New Ways of Working

URL study guide

https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/E_MUM_NWW

Course Objective

After completing the course, students will:
- Understand how the properties of digital technologies require, as well as enable, new approaches to working and organizing
- Have knowledge of relevant theories of how working, coordinating, and managing in these new environments is different from traditional workplaces and critically reflect upon the underlying assumptions of these theories
- Understand the interplay between technology and work practices and be able to analyze and demonstrate that interplay
- Be able to apply academic insights to analyze and develop solutions for real life problems

Course Content

“New ways of working” refers to new practices through which knowledge workers collaborate in increasingly distributed and flexible organizational contexts enabled by digital technologies. In this course we elaborate on the nature of these new practices and critically examine the role of technology in various aspects of work and organizing. The lectures are structured in such a way that we first discuss the academic understanding of what constitutes “work” and “technology” in the modern world. We then move on to critically reflect on how particular aspects of work are being challenged by digital transformation. The main themes discussed in this course revolve around 1) the role of physical space and co-location for organizing 2) the role of knowledge in organizing 3) the nature of occupations and occupational boundaries. In general, during the course, we debate such questions as “How does automating work impact existing occupational relations in the workplace?” We learn to approach such questions critically, equipped with theory and practical experience. In order to gain more in-depth understanding of one of the new work forms, you also engage in a team project, where you select one specific trend in the world of work to study in depth. You examine this trend through the lens of the theory and show that you are able to analyze it in an academic way. In such a way, you learn to apply the basic concepts to examine one particular emerging digital phenomenon in the world of work, and develop recommendations for companies operating in the digital era.

Teaching Methods

The course will consist of a combination of interactive lectures, student-led sessions and tutorials. The lectures aim at developing your academic skills, and providing you with new knowledge. The lectures are based on the literature and discuss the concepts that will be later used in the group sessions and your specific project. Since the lectures are interactive, you are expected to attend to the lectures having read the literature and contribute actively with your answers to questions. In the student sessions we will use a variety of interactive formats to examine the course topics in more depth. Aim of the student sessions is to (a) facilitate a deeper understanding of how the literature relates to contemporary problems in the world of work (b) critically reflect on the literature applying it to particular cases (c) provide you a more hands-on experience of new ways of working enabled by digital technologies. You will have to present, compare and contrast, criticize and apply the readings to various real cases. Student sessions also help you to prepare for the final exam and perform a team project. The tutorials are aimed to assist you in completing a team project. Two tutorials will be dedicated to the presentations of your interim results, while other sessions will be used to provide you with feedback on your progress towards fulfilling the project.

Method of Assessment

The overall grade will consist of your grade received for the finalindividual exam (60%), a group project (40%) as well as in-class quizzes(pass / fail) that will assess your learning progress and classparticipation.In order to pass the course, you need a minimum of 5,5 as a total coursegrade. In addition, the grade for each assignment and an exam must be atleast (not lower than) 5.00.Assessment matrix in the course manual provides an overview of thelearning objectives assessed in each of the different parts.The exam will consist of open questions that focus on your understandingand application of these concepts discussed during the course andsometimes will require you to provide examples to illustrate yourunderstanding of the material. Exam questions can relate to the coursereadings and discussion in class (lectures and tutorials).

Literature

A selection of readings (mostly academic papers, but also book chaptersand thoughtful business magazine articles) will be made available beforthe start of the course.

Entry Requirements

None