SóProvas

ID
28855
Banca
CESGRANRIO
Órgão
CAPES
Ano
2008
Provas
Disciplina
Inglês
Assuntos

How to dig out from the information avalanche
Majority of workers feel overwhelmed by deluge of data,
survey finds
By Eve Tahmincioglu
updated 8:18 p.m. ET March 16, 2008
Don't expect Shaun Osher, the CEO of Core Group
Marketing in New York, to answer your e-mail right away.
He has stopped responding to e-mails every minute and
only checks his e-mail account twice a day. He also started
turning off his BlackBerry during meetings.
This tactic has made him so much more productive
that earlier this year he held a meeting with his staff of 50
and "strongly suggested" that they stop relying so heavily
on e-mail and actually start calling clients on the phone.
And, he requested his employees put cell phones and
PDAs on silent mode during meetings, as well as curtail
the common practice of cc-ing everybody when sending
out an e-mail. "There was so much redundancy, so much
unnecessary work," he explains. "One person could handle
an issue that should take two minutes, but when an email
goes out and five people get cc-ed, then everybody
responds to it and there's a snowball effect."
It's not that Osher has anything against technology. In
fact, he loves it. The problem is, last year he realized he
was inundated with so many e-mails and so much
information in general that he began to experience data
overload. "In the beginning, e-mail and all this data was a
great phenomenon, revolutionizing what we do. But the
pendulum has swung way too much to the other side," he
maintains. "We're less productive."
Osher isn't the only one out there under a data
avalanche. Thanks to technological innovations, you can
be talking to a customer on your cell phone, answering a
LinkedIn invitation on your laptop, and responding to email
on your PDA all at the same time. Besides, during
tough economic times, who will want to miss any
information when your job could be on the line if you indulge
in the luxury of being offline? Turns out, seven out of 10
office workers in the United States feel overwhelmed by
information in the workplace, and more than two in five
say they are headed for a data "breaking point," according
to a recently released Workplace Productivity Survey.
Mike Walsh, CEO of LexisNexis U.S. Legal Markets,
says there are a host of reasons we're all on the information
brink: "exponential growth of the size of the information
'haystack,' the immensity and immediacy of digital
communications, and the fact that professionals are not
being provided with sufficient tools and training to help
them keep pace with the growing information burden."
Ellen Kossek, a professor from Michigan State, believes
we are less productive in this age of 24-7 technology, and
our multitasking mentality has spawned a "not-mentallypresent"
society. "We're becoming an attention-deficit
disorder society switching back and forth like crazy,"
Kossek says. "We're connected all the time. We're
working on planes, in coffee shops, working on the
weekends. Work is very seductive, but yet we're actually
less effective."
The key to getting your head above the data flood,
according to workplace experts, is managing and reducing
the information you're bombarded with.

© 2008 MSNBC Interactive - (slightly adapted)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23636252/

Based on Ellen Kossek's analysis in Paragraph 6 (lines 45-53),

Alternativas
Comentários

  • A) RIGHT (multitasking has brought alarming consequences to modern society.) - It is right, once  the text introduces multitasking as being the factor for alarming consequences such as the attention deficit disorder.

    B) WRONG (widespread technology has only brought benefits to human beings.) - It is wrong, once widespread such as multitasking, didn't bring benefits, but alarming consequences.

    C) WRONG (working on planes and coffee shops on weekends is a strategy of seduction.) - It is wrong, once working on planes, shops and etcc are cited as being an alarming consequence not as a strategic seduction.

    D) WRONG (all technology workers have been diagnosed with attention-deficit disorders.) - It is wrong, once not ALL technology workers have been diagnosed woth attention-deficit, but the society as a phenomenon  have been suffering from it.

    E) WRONG (excessive work makes professionals more effective in the age of 24-7 technology.) - It is wrong, once the texts defends the idea the multitasking  is seductive, LESS efective.

  • a-

    "Ellen Kossek's analysis":

    Ellen Kossek, a professor from Michigan State, believes we are less productive in this age of 24-7 technology, and our multitasking mentality has spawned a "not-mentally present" society. "We're becoming an attention-deficit disorder society switching back and forth like crazy," Kossek says. "We're connected all the time. We're working on planes, in coffee shops, working on the weekends. Work is very seductive, but yet we're actually less effective."

     

    Multitasking isn't actually about doing several things at once, it's about doling out perfunctory attention to all the chores at hand, without paying heed to any in particular. One can only be efficient at so many tasks before the law of diminishing returns kicks in. A form of the eternal human efficiency pipeline problem.

  • GAB: LETRA A

    Complementando!

    Fonte: Thaís Medrado

    O texto nos traz informações acerca de como a tecnologia impactou o mundo do trabalho e como está sendo utilizada agora com seus devidos ônus e bônus. Ao fim da leitura temos a fala da professora Ellen Kossek e sua opinião do que está acontecendo com as pessoas em detrimento do uso da tecnologia. 

    ===

    A - multitasking has brought alarming consequences to modern society.

    • CORRETA

    • A assertiva confirma o que a professora Ellen Kossek menciona, pois estar ligado à tecnologia 24 horas e 7 dias por semana pode trazer riscos, tais como déficit de atenção, além de criar riscos nas relações sociais, visto que não estamos mentalmente presentes quando cercados de pessoas. 

    ===

    B - widespread technology has only brought benefits to human beings.

    • INCORRETA

    • De acordo com o texto, a tecnologia vem causando problemas como déficit de atenção nas pessoas e fazendo com que suas relações sociais sejam transformadas em algo que impossibilita estarmos mentalmente presentes quando na presença de demais indivíduos. Esta ideia é reafirma na frase "Work is very seductive, but yet we're actually less effective", que em tradução livre seria: "O trabalho é muito sedutor, mas na verdade estamos menos efetivos".

    ===

    C - working on planes and coffee shops on weekends is a strategy of seduction.

    • INCORRETA

    • De acordo com a professora Ellen Kossek, o trabalho pode ser sedutor, pois infere-se que a partir dele podemos nos manter. No entanto, a professora menciona que trabalhar por 24 horas e durante 7 dias está causando problemas sociais e cognitivos nas pessoas, ou seja, o contrário do que a assertiva nos traz.

    ===

    D - all technology workers have been diagnosed with attention-deficit disorders.

    • INCORRETA

    • No penúltimo parágrafo, a professora diz que as pessoas que trabalham por muitas horas e dias seguidos estão desenvolvendo problemas tais como déficit de atenção e crises nos relacionamentos sociais. Atente-se para o modo em que é dito, pois não é generalizado que todos os trabalhadores estão desenvolvendo estes problemas.

    ===

    E - excessive work makes professionals more effective in the age of 24-7 technology.

    • INCORRETA

    • Ao se fazer a análise do quinto parágrafo, temos a interpretação de que as pessoas estão se tornando menos eficazes em um mundo em que a tecnologia é constante, ou seja, 24 horas e 7 dias por semana. Reforça-se esta ideia a partir do seguinte trecho: "Work is very seductive, but yet we're actually less effective", que em tradução livre ficaria que "O trabalho é muito sedutor, mas na verdade estamos nos tornando menos eficazes".