A fellow student and I are planning on writing our master thesis about digital transformation and which challenges the middle-management face in the process. Is this a feasible project? Or is the digital transformation process too abstract(in loss of better words?) to have any effect on the lower levels?
My doubt surfaced after seeing this in a book:
The 2015 study conducted by Cisco together with the International Institute for Management Development (Global Center for Digital Business Transformation 2015): "The people in the organizations apparently play no or only a minor role (in digital transformation)".
You might find some elements in the following papers (from a work conditions and Occupational safety and health point of view):
Presentation About the proper use of automation to improve working conditions
Article Amazon and Tesla: Men Subordinate to Robots
Article How techs are transforming work and why the current accelera...
Presentation Strategic foresight in occupational exposure: Preparing the ...
Article The effects of the automation of labor - Translation by Cair...
Conference Paper Regulating the OSH impact on online platform economy (OSHA S...
Hi
I thought your question was interesting, so I am offering a few thoughts that may (or may not) be helpful to the development of what sounds already, like a good area to research...
- The biggest mistake I have experience of, is when "digital transformation" becomes seen by people in the organisation as an objective in itself - rather than as something to enable the true purpose or strategy of the organisation (e.g. hospitals are there to care for sick people. They may use technology to better enable their staff to do this, but technological change is not their overall objective). This is about conflicting the what with the how.
- You raise an interesting point about it being abstract. This is true - not many people will get excited about "digital transformation". Their interest may be sparked by something that enables them do their job better, faster etc. Therefore, I would avoid any mention of "digital transformation" and focus on the intended outcomes/improvements for staff and the people they serve.
- Often commissioning and planning decisions are made in isolation from those who will actually use the proposed new technology on a day to day basis. This again, is often a mistake. Early involvement and engagement of users is likely to inform better choices and also, quicker adoption.
These points are simply my experience and of course, there will be variation in different organisations, sectors and countries for sure. As I say, I like your question and hope you get lots of other responses. Good luck with your work.
What are you hoping to find? And who do you expect to help? What career support will your thesis provide?
Matrix thinking or other clustering techniques can help you avoid wasting time and also help you optimize this research oportunity.
Ex:
Business type and size
Business function
Your access to stakeholders
Your own areas of expertise:interest
Katherine Shelfer Thank you for your reply!
What we are hoping to find: From the literature we have read on the subject so far, it seems that the biggest problem with the companies that fail in implementing digital transformation, are identifying the problems that might occur during the process. We believe that by identifying some of the challenges, and thus problems, we may...
Who do we expect to help: ...provide a set of tools for middle managers in implementing digital transformation in their company. Furthermore providing advice to the respective companies and their leaders for implementing digital transformations.
(We chose middle managers because the literature stresses their importance in the implementation- process, making us believe they may have a key role in the success of digital transformations. Also the literature on middle managers' challenges in digital transformations are scarce (perhaps non-existent?) based on our current findings, providing us with an opportunity to discover something new).
Business type, size and function, access and interest: We were considering choosing one sector in order to create a guide for similar businesses in the same sector. We are unsure about business size, but at least those with a lot of "hierarchical levels" and complex structures. In order for the process to have had an impact on middle managers, we would have to chose companies in the end stages of the digital transformation process. Around three companies, two middle-managers from each company (six respondents) and informants. Also established companies not born digital. Do you have any suggestions when it comes to this?
I think you might approach the topic from a too abstract level. Maybe it is an idea to take a (willing) company as an example to study and analyze how they managed it (or not) and what the effects are.
Classically the middle management is in a sandwich position. The transformation needs backing, vision and budgets from the top. Transformation does not mean just eleftriciation of the business but at least an adaption and modification of the business model. Which brings in Change Management as a core need at a skill level.
So there will be new projects, teams, departments. Some will change, other will vanish of time. The middle management has to motive the teams, do the transformation work on a business level and also develop and change (grow). There will also be personal interests from a career perspective as well as fears.
All industries and business models are different. I think it will be tremendous difficult to find an overall approach to it.
Alternatively it could be an idea to to interview middle managers that went through the process and evaluate the feedback. Then of course it would be helpful to have successful and unseccessful participants in the group to be interviewed.
In Germany I would probaly look into banking or insurance, but the Nordics have started much earlier (and especially the Norwegian market is also highly consolidated) - so I would into a different industry.
I would look for industries with extensive corporate (and administrative) functions with lots of employees. Here ist should be easier to get middle management funktions with transformation impact. Outside the banking market I have no insight in the nordic corporate structure, but I would assume that retail changes/opens/closes shops and works on logistics and marketing.
What about the shipping industry or public administration?
Thies Lesch Ll.M. Agree. I think that applies to the ones mentioned, but that must of course be investigated.
For example: Orkla have about 18.000 employees because it is the leading supplier of branded consumer goods. The same goes for Norgesgruppen with 1850 grocery stores and 40.000 employees. Also Varner, one of the largest fashion retailers in Scandinavia, with nearly 11.000 employees and 1.400 stores.
En la actualidad todo tipo de procesos esta utilizando tecnología alineada a la digital, es una investigación aplicativa, qué objeto quieres llevar al campo digital o qué parte del proceso has observado que se necesita digitalizar, solución de un problema,...
Conference Paper THE ROLE OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Digital transfromation is important for the success of businesses in today's Industry 4.0 era, where competition is intense. The competition of businesses has increased since the industrial revolution especially with the start of the Industry 4.0 era this competition has been more intense, Businesses have also implemented different strategies to keep up with the competitive conditions that arise with the constant change of environment and technology in order to gain competitive advantage and to get one step ahead of their competitors. One of the most important of these strategies is undoubtedly digital transformation. Therefore, although it is very difficult for businesses to manage without using any digital tool or technology, mistakes in making wrong decisions can be high as a result of these decision .
Currently all kinds of processes are using technology aligned to digital, it is an applicative research, what object do you want to take to the digital field or what part of the process has observed that it is necessary to digitize, solution of a problem, ...
Interesting question Ingrid N. Would be interested to know as well.
Glad to share our last article abput this topic in JKM:
Article Strategic orientation toward digitalization to improve innov...
Regards,
I choose to disagree with the statement. People remain the core factor in effecting and implementing changes in any organisation. Leadership in people who drives the transformation exercise, be it a digital transformation etc, will be a key determinant for success. In short, people is critical in any transformational activities. Suggest you do further research in this area. Best wishes for your studies.