Stress Int He Workplace Due to Technology
Stress In The Workplace
How many times has e-mail gone down when you had to get a memo out immediately? "TECHNOLOGY designed to help people work efficiently is now forcing employees into a state of "digital depression" (Williamson, 2003). Rapidly changing technology has put greater amounts of stress on employees to constantly learn the new equipment that they need to know how to use to do their job, usually without formal training, this is referred to as "technostress." Computer-related stress--technostress--has become a fact of life in the 1990's. Both staff and users must juggle multiple computer systems, make sense of complex interfaces, and absorb massive amounts of information. Managers face special challenges as they try to guide their organizations through accelerating technological change, while also creating a supportive environment for their employees. The consequences are not surprising: widespread health problems, psychological symptoms, and loss of productivity. (Kupersmith, 2001)
Computers
Although the data on benefits were not at all categorizable, the data on stresses added by technology produced clear categories as shown in the figure below. First, only 20% of the sample said that technology had brought no additional stresses to their lives. Second, clear major themes appeared in the answers centering around the additional work technology brings to the job (solving problems, learning, etc.). Clearly, the vast majority of our business people were telling us that workplace technology had added stress to their lives. This is corroborated by recent research on Communication Overload and Information Fatigue Syndrome. (Business.com)
As a result, shown by the table the number one way technology has made work more stressful is by the system problem errors. System problems occur frequently and when the system goes down, most employees cannot continue to do their job. The frustration or stress level rises dramatically.
Learning
How many times has e-mail gone down when you had to get a memo out immediately? "TECHNOLOGY designed to help people work efficiently is now forcing employees into a state of "digital depression" (Williamson, 2003). Rapidly changing technology has put greater amounts of stress on employees to constantly learn the new equipment that they need to know how to use to do their job, usually without formal training, this is referred to as "technostress." Computer-related stress--technostress--has become a fact of life in the 1990's. Both staff and users must juggle multiple computer systems, make sense of complex interfaces, and absorb massive amounts of information. Managers face special challenges as they try to guide their organizations through accelerating technological change, while also creating a supportive environment for their employees. The consequences are not surprising: widespread health problems, psychological symptoms, and loss of productivity. (Kupersmith, 2001)
Computers
Although the data on benefits were not at all categorizable, the data on stresses added by technology produced clear categories as shown in the figure below. First, only 20% of the sample said that technology had brought no additional stresses to their lives. Second, clear major themes appeared in the answers centering around the additional work technology brings to the job (solving problems, learning, etc.). Clearly, the vast majority of our business people were telling us that workplace technology had added stress to their lives. This is corroborated by recent research on Communication Overload and Information Fatigue Syndrome. (Business.com)
As a result, shown by the table the number one way technology has made work more stressful is by the system problem errors. System problems occur frequently and when the system goes down, most employees cannot continue to do their job. The frustration or stress level rises dramatically.
Learning