Work Based Organizing. Work practices at the heart of resilient organizational design (WBO)
Project type: Funded by the BMFTR
Research field: Ergonomics, organizational design, human-technology organization, resilience, lean ergonomics
contact person: Johannes Pannermayr
Project period: 01/2026 – 01/2028
Project partners: Grötschel GmbH, CAS Software, Ringfoto, Honasco, ISF München, fortiss, GAB, trilogIQa
Website: workbased.org
Initial situation
Companies in the manufacturing sector and knowledge-intensive services are increasingly under pressure to reorganize their value creation processes in the face of growing complexity, digitalization, and global uncertainties. Technological innovations, new organizational forms, and rising demands for flexibility often lead to mismatches between actual work practices, formal processes, and technical systems. This can result in inefficiencies, increased workload, and reduced organizational resilience. At the same time, there is a lack of practical models and tools for systematically designing and empirically investigating value creation based on concrete work practices.
Objective
The goal of the Work Based Organizing (WBO) project is to develop and test an organizational and design approach that consistently considers value creation, work organization, and technology design from the perspective of work processes. Structures, processes, and technologies are to be designed in such a way that they relieve the burden on employees, promote innovation, and strengthen the resilience of organizations.
Specifically, the project serves the following purpose:
- To develop methods for systematically analyzing and improving work processes, roles, and interfaces between people, technology, and organization.
- To develop concepts for skills development and empowering employees to support independent and creative action in dynamic work environments.
- To provide technical and organizational tools that support companies in identifying areas for improvement and adaptation in their value creation processes.
- To develop transferable solutions that help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular to make their organizations resilient and future-proof.
Procedure and methods
The project pursues an interdisciplinary and application-oriented approach that combines methods from ergonomics, social sciences, and engineering. The methodological basis is the close collaboration between research partners, consulting firms, and companies in real-world application scenarios.
Key elements of the approach are:
- Empirical analysis of work processes: Examination of workflows, roles, and organizational structures to identify mismatches between work practices, technology, and organization.
- Participatory design: Involvement of employees and managers in workshops and development processes to collaboratively create new organizational and work models.
- Development of technical and methodological tools: Creation of a modular toolkit that includes analytical instruments, guidelines, design concepts, and empowerment formats. This also includes a digital assistance system for process analysis and evaluation of organizational processes.
Testing in real-world application scenarios: Prototypical implementation and evaluation of the developed approaches in different operational contexts from production and service to ensure effectiveness and transferability.
