It’s that time of year. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is under way. Everyone is busy making and checking their “brackets”. Warren Buffett has underwritten a $1 billion prize for the person who has a completely correct bracket. It is indeed madness.
Many business leaders express frustration that employees are spending too much time watching, calculating and commiserating over the tournament results. These businessmen complain that productivity is lost because employees spent work time on this seeming obsession with college basketball. I would disagree! Productivity actually goes up during this time of the year.
To prove this hypothesis I would offer the evidence that:
- Purchase orders are still being written
- Accounting entries are still being made
- Products are being manufactured
- Shipments are made on time to customers
- Sales orders are being taken as usual
- The national gross domestic product (GDP, the measure of the work done in the economy) doesn’t decrease during March
In fact business continues with little to no reduction in output in spite of the time spent on basketball. You will find employees who can suddenly get their work done in 5 or 6 hours instead of 8 hours. Yes, their extra, new found time is spent focused on basketball, but their normal work load is suddenly done in less time. Productivity has increased!
More is being accomplished in less time. Isn’t that the definition of improved productivity? Managers of the world should be grateful for March Madness: it shows just how productive their subordinates can be when properly motivated. Perhaps we can have an “April Madness” to extend this productivity cycle.
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