Mobile Virtual Work A New Paradigm phần 7 potx

236 Peter Richter, Jelka Meyer and Fanny Sommer

10.3 Task-related and organisational factors of mental

workload

10.3.1 Individual work in virtual settings

Mental workload, mental strain and their effects are strongly associated

with working conditions and task characteristics (e.g. ergonomic design of

the workplace and decision latitude, respectively). In this section we will

provide empirical evidence that this is particularly apparent in virtual set￾tings. These factors can be assessed by means of objective and subjective

tools. Objective work analysis tools, such as structured observation, are

applied to assess work conditions and task characteristics independently

from the workers’ perceptions and interpretations (Semmer et al. 2004).

The problem of observing the mental and internal requirements of work

tasks is addressed through the so-called observational interview, which

combines structured observations and interview techniques. This method

can be used to assess important stressors and resources at work as well as

the workers’ personal perceptions and interpretations. This applies to work

conditions, job demands as well as processes and consequences of mental

strain. The use of both independent observations of task demands and sub￾jective analysis tools provide a more complete and valid estimation, as

compared to the exclusive use of subjective data about perceived demands

and well-being.

The authors developed a pilot study to measure the differences between

tasks in virtual and non-virtual work, with respect to task characteristics

and consequences of mental strain. Their findings were based on the ob￾servation of 18 virtual teams in Research & Development, IT and Human

Resources departments from Great Britain.T

1T Members of these teams

worked from various locations, co-operated by means of ICT. Some of

them took part in temporally limited projects; others had been working to￾gether over a long-term period of time.

Furthermore, this study collected data on perceived mental strain from

subjects working in 55 comparable jobs in public service and 19 jobs in

production. In order to compare their findings from the interviews on job

contents with the findings from these traditional work places, the authors

used a sub-sample form Debitz (2004).

These teams’ task characteristics were evaluated by means of the REBA

(Richter et al. 1998). It is based on the Task Diagnosis System (TDS,

Hacker 2003) and is used to analyse work tasks from the perspective of the

T

1T We would like to thank Fred Zijlstra, University of Surrey/Guilford, for his kind

support and cooperation in this project.

10 Well-being and Stress in Mobile and Virtual Work 237

action-regulation theory. First, information about the job is collected by

document analyses and observational interviews, and then the work de￾scription is evaluated with respect to 22 task characteristics. Eight of these

characteristics play a significant role in predicting the following short-term

negative consequences of mental strain: mental fatigue, monotony, mental

satiation and stress. The perceived workload was estimated by using an in￾terval-scaled questionnaire for fatigue, monotony, satiation and stress

(BMS, Plath and Richter 1984). Additionally, stress, in the form of nega￾tive appraisal (see 2.2), and other forms of mental strain were assessed by

means of other questionnaires (Job Stress Survey, Spielberger 1994; BMS￾questionnaire, Plath and Richter 1984; Rockstuhl 2002).

The findings of the objective and subjective work analyses were com￾pared to data gathered from production and public service jobs. Table 10.1

shows the results.

Table 10.1. Objective job demands, fatigue and stress in virtual teams compared

to non-virtual productive and public service activities (Debitz 2004)

TBS/REBA￾ScaleTaT

Productive

jobs

19 activities

M

Public

service

55 activities

M

Virtual teams

18 activities

M

Significant

differences

Sequential

completeness

3.6 3.7 3.7 n.s.

Organisational

tasks

3.5 3.6 4.4 p < 0.001

Kind of

cooperation

4.1 4.7 8.2 p < 0.001

Responsibility 3.0 3.7 3.9 p < 0.01

Learning

requirements

1.9 3.2 3.8 p < 0.001

Level of

participation

3.5 2.6 6.5 p < 0.001

Length of work

cycle

4.9 5.4 6.3 p < 0.001

Amount of

cooperation

3.2 3.7 4.1 p < 0.05

BMS fatigueP

b

P 56..9 53.0 50..5 p < 0.05

BMS stressP

b

P 55.7 56.4 52..2 p < 0.001

P

a PHigher values stand for enriched job demands

P

b

P

T-scale: T=50+10z, higher values stand for higher levels of fatigue or

stress

238 Peter Richter, Jelka Meyer and Fanny Sommer

Compared to the non-virtual activities, the assessed virtual teams have

more enriched job characteristics: In virtual teams more organisational

tasks and functions are transferred to the members, group work was, to a

greater extent, organised by the group itself, members faced significantly

more learning demands and responsibilities and were more involved in

planning processes. They exhibited a greater amount of cooperation, which

took place mainly by means of ICT, and furthermore, their work consisted

of longer work cycles. Virtual and mobile work places are more flexible

and require intensive interaction with ICT tools. Dynamic work environ￾ments, temporally limited projects and network organisations with self￾organised teamwork thus cause enriched job demands among virtual teams

and organisations. On the other hand, higher levels of stress and lower lev￾els of fatigue were observed in the virtual teams. This corresponds with

Montreuil and Lippel’s (2003) findings that perceived stress tends to be

greater for more favourable, or more enriched job tasks. Measures of men￾tal strain were further correlated to job demands, as shown in table 10.2.

Table 10.2. Correlations between measures of mental strain (JSS, BMS) and job

demands in virtual teams

Job demand scale Job Stress Survey

(Spielberger

1994)

BMS monotony

(Plath and Richter

1984)

BMS stress

(Plath and Richter

1984)

Sequential

completeness

.59* .60*

Organisational

tasks

.56*

Responsibility .69*

Learning

requirements

-.83*

Level of

participation

-.76*

Length of work

cycle

-.90*

Amount of

cooperation

.69P

a

P

N=19; Significance P

a P

p<.05 (age, gender and working time are partialised

out)

High levels of learning requirements, a high degree of participation, and

low degree of task repetition (length of work cycle) are correlated with re￾duced monotony. On the other hand, contrary to existing results of work

analyses, rising sequential completeness and organisational demands as

well as an increasing level of responsibility and an increasing amount of

10 Well-being and Stress in Mobile and Virtual Work 239

cooperation were all associated with significantly increased symptoms of

job stress in the assessed sample.

Thus, these results support the curvilinear hypotheses of enriched job

demands in the vitamin model (Warr 1987): e.g. highly demanding tasks in

the virtual environment are associated with stress symptoms and skill utili￾zation, but are also characterised by much higher levels of cognitive and

social demands compared to classical co-located work places.

These results can only be referred to as preliminary, and at this point no

definitive conclusion of the impact of virtual and mobile work on workers’

health and well-being can be drawn. The present studies mainly indicate

that certain characteristics of the work, tasks and the team may be associ￾ated with ones well-being and health. Thus, further research is necessary to

detect what specific conditions of virtual and mobile teamwork may result

in risks to the workers’ physical and psychological health.

Summary

• Work in virtual teams has more enriched job characteristics (e.g. amount

of organisational tasks, learning requirements and the level of participa￾tion) than traditional jobs

• Contrary to existing results of work analysis, enriched job characteris￾tics in the context of virtual teams are associated with increased symp￾toms of job stress

• There could be a curvilinear interrelation between health and enriched

job demands (Vitamin model, Warr 1987)

10.3.2 Aspects of collaboration in mobile virtual work

The decision to create mobile and/or virtual work teams is generally based

on financial factors, such as economic needs, company mergers or expan￾sionist policies. Virtual and mobile teams enable organisations to connect

experts and exchange knowledge by eliminating the barriers of time and

space. Most companies expect excellent performance from virtual teams,

because such teams are designed to consist of competent people, able to

work at locations with optimal conditions on tasks that are often challeng￾ing and motivating (for an overview see Andriessen 2003, Furst et al.

2004, Hertel et al. 2005, Vartiainen et al. 2004).

Virtual tools make working life easier and much more difficult at the

same time. Technologically-mediated communication allows for coopera￾tion between people located all over the world on one task. Neither the lo￾cation of a person nor their profession, company or nationality has an im-