link.

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Decades of academic research have definitively established that individuals are much less productive while multitasking. In organizations, the damage done by multitasking is far worse. Organizational multitasking occurs when an organization's collective efforts are spread across too many work-streams and projects at any given time. Delays and interruptions cascade through the organization as teams wait for late work from others, causing projects to take too long and project-completion rates to fall. Realization estimates that losses in productivity due to organizational multitasking range from 20 to 50 percent.

Ultimately, organizational multitasking is not an individual challenge, but is rather an institutional one, as demonstrated by the Projects At Work survey of 400 project management professionals across 44 countries. Highlights of the survey's findings show that project management professionals:

• Lack enough resources: More than 85 percent of respondents find it difficult to get enough resources for their projects;
• Could finish faster if their projects had priority: 47 percent said their projects would finish more than 25 percent faster with adequate resources, and 28 percent said they could cut completion times by 11 to 25 percent; and
• Start a significant number of projects prematurely: 45 percent said that at least every other project starts without full preparation.

The study also identified the top three challenges that project managers face and provided recommendations for solving them:

"The real tragedy of organizational multitasking is that most companies don't even recognize that it's going on because everyone is working hard and very busy," said Sanjeev Gupta, CEO of Realization. "But in reality, people are often just spinning their wheels. Once organizational multitasking ceases, organizations typically see a 20 to 50 percent increase in productivity within just a few weeks."

To download the full study, please visit: http://www.projectsatwork.com/survey/survey.cfm?ID=862.

About Realization
Realization is the leading provider of Flow-based Planning and Execution solutions for engineering and projects. It helps organizations complete projects 20 to 50 percent faster and 10 to 30 percent more efficiently by reducing multitasking and exposing true bottlenecks. Realization's more than 200 clients include organizations like ABB, Amdocs, BHP Billiton, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, L&T, Medtronic, NASA and the U.S. Air Force. Collectively Realization's clients have realized $3.5 billion in additional cash and profits by completing projects faster and more efficiently. Realization is headquartered in San Jose, California, with offices in India, France, Japan, and South Africa. For more information, visit www.realization.com.

Contact Information
Jeff Miller
Davies Murphy Group
(541) 207-3461 (o)
(541) 207-6413 (m)  
[email protected]

SOURCE Realization