employee involvement

Digital transformation processes have a high tendency for delay, exceeding costs, and failure. This poses a significant risk in competitive global markets and shifting business models of entire industries. Successful companies have a different approach to new technologies than more traditional incumbents. Including the workforce in the transformation via change leadership in a digital transformation coaching process can reduce fear and resistance and can lead to a paradigm shift of approaching the digital transformation itself: as an agility driven, infinite game with high potential gain.

Learning factories in Germany concentrate on the two classic aspects of production: Optimization of production processes (lean management) as well as the efficient use of resources. The learning factory of the chair of production systems at Ruhr-University Bochum considers also the topic management and organization of labour to convey competences in the field of co-determination. In cooperation between the faculty of mechanical engineering and social sciences as well as the office of cooperation RUB/IMU different learning factory exercises have been developed, which impart this learning factory a special significance.

The author worked for a food company as a member of the board of directors over nearly 30 years. He shows the approach to the development from an old fashioned company with over 100 years of tradition into a modern and successful enterprise. As a tool for a restructuring process, the company chose to “involve the employees in decision making”. Apart from the approach to this process, the author shows that this way of employee involvement allows generating significant financial improvements.