A Researcher Was Interested in Determining Whether More Frequent Breaks

question 11

Essay

A researcher was interested in determining whether more frequent breaks (i.e., "coffee breaks") in a business setting would help employees to be more productive. With the cooperation of the management, employees on one floor of the corporate offices were allowed to take a 10-minute break each hour (at any time) between 8:00 and 11:00 A.M. (for a total of 30 minutes). The comparison group comprised employees on different floors who followed the usual corporate policy of taking a 30-minute break sometime during the morning (at any time). Measures of productivity were gathered for each employee according to his or her job (e.g., number of reports written, number of sales made, etc.). A time series analysis was applied to compare the productivity of both groups of employees for six months before and after the intervention (started in July). Quite surprisingly, the productivity of both groups increased following the onset of the intervention, suggesting to the researcher that the timing of breaks makes no difference.
-Describe two ways in which contamination may have influenced the results of this study.

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Definitions:

Task Interdependence

The extent to which the work of one member of a group or organization is reliant on the work of others within the group or organization.

Autonomous Work Groups

Teams organized around completing an entire piece of work with a high degree of autonomy in decision-making and execution.

Decision-Making Authority

The power or right bestowed upon individuals or groups to make choices that will influence outcomes and actions.

Social Messaging

The use of social media platforms and applications to communicate, share content, and interact with a broad or targeted audience.