Interruptions can be annoying, especially if you’re working on a deadline and need to focus. They’re especially bothersome when they’re unnecessary, like the coworker who stops by to chat about the new restaurant they tried or has the details of weekend college football.
While some disruptions negatively impact your productivity, a new report called “To What Do I Owe This Visit? The Drawbacks and Benefits of In-Role and Non-Role Intrusions” published in the Journal of Management found that others may provide important benefits.
“A lot of literature and popular press talks about interruptions as these very negative things that you want to try to avoid at all costs,” says researcher John Bush, assistant professor at the University of Missouri’s Trulaske College of Business, and one of the report’s researchers. “We felt there may be a little more nuance there in terms of the type of interruption that you are receiving.”
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