Content area
Full text
ABSTRACT
The technological revolution has undoubtedly brought along many changes in the workplace today. Although it has allowed work to be carried out faster and more efficient, many employees are not comfortable with the implementation of technology as it involves change and uncertainty. As a result, they experience additional stress known as technostress which may have negative consequences in the organisation. This conceptual paper highlights the issues of technostress and coping strategies, particularly in the library setting.
Keyword(s): Technology change, Libraries, Technostress, Multitasking Madness, Information overload.
INTRODUCTION:
Technology changes the way people work and learn. As the role of technology is being defined and is constantly being improved, change is inevitable (Davis-Millis, 1998; Brand, 2000). As a result, those involved in higher education have to find ways to adapt to technological change.Administrators, faculty, librarians, and students should define the role of technology for the purposes of (1) sharing new ideas and techniques for teaching and learning; (2) encouraging enthusiasm and innovativeness; and (3) learning about opportunities and challenges, and how to deal with them (Landsberger, 2001).
Since the emergence of information technology, the gap between information 'haves' and 'have-nots' has been broad ening: the information rich become richer, while the information poor are poorer. This situation contributes to various issues related to individuals and society.
The move to the Information Age, with its changes and need for adaptation to technology, has been rapid and stressful for many people. While many people have increased their usage of technology and are comfortable with it, many others still do not use much technology and are not comfortable using it when they must do so. For those who are not amenable to change, who findit difficult to adapt, there are often a variety of responses or results. One type of response is called technostress. Technostress is the inability to adapt to or cope with new computer technologies which reveals itself in one of two ways: (1) computer users struggle to accept the technologies or (2) computer users over-identify with the technology (Brod, 1984).
TECHNOSTRESS:
The term technostress was coined in 1984 by a clinical psychologist, Dr. Craig Brod (1984, p. 16):
Technostress is a modern disease of adaptation caused by an inability to cope with the new...