7. Conclusions

The present research project has aimed to explore how digitalisation reorganises the working life in small and medium-sized enterprises in the Nordic region, and how new learning practices can support enterprises´ and employees´ opportunities to meet the growing and changing requirements of digital transition. The results of the project will contribute to understanding and acting in the current digital transformation of Nordic working life.

In the research project we have focused on the change, and the ways digitalisation daily changes not only concrete work tasks but also cooperation, professional identities, hierarchies, and organisational forms on employee as well as manager level. With this focus the project becomes a part of the value-based industry 5.0 agenda of the European Commission (Breque et al., 2021), in which employee well-being is a central turning point in the digitalisation of the manufacturing sector, and it is also in line with the Nordic Council of Ministers´ 2030 (NMR, 2021) plan for a competitive and a socially sustainable Nordic region. Evidence-based knowledge on the real working life with technologies in the Nordic region does not only contribute with insight into some shared Nordic challenges related to adequate skills development in a continuous change process. It may also contribute with insights into how the Nordic societies´ digital transformation happens asynchronously in SMEs and is being experienced as local changes in the tension between the third industrial revolution, characterised by automation technologies that aim to create products quicker, better, or cheaper, and the fourth revolution, characterised by turning products and processes over to digital concepts and distribute these concepts as services (Technological Institute, 2017). As a contribution to realising the Nordic Council of Ministers´ social sustainability goals (NMR, 2021) the project has analysed some of the downsides of digitalisation, where the interaction between production and employee is being challenged. With this information we have also been able to highlight specific points of attention and options that enterprises can focus on in the digital transition. These are circumstances that can delay but also potentially support the digital change in the individual enterprise.

Design-based research (DBR) has been the overall research design of the project. DBR is characterised by a close cooperation between researchers and those people who daily experience the challenges, as well as other experts within the given field. In the present research this design has made possible a collaborative process between the research team and employees/managers from six small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in the Nordic region, as well as NVL Digital – Working Life. The actors involved have in various ways contributed with insight and information on their work practices in a daily life perspective, as well as relevant literature on policy and practice on digitalisation and workplace learning/skills development in the five Nordic countries.

The research findings display some of the new organisational forms that are created when humans and machines are entangled into a shared practice and point to the fact that this entanglement influences the individual employees´ functions, roles, and thus their professional identities. The findings also identify relationships and socio-organisational factors that influence the transition, and which result in the work being changed. The analysis points to several effects of these entanglements and relationships by which “the digital aspect” is formed and itself forms its context, as well as highlighting various consequences. In this way the analytical findings “draw” an image of the working life, which is also an image of the challenges that characterise the digital transition processes in Nordic enterprises. The analysis thus contributes to creating a deeper understanding of how the level of digitalisation in enterprises can be supported, and how opportunities for employees´ involvement can be increased.

Based on its analytical findings the research project has formulated five recommendations for the policy level as well as the practice level. On policies, the recommendations target the Nordic cooperation on digitalisation and lifelong learning, and the changes in the working life that digitalisation creates. In this way the recommendations support the objective of the Nordic Council of Ministers on the benefits of digitalisation for all (NMR, 2021). The recommendations are also valid for national decision-makers with responsibilities within the labour market and digitalisation.

On the practice level the recommendations are relevant for enterprises that are embarking upon a digital transition process, or enterprises that are “in the middle” of the process, and which need insight into some of the circumstances that can contribute to supporting or delaying the transition, as well as insight into and information on how to better involve the employees.

The research project is also offering a concrete suggestion for a solution. Based on the DBR collaborative and inclusive principles, that aim to contribute to theory-based solutions in practice, we have developed a mock-up of a solution based on evidence from the project analyses. The solution aims to support new learning practices in enterprises under digital transition and has the form of a dialogue tool consisting of two elements. The first element offers an opportunity for employees and managers through evidence-based vignettes to enter into a dialogue on some of the opportunities and challenges that digital transition may bring, and which may be difficult to identify or address in a busy workday. The other element is to be based on agreements between employees and managers and invites to an exploration of local topics (challenges, tensions, or other topics) that may have a negative influence on the transition.

The following are the overall recommendations, which are the result of the research project and the collaboration with participants from practice as well as members of the network NVL Digital – Working Life:

Digital transition is associated with the pursuit of ever-accelerating change.

Notions of digital technologies as inherently creating positive change, innovation and growth should be replaced by a principle of timely slowness. That is, taking the time to understand the complexities of change. An accelerating digital technology revolution driven by artificial intelligence requires reflective assessment, which is an integral part of Nordic democratic self-understanding.

Being careful not to rush is an essential factor in understanding digital transition.

The recommendation concerns the policy as well as the practice level.

Navigating digital transition requires drawing on a diversity of strategies.

At policy level, this means creating a framework for developing a broad repertoire of approaches and strategies to the digital transition. This means recognising that social dimensions (e.g. collaboration and critical reflection) coexist with technological innovation and economic growth.

At the level of practice, this means that enterprises should give priority to developing a variety of strategies to support transition processes. For example, companies should develop practices that enable employees and managers to engage critically and reflectively with both the opportunities and challenges of change.

A broad repertoire of strategies can create a collective awareness of what is “muddy” as well as what is “shiny”.

The recommendation concerns the policy as well as the practice level.

Enterprises should seek to create awareness of the contexts in which digital technologies are embedded, as it is local factors and conditions that enable the success of change. These are factors such as narratives, paradoxes, and ambiguities. They are the conditions that arise when people and machines entangle, which has the effect of changing organisational phenomena such as hierarchies and professional identities. Companies in the digital transition will therefore experience that different factors and conditions can both hinder and facilitate development.

Be aware that the contexts in which digital technologies are embedded constitute the whole arena of change.

The recommendation concerns the level of practice.

Strategy development and decision-making should not only be anchored in management visions, but also in employees' professional competences. These are professional competences that exist, for example, as the manual tacit action knowledge of employees, articulated through an experienced sense of when a unit or component is "rightly placed". This is important in the maintenance of high product quality, in rationalising inappropriate processes and as a driver of innovation.

Including employees' professional competence as a legitimate form of knowledge can contribute to increased innovation, employee satisfaction and growth.

The recommendation concerns the practice level.

Existing digital competence initiatives (upskilling through courses, continuing education) should link to employees’ context awareness. This involves discussions about the ways in which change is occurring and its effects. The effects can be, for example, increased job satisfaction, dissatisfaction, new relationship formation, less/more control, more/less supervision, stress, and insecurity.

Focusing on contextual understanding increases employees' participation in the opportunities and challenges of the transition. In this way, employees are co-creative actors in a change process that can contribute to creating new, sustainable solutions and improvements.

The employee "walks alongside" the development instead of lagging behind the development.

The recommendation concerns the practice level.