What are the two most frequently experienced causes of frustration in IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan?

When we talk of frustration, we usually deal with it everyday, a concrete example on this, is we are in a hurry (probably late in school or in a meeting) then we are indulged in a heavy traffic caused us to be frustrated and lead to changes of our mood (e.g. angry towards the driver), and as a result, we end up not attending the meeting or be absent in the class because we are already 15 minutes late! Even I had also experienced it (I may say we all experience this!) For me, when we say frustration, I defined it as an obstacle, a rock that hinders me in what I want to do. In simple terms, I am not satisfied with what I have done. Or a feeling of disappointment caused by great expectations towards a person, an event or even a thing.

Frustration was first introduced by Sigmund Freud as a concept both external and internal in nature and related to the concept of goal attainment. Frustration occurs when there is an inhibiting condition which interferes with or stops the realization of a goal. All action has a purpose or goal whether explicit or implicit, and any interruption to the completion of an action or task can cause frustration. For Freud, frustration included both external barriers to goal attainment and internal obstacles blocking satisfaction (Freud, 1921).
This concept of frustration as a duality is continued in the analysis of frustration as both cause and effect (Britt & Janus, 1940). As a cause, frustration is an external event, acting as a stimulus to an individual and eliciting an emotional reaction. In this case, the emotional response is the effect, and the individual is aroused by this external cause and a response is often directed towards the environment.

Dollard et al. define frustration as “an interference with the occurrence of an instigated goal-response at its proper time in the behavior sequence” (Dollard, Doob, Miller, Mowrer, & Sears, 1939). Because an instigated goal response entails only that the goal be anticipated, frustration is due to the expectation and anticipation of a goal, not the actual attainment of the goal (Berkowitz, 1978). If the goal is unfulfilled, frustration is experienced because satisfaction was not achieved and hopes were suddenly thwarted. The thwarting or hindrance -- terms often used synonymously with frustration -- is not limited to the actual activity in progress, but relates to what the individual is expecting (Mowrer, 1938a).

As what I have said above, all of us experience frustration, maybe in school or in work. Same situation goes with the IS Professionals. For me, one of the most frequent causes of frustration of these people is when the higher management lacks commitment or IS professionals does not acquire support from the higher management. This is so tough for those who are working on the IS plan, as what I have stated above, the IS planning team needs to gather the data, do some evaluation on the technology and business strategies of the company. Without the higher management’s support, the planning team cannot have accurate data, or proper resources that they need. The team will be frustrated and would result to poor job performance or ineffectively carrying out their day to day duties and it leads to poor IS planning or project output (poor analysis, poor design, etc.). This simple problem would result to another problem which is on the user of the Information System (probably when implementing the IS plan).


As the result of the problem stated above, the users of the IS will greatly be affected. As an effect, based on my reading frustration with technology can lead to wasted time, changed mood, and affected interaction with colleagues. When users in a workplace are frustrated with their computers, it can lead to lower levels of job satisfaction (Murrell & Sprinkle, 1993). In some cases, user frustration with technology can even lead to increased blood volume pressure and muscle tension (Riseberg, Klein, Fernandez, & Picard, 1998). Whew! It can cause high blood pressure!


When we talking about frustration, the primary cause of this is the word “EXPECTATIONS”. And for me, expectations really sucks! So goes with the IS professionals and the users of the IS. The IS planning team expects a lot (i.e. support) from the top management, when the expectations of the IS planning team is not reached, these will lead to poor project output (as what I have stated above). Then the users of the IS expects (again!) a lot from the IS planning team (knowing that users do not have any idea on what the IS planning team is doing to produce the system) that they can use the system with ease and solve their computing problems but then again the users of the system are disappointed with the outcome. Then gradually, the business would disappear like a bubble (mawawala na parang bula). Then there goes another problem the unemployment. Then again another problem will take into place, hunger of the family of those employees who were unemployed. It seems that the problem branches out, every wrong move; there is a consequence that waits.

To close this, I may say that no man is an island. No one can live without the other. I am speaking not just as a student but also as a concerned individual. We should help one another in reaching our goals. From planning (whether it may be in professional level or personal level) down to putting our goals into actions. Frustrations and consequences are part of our lives, we should not give in to whatever problems we have knowing that every problem has its own purpose and has its own solution. Hardships in life are given to us to test us how far we can stand them. NEVER GIVE UP. They are the shadows which will us to become stronger than what we used to be. As what Epictetus said,”It is not the problems that bothering you. It is the way you look at them.” In the same manner, Chuck Swindoll declared:”Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react on it.”
Let’s be positive!

God Bless Everyone!