On the impact of collaboration tools - valuable resources or stressors? (HRV)

Basic data for this project

Description

Topic Area: Researching worker stress in communication technology-enabled workplaces Team: Dr. Nadine Vehring (contact person) Prof. Stefan Klein Dr. Stefan Schellhammer Partner: Dr. Russell Haines (Department of Information Technology and Decision Sciences, Old Dominion Univeristy) Add. Partner Dr. Christian Eggenberger (IBM Switzerland, IMT ALPS Workplace & Mobility Leader), Mag. Esther Hietler (Gründerin und Geschäftsführerin beplus) Description Against the backdrop of current debates about new ways of working and technologically induced stress, we acknowledge the ambivalent effects of collaboration tools on their users: on the one hand they are enabling and facilitating distributed collaboration and knowledge sharing, on the other hand they add another layer of complexity to distributed project work and still too often fail. Therefore, we are exploring the link between the technology repertoires of employees engaged in multiple project teams and the level of stress. Detailed Information We conceptualize stress as a chronic phenomenon, which reflects individuals’ responses to the complexities and demands of their private and professional lives. As there are many causes of occupational stress, we try to capture multiple facets of the organization environment such as work environment (e.g. work-life balance, perceived level of control), task environment (e.g. nature of work, specifically project work) and technology (tools, media repertoires, practices of use). Moreover, we are aware that personality, the private social environment as well as coping strategies are important factors to explain perceived stress. By combining different data collection methods like interviews, observations, diaries and heart rate variability measurements, we aim to explore the effects of distributed computer-mediated project work on the perceived and evident level of strain. By improving our understanding of potential causes of stress we expect to be able to identify individual and organizational strategies to mitigate stress in the workplace.