Exploring Themes of Technostress for End Users Working with Hardware and Software Technology

Technology in the workplace is widespread in order for an organization to conduct business operations routinely. Technology allows the end user to experience work overload by taking on many projects and work stoppage from misconfigured computers, outdated devices, and network outages. Work overload (techno-overload) and stoppage because of technology has spurned a new terminology from work related stress termed technostress. This study explored end user feelings about working in a technological environment and the technostress created therein. Twenty-five participants, including five pilot participants, shared lived experiences about their work environment produced from working with technology systems, how leaders in the organization assisted in achieving project goals, and how the demands of technology influenced the work culture. The data analysis of face-to-face interviews was conducted by using NVivo 9 software which resulted in six extracted themes. The themes of leadership and communication explored how end users feel about leadership support. The theme, trusting computer users to manage simple updates, explored how end users felt about having a lack of control over managing technology needs. The theme, organizational culture and the work experience, explored organizational culture within various companies. The theme, dependency on technology, explored the dependency on technology that the workforce encountered which was not a factor several decades ago. The theme, submission to policies concerning technology in the workplace, explored how strict computer policies affected end user feelings. The theme, dominance created by the purpose of technology design, explored the feelings of the end user’s acceptance of the work environment created by the demands of protecting technology resources. Understanding these themes can guide technology developers and organizational leaders to create and improve the organizational work environment producing a more user-friendly workplace that inspires workers and increases work efficiency. The results and recommendations of this study regarding technostress on end users can guide future E-Leader Singapore 2013 organizational development, management, and leadership to create an optimum workplace for users of hardware and software technology (HST) based systems.