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Item Künstliche Intelligenz und gesellschaftliche Machtverhältnisse [Sammelrezension](2025-04-01) Krzywdzinski, MartinBesprechung von: Michael Heinlein / Norbert Huchler (Hrsg.), Künstliche Intelligenz, Mensch und Gesellschaft: Soziale Dynamiken und gesellschaftliche Folgen einer Innovation. Wiesbaden: Springer VS 2024, 530 S., 59,99 € ; Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen, Das Versprechen der Künstlichen Intelligenz: Gesellschaftliche Dynamik einer Schlüsseltechnologie. Frankfurt am Main/New York: Campus 2023, 300 S., 35,00 €; James Muldoon / Mark Graham / Callum Cant, Feeding the Machine: The Hidden Human Labour Powering AI. Edinburgh: Canongate 2024, 274 S., gb., 24,00 €; Cecilia Rikap, Capitalism, Power and Innovation: Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism Uncovered. London: Routledge 2022, 314 S., 49,57 €Item How team organization influences the ability to solve automation failures: an experimental study on human–AI decision-making in teams(2025-12-02) Krzywdzinski, Martin; Wotschack, Philip; Gonnermann-Müller, Jana; Gronau, NorbertAs production environments become increasingly automated and AI-assisted, managing automation failures is a growing challenge. This study examines how team organization—hierarchical versus self-managed—affects team performance in resolving such failures. Using a laboratory experiment simulating a realistic industrial setting, teams operated automated machinery supported by AI-based assistance. We hypothesize that communication mediates the relationship between team organization and performance outcomes (productivity and quality). The results show that self-managed teams communicate more frequently and with higher quality than hierarchical teams, leading to higher productivity and fewer errors. Structural equation modeling confirms that the effect of team organization on performance is fully mediated by communication. These findings highlight the importance of team communication and suggest that revisiting team organization in AI-driven production—by favoring self-management or enhancing communication in hierarchies—may improve performance. The study contributes to human–AI teaming research by integrating organizational design into experimental analysis.Item Von der Theorie zur Praxis: Weniger Fehler und schnellere Umsetzung von Produktionsprozessen dank Augmented Reality(2025) Gonnermann-Müller, Jana; Wotschack, Philip; Krzywdzinski, Martin; Gronau, NorbertDie zunehmende Komplexität industrieller Umgebungen erfordert neue Kompetenzen, insbesondere in der Interaktion mit digitalen Systemen. Traditionelle Ausbildungsmethoden reichen für den effektiven Transfer von angewandtem Wissen oft nicht aus. Um diese Lücke zu schließen, wurde ein Experiment durchgeführt, bei dem Augmented Reality (AR) und papierbasierte Anleitungen in einem Produktionsszenario verglichen wurden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen: Teilnehmer, die mit AR lernten, führten den Produktionsprozess deutlich schneller und mit weniger Fehlern durch. Darüber hinaus berichteten die Lernenden, die AR nutzten, von einer höheren Benutzerfreundlichkeit und einer geringeren kognitiven Belastung während des Trainings.Item Control and Flexibility: The Use of Wearable Devices in Capital- and Labor-Intensive Work Processes(2024) Krzywdzinski, Martin; Evers, Maren; Gerber, ChristineThe use of wearables in the workplace allows for close monitoring of work processes and might also have consequences for work content and skill requirements. Past research has emphasized the detrimental effects of wearables, particularly those caused by the standardization of work and monitoring of workers. By contrast, this study asks under what conditions the implementation of wearables as part of digital assistance systems is beneficial for workers. Based on recent contributions in the field of labor process theory, this study analyzes the implementation of new technologies using the concepts of the regulatory regime, organizational first-order factors, and workplace second-order choices. The analysis is based on findings from 48 interviews with 83 interviewees in 16 German manufacturing workplaces along with making site visits. It examines the implementation of wearables and the impacts on work content, skills, working conditions, and employment. Besides showing how labor agency affects the implementation of new technologies, the particular contribution of this study lies in analyzing the differences in the implementation of wearables in capital- and labor-intensive organizations. While standardization of work and reduction of work content prevailed in labor-intensive processes, capital-intensive processes were most often characterized by the extension of skill requirements and the risk of work intensification.Item An uncertain elite: Professional differences and similarities between engineers and tech workers in times of digital transformation(2025) Krzywdzinski, Martin; Pfeiffer, Sabine; Kuhlmann, Martin; Ottaiano, Mario; Heinlein, Michael; Ritter, Tobias; Neumer, Judith; Huchler, NorbertThe digital transformation of industries has given rise to new categories of tech workers, such as software engineers and UX/UI designers, who now work alongside traditional engineers. This study explores the evolving relationship between these groups, focusing on work processes, status perceptions and professional interactions. The research questions addressed include: how has digitalisation affected these two groups’ work processes? what strategies do they use to maintain or improve their career paths? and how do their roles converge or diverge? Using qualitative data from interviews and workshops in a German automotive company undergoing a digital and electric mobility transformation, the study finds both competition and cooperation between engineers and IT professionals, with the former adopting some IT work methods and the latter adjusting to the highly structured processes of the industrial sector. Despite growing overlaps, distinct professional identities nevertheless remain.Item Between control and participation: The politics of algorithmic management(2024) Krzywdzinski, Martin; Schneiß, Daniel; Sperling, AndreaUnderstanding the role of human management is crucial for the debate over algorithmic management—to date limited to studies on the platform economy. This qualitative case study in logistics reconstructs the actor constellations (managers, engineers, data scientists and workers) and negotiation processes in different phases of algorithmic management. It offers two major contributions to the literature: (1) a process model distinguishing three phases: goal formation, data production and data analysis, which is used to analyse (2) the politics of algorithmic management in conventional workplaces, which differ significantly from platform companies. The article goes beyond surveillance to elucidate the role of the regulatory framework, various actors' knowledge contributions to the algorithmic management system, and the power relations resulting therefrom. While the managerial goals in the examined case were not oriented towards a surveillance regime, the outcome was nevertheless a centralisation of knowledge and disempowerment of workers.Item Remote Work: New Fields and Challenges for Labor Activism(2023) Hipp, Lena; Krzywdzinski, MartinThe COVID-19 pandemic has altered how and when we work. Suddenly, organizations had to grant the possibility of working from home to all employees whose presence on-site was not necessary, independent of rank and job. In light of this experience, a return to permanent presence in the office for all has become unlikely. As remote work has both positive and negative implications for employees, their organizations, and workplace institutions, this contribution seeks to answer the following questions: First, what are the challenges for workplace equity and employee well-being that arise from the increased use of remote work? Second, what can be done to ensure that remote work actually benefits employees? Third, what are the implications of the increased use of remote work for the labor movement?Item Wearable Computing im Betrieb gestalten. Rolle und Perspektiven der Lösungsentwickler im Prozess der Arbeitsgestaltung(2019) Evers, Maren; Krzywdzinski, Martin; Pfeiffer, SabineWearables (beispielsweise Datenbrillen und Smartwatches) sind ein besonders sichtbares Element von Industrie-4.0-Anwendungen. Sie sollen situationsgerechte Informationen zur Verfügung stellen, können aber zugleich auch Daten über den Arbeitsprozess – und teils sogar über Bewegungsmuster und Vitalfunktionen der Beschäftigten – generieren. Die Wearable- Technologie ist in einem frühen Entwicklungsstadium, in dem die Interessen und Sichtweisen der relevanten Akteure, vor allem der Technikentwickler und des Managements möglicher Anwendungsunternehmen von besonderer Bedeutung sind. Der vorliegende Artikel untersucht die Rolle der Lösungsentwickler und ihr Verständnis von Arbeit und den Arbeitsprozessen, in denen Wearables eingesetzt werden sollen. Er beruht auf leitfadengestützten Interviews mit Lösungsentwicklern. Gezeigt wird ein ambivalentes Verständnis von Arbeit: Auf der einen Seite dominiert die Wahrnehmung menschlicher Arbeitskräfte als potenzielle Fehlerquellen und die Fokussierung auf die Optimierung einzelner Arbeitsplätze und ihrer Ergonomie, während übergreifende Fragen der Arbeitsgestaltung und Arbeitsorganisation ausgeblendet werden. Auf der anderen Seite werden die Potenziale und Gefahren der Wearable-Technologien im Hin- blick auf Individualisierung, Datenschutz und Kontrolle differenziert gesehen und diskutiert.Item COVID-19 as a Jump Start for Industry 4.0? Motivations and Core Areas of Pandemic-Related Investments in Digital Technologies at German Firms(2023) Butollo, Florian; Flemming, Jana; Gerber, Christine; Krzywdzinski, Martin; Wandjo, David; Delicat, Nina; Herzog, LorenaAcademic studies prior to the pandemic rather emphasized that the progression towards Industry 4.0 happened in an incremental manner. However, the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic have led to considerable investments that were widely interpreted as a (generalized) digitalization push. However, little is known about the character of such investments and their effects. The goal of this contribution is to provide an empirically based overview of recent investment in digital technologies in six economic sectors of the German economy: mechanical engineering, chemicals, automotives, logistics, healthcare, and financial services. Based on 36 case studies and a survey at 540 companies, we investigate the following questions: 1. How much did the COVID-19 pandemic reduce existing obstacles for investments in digitalization measures? 2. Is there a universal digitalization push due to the COVID-19 pandemic that differs from the trajectory before the pandemic? The results show that the pandemic affected investment in an unequal manner. It was driven by the immediate need to sustain business operations through the virtualization of communication among employees and with external partners. However, there was less dynamism in shop-floor-related digitalization, as it was less related to epidemiological concerns and is more long-term in nature.Item Promoting human-centred AI in the workplace. Trade unions and their strategies for regulating the use of AI in Germany(2022) Krzywdzinski, Martin; Gerst, Detlef; Butollo, FlorianThe use of artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the world of work. For trade unions, the issue of how to regulate the use of AI is a central but difficult topic because the technology is still at an early stage and experience on its use limited. Focusing on Germany, this article addresses the following questions: (1) what areas of application and use cases for AI are relevant for trade unions and works councils?, (2) what role do trade union positions and demands play in the political discussion on regulating the use of AI?, (3) what strategies are trade unions using to influence the regulation and use of AI in the workplace?, and (4) what experiences are they gaining during this process? Reviewing trade union strategies, this article shows which concepts of human-centred AI the trade unions are trying to promote, how they try to ensure that works councils and trade unionists get appropriate training to understand the new technologies, and how dealing with AI is changing the way works councils work. The article also shows how the characteristics of the German system of industrial relations influence discussions on AI and the processes of implementing it in the workplace.