Digital Prism

Exploring the impacts of digitisation and datafication on the Nordic Model of Workplace Democracy

The world of work has changed dramatically in recent years. Big data, artificial intelligence and other technological advances have transformed how companies organise themselves, often in volatile and unpredictable ways.

The traditional interactions between employee, employer, labour unions and state have all shifted, and we wanted to examine how this could play out in the coming years as these seismic changes continue to throw up new challenges.

As part of an international partnership of academic institutions, we brought together a group of researchers to explore the impacts of the digitisation of labour on what is known as the “Nordic Model of Workplace Democracy.” Assembling a diverse group of scholars from Norway, Denmark and England, we looked to examine the ongoing transformation of workplaces using a blend of qualitative case studies and quantitative surveys.

Challenge

It is now self-evident that technology is revolutionising the way people work. Workplace monitoring, algorithmic management systems, automated decision-making support systems and performance quantifications are having a rapid and transformational effect. Yet in many cases these technologies are being positioned – either by employers or the owners of the technology – as neutral and efficient tools. We suspected it may not be so simple.

As members of an international partnership including The Work Research Institute (AFI), OsloMet, Roskilde University College, Teesside University and the University of Oslo, we put those theories to the test. The challenge was to figure out how digital governance affects power relations between management, union representatives and employees. We also wanted to look specifically at how this affected Norwegian workplaces, as this would provide a small control group to understand new constellations of power and governance, as well as generating actionable insights for policymakers, employer associations and unions.

Solution

The solution was DigiWORK a unique, comparative, qualitative and quantitative analysis of the effects of datafication and algorithmisation of work on the Norwegian model of workplace democracy. Our researchers looked specifically at the impact technology was making on sectors like law enforcement, healthcare, higher education and the petroleum industry, and also sought to draw conclusions that could be applied more universally across the board.

While the research is still ongoing, it has already provided a fascinating insight into how the world of work is changing. Temporary working practices that were deemed necessary to tackle the pandemic are already part of a long-term future, and when it comes to algorithmic governance and surveillance the existing (and often hidden) assumptions of harmlessness cannot be taken at face level.

Impact

The true impact of this research is still to be fully revealed, but the insights we have already generated regarding the algorthismisation of work have proven fascinating.

Professor Anthony Lloyd, Professor of Criminology at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Centre for Social Innovation states: “We cannot put the genie back in the bottle. The impacts of cascading disadvantages and opaque decision-making caused by digitisation are fast becoming clear. Algorithms can cause issues just as easily as managers, and while this may be felt more keenly right now by, say, an Amazon worker rather than a doctor, the effect will soon spread.”

Our research partnership has identified what may be universal applications from the local findings in Norway, and we are already looking forward to future research that may understand these suspected links more conclusively.