A worker is assigned three tasks,A,B,and C,each having a duration of 20 days.One approach to completing these tasks would be to focus on one at a time,complete it,and then move to the second,followed by the third.One multitasking approach would call for dividing each task in half and rotating from one to the other so that the first halves of A,B,and C are completed before the second halves of A,B,and C are completed (always in this order)and so on until the activities are finished.What is the difference in the average completion times for the multitasked activities?
A)There is no difference in completion times for the two approaches
B)The multitasked activities take 15% longer.
C)The multitasked activities take 25% longer.
D)The multitasked activities take 40% longer.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

If the worker focuses on one task at a time, each task will take 20 days to complete for a total completion time of 60 days.

If the worker uses the multitasking approach and divides each task in half, the first half of each task will take 10 days to complete and then the worker will rotate to the next task. The second half of the tasks will also take 10 days to complete, and then the worker will rotate again until all three tasks are finished.

Since each task is being interrupted and resumed multiple times, there will be some inefficiencies and time lost due to the need to switch between tasks. This is known as switching time.

Switching time can be estimated as a percentage of the task duration. In this case, since each task is being split in half, the switching time for each rotation would be 5 days (half of a task duration).

So the total completion time using the multitasking approach would be 3 rotations * 15 days per rotation (10 days on task + 5 days switching time) = 45 days.

Compared to the 60 days for the single-task approach, the multitasking approach takes 25% longer (15 extra days out of a total of 60). Therefore, the correct answer is C.

A Worker Is Assigned Three Tasks,A,B,and C,each Having a Duration