An example method is provided and includes maintaining at a network element a flow table, in which the flow table comprises a plurality of flow table entries and in which each of the flow table entries corresponds to one of a plurality of active data flows in a network, and, subsequent to receipt at the network element of a data packet of one of the active flows, characterizing the one of the active flows as a large flow or a short flow using values contained in the flow table entry corresponding to the one of the active flows. The method further includes processing the received packet in accordance with the characterization.