Design and transformation of (digital) work systems
At the virtual Zollhof University Innovation Day 2020, Prof. Dr. Sven Laumer presented three projects of the Schöller Endowed Chair for Information Systems on the design and transformation of digital work systems.
From the area of People Analytics, he presented results that explored the question of when and why virtual teams are successful. Based on the analysis of the productivity of virtual software development teams, the negative influence of geographical distance was shown, but it was also addressed that offline contacts help to bridge these distances. Offline contacts are especially important for heterogeneous teams, newly formed teams and for projects that have just started. The projects of the Schöller team in the area of “People Analytics” help to build up knowledge about (digital) work systems and the people who are involved in them to design them successfully.
As a second example, Prof. Dr. Sven Laumer presented the approach of process-oriented enterprise content management, which was developed at the chair as part of an industry project. In many projects, digital innovations are considered technically and the respective use case is successfully realized within the framework of a new IT system. However, the role the new IT system plays in the work system of the affected employees and how it contributes to an effective and efficient design of the work system as a whole is often not considered. Using the approach of process-oriented enterprise content management, the Schöller team analyzes the challenges of (digital) work systems in order to show how an IT system must be designed from the employees’ holistic perspective in order to support them in their work system.
The third example from the area of “Digital Transformation Challenges” focused on the question of whether companies and the employees concerned are prepared for the productive use of artificial intelligence. Here, Prof. Laumer presented, among other things, work from the projects of Quirin Demlehner, who, in collaboration with Siemens, is investigating which adoption barriers exist on the part of companies that make the use of artificial intelligence in production processes more difficult. In addition, the project will investigate individual adoption barriers in order to derive strategic and change management-related implications for companies. The projects of the Schöller Endowed Chair in the area of “Digital Transformation Challenges” identify corresponding challenges in order to be able to accompany companies in their digital transformation and support them in their respective digital change management activities.
The three projects exemplify our conviction to put people at the center of our projects. We always consider the interface between technology and people, either as individuals, as part of a group, or in the operational environment. Although the focus of the three projects was different, they nevertheless have in common that they show that people are simultaneously part of a work system and parallel users of IT systems. It is important that people think first and foremost about their work, and not about the IT systems they use as part of their work. In the examples presented and in many other projects, this approach of the Schöller Endowed Chair has helped to successfully shape digitization in business and society.