Browsing by Subject "Digital transformation"

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The human side of digital transformation : understanding the changing role of employees and leaders
(2021) Krehl, Eva-Helen; Büttgen, Marion
In the last few years, digital transformation forced organizations to integrate digital technology into different business areas. While many companies undergoing a digital transformation focus on the technology-side, the more successful approach to tackle digital transformation is focusing on the people who make things work (Berlin, 2018; Kane, 2019). Digital transformation has tremendously changed the way people live and work (Larson & DeChurch, 2020). Employees are augmented or substituted by technology (Breidbach & Maglio, 2016; Breidbach et al., 2018; Huang & Rust, 2018) and hence, employee roles are changing, and new skills are required (Bowen, 2016). Moreover, leader roles are changing in the light of digital transformation (Larson & DeChurch, 2020; Schallmo et al., 2017). They find themselves confronted with challenging and complex situations, such as introducing a new agile mindset (Kane, 2019). In addition to the outlined challenges for employees and leaders, digital transformation was accelerated in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic. Employees and leaders were required to work from home to follow social distancing restrictions (Brynjolfsson et al., 2020). Suddenly, new daily routines such as the intense use of digital tools while working from home were established (Criscuolo et al., 2020). In their roles as pioneers, motivators, and mentors, leaders have a particularly decisive function during the pandemic (Bartsch et al., 2020). In sum, the challenges of digital transformation and the COVID-19 pandemic can be described as a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment, also referred to as VUCA world (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014). It is important to understand the required roles and skill set for employees and leaders acting in a VUCA world, to be able to improve skills by training or learning on the job (Peterson et al., 2001). However, existing research regarding the human side of digital transformation accelerated by a global pandemic and the changing roles of employees and leaders is stretched to their limits. Thus, this dissertation focusses on employees and leaders as key factors for a successful digital transformation (Kane, 2019), by answering the following research questions: (1) How do digital transformation and new technologies transform service employee and leadership roles? (2) What specific skills are required for service employees in technology-based service encounters? (3) What are appropriate leadership behaviors in the context of digital transformation? (4) Which leadership practices do leaders perform from home during the COVID-19 pandemic? (5) How can leaders be effective working remotely with the aid of digital tools during the COVID-19 pandemic? By answering the research questions, this thesis advances research on the human side of digital transformation in four important points. First, this research extends our understanding on the human side of digital transformation by focusing on the changing roles, skills and practices of employees and leaders in the light of a (crisis-induced) digital transformation. Second, this thesis contributes to our understanding of how technology is changing employees’ roles in the service encounter. Specifically, this thesis explores which particular skills service employees need to perform in the technology-based service encounter. Hence, a skill-based framework for frontline service employees is presented. Third, this thesis contributes to leadership research by providing a deeper understanding of leadership challenges resulting from digital transformation. Moreover, this thesis presents insights into digital leadership roles appropriate to the leadership challenges associated with digital transformation, including a measurement scale for the identified leadership roles. Fourth, this thesis contributes to existing virtual and crisis leadership literature. Existing findings are supplemented by demonstrating the suitability of video conferences to make up for face-to-face communication when leading from home. In addition, this thesis reveals several drivers and barriers with positive and negative impacts on leadership effectiveness when coping with crisis-specific challenges. Following an introduction (chapter 1), this thesis is divided into three main chapters with a concluding overarching discussion (chapter 5). Chapter 2 examines employee roles and skills in technology-based service encounters, Chapter 3 includes the conceptualization of a Digital Transformation Leadership Framework, and Chapter 4 explores the daily experience of leaders aiming to lead effectively while using digital tools and working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the global pandemic has pushed organizations to change current practices and embrace digital solutions while creating hybrid collaboration models, this research might encourage further research on the human side of digital transformation.