ABSTRACT
The use of new technology in occupational settings has created changes in work tools, work methods and working conditions. These changes are likely affecting employee stress, health and quality-of-working-life (QWL) (Carayon and Lim 1994). Upper extremity work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMD) are increasingly becoming more prevalent among the US workforce (BLS 1997) and this trend seems to be related to the introduc-tion of computer-based technology in the service sector. The introductions of new technology, and the accompanying changes in job design and work organization, have often failed to incorporate human factors principles of organizational design and management (ODAM) and socio-technical principles of job design and stress reduction. Accumulated
research evidence has shown a relationship between the nature of work organization and various stress-related diseases (Cooper and Marshall 1976; House 1981), and there has recently been an interest in the potential relationship between work organization, psychological stress and WRMD (Smith and Carayon 1996).
