Feng, Min, Bourazzouq, Driss, Toulouse School of Management (TSM), Université Toulouse 1 Capitole (UT1), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Laboratoire de recherche en Management (LAREQUOI), Laboratoire de Recherche Magellan, Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 (UJML), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Lyon, Toulouse School of Management Research (TSM), Université Toulouse Capitole (UT Capitole), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Toulouse School of Management (TSM), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT), Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Lyon, Université Paris-Saclay, AIS, FENG, Min, Centre de Recherche Magellan, and Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Toulouse School of Management (TSM)
International audience; This study examined the adaptive behaviors of team managers (TMs) in the fight against technostress inthe information and communication technology (ICT) environment. Based on the opinions of employeesand experts, companies use exchanges, coordination, cooperation, and communications betweenemployees and TMs as strategies for dealing with complex and stressful situations. These strategies arecommunicated to TMs as adequate and operational adaptive strategies, and employees then apply them.We focused on socio-technical (ST) theory, which is “an approach to complex organizational work designthat recognizes the interaction between people and technology in the workplace” (Hughes et al. 2017). Long(2013) defines “socio-technics” as the interdependence of an organization or society’s social and technicalaspects. Thus, “contextual dependencies inherent in [an] ST system mean that interactions among allelements within that system contribute to shaping the whole” (Sadok and Bednar 2017). Although manystudies explore certain organizational aspects of the impact of work tasks and the effects of job roles,cultural deference, volition, and responsibility within an organization, the stakeholder perspective is largelyignored. Therefore, this study focused on a certain class of stakeholders (Coakes and Elliman 1999)—TMs—to bridge this literature gap. Primarily, this study answered the following questions regarding TMs: (1) Whatadaptive strategies do TMs adopt to manage technostress levels in an interactional environment? and (2)What coping strategies do TMs choose, given the type of coping identified?Theoretically, the study was conducted in the context of ICT management using “interdependence”(Deutsch 1973) and leader-member exchange (LMX) concepts, where information overload andtechnostress affect TMs (Graen and Cashman 1975). Subordinates also influence their superiors in thehierarchy of power (Blackburn, 1981); theirs is an interpersonal power relationship wherein TMs andemployees depend on each other. This allowed us to describe the processes used by TMs and employees todevelop various behavioral interdependencies in their respective roles. Rather than a single common typeof relationship or exchange, managers develop different ones with each subordinate (Graen and Cashman1975; Liden and Graen 1980). To express the differential relationships stemming from resource restrictionswithin a company, Dansereau et al. (1975) employed the vertical dyad linkage approach, a theory that dealswith the individual and dyadic relationships formed between leaders and their subordinates.We conducted an empirical multiple case study to identify types of coping strategies and adopt interactionalanalysis, as we were interested not only in the individuals but also the interactions of this dyad’s elementsthat help managers address technostress’s negative effects.