Comment Manager is wasting his time by singling-out music (Score 1) 1019
I believe that musing is distracting; some studies have shown that performance/productivity are affected by listening to music, just as other forms of multitasking. However, so is office chatter, phone or paging system calls, email alerts, chat alerts, requests from other colleagues, and other interruptions. A symptom to watch for is programmers saying that they prefer to come in early or staying in late in order to be more productive - you must then consider making alterations to the office/work environment. But this is to be done by working *with* the team and look for ideas/improvement options that are accessible to the business.
But the manager is wasting his time when he focuses on music listening habits - music might be better (for one) than ambient noises.