3 questions about work in Industrie 4.0 with our new member Martin Krzywdzinski
Bild: ©David Ausserhofer
Munich, 25 May 2023
Prof. Dr. Martin Krzywdzinski studied political science at the Free University Berlin and the Université Paris VIII and completed his doctorate at the Free University Berlin. He is professor of international labor relations at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg, director at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society and head of the research group „Globalization, Work and Production“ at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. His research focuses on technological change and globalization in the world of work. He was and is a member of a number of advisory boards and committees, such as the program committee of the DFG’s priority program “Digitisation of the World of Work”, the Research Council of the “Work of the Future” program at MIT. He is the author of several books and numerous specialist articles and scientific publications.
As a sociologist for labour and industry, what impulses would you like to provide in the Research Council Industrie 4.0?
Questions of participation and work organisation are important to me. Through well-functioning forms of employee participation in the design of new technologies, we can ensure that new technologies are adapted to human needs. But we can also reduce fears. The discussion in Germany – for example in the area of AI – is largely characterised by concerns and perhaps not enough by the search for innovative forms of participatory technology development. Such a development also requires new approaches to work organisation: agile, with fewer hierarchies, also with more cross-functional collaboration.
How are work and working relationships changing in the internationally connected Industrie 4.0?
Despite the international network, work and industrial relations in particular are strongly influenced by national institutional systems. The elements of the German model such as participation, vocational training and long-term, secure employment relationships compete with completely different models in the USA or China, for example. The German model has strengths, especially in the industrial sector, which can also be used for the topic of Industrie 4.0 and for digitalisation processes. However, this requires a modernisation of the institutions, for example through a stronger connection between classic training content in industrial professions and new topics such as data science, AI, the industrial Internet of Things, or through further development of participation.
Looking to the next 5 years: What opportunities and challenges do you see for good work in Industrie 4.0?
I see opportunities in the huge expertise of employees and companies as well as in the mostly well-functioning cooperation between players in industry, the world of work, and also at the state level. I see massive challenges due to the overlapping of several major changes: in addition to Industrie 4.0, the German economy is facing a socio-ecological transformation and at the same time increasing geopolitical tensions that could question the previous export-based growth model. These changes also affect work and employment and will challenge all stakeholders.