Session Information
32 SES 12 A, Shadows of the Future - Organizational Learning in the Context of Digitalization and other Challenges in the Workplace
Paper Session
Contribution
Due to digitalization, industrial companies face rising complexity of cyber-physical systems. As these are associated with complex products, services and processes, they are getting more difficult to understand for the worker at the groundfloor. Thus, the technological innovation leads to new competence requirements for the workforce. Additionally, companies are exposed to demographic change and a lack of skilled and experienced workforce. Obviously, this leads to various individual and organizational uncertainties. Digitalization, however, also has the potential to change organizational learning practices. Digital information spaces memorize, generate and transfer a huge amount of data that can be fast and appropriate provided to employees. This may result in the formation of a digital organizational knowledge space enhancing collaborative and interdivisional cooperation and enabling rapid training processes.
Cognitive Assistance systems applied in industry are digital technologies holding the potential of transforming organizational learning practices. Supporting workers in highly variable and knowledge intensive working situations, they display component-specific and “in-situ”-information via a digital human-machine-interface. They also contain tools for communication, collaboration, authoring content and for exchange of information between business units. Preliminary work realized by Fraunhofer IFF shows the potential of cognitive assistance systems in various fields of application, e.g. in the field of maintenance and manual assembly (Schenk & Berndt 2016, Haase 2017, Keller et al. 2017).
Our contribution grounds in theoretical perspectives connecting to the “boundary object” approach for complex structuring of information. Following Leigh Star and Ruhleder (1996), boundary objects support collective processing of knowledge and distributed problem solving. As ‘immutable mobiles’ (Latour 1987) they perform translations between individuals, teams, different disciplines or organizations, while maintaining the specificity of the disciplines. The concept of boundary objects not only offers a theoretical framework but as well a methodological concept to manage complexity by information and communication systems. In fact, cognitive assistance systems applied in industry are digital technologies building up a digital infrastructure for a large information space and shaping formal and informal individual and organizational learning.
As we can observe, companies and research institutions currently face methodological challenges regarding the design and implementation process of cognitive assistance systems. These challenges emerge in complex interdependencies between humans, organization and technology.
The concept of boundary objects in this sense can contribute, too, for understanding and realizing the design process of digital infrastructures. Following Bateson (1989), Leigh Star and Ruhleder (1996) point out that the delicate balance between language and practice in organizations plays a key role in the design process. As Leigh Star and Ruhleder differentiate between message, context, and cultural and political norms, they derive three levels of problems in the design process. As a result, the digitalization of large information spaces has to bridge gaps between different contexts of use, different assumptions and underlying rationalities about digital work and between professional “languages” of designers and users (Leigh Star & Ruhleder 1996). Since the concept of Leigh Star in general (Gießmann & Taha 2017) basically is an ex post identification of boundary objects, the design process of cognitive assistance systems as digital boundary objects still remains an open task.
The paper develops a methodological approach for the design process of cognitive assistance systems shaping networked communication practice and transforming organizational learning practices in and between organizations. Based on an organizational education theory perspective, we focus on technological design as a process of organizational learning (Göhlich et al. 2018). As shown above, this organizational learning process is theorized as boundary work within a design- and organizational learning perspective.
Method
In order to develop a methodological approach to the design process of cognitive assistance systems as boundary objects, we first describe a cognitive assistance system based on a case study with small and medium enterprises in the field of process industry. We explain briefly basic functionalities of the system as well as the iterative scenario-based design process. Through this process, on the one hand standardizations and on the other hand company-specific tools were developed. The experience in the case study illustrates that during the design and implementation process, employees and researches reflected their expectations to the effect of the assistance systems and changed those. Moreover, assumptions about “good ways” of generating, transferring and exchanging information and learning processes were the subject of a participative discourse (Keller et al. 2017, Keller & Haase 2019; Benyon 2010). With reference to this case study, we construct a theoretical framework for the design process of cognitive assistance systems following the characteristics of digital boundary objects. Leigh Star and Ruhleder (1996) differentiate between weakly structured solutions of basic technological infrastructures and dense structured solutions. While weak structured solutions theoretically only contain the pure technological infrastructure of the cognitive assistance system without content and company-specific adaptions, a densely structured solution accrues by design practices in two parts. A first part, following an “expert model” focuses on the research and development of the system itself. The researcher develops a cross-company infrastructure and adapts technological features while taking into account any company specific requirements. They integrate different research perspectives, including educational and industry-specific disciplines. A second part, following a “process model” refers to the implementation of the system in a company. From an implementation perspective, the participation of employees from different hierarchies and business units essentially is needed. The systems efficiency depends on employees using it. Without sharing of information and knowledge, technological digital systems remain unused artefacts. In a process and implementation perspective, user-participants identify different contexts of use und derive user-specific technological requirements. In an implementation perspective, researchers and employees need to continuously analyze and reflect the ‘good fit’ (Goldschmidt 2017) between informal information practices and technological infrastructures.
Expected Outcomes
Reflecting on the illustrated framework for a design process of cognitive assistance systems, we discuss how it enhances the organizational meta-reflection of learning practices as well as the formation of organizational future learning practices. From a design- and organizational learning perspective, Weber (2014) differentiates between three types of knowledge cultures in design practices. In contrast to the design of products and services as well as “wicked problems” such as problems in society with social complexity, design in the context of a networked society is an ongoing process of social transformation. Thus, design occurs in the reflection of the self and in the transcendence of consciousness (Weber 2014). From this perspective, the design process of cognitive assistance systems following the characteristics of digital boundary objects can be theorized as a process of “deep innovation” of the organization itself. Finally, we give a brief outlook on applying the methodological approach to current research projects in the field of industry.
References
Bergemann, U. & Hanke, C. (2017). Von Grenzobjekten und Medien bei Susan Leigh Star und James R. Griesemer. In Gießmann, S. & Taha, N. (Eds.), Susann Leigh Star. Grenzobjekte und Medienforschung (1st ed.). Bielefeld: Transcript. Benyon, D. (2010). Designing Interactive Systems: A Comprehensive Guide to HCI and Interaction Design. Harlow: Addison Wesley. Haase, T. (2017). Industrie 4.0: Technologiebasierte Lern- und Assistenzsysteme für die Instandhaltung. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann. Gießmann, S. & Taha, N. (Eds.) (2017). Susann Leigh Star. Grenzobjekte und Medienforschung. 1st ed. Bielefeld: Transcript. Göhlich, M., Schröer, A. & Weber, S. M. (Eds.) (2018). Handbuch Organisationspädagogik. Heidelberg: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-658-07512-5. Goldschmidt, G. (2017). Design Thinking: A Method or Gateway into Design cognition? She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, 3(2), 102-112. doi: 10.1016/j.sheji.2017.10.009. Keller, A., Adler, S., Jachmann, D. & Haase, T. (2017). Assistenzsysteme für die Prozessindustrie. Ein partizipativer Gestaltungsansatz. In Gesellschaft für Arbeitswissenschaften (Eds.), Soziotechnische Gestaltung des digitalen Wandels. Kreativ, innovativ, sinnhaft. Dortmund: GfA-Press. Keller, A. & Haase, T. (2019). Kognitive Assistenzsysteme in der Prozessindustrie. Ergebnisse eines partizipativen Gestaltungsansatzes. In Gesellschaft für Arbeitswissenschaften (Eds.), Arbeit interdisziplinär analysieren - bewerten - gestalten. Dortmund: GfA-Press. Manuscript accepted for publication. Latour, B. (1987). Science in action. How to follow scientists and engineers through society. Harvard University Press: Cambridge. Schenk, M. & Berndt, D. (2016). Zentrum für Kognitive Autonome Arbeitssysteme für den Anlagen- und Sondermaschinenbau, Magdeburg. Industrie 4.0 Management, 32(4), 62-63. Star, S. L., Griesemer, J. R. (1989). Institutional Ecology, ›Translations‹ and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907–39. In: Social Studies of Science 19(3) 387–420. doi: 10.1177/030631289019003001 Star, S. L. & Ruhleder, K. (1996). Steps toward an ecology of infrastructure: Design and access for large information spaces. Information Systems Research, 7(1), 111–134. Weber, S. M. (2014). Change by Design?! Wissenskulturen des “Design” und organisationale Strategien der Gestaltung. In Weber, S. M., Göhlich, M., Schröer, A. & Schwarz, J. (Eds.), Organisation und das Neue. Beiträge der Kommission Organisationspädagogik. Organisation und Pädagogik, 15, 27-48. doi: 10.10007/978-3-658-03734-4_2.
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