The digital transformation of work is here – how scientists and practitioners can work together to manage needed workplace changes

Abstract

Organizations across Europe are reinventing their structures and processes in the quest to become more “agile”. To facilitate these changes methods like “Design thinking”, “Bar Camps” or “Working out loud” are becoming mainstream, no longer only used in hip start-ups and communication agencies. Traditional working environments, typically associated with rules, routines, and regulations are now transformed into open (co-working) spaces. Something big is going on and we wanted to find out about it by holding an interactive discussion. In this panel discussion we invited scientists and practitioners to engage in a conversation about future directions of Work and Organizational Psychology (WOP) with the aim of keeping education, research and practice relevant to contemporary working practices. We want to look into the current state of co-operation and cocreation within WOP and examine what needs to change and how this will be achieved. Together, we would like to figure out how research can support practitioners in their work with organizations and how to manage the digital transformation. As part of the scientist – practitioner collaborative stream (that has become known as Co-op Friday) this panel discussion compliments the conference theme of Working for the Greater Good by looking into future directions of organizational development and how to use evidence-based practices to help individuals to adapt to change. The aim of the session was to have an active debate between panelists and the audience generating ideas and activities to improve co-operation. We used an innovative process method called “Bar Camp” to encourage presentation and review. This resulted in interactive discussions with panel members and participants working in small groups (see Figure 1) discussing particular issues (see further detail in the following report). Each discussion session was followed by a brief summary that was shared across the groups.