In today’s world, technology has been growing fast and furious and its impact cannot be ignored, especially at the organizational level. The impact of technology on the stress levels in an organization can be said to be either positive or negative. This paper will focus on the technological impact on the organization’s stress levels and the type of powers involved in the workplace.
Forms of technologies in an organization can range from computers, mobile phones, radios, emails and other technical software. Such can be said to relieve stress in that, mobile phones for instance can be used as a means of communication when one is far away from their work. For example, a car can break down when one is in the field and with the use of a mobile phone, they can seek assistance. People working far from their family members can use emails and telephone calls to know the well-being of their members and this provides some form of relief. Surfing the internet can also be said to reduce stress as it offers a form of interaction with people in the outside world (Ramsay & Beirne, 1992)
On the other hand, technology can be said to increase stress due to the workload that may be associated with it. For instance, when using computers, there are various documents that need to be filed for safekeeping such as reports, bills, and orders and payslips. This could make one’s job so demanding and stressful. Frequent upgrades to the computer software have helped to make work easier but can also be said to have contributed to stress since they take a lot of time before they can respond appropriately (Ramsay & Beirne, 1992).
Some people think that the organization is concerned with employees’ levels of stress that would invade their privacy. However, this is not true since an employer should be concerned with how their employees work and relate as this would have an effect on their overall performance. Management should help employees learn skills on how to manage stress so that they can be able to cope in case they suffer from it. They can also provide counseling services for those who suffer from stress and at the same time try as much as possible to do away with or lessen the conditions that generate stress. Such could be things like noise and workloads (Griffin & Moorhead, 2004).
When assigning jobs, management should have in mind its possible impact on employee stress which could be negative or positive. In this case, negative stress, also referred to as distress causes one to be demoralized in their work. Positive stress on the other hand acts as a motivator to an individual since it creates some kind of challenge. Giving employees a lot of work with limited deadlines can make them feel overwhelmed and eventually lead to poor performance.
At the same time, under load can also lead to stress since many like jobs that are a bit challenging and competitive and lack of this would lead to boredom. Good performance is not only determined by assigning jobs in accordance with skills but also with interests since many people tend to have better results when they are interested in their jobs.
Time to market is the period between the initial introduction of a product in the market and the time this idea of intruding on this product was born. E-business can be used to reduce this time by making the manufacturing process easier and speedy as well as providing information on the process itself so as to make necessary changes.
As a trained and registered nurse working in a hospital, I have not been exposed to unethical use of power. However, coercive power can be termed as unethical since people are forced to do things that they may not be willing to do for fear of being penalized by those in leadership.
Positive politics in my workplace are related to employee motivation, where my employer has organized programs on how to motivate those who perform well. This has had a lot of impact on performance since it encourages people to work harder to meet the set goals. Negative politics on the other hand have also been prevalent especially where some of the employees do not cooperate with others so as to work as a team. Some even try to convince others to ignore duties assigned to them arguing that they are only paid for specific duties.
Reference list
Beirne, M. & Ramsay H. (1992). Information technology and workplace democracy. Cambridge University Press.
Griffin, R. & Moorhead G. (2009) Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.