The Impact of ICT on Quality of Working Life

This book discusses the impact and effects of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on quality of working life of employees. It describes the changes and the acceleration of processes caused by the widespread use of ICT in a broad range of working areas and in different national contexts. It explores the important role ICT has come to play in nearly all work places in developed societies and the impact it is starting to have on work places in developing countries. The book brings together experts from the fields of ICT and quality of working life and from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, including sociology, psychology, industrial engineering and macro ergonomics. It discusses the range of current positive and negatives effects as well as the possible increase of both kinds of effects in the future. The final chapter of the book integrates the diverse perspectives of the authors and gives recommendations on how to increase the possible positive outcomes and to diminish negative effects of ICT in an accelerated society.

Christian Korunka, PhD. Professor for Work & Organizational Psychology at the University of Vienna, Austria.

Research interests: Effects of Organizational change on employees, new job demands, ICT and quality of working life, burnout, engagement.

Peter Hoonakker, PhD., Associate Director of Research and Scientist at the Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.

Research interests: Implementation and evaluation of health information technology, quality of care and patient safety.

This book discusses the impact and effects of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on quality of working life of employees. It describes the changes and the acceleration of processes caused by the widespread use of ICT in a broad range of working areas, and in different national contexts. It explores the important role ICT has come to play in nearly all work places in developed societies, and the impact it is starting to have on work places in developing countries. The book brings together experts from the fields of ICT and quality of working life, and from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, including sociology, psychology, industrial engineering, and macro ergonomics. It discusses the range of current positive and negatives effects as well as the possible increase of both kinds of effects in the future. The final chapter of the book integrates the diverse perspectives of the authors and gives recommendations on how to increase the possible positive outcomes and to diminish negative effects of ICT in an accelerated society.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) play an important role in nearly all work places in developed societies, and are starting to have a major impact in developing countries as well. Since the broad introduction of ICT in work places in the 1970s, researchers have tried to evaluate the effects of ICT on employees' quality of (working) life. Depending on a wide range of factors, studies have found both negative effects (i.e., increased stress and burnout) and positive effects (i.e. advantages of a-synchronous communication, increases in job satisfaction). Since the early days of ICT implementation there is also an acceleration of processes observable which influences not only all aspects of work, but society in general. In current sociological approaches (e.g., Hartmut Rosa, 2006), acceleration is even described as the core element of modern societies. In this context ICT play a significant role because they not only accelerate processes (one of the best examples is the ever-increasing number of emails) but ICT itself accelerates over time (i.e. there is a continuously increasing number of ICT implementations in organizations). Against the background of these relatively new and wide-ranging developments the effect of ICT on quality of working life of employees needs to be reevaluated. It may be expected that, depending on specific personal, organizational and job conditions, the range of possible positive and negative effects will even further increase. This book will bring together a number of highly reputable experts in the field of ICT and quality of working life from different backgrounds (e.g., sociology, work and organizational/industrial psychology, cognitive psychology, industrial engineering, macroergonomics etc). Some of the authors have studied the effects of ICT on work places since the beginnings of the field. In a wide range of perspectives, the authors try to reevaluate the current impact of ICT on quality of (working) life. The chapters describe changes not only in a wide range of working areas, but also in different national contexts. A final chapter aims to integrate the diverse perspectives of the authors and gives recommendations how to increase the possible positive outcomes and to diminish negative effects of ICT in an accelerated society.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.