Work 4.0 - Exploring Work Design Changes Driven by Corporate Digital Transformations

Extant literature on digitalisation has long established that corporate digital transformations can improve competitiveness through enhanced resource efficiency, agility, and innovative capabilities. However, despite its widely recognised importance, most firms’ efforts fail due to insufficient focus on the workforce as a driver of successful transformations. Therefore, this study systematically disentangles the effects of a firm’s transformation on its workforce through competency requirements and performance management. Applying this conceptual link to a major global software firm, it pinpoints implementation gaps and recommendations. A detailed document analysis and ten structured interviews with managers reveal that while the firm largely aligned its work design with its transformation strategy, varied opportunities remain. The study underlines the importance of integrating both behavioural and technical competencies in a comprehensive development strategy, leveraging peer-to-peer connections and personalised learning, and analysing employees’ conception of their performance management. Ultimately, this nuanced framing of technology and culture once again highlights the crucial role of workforce alignment and offers guidance for the case study firm.