Comparative Study of Two Organisations Implementing Information and Communication Technology: Effects on the Health of Goods Transport Operators

Abstract

The Road Transport and Logistics sector is subjected to strong competitive pressures within continuous changing socioeconomic and regulatory contexts. These constraints have led companies in this sector to resort extensively to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT); these tools have both positive and negative effects on work conditions. Our hypothesis is that these effects depend on user ICT implementation, which is broadly determined by corporate organisation and management instructions. The aim of this study is to test this hypothesis in two companies organised differently (lean-type vs learning type) with an ICT since the last ten years, within an employee health and safety prevention scope. The main results reveal various effects related to using ICT. Weakening of inter-personnel relationships and a redistribution of interactions between operators were observed at company organised according to "lean-type organisation", while high pace of work and activity segmentation were noted in both organisations. Nevertheless, these preliminary results need to be confirmed with further studies involving others type of organisations.