The Effects of Multitasking on Operations Scheduling

Abstract

This study considers a typical scheduling environment that is influenced by the behavioral phenomenon of multitasking. Under multitasking, the processing of a selected job suffers from interruption by other jobs that are available but unfinished. This situation arises in a wide variety of applications; for example, administration, manufacturing, and process and project management. Several classical solution methods for scheduling problems no longer apply in the presence of multitasking. The solvability of any scheduling problem under multitasking is no easier than that of the corresponding classical problem. We develop optimal algorithms for some fundamental and practical single machine scheduling problems with multitasking. For other problems, we show that they are computationally intractable, even though in some cases the corresponding problem in classical scheduling is efficiently solvable. We also study the cost increase and value gained due to multitasking. This analysis informs companies about how much it would be worthwhile to invest in measures to reduce or encourage multitasking.

Multitasking Scheduling Problems with Deterioration Effect

“…In this section, we formulate multitasking scheduling problems with DRMA and a deterioration effect based on the multitasking setting in Hall et al [14] and the RMA and fatigue effect in Lodree Jr. and Geiger [37] and S.-J. Yang and D.-L. Yang [22].…”

“…Thus, in recent multitasking-related literature, investigation has been made about the effects of multitasking on the productivity from different perspectives [2,[11][12][13]. Yet, considering multitasking in scheduling systems remains relatively unexplored except for the works of Hall et al [14], Sum et al [15], Sum et al [16], and Zhu et al [17]. Hall et al [14] initiated scheduling problems with multitasking by proposing scheduling models in an administration scheduling system.…”

“…Yet, considering multitasking in scheduling systems remains relatively unexplored except for the works of Hall et al [14], Sum et al [15], Sum et al [16], and Zhu et al [17]. Hall et al [14] initiated scheduling problems with multitasking by proposing scheduling models in an administration scheduling system. Then, Sum et al [15], Sum et al [16], and Zhu et al [17] extended their work based on the basic setting of a multitasking scheduling model, where the processing of a selected task suffers from interruption by other tasks that are available but unfinished.…”

“…Although Hall et al [14] provided a practical administrative planning scenario illustrating scheduling with multitasking, the deterioration effect and DRMA of human operators were not considered. When human operators are multitasking, the deterioration effect and DRMA change the processing times remarkably, which may incur different scheduling results.…”

“…Zhu et al [17] investigated the multitasking scheduling problem with RMA, yet they ignored the job deterioration effect and the variability (deterioration) of RMA from human fatigue. Extending the work of Hall et al [14], Lodree Jr. and Geiger [37], and Zhu et al [17], we jointly consider the above issues in human-based scheduling systems to pursue more practical results. We refer to the proposed problem as multitasking scheduling problems with deterioration effect.…”