Large public organizations are infamous for making a mess of things. Sometimes it results in wasted resources due to huge amounts of inefficiency, and other times it results in tragedy, such as the Space Shuttle disasters. More recently, the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, has proven to be a comedy of errors during its launch. Part of the problem is that large organizations suffer the risk of compiling enormous amounts of information, so much so, that the information does not get processed correctly, if at all. Nor do the leaders of the organization necessarily receive all of the vital information that they need to make knowledgeable decisions. Couple this with lines of communication which are often broken, and it creates a virtual organizational fog, and hidden in this fog is the looming potential for disaster.
Information Overload
In this day of instant information gratification, information overload is inevitable. On the organizational level, this can lead to decreased productivity due to the constant barrage of interruptions from being continually connected. Gone are the days of being able to focus on one task at a time, and multitasking is the new norm, despite the fact that multitasking greatly decreases productivity. Research indicates that people who multitask not only take longer to complete their tasks, but they also commit more errors (Dean & Webb, 2011). In a 2006 study of how the brain functions during multitasking, it was found that the area of the brain that processes information, bottlenecks the information; thus the brain cannot process information concurrently, causing a delay in being able to complete concurrent tasks. (Asplund, Dux, Ivanoff, & Marois, 2006). Also, information overloa...
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...rm. This will help dispel the virtual fog that blinds large organizations and instead, will create a clear path to success.
Works Cited
Auerbach, D. (2013, October 8). Err engine down: What really went wrong with Healthcare.gov? Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/business/bitwise/2013/10/what_went_wrong_with_healthcare_gov_the_front_end_and_back_end_never_talked.html
Asplund C.L., Dux, P. E., Ivanoff, J., & Marois, R. (2006). Isolation of a central bottleneck of information processing with time-resolved fMRI. Neuron, 52(6), 1109–20. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2006.11.009
Dean, D., Webb, C. (2011, January). Recovering from information overload. Retrieved from http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/recovering_from_information_overload
Shafritz, J. M., Russell, E.W., & Borick, C.P. (2013). Introducing public administration. (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
As human beings, it is becoming more of a second nature to us to multi-task. As the world is technologically advancing more and more every day, there are becoming more distractions. Social-media is flourishing, reality TV show ratings are going up, and humans even unintentionally check their phones every two minutes. In this day of age, multi-tasking is proving to promote inefficiency rather than productivity.
Casamayou, Maureen. “The Columbia Accident.” Public Administration: Concepts and Cases. Stillman, Richard Joseph. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. 105-114.
In the chapter “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era,” from The New Brain, written by Richard Restak, Restak makes some very good points on his view of multitasking and modern technology. He argues that multitasking is very inefficient and that our modern technology is making our minds weaker. Multitasking and modern technology is causing people to care too much what other people think of them, to not be able to focus on one topic, and to not be able to think for themselves.
Many would remark that multitasking is a skill that can be trained like all others. However, a lot of neuroscience has went into proving that multitasking is a myth altogether. The article “The Myth of Multitasking” is written by Nancy K. Napier for Psychology today is here to debunk the myth of the brain’s capability to multitask. The article states that the brain is incapable of doing two things at once. Instead, the way that we fool ourselves into thinking that we can multitask is how quickly our brain switches from one task to another. Our brains can’t perform tasks simultaneously as our focus is a narrow beam. So, to compensate for this, our brain switches between these two tasks very quickly, almost as if we are doing them at the same
Students may easily lose their attention and concentration with easy access to such incredibly rich store of information. With such new technologies as television, internet and social networks, people nowadays tend to multitask more often as they have easy access to a large amount of information. However, such easy access may sometimes be a distraction. Study “Your Brain on Computers” reports that heavy multitaskers perform up to 20% worse on most tests compared to performance of light multitaskers. Working efficiency of people, who multitask, is claimed to be significantly lower. The same is with concentration. (Crovitz 353) As a result, they are not engaged in working process. Students tend to be easily distr...
In the article, “Multitasking Can Make You Lose…Um…Focus,” Alina Tugend centralizes around the negative effects of multitasking. She shows that often with multitasking, people tend to lose focus, lack work quality, have an increase in stress, and in the end she gives a solution to all these problems. Tugend conveys her points by using understandable language, a clear division of subjects, and many reliable sources, making her article cogent.
Technology has always been improving over the decades, and now it has improved to the point where it’s a part of a human being’s life. People can’t imagine living without technology anymore nowadays, and especially college students who are always on their phones and laptops during lectures. That leads to what is known as multitasking, which is the ability to take care of more than one task at the same time. Multitasking has been popularized by students, and specifically college students, who think that they are actually successful at doing it. Unfortunately, according to Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier, after testing students who think they are brilliant at multitasking, results showed that they are terrible at every aspect of multitasking; consequently, it is not successful.
Strayer, D. L., & Watson, J. M. (2012). Supertaskers and the multitasking brain. Scientific American Mind, 23(1), 22-29.
Woodrow Wilson’s purpose in writing “The Study of Administration” is to bring awareness that the government systems in place need to be re-evaluated and improved. Wilson encourages we need to examine the history of administration set forth by others in determining certain needs to be accomplished in effective ways and methods. Wilson’s desirable outcomes for research within the public administration field are for government systems to become more productive and organized.
In the future I would like to see myself, as a continuously promoted public official who could possibly become a pro-active politician in today’s demanding political arena. To achieve this, I would like to gain more knowledge which can help me reach intellectual maturity to the latest practices adopted in the field of Public Administration. My desire for self-development in this area and curiosity to learn past and contemporary developments in different societies will help me to solve the problems easily.
Public Administration involves the development, implementation and management of policies for the attainment of set goals and objectives that will be to the benefit of the general public. Since Public Administration involves taking decisions that affect the use of public resources there is often the question of how to utilize public resources for maximum public good. The National Association of Public Administration has identified four pillars of public administration: economy, efficiency, effectiveness and social equity. These pillars are equally important in the practice of public administration and to its success. This paper seeks to explain the role of each of the pillars in the practice of public administration.
Rabin, J. (2003). Encyclopedia of public administration and public policy: K-Z. United States: CRC press.
Pfiffner, J. P. (2004). Traditional Public Administration versus The New Public Management:Accountability versus Efficiency. Unied States: George Mason University.
...ice of public administration will continue to change with the further advances in society. Already there are many of issues that tomorrow’s public administrators will be dealing with. These issues will be varied and complex and will concern the ongoing development of computers, possible advancements in health care and science, and even major social and legislative shifts.
Since its emergence as a field of study, there have been some important contributions to public administration. Its goal has always been to improve productivity which then improves workplace performance. All of the contributions have been aimed at completing the work with the highest level of efficiency and at the lowest cost.