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182 Part One Organizations, Management, and the Networked Enterprise

result in these workers moving to better jobs in fast-growth industries. Missing
from this equation are unskilled, blue-collar workers and older, less well-edu-
cated middle managers. It is not clear that these groups can be retrained easily
for high-quality (high-paying) jobs. Careful planning and sensitivity to employee
needs can help companies redesign work to minimize job losses.

Equity and Access: Increasing Racial and Social Class
Cleavages
Does everyone have an equal opportunity to participate in the digital age? Will the
social, economic, and cultural gaps that exist in the United States and other societies
be reduced by information systems technology? Or will the cleavages be increased,
permitting the better off to become even more better off relative to others?
These questions have not yet been fully answered because the impact of systems
technology on various groups in society has not been thoroughly studied. What is
known is that information, knowledge, computers, and access to these resources
through educational institutions and public libraries are inequitably distributed
along ethnic and social class lines, as are many other information resources.
Several studies have found that poor and minority groups in the United States
are less likely to have computers or online Internet access even though computer
ownership and Internet access have soared in the past five years. Although the
gap is narrowing, higher-income families in each ethnic group are still more likely
to have home computers and Internet access than lower-income families in the
same group.
A similar digital divide exists in U.S. schools, with schools in high-poverty areas
less likely to have computers, high-quality educational technology programs, or
Internet access availability for their students. Left uncorrected, the digital divide
could lead to a society of information haves, computer literate and skilled, versus
a large group of information have-nots, computer illiterate and unskilled. Public
interest groups want to narrow this digital divide by making digital information
services—including the Internet—available to virtually everyone, just as basic
telephone service is now.
In recent years, ownership of computers and digital devices has broadened, but
the digital divide still exists. Today’s digital divide is not only based on access to
digital technology but also on how that technology is being used.

Health Risks: RSI, CVS, and Technostress
The most common occupational disease today is repetitive stress injury (RSI).
RSI occurs when muscle groups are forced through repetitive actions often with
high-impact loads (such as tennis) or tens of thousands of repetitions under low-
impact loads (such as working at a computer keyboard).
The single largest source of RSI is computer keyboards. The most common kind
of computer-related RSI is carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), in which pressure
on the median nerve through the wrist’s bony structure, called a carpal tunnel,
produces pain. The pressure is caused by constant repetition of keystrokes: in a
single shift, a word processor may perform 23,000 keystrokes. Symptoms of carpal
tunnel syndrome include numbness, shooting pain, inability to grasp objects, and
tingling. Millions of workers have been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome.
RSI is avoidable. Designing workstations for a neutral wrist position (using a
wrist rest to support the wrist), proper monitor stands, and footrests all contribute
to proper posture and reduced RSI. Ergonomically correct keyboards are also an
option. These measures should be supported by frequent rest breaks and rotation
of employees to different jobs.

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