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Digitalization changes the way people work to a considerable extent. It alters business models and process organizations of whole industries. The ensuing market dynamics and faster innovation cycles cause an increase in complexity. In this article, the interconnection of digitalization and complexity in work systems is analyzed. For this purpose, a framework for comparing relevant complexity definitions is developed. Moreover, complexity drivers in digitalized labor systems in six different organizational dimensions (process organization, organizational structure, technology, working conditions, product and personnel) are explored. 23 experts from the academic and industrial sector were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The results of a qualitative content analysis show that the consideration of complexity and digitalization has extensive impact what becomes evident in interdependent relations amongst the organizational dimensions. Furthermore, complexity drivers in digitalized work systems are determined as a result of the analysis procedure. Finally, the implications of the expert interviews for cooperative forms of work are discussed. The concept of a "task complexity mountain range" is presented to explain the effect of task complexity on performance and motivation in the context of work groups.

This paper presents the empirical validation of the time accuracy of the process building block system MTM-HWD® (Human Work Design). The analysis is based on process data collected from 62 different workplaces in German manufacturing companies. The accuracy of the process system is analyzed by studying the frequency of employed process building blocks in the data collection procedure. Subsequently, the differences between the MTM-HWD® and MTM-1 cycle times are evaluated. The findings show that there is no significant difference from samples of prior MTM-1 studies with respect to the frequency of employed MTM-1 process building blocks. It is shown that there is a systematic difference and a linear relationship between the MTM-HWD® and MTM-1 time data. However, it is demonstrated that the relatively larger MTM-HWD® times do not differ more than 5 % from the MTM-1 times when considering the 95 % confidence interval of the mean. These results meet the development aims in terms of the defined accuracy of the method of ± 5 % in comparison to MTM-1.

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