How Does the Digital Transformation Affect Organizations? Key Themes of Change in Work Design and Leadership

Abstract

Due to recent technological advances, organizations currently face massive changes of their work design and leadership. Unfortunately, the exact nature of these changes is still unclear as most existing studies were conducted during earlier stages of the digital transformation and the available literature is highly fragmented. To provide an up-to-date overview on the changes in work design and leadership resulting from the digital transformation and to structure our existing knowledge in this domain, we conducted an open-ended online survey with 49 recognized digitalization experts and identified key themes of change. In sum, four key themes of change affecting both work design and leadership emerged, namely changes in work-life and health, the use of information and communication technology, performance and talent management and organizational hierarchies. In addition, two macro-level change dimensions regarding the structure of work and relationship-oriented leadership evolved. While some of the identified changes were partly covered in earlier studies, others have so far not received much attention despite their apparently high relevance in the current stage of the digital transformation. The results of this study therefore provide an important basis for future research and help organizations to strategically prepare for the requirements of the digital age.