New technology and its impact on well being.
Great changes have come about in the last decade regarding the organization of work. High technology and the steadily increasing ideology of technocracy has produced a profound effect on the organization of work in some workplaces. This effect has made the psychosocial and physical working environment tougher, especially for women. The results we are presenting here show that when dividing fishing factories into three technological stages; low technology, middle technology and high technology, the job strain was highest and the decision authority by the employee was lowest in the high technological factories. This even had an impact on health and on the atmosphere at the workplace, where the employees in the high technological factories were more likely to complain about several health problems as well as about low degrees of cheerfulness at the workplace and tiresome jobs. However, these same people were the most positive towards the implementation of the high technology and the new way of organizing their job that the technology introduced.
Rafnsdottir
Gudbjorg Linda
GL
Department of Research and Occupational Health, Administration of Occupational Safety and Health, and Faculty of Social Science, University of Iceland, Reykjavic, Iceland. linda@ver.is
Gudmundsdottir
Margret Lilja
ML
D000818:Animals; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005399:Fishes; D005525:Food-Processing Industry; D006801:Humans; D007055:Iceland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013672:Technology