Electronic Performance Monitoring, Job Design and Psychological Stress

Sample

In any instructional event it is important to identify the learning domain (the instructional content),

A group of 704 employees in three job categories (telephone operator (n=228}, service representative (n=230), and clerk (n=246}) responded to a questionnaire mailed to their residence. Four hundred thirty-four of the respondents were monitored and 264 were not. Most of the monitored employees are from the positions of operator and service representative, while the vast majority of clerks were not electronically monitored.

The job category of telephone operator includes all types of operators (e.g. directory assistance operators, long distance operators, TOPS operators, TSPS operators). Service representatives include sales, customer, and business representatives. The category of clerk includes employees of the same level of responsibility and classification within the organizations, some of whom work with VDTs. Typical job titles include general clerk, administrative clerk, service clerk and technical clerk.

The sample is overwhelmingly female (90%). The mean age is 39.3 years (std. dev. 9.2), with an average tenure of 13.5 years with the organization.

Analysis

ANOVA and chi-square analyses were used to compare the levels of psychological stress between monitored and non-monitored employees. Discriminant function analysis was performed on the job design characteristics to discern which job design variables had different levels for monitored vs. non-monitored employee s. The job design characteristics which discriminated between the two groups were then examined with regard to psychological stress (tension, anxiety, depression and fatigue) using multiple regression analysis.

Analysis of Variance and Chi-square

The results of ANOV As and chi-square analyses indicated that the monitored employees had significantly higher levels of psychological stress than did the non- monitored employees (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Levels of psychological stress: Monitored vs. non-monitored employees - Anova and Chi-square results