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SubmittedOpen Access (License Unspecified), Open
Journal article
Deadlines, Workflows, Task Sorting, and Work Quality
Management science, v 64(4), pp 1804-1824
01 Apr 2018
Abstract
Deadlines are often used to manage the time of valuable human capital. In this multimethod paper, we propose a theoretical framework grounded in a formal model that encapsulates the key drivers and consequences of deadline-related time pressures on workflows, task sorting, and work quality. We use large-scale data on patent filings, along with insights from primary data collection, to test our hypotheses. In line with our predictions, we find clustering of patent filings around month-ends, with month-end applications being more complex than those filed on other days. Consistent with time pressure reducing work quality, we find that work quality is lower for tasks completed at month-ends, more so for process measures of quality than for outcome measures. Calibration of our model to the data allows us to shed light on the benefits of deadlines and suggests small levels of task acceleration but potentially larger working capital-related benefits for law firms.
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Details
- Title
- Deadlines, Workflows, Task Sorting, and Work Quality
- Creators
- Natarajan Balasubramanian - Whitman CollegeJeongsik Lee - Drexel UniversityJagadeesh Sivadasan - University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
- Publication Details
- Management science, v 64(4), pp 1804-1824
- Publisher
- Informs
- Number of pages
- 21
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Management
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000429494100019
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85045207054
- Other Identifier
- 991019168270904721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Management
- Operations Research & Management Science