Information overload, time pressure and organizational patterns as perceived by Israeli school staffs

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the connections between information overload and time pressure, as well as between organizational patterns as they are perceived by school faculty, contingent upon the level of the specific educational framework (elementary-high school) and teachers’ roles within the school. The participants were 539 teachers. The main questions examined were: (A) Is there a connection between information overload and time pressure on the one hand, and the perception of organizational patterns by the faculty on the other? (B) Do differences exist between different staff position-holders as far as their perceptions of information overload and time pressure? (C) Does the organizational pattern as it is perceived by different staff members mediate between information overload and time pressure on the one hand, and the educational framework in which they work on the other? In order to answer these questions, three close-ended questionnaires were administered. Results show that in schools perceived as bureaucratic hierarchical organizations, teachers experience a higher degree of information overload and time pressure than teachers who work in schools perceived by them as systemic organizations. In addition, the organizational pattern mediates the connections between teachers’ roles in the school and their sense of information overload and time pressure.