Current concept, development, and testing applications in production concerning Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), Industry 4.0 (I40), and Internet of Things (IoT) are mainly addressing fully autonomous systems, fostered by an increase in available technologies regarding distributed decision-making, sensors, and actuators for robotics systems. This is applied also to production logistics settings with a multitude of transport tasks, e.g., between warehousing or material supply stations and production locations within larger production sites as for example in the automotive industry. In most cases, mixed environments where automated systems and humans collaborate (e.g., cobots) are not in the center of analysis and development endeavors although the worker’s adoption and acceptance of new technologies are of crucial relevance. From an interdisciplinary research perspective, this constitutes an important research gap, as the future challenges for successful automated systems will rely mainly on human-computer interaction (HCI) in connection with an efficient collaboration between motivated workers, automated robotics, and transportation systems. We develop a HCI efficiency description in production logistics based on an interdisciplinary analysis consisting of three interdependent parts: (i) a production logistics literature review and process study, (ii) a computer science literature review and simulation study for an existing autonomous traffic control algorithm applicable to production logistics settings with the specific inclusion of human actors, and (iii) a work science analysis for automation settings referring to theoretical foundations and empirical findings regarding the management of workers in digital work settings. We conclude with practical implications and discuss avenues for future research and business applications.

Purpose: Digitalization is changing organizations with positive and negative impacts such as increased autonomy on the one hand and increased surveillance and control on the other hand. In this context, new modes of control occur: in addition to managerial control, new modes of control are multi-directed, stemming from colleagues, customers and underlying algorithms. This paper investigates the interrelation of autonomy and new modes of control in digital work contexts from the workers’ perspectives.Design/methodology/approach: Empirical data are based on a mixed-methods approach combining qualitative interviews with 25 and a quantitative questionnaire with 127 workers from urban food logistics organizations in Germany.Findings: The results show that new modes of control are relevant for work engagement in digital work contexts: managerial and algorithm control are perceived as support. Peer and customer control are perceived as coercion.Originality/value: Besides investigating the interrelation of autonomy and control and differentiating new modes of control, our study also makes important contributions to the perception of control as support and coercion.

Purpose: Digital technologies comprehensively change work processes and working conditions. However, the use of digital technologies and the modes of collaboration between technologies and human workers differ in terms of specific work organization and automatization. Referring to the job demands-resources model (JD-R), this paper investigates job demands and resources from the workers' perspectives and develops a digital work typology according to dimensions of digitalization and forms of human–computer interaction (HCI).Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a qualitative-empirical study with 49 interviews in four German production and logistics organizations, emphasizing different job demands and job resources for five digital work types identified.Findings: The results indicate that job demands and resources are to be differentiated in relation to specific work contexts. In this sense, this paper presents an analysis of dimensions of technology use and the impact of technology use on working conditions through empirically analyzing job demands and resources in digital work settings.Originality/value: The contribution of this paper is to empirically analyze job demands and resources in digital work settings from the workers' perspectives and to develop a digital work typology based on the dimensions of digitalization and form of HCI. This typology can set the basis for further research insights as well as management practice measures in human resources management (HRM).

Seit den 1990er Jahren lassen sich Ökonomisierungsprozesse im Gesundheitswesen beobachten. In diesem Zusammenhang hält das Prinzip der Effizienzsteigerung Einzug in die Organisation Krankenhaus und damit in den ärztlichen Handlungsbereich. Vor diesem Hintergrund sehen sich Ärzte zunehmend mit einer Entwicklung konfrontiert, die zu einer Deprofessionalisierung mit nicht intendierten dysfunktionalen Folgen (z.B. in Bezug auf die Qualität der Patientenversorgung) führen kann. Begleitet ist diese Entwicklung von einer Loslösung der Ärzteschaft aus der Erwerbsorganisation Krankenhaus in Form einer neuen Selbstständigkeit, die als Ökonomisierung auf der individuellen Ebene verstanden werden kann: Als solo-selbstständige Fachärzte sind Honorarärzte gegen ein vereinbartes Honorar zeitlich befristet in verschiedenen Krankenhäusern tätig. In unserem Beitrag wird das Honorararzt-Phänomen ins Zentrum gerückt und folgende Forschungsfrage beantwortet: Wie wirkt sich die Ökonomisierung auf organisationaler und individueller Ebene auf das professionelle Handeln von Ärzten im Krankenhaus aus? Ausgehend von professions- und organisationssoziologischen Zugängen greifen wir das Phänomen des Honorararztwesens auf, um das Spannungsfeld von Markt, Organisation und Profession in der Medizin angesichts aktueller, ökonomisch induzierter Transformationsprozesse im Gesundheitswesen nachzuzeichnen. Zur Analyse der Auswirkungen auf das professionelle ärztliche Handeln greifen wir auf qualitative Interviews sowohl mit Honorarärzten als auch mit angestellten Ärzten, Chefärzten und Krankenhausgeschäftsführern zurück. In der Analyse der Interviews wird deutlich, dass der verstärkte Einsatz von Honorarärzten einen Beitrag zur Reprofessionalisierung der ärztlichen Tätigkeit in Krankenhäusern leisten kann. Regulatory reforms in the health care sector confront hospital doctors with the phenomenon of deprofessionalization of their work. In this context, managerial instruments become increasingly important to medical decisions, which can lead to dysfunctional outcomes (e.g. in terms of patient care quality). This development comes along with the disengagement of physicians who leave the organization to become self-employed. As locum doctors, they work for an appropriate fee in different hospitals on a temporary basis. In view of the different kinds of commodification at the individual and organizational level, our main research question is: How does the commodification at the organizational and individual level affect the professional behavior of doctors in hospitals? We refer to a qualitative study with locum doctors, employed physicians, chief physicians, and hospital managers. As a result of individual level commodification, locum doctors manage to overcome organizational restrictions, which in turn can lead to a reprofessionalization of the medical work since they have the freedom to take medical decisions based on professional standards and not solely on economic criteria.enger Seit den 1990er Jahren lassen sich Ökonomisierungsprozesse im Gesundheitswesen beobachten. In diesem Zusammenhang hält das Prinzip der Effizienzsteigerung Einzug in die Organisation Krankenhaus und damit in den ärztlichen Handlungsbereich. Vor diesem Hintergrund sehen sich Ärzte zunehmend mit einer Entwicklung konfrontiert, die zu einer Deprofessionalisierung mit nicht intendierten dysfunktionalen Folgen (z.B. in Bezug auf die Qualität der Patientenversorgung) führen kann. Begleitet ist diese Entwicklung von einer Loslösung der Ärzteschaft aus der Erwerbsorganisation Krankenhaus in Form einer neuen Selbstständigkeit, die als Ökonomisierung auf der individuellen Ebene verstanden werden kann: Als solo-selbstständige Fachärzte sind Honorarärzte gegen ein vereinbartes Honorar zeitlich befristet in verschiedenen Krankenhäusern tätig. In unserem Beitrag wird das Honorararzt-Phänomen ins Zentrum gerückt und folgende Forschungsfrage beantwortet: Wie wirkt sich die Ökonomisierung auf organisationaler und individueller Ebene auf das professionelle Handeln von Ärzten im Krankenhaus aus? Ausgehend von professions- und organisationssoziologischen Zugängen greifen wir das Phänomen des Honorararztwesens auf, um das Spannungsfeld von Markt, Organisation und Profession in der Medizin angesichts aktueller, ökonomisch induzierter Transformationsprozesse im Gesundheitswesen nachzuzeichnen. Zur Analyse der Auswirkungen auf das professionelle ärztliche Handeln greifen wir auf qualitative Interviews sowohl mit Honorarärzten als auch mit angestellten Ärzten, Chefärzten und Krankenhausgeschäftsführern zurück. In der Analyse der Interviews wird deutlich, dass der verstärkte Einsatz von Honorarärzten einen Beitrag zur Reprofessionalisierung der ärztlichen Tätigkeit in Krankenhäusern leisten kann. Regulatory reforms in the health care sector confront hospital doctors with the phenomenon of deprofessionalization of their work. In this context, managerial instruments become increasingly important to medical decisions, which can lead to dysfunctional outcomes (e.g. in terms of patient care quality). This development comes along with the disengagement of physicians who leave the organization to become self-employed. As locum doctors, they work for an appropriate fee in different hospitals on a temporary basis. In view of the different kinds of commodification at the individual and organizational level, our main research question is: How does the commodification at the organizational and individual level affect the professional behavior of doctors in hospitals? We refer to a qualitative study with locum doctors, employed physicians, chief...

In contrast to other countries, the appearance of locum physicians as independent contractors constitutes a rather new phenomenon in the German health care system and emerged out of a growing economization and shortage of medical staff in the hospital sector. Locums are a special type of self-employed professionals who are only temporally embedded in organisational contexts of hospitals, and this might have consequences for their professional practice. Therefore, questions arise regarding how locums perceive their ethical duties as medical professionals. In this first qualitative study on German locum physicians, the locums’ own perspective is complemented by the viewpoint of permanently employed physician colleagues. Eighteen semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2014 to explore the professional practice of locum physicians from both groups’ perspectives with respect to doctor-patient-relationship, cooperation with colleagues and physicians’ role in society. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis, including a deductive application and an inductive development of codes. The results were related to key tenets of medical professionalism with respect to the question: how far do locums fulfil their ethical duties towards patients, colleagues and the society? The study indicates that although ethical requirements are met broadly, difficulties remain with respect to close doctor–patient contact and the sustainability of hiring locums as a remedy in times of staff shortage. Further qualitative and quantitative research on locum physicians’ professional practice, including patient perspectives and economic health care system analyses, is needed to better understand the ethical impact of hiring independent contractors in the hospital sector.

Purpose: While staffing agencies are gaining importance in work relationships with the highly skilled workforce, their work relations with highly skilled independent contractors have not been investigated yet. Staffing agencies as labor market intermediaries charge a fee to help independent contractors as well as client organizations to create contracts for services while independent contractors remain self-employed. Besides their growing relevance, their exact role remains unclear. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of staffing agencies in work relationships with highly skilled independent contractors. Design/methodology/approach: The authors applied a mixed-methods design comprising a qualitative interview study with independent contractors and staffing agencies’ representatives (n=29) coupled with a quantitative survey of staffing agencies (n=81). Findings: The analysis shows that staffing agencies are important actors in work relationships with highly skilled independent contractors. However, the relationships can be differentiated into rather standardized ones on the one hand and individualized relations on the other hand. This seems to correspond with differences between sectors. Originality/value: First, the authors discuss staffing agencies as new intermediaries and highlight their relevance in the negotiation of working conditions. Second, the authors emphasize variations of the role of staffing agencies in triadic work relationships of highly skilled independent contractors in relation to specificities of sectors. Third, the study also adds on organizational support theory and related research.