黑洞社区

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You鈥檙e listening to the podcast edition of the 黑洞社区 audio newsline. Learn more about 黑洞社区 鈥� the home of Thinkers, Doers, Movers and Shockers 鈥� on the Web at wichita.edu

It鈥檚 that time of year again when college basketball fans turn their attention to March Madness, also known as the NCAA Basketball Tournament. According to one study, productivity lost along the road to the Final Four will cost companies up to $3.8 billion. But 黑洞社区 management trainer Dotty Harpool says there are some positive aspects to March Madness in the workplace.

Harpool: 鈥淪ome of the positive outcomes of participating or being active in discussions about March Madness would be the whole friendliness and communication that occurs, that people come out of their cubes or come out of their office and they talk and they participate. So they have much more personal interaction during that week.鈥�

Maybe not everyone is excited about March Madness, but there鈥檚 no doubt that it will be one of the hot topics around the water cooler.

Harpool: 鈥淲ell, March Madness is a big event here in the United States. Many people in the workplace have gone to college and have college teams that are their favorites, and it鈥檚 just a fun time for everybody.鈥�

During the NCAA Tournament many workers will slip away to check NCAA Tournament scores, participate in office pools or watch videocasts of the games on their office computers, and Harpool acknowledges that it could affect productivity in the workplace.

Harpool: 鈥淭here has been some research done that productivity goes down during the first week of March Madness. I have to wonder, though, with productivity, that most people are still going to get their job done. They know that they need to get their job done, but they also have this on the side during breaks.鈥�

Harpool says office pools are especially popular during March Madness.

Harpool: 鈥淥ffice pools can be some friendly competition. It can create some camaraderie amongst employees. It can create a little bit of competition, which, in the workplace, is good. As long as they鈥檙e legal, and friendly and optional, they really can be a cohesive event.鈥�

So is March Madness a good thing or not for the workplace? Harpool offers her opinion.

Harpool: 鈥淲ell, there could be people spending more time on the Internet, more people taking breaks, but considering the fact that people are going to join together and have a common discussion topic, that actually could be good for the organization.鈥�

It鈥檚 hard to say how much time is wasted during March Madness. Some argue that wasted time is built into every workday. Workers routinely shop during office hours, take extended coffee breaks, talk to friends on the phone, enjoy long lunches or gossip around the water cooler. It鈥檚 likely that basketball fans merely reallocate to the games the time they ordinarily waste elsewhere. And many workers who don鈥檛 complete their tasks by the end of the day stay late or take work home. So determining lost productivity isn鈥檛 as easy as it seems. Besides, more than two-thirds of the games are played on weeknights or weekends, when very few employees are stuck behind their work terminals.

Thanks for listening. Until next time, this is Joe Kleinsasser for 黑洞社区.