Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • October 2020
  • Article
  • Management Science

Task Selection and Workload: A Focus on Completing Easy Tasks Hurts Long-Term Performance

By: Diwas S. KC, Bradley R. Staats, Maryam Kouchaki and Francesca Gino
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

How individuals manage, organize, and complete their tasks is central to operations management. Recent research in operations focuses on how under conditions of increasing workload individuals can decrease their service time, up to a point, in order to complete work more quickly. As the number of tasks increases, however, workers may also manage their workload by a different process—task selection. Drawing on research on workload, individual discretion, and behavioral decision-making, we theorize and then test that under conditions of increased workload, individuals may choose to complete easier tasks in order to manage their load. We label this behavior task completion preference (TCP). Using six years of data from a hospital emergency department, we find that physicians engage in TCP, with implications for their performance. Specifically, TCP helps physicians manage variance in service times; however, while it initially appears to improve shift-level throughput volume, after adjusting for the complexity of the work completed, TCP is related to worse throughput. Moreover, we find that engaging in easier tasks, as compared to hard ones, is related to lower learning in service times. We then turn to the lab to replicate conceptually the short-term task selection effect under increased workload and show that it occurs due to both fatigue and the sense of progress individuals get from task completion. These findings provide another mechanism for the workload-speedup effect from the literature. We also discuss implications for both research and the practice of operations in building systems to help people succeed.

Keywords

Healthcare; Knowledge Work; Discretion; Workload; Employees; Health Care and Treatment; Decision Making; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Productivity

Citation

KC, Diwas S., Bradley R. Staats, Maryam Kouchaki, and Francesca Gino. "Task Selection and Workload: A Focus on Completing Easy Tasks Hurts Long-Term Performance." Management Science 66, no. 10 (October 2020).
  • Find it at Harvard

About The Author

Francesca Gino

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • March–April 2023
    • Harvard Business Review

    You Need Two Leadership Gears: Know When to Take Charge and When to Get Out of the Way

    By: Lindy Greer, Francesca Gino and Robert Sutton
    • March 2023
    • Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

    Giving-by-proxy Triggers Subsequent Charitable Behavior

    By: Samantha Kassirer, Jillian J. Jordan and Maryam Kouchaki
    • March 2023
    • Social Psychological & Personality Science

    Authentic First Impressions Relate to Interpersonal, Social, and Entrepreneurial Success

    By: David M. Markowitz, Maryam Kouchaki, Francesca Gino, Jeffrey T. Hancock and Ryan L. Boyd
More from the Authors
  • You Need Two Leadership Gears: Know When to Take Charge and When to Get Out of the Way By: Lindy Greer, Francesca Gino and Robert Sutton
  • Giving-by-proxy Triggers Subsequent Charitable Behavior By: Samantha Kassirer, Jillian J. Jordan and Maryam Kouchaki
  • Authentic First Impressions Relate to Interpersonal, Social, and Entrepreneurial Success By: David M. Markowitz, Maryam Kouchaki, Francesca Gino, Jeffrey T. Hancock and Ryan L. Boyd
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College