Socio-Technical Perspectives on Smart Working: Creating Meaningful and Sustainable Systems

Abstract

Technological advances have made possible industrial and commercial applications of artificial intelligence, virtual reality and highly integrated manufacturing systems. It has also freed business activity from a focus on place, as both work activities and markets have been able to harness information and communication technologies in order to operate remotely. As a result, researchers have highlighted a phenomenon of 'smart' working. Some have pointed to a fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) in which 'smart' factories use robotics to achieve high performance. There is now a suggestion of progress towards Industry 5.0, in which technological and social systems work in harmony to deliver personalised mass customization of products and services. This paper examines these developments from the perspective of unique, individual understandings of work roles and sustainability, posing the questions 'Smart' from whose point of view? Do smart systems promote sustainable organizations? How should design of smart systems be approached? It suggests that contemporary socio-technical systems approaches to organizational analysis are the best way to support harnessing of smart technologies in organizations.

Modelling the Asymmetrical Relationships between Digitalisation and Sustainable Competitiveness: A Cross-Country Configurational Analysis

“…Previous studies suggest that digital transformation might be a significant driver to achieve sustainability (Maffei et al 2019), and has generated entirely new mechanisms to maintain and promote natural resources, national wealth, and well-being (Akande et al 2019). Accordingly, several IS researchers suggest that nations should set programs and undertake initiatives towards digitalisation in order to achieve sustainability objectives (Bednar and Welch 2019;Kar et al 2019). However, understanding the digitalisation as a complex phenomenon (Park and Saraf 2016), which consists of several factors, such as infrastructure, capabilities, usage, and change (Hanna 2016) is a challenging problem.…”

Digital Transformation in Health Care: Augmented Reality for Hands-Free Service Innovation

“…Smart devices can observe their environment through sensors or actuators while being able to communicate over a network and, thus, they can be active actors in a service system rather than just passive objects (Beverungen et al 2017b). Collaborative systems will enable human individuals to realize their full creative potential in delivering services to consumers (Bednar and Welch 2019). Artifacts that are intended for smart service systems should be designed and built with an eye towards user satisfaction and technology acceptance (Jafari Navimipour and Soltani 2016).…”

Shaping Digital Innovation Via Digital-related Capabilities

“…In other words, companies need to find ways to exploit digital innovation. Therefore, the dominant role of digital innovation is being increasingly observed in the business environment due to new opportunities that offer firms the potential to broaden into new and special experiences (Jahanmir and Cavadas 2018;Kolloch and Dellermann 2018;Nylén and Holmström 2015), leading to high profit potential and customer satisfaction (Bednar and Welch 2019;Parida et al 2015). The origins of digital innovation can be traced to digitalization (Chan et al 2019), which acts as an enabler of and creates essential conditions for exploiting digital innovation (Yoo et al 2010).…”