Kapitelvorschau

Kapitelvorschau

Abstract

There are clear signs that digitalization attempts such as Industry 4.0 will become more apparent in workplaces. This development requires reflections and considerations so we do not create more problems than we solve. In our paper, we have raised several questions related to the Industry 4.0 that need answers: Is Industry 4.0 a discourse, an organizational model, or just technology? Does the requirement for flexibility call for a new labour market? How will Industry 4.0 affect competence and skill requirements? Will Industry 4.0 encourage a new gender order? Will Industry 4.0 take over dangerous routine work or will old work environmental problems appear in new contexts and for other groups of workers? Can we rely on robots as work mates or will they spy on us and report to management? Based on our analysis, we addressed four knowledge gaps that need more research in relation to the digitalization of work: The relationship between new technology, working conditions, qualifications, identity, and gender; the future of the workers' collective; crowdsourcing in an industrial context; and human-machine interaction with a focus on integrity issues.

Abstract

This paper assesses the importance of digitalization in Germany and other developed countries, with particular attention on the potential or actual impacts this process may have on the labor market. Referring to available empirical evidence, we document the transformation of occupations and forms of employment as well as the role of the platform economy, including the phenomenon of solo self-employment. We then derive current and future challenges for social protection and develop proposals to adapt social insurance systems to these new challenges.

Abstract

Field technology is electronic systems or equipment designed to capture and communicate data on workers in the field so that employers can manage, document or inspect the behavior and job performance of the mobile workforce. In this article, we argue that the deployment of various types of field technology can be interpreted as the technological realization of popular reform programs that have been introduced in the public and the private sector over the last three decades, especially risk management and New Public Management.

Further, we argue that the use of field technology implies that internal systems for governance and control migrate from the corporate to the individual level. We propose that one important effect of this migration is that the privacy (data protection) of the mobile workforce is diminished and that the power of managers is enhanced.

Our discussions and conclusions are based on a qualitative study of the effects of various field technologies in 52 private companies and public organizations in Norway.

Abstract

The implementation of new technologies, including business analytics, is commonly seen as a managerial technique to enabling employee control and standardization, i.e. to establish a prevalent way of thinking and reasoning within organizations (Kallinikos, 2011). Despite this purposeful “rationality engineering” (Cabantous & Gond, 2011), researchers acknowledge unforeseen and paradoxical effects of digitalization, involving, for example, both autonomy and control (e.g. Leonardi, Treem, & Jackson, 2010; Mazmanian, Orlikowski, & Yates, 2013; Sarker, Xiao, Sarker, & Ahuja, 2012; Stohl, Stohl, & Leonardi, 2016). For this reason, this paper aims to shed some light on the paradoxical rationalities that exist in the digital workplace. Following the assumption of digital materiality that characterized the materiality turn (e.g. Pink, Ardèvol, & Lanzeni, 2016) and the idea of technologies as “rationality carriers” (Cabantous & Gond, 2011) we conceptualize how humans and artifacts together enact paradoxical rationalities. We exemplify this with reference to the autonomy-control paradox and illustrate our arguments using empirical examples from existing literature on the use of mobile devices. More concretely, we examine three scenarios in which autonomy and control occur: (1) where they co-exist independently of each other, (2) where they hybridize on the level of individuals, and (3) where either autonomy or control prevails. As a result, we propose that heterogeneous, i.e. diverse and shifting, sociomaterial assemblages matter for the enactment of rationality. In addition, we suggest that the individual hybridization of paradoxes is rooted in materiality’s capacity to act which is, in turn, overruled by collective norms. Our propositions can inform future research and practice for managers who seek to enact particular types of rationalities within their organizations.

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on actual weekly working hours using the second wave of the German Linked Personnel Panel, a unique employer-employee dataset. ICT usage is widespread among employees in the private sector. Half of the establishments equip all managerial employees with mobile devices. We confirm the findings of previous studies that show a positive correlation between ICT usage and working times. Employees work approximately 30 minutes longer per week if they use modern digital technologies for work. Furthermore, our multivariate analyses reveal that this correlation is especially strong for managers and in establishments that equip all of their employees in leading positions with mobile devices.