Transformations in the Challenge of Activity and Work
Understanding and Supporting Technological Changes
Edited by
Marc-Eric Bobillier Chaumon
First published 2021 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:
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© ISTE Ltd 2021
The rights of Marc-Eric Bobillier Chaumon to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020946633
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78630-529-9
Introduction
There has been an acceleration in technological change within the workplace. This is because innovations and the deployment of technical solutions are multiplying (AI, robotization, immersive environment, Big Data, collaborative platforms, factory of the future, etc.). At best, the implementation of these new devices provokes simple transfers of use and learning (which are iterative or incremental technologies), and, at worst, they provoke real disruptions in use (which are disruptive technologies) (Bobillier Chaumon 2016). These can require a profound rethinking of the user experience, which can cause employees to fail and make it more difficult for them to carry out their activity. Therefore, new organizational and socio-cognitive models are required, as the devices call for alternative ways of thinking, doing and collaborating at work.
Professional activity thus depends less and less on the direct intervention of individuals in terms of the object of work than on their actions within these digital work environments, that is, on technological artifacts that mediate this activity. This distancing phenomenon is consubstantial with the quality of the “human–machine” systems used: if a system is complex to use (i.e. designed with an insufficient level of usability) or if it is difficult to attribute meaning to this technical artifact to make it a truly useful and enabling instrument for one’s activity (notion of situated acceptance), the individual can be expected to experience difficulties in carrying out work in which he or she recognizes himself or herself and for which he or she is recognized. There is therefore a link between successful technologies and successful work, between a good quality technological environment and a good quality of work, and between the benefit of appropriate technical environments and the well-being of their users.
New ways of working are also accompanying the deployment of these emerging technologies: dematerialization of work processes, design of dynamic work spaces, automation of intellectual tasks, and the renewal of human–machine collaboration modes with (high-level) tasks that are delegated to systems, distributed among several actors and broken down into multiple spaces/times (nomadism, home office, coworking). These new ways of acting also correspond to new ways of suffering, which are expressed by cognitive and psychic loads of a new order and by potential socio-professional and organizational constraints (obsolescence of skills, renewal of professions, etc.).
While technologies can therefore re-enhance work and re-qualify the individual, they can also contribute to distorting the activity and divesting the subject of everything that make sense to them: in their professional practices and ties as well as in their room for maneuver and relationship with work. The dematerialization of activity can therefore be to the detriment of the employee and their work. This is because ICTs are implemented to either replace the individual or appropriate that which represents the core of their activity: that which has meaning and makes sense. However, these tools imply reconfigurations and requirements that destabilize work and weaken the individuals and collectives in place. The question of introducing ICTs and their constant renewal in organizations therefore fundamentally refers to the place and role that these devices play in the activity and its implementation conditions (factors of occupational health and well-being), as well as the way in which human factor specialists (occupational psychologists, sociologists, ergonomists, etc.) can grasp them in their interventions.
Considered as both a current and prospective reflection attempting to grasp the logic and modalities of the digital transformations taking place, this book has several goals:
1 1) to take stock of the current situation and define precisely what these new technologies and new working methods are that are being deployed in companies;
2 2) to understand the role they can play in organizational effectiveness and human efficiency;
3 3) to discuss the role of these technologies in the development (or prevention) of activity and their potential impact on the conditions for exercising the activity, the sources of well-being and the quality of life at work (occupational health);
4 4) to reflect on the approaches and modalities of support for these digital transformations, based on an anthropocentric, participatory and inclusive approach.
A total of 18 contributions provide epistemological support (from a theoretical and methodological point of view) and empirical illustrations (from field surveys) for these lines of thought. They come from teacher-researchers and practitioners who have been conducting interventions on the deployment of technologies in work organizations and consider the analysis and support of these digital transformations.
These perspectives provide multidisciplinary and complementary insights – in the field of occupational psychology, ergonomic psychology, ergonomics, sociology of uses, management sciences, etc. – on how these technologies are transforming work systems and how they can be better managed.
Thus, conceived both as a work of analysis and reflection on the socio-technical changes affecting the world of work in the future and in the making, and also as a handbook
