Document Detail


Getting the attention you need.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  11143148     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Employees have an enormous amount of business information at their fingertips--more specifically, at their desktops. The floodgates are open; profitable possibilities abound. But having to handle all that information has pushed downsized staffs to the brink of an acute attention deficit disorder. To achieve corporate goals, business leaders need their employees' full attention--and that attention is in short supply. Authors Thomas Davenport and John Beck have studied how companies manage the attention of their employees and their site visitors. In this article, they analyze the components of attention management through three lenses--economic, psychobiological, and technological--and offer guidelines for keeping employees focused on crucial corporate tasks. Their lessons are drawn from the best practices employed by today's stickiest Web sites and by traditional attention industries such as advertising, film, and television. The authors say executives must manage attention knowing that it's a zero-sum game (there's only so much to go around). Managers should also consider capitalizing on the basic survival and competitive instincts we all have that help determine how much attention we pay to certain things. For instance, the threat of corporate demise--and the consequent loss of jobs and livelihoods--undoubtedly focuses workers' attention on the need to change. Likewise, internal competition among business units may give employees added incentive to pay attention to a profit or sales goal. Leaders today need to pay more attention to attention because it's widely misunderstood and widely mismanaged, the authors conclude.
Authors:
T H Davenport; J C Beck
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Harvard business review     Volume:  78     ISSN:  0017-8012     ISO Abbreviation:  Harv Bus Rev     Publication Date:    2000 Sep-Oct
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2000-12-19     Completed Date:  2001-01-11     Revised Date:  2004-11-17    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9875796     Medline TA:  Harv Bus Rev     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  118-26, 200     Citation Subset:  H    
Affiliation:
Andersen Consulting's Institute for Strategic Change, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. thomas.h.davenport@ac.com
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Attention*
Communication*
Emotions
Humans
Internet
Leadership
Organizational Objectives*
Personnel Management / methods*
United States

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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