Work ground: a new analysis unit for the understanding of production and value creation through digital platforms in the age of the fourth industrial revolution
by Avi Shnider
European J. of International Management (EJIM), Vol. 20, No. 1, 2023

Abstract: The fourth industrial revolution along with sharing economy challenges the basic assumptions of social theories that aim to understand organisations and work processes. Uber drivers, Wolt couriers, application developers, etc. are no longer salaried employees of a specific organisation; they are not sub-constructors or labourers, but rather employed as semi-freelancers through a digital platform, which embeds their activity into a network of coherent value. The 'organisation' concept, which describes salaried employment managed through an appropriate bureaucratic mechanism, no longer describes this new form of work. Hence, the current paper suggests the use of a new analysis unit - the Work Ground - a work process in which the activities of free agents are embedded to create a coherent value using a digital or a physical platform. The paper traces five unique features of this new analysis unit: (1) from an assembly line to a playground metaphor, (2) from process to result supervision, (3) crowdsourcing - third generation human resource pattern, (4) self-motivation, (5) from marriage to friendship - the loss of exclusivity in the prosumer-organisation relationship.

Online publication date: Tue, 18-Apr-2023

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