`Hey, do you have a second?'-- The upside of workplace interruptions
Research shows these disturbances can create a sense of belonging

Date:
August 3, 2021
Source:
University of Cincinnati
Summary:
A new study finds that work place interruptions are beneficial
to a sense of belonging and can counterbalance negatives such as
lost productivity.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
If you work in an office environment, it's a common occurrence: You're
right in the middle of a project and a co-worker stops by to ask for
help with a task or to share a photo of their new puppy.


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When this happens, don't sigh at being distracted. A new study finds
that these interruptions are beneficial to a sense of belonging and can counterbalance negatives such as lost productivity.

According to the study, which predominantly took place at the University
of Cincinnati and soon will appear in the print edition of the Journal
of Applied Psychology, while there were downsides to interruptions at
work, like raising levels of stress and lowering people's energy, there
was also an upside: Employees felt more like they "belonged" and that eventually led to higher job satisfaction.

"If the past year of social distancing and isolation has shown us
anything, it is that humans are social beings who have an inherent need
for interacting with others," says the study's lead author Harshad
Puranik, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Managerial
Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago.

In the study, the team surveyed 111 full-time employees twice a day
for three weeks. They asked participants about their experience at work
(since the beginning of the day for lunchtime surveys and since lunch
for the end of workday surveys), including work interruptions, how
mentally drained they felt, their sense of belonging and overall job satisfaction. The researchers found that while work interruptions can
take a toll on interrupted employees' mental resources, thereby reducing
job satisfaction, social interaction with an interrupter can also help
boost employees' level of belonging, which was associated with increased
job satisfaction.

What previous research has not considered, Puranik says, is that
apart from their task-based aspect, work interruptions by others
also involve a social component -- the social interaction with the
interrupter. "Our study revealed that by providing this avenue for
social interaction with one's colleagues, work interruptions led to a
greater sense of belonging. This sense of belonging, in turn, led to
higher job satisfaction." The bulk of the study was conducted as part
of Puranik's UC doctoral thesis, with two former UC faculty members at
UC's Carl H. Lindner College of Business: Joel Koopman, now at Texas
A&M University, and Heather C. Vough, now with George Mason University.

"We find that interruptions can actually benefit individuals from an interpersonal perspective -- people feel like they belong when others
come and talk to them or ask them questions, even while being distracted
from their tasks," says Vough.

What was surprising, Vough says, is that "the sense of belongingness
mitigated the negative effect of interruptions on job satisfaction. Thus, interruptions at work may have gotten a bad rap due to a failure to
consider their human element." Since management historically has focused
on ways to eliminate work interruptions, the study suggests alternatives
to address interruptions, such as allowing employees more leeway in
choosing when and where they work from and how they schedule their work.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Cincinnati. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Harshad Puranik, Joel Koopman, Heather C. Vough. Excuse me, do
you have a
minute? An exploration of the dark- and bright-side effects of
daily work interruptions for employee well-being.. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 2021; DOI: 10.1037/apl0000875 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210803175253.htm

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