Developing curriculum for industry 4.0: digital workplaces

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce a framework used in a program for working executives, designed to prepare them for the digital workplace environment of industry 4.0.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a case-based approach. It presents the current context about industry 4.0 and digitized workplaces. It then describes the case of designing the curriculum for a learning program on this theme, the responses received from participants and facilitators and conclusions that can be drawn from the responses.FindingsThe findings indicate that digital workplaces present challenges such as fragmentation of work, a resultant disconnect between team members, an uncertainty about assessment of efforts as well as assessment of output. Facilitation by coaches, extensive documentation, knowledge sharing, empathy and an alignment to shared goals mitigate these challenges to some extent. Facilitation also enables the participants to experience the true benefits of technology aided collaboration.Research limitations/implicationsThe participants in the program had an average work experience of two years, and a senior management view was not represented.Practical implicationsThe learning from the program would help in designing more such collaborative and immersive learning experiences.Social implicationsPrograms about virtualization and automation of work processes enable an appreciation of the inherent challenges and shortcomings and a fairer implementation of technologies at the workplace.Originality/valueThe program brought into the classroom an immersive experience of the evolving dynamics between employers, digital technologies and employees of contemporary workplaces.

Human and Cobot Cooperation Ethics: The Process Management Concept of the Production Workplace

“…Tab. 4 In selected SMEs, a lot of discussions were realized on this topic. The ethical site of workplace standardization was explicitly discussed in strong connection with production layout planning and production scheduling.…”

Industry 4.0 - Relationship Between Capital Equipment and Labor Productivity

“…The debate is not only about the direct changes in the industrial flow, process of making things and the economic influence on the entrepreneurs, but also about the influence on the labor market, national policy and the education system as well. The politicians are debating the steps needed to prepare for the changes in the labor market structure in the sense of the appropriate skills of the workers, and with the connection with the teachers they try to find out what new skill, competencies in the fashion style of speech, are needed to develop in the pupils and students as future workers (Brahama, Tripathi, & Sahay, 2020) There are a lot of emotion in those debates due to fear of losing the competitive doi: 10.36689/uhk/hed/2021-01-054 position of the national economy, losing the high educated and skilled workers, and other factors. Especially the fear of radical changes in the economic structure of the industrial sectors connected with the Industry 4.0 initiatives.…”

Digital workplace: Advantages and challenges

“…Collaborative technologies should include collaborative platforms, social media tools, intranet, and the Internet (Attaran et al, 2019). These technologies will enable work to be done regardless of time and space constraints, which at the same time often blurs the boundaries between the private and business time of employees (Brahma, Tripathi, & Sahay, 2021;Colbert, Yee, & George, 2016).…”

“…There is a growing need to enable the efficient exchange of knowledge between mobile workforce (Brahma et al, 2021;Kissmer, Knoll, Stieglitz, & Groß, 2018). Mobility provides freedom, autonomy (Gerten et al, 2019) and flexibility in choosing where, when and how to work (Vallo Hult & Byström, 2021), which ultimately leads to greater job satisfaction (Attaran et al, 2019), and thus higher productivity.…”

“…The Fourth Industrial Revolution, often referred to as Industry 4.0, introduces increasing challenges to organisations. Organisations operate in a "volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous" environment (Brahma et al, 2021). Technology has an impact on entire organisations but also on workplace.…”