Introductory description

This module is available as an elective for both WBS and non-WBS students and Exchange students.
The rapid acceleration of new digital technologies in the workplace commensurate with the expansion of new working patterns requires deeper managerial understanding of how the “fourth industrial revolution” affects and shapes work organisation. Advancement in digital and social technologies are shaping and changing the organisation of the workplace, as well as the nature and meaning of work. As such, students will have the opportunity to explore a digitally transformed landscape of work. Students will analyse the opportunities, as well as debate the risks, of the digital workplace and, in doing so, further develop their critical thinking skills.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The ‘Digital Workplace’

• Theories of work and management.
• Human capital theory in the digital era.
  Algorithmic Technologies in the Workplace: Opportunities and Challenges
• AI decision-making and the changing relationship between managers and employees.
• Ethics and the use of artificial intelligence and data analytics in workplaces.
• Impact of robotization and task automation on the future of work.
  Management for the Digital Age
• Exploring digital technologies: the design, implementation and promotion of data-driven management practices.
• Utilising technologies in sustainable and responsible employing organisations.
• Opportunities and implications for management in relation to technology in diverse business organisations, including start-ups, entrepreneurs, and the self-employed.
  Digitalisation, Inclusion, and Diversity
• Impact of new technologies and new forms of organising on diversity and inclusion Employment status and the new platform economy e.g. found in platform work, crowdwork and Elancing.
  Legal Implications of a Digitalised Workplace
• Changing workplace regulation (e.g. Data Protection).
• Surveillance, privacy, and regulation of technology in the workplace (e.g. Article 22 GDPR).
• Working From Home: implications for the intersection of professional and personal.
  The future of work: Digital Practices and Changing Workplace Demographics
• Technology and the trajectory of automation’s impact on future employment.
• New work practices in response to environmental and sustainability challenges (e.g. SDG 8).
• Young workers and the new normal of the digital workplace.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Understand key drivers, current practices and implications of digital technologies in the workplace.
• Recognise and assess the mediating effect of the legal and economic context on the implications of digitally-based innovations at work.
• Understanding of the legal dimensions of digital transformations.
• Applications of theories to practical cases.
• Critical thinking in relation to the multi-stakeholder perspective in decision making and implementation of technology in organisations.
• Personal reflection on contemporary technological developments within broader legal, business and management contexts.

Indicative reading list

Adler PS, du Gay P, Morgan G and Reed M (2014) The Oxford Handbook of Sociology, Social theory and organisational studies, Oxford University Press.
Bardhan A et al (2013) The Oxford Handbook of offshoring and global employment, Oxford University Press.
Blackman A et al (2019) (eds) Theorising Labour Law in a Changing World. Towards inclusive labour law, Hart.
Bondarouk T and Fisher S (2020) Encyclopedia of Electronic HRM, De Gruyter Oldenbourg.
BiliÄ P et al (2018) Technologies of labour and the political of contradictions, Palgrave Macmillan.
Edoardo A (2018) Working in Digital and Smart Organisations: Legal, Economic and Organisational Perspectives on the Digitalization of Labour Relations, Palgrave Macmillan.
EIGE (2020) Gender Equality Index 2020: Digitalisation and the Future of Work. Vilnius: European Institute for Gender Equality.
Fleming, P. (2019) Robots and Organization Studies: Why Robots Might Not Want to Steal Your Job, Organization
Studies, 40(1), 23–37.
The Transformed Workplace: Managing in the Digital Era page.

Subject specific skills

Critically analysis of the effects of digital technologies from a multi-stakeholder perspective.
Evaluation of the complexities of digitally mediated work-related design and decision-making processes within organisations.

Transferable skills

Analytical and debating skills in oral communication;
Develop critical thinking and writing skills;
Critically evaluate ideas and practices in relation to the digital transformation of business