Leadership and management in the digital world of work - challenges, opportunities and the need for action
Flexible, agile and networked work organisational forms are creating new challenges for the coordination, leadership and management of workforces, teams and processes. How will leadership and management tasks change?
Almost a third of all employed persons have responsibility for others, lead working units (whether big or small), and coordinate, oversee and manage teams, projects and processes. Digitalisation is making new forms of structuring and the organisation of processes possible and necessary. On the one hand, location-flexible forms of work are increasing the complexity of the management requirements. On the other hand, digital communication is replacing personal exchange – with possible consequences surrounding the motivation, performance and health of managers, an area into which little research has taken place to date.
Algorithms and app-based management systems are increasingly influencing the everyday work of managers, through supporting or determining decision-making processes based on analysis, for example. The question of what skills managers and subordinates will require in the future as an alternative to algorithms as decision-makers and because of the rapidly changing working conditions, is becoming increasingly important.
Approach
This field investigates the importance of digital technologies in terms of the work of formal and informal managers. The objective is to ascertain the influence of digitalisation on management on a systematic basis. Answers are to be provided to the following questions:
- What dynamics will change working practices in the area of leadership and management?
- How are these changes affecting the attitudes, behaviour, well-being and health of managers?
- What opportunities, challenges and requirements for action can be derived from this in terms of the design of people-friendly working conditions?
Findings from the other task-related clusters, from the programme components "Monitoring the digital world of work" and "OSH systems in the digital world of work" as well as from other BAuA research projects will be taken into account on an ongoing basis. The scientific community will be included through expert discussions, specialist articles and presentations at conferences and through publications.