Shaping work of the future

How will work of the future be shaped as it is increasingly managed and conducted via digital technology? What will the role of the workplace be in a world where work is increasingly connected via technology rather than an office? And how can the organizations of today respond to the new demands they face?

These are some of the questions the researchers in the project intend to answer.

Organizations are currently challenged by two general trends: the development of generative AI and the transition to hybrid working. Hybrid working includes individual and collaborative tasks facilitated by technology, both at and outside the office. For organizations, this means that established working methods, procedures and innovation processes are being challenged, since they increasingly need to be based on human-machine interaction. Hybrid working also presents significant challenges in organizing social and spatial processes related to learning, skills development and leadership.

The project team aims to create new theoretical and practical knowledge in the fields of information systems, innovation and leadership research about how work of the future is shaped. They will do so by conducting empirical studies in various sectors and industries in both the private and public domain (healthcare, universities, software development, transport, aviation, real estate and professional services) using qualitative and quantitative methods.

The project takes a relational view of technology, emphasizing human-machine interaction. This is combined with a relational view of leadership, in which leadership is seen as a collective process co-created between leaders and followers. The studies within the project focus on three overarching areas related to how work of the future can be shaped as it increasingly takes place through human-machine interaction and in hybrid forms: purpose, innovation and spatiality.

• Purpose includes research topics concerning how the purpose of an organization is (re)formulated and implemented in practice.
• Innovation includes research topics concerning the pursuit of innovation – how it can be led and how critical thinking is maintained.
• Spatiality includes research topics about the material/architectural structures and their effects within organizations.