Pre-ECIS Workshop: New Technologies, Organizations and Work

Rapid developments in new technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous systems are having profound impacts on organisations and workers (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2016; Ford, 2015). These impacts may occur at the work-practice, organizational and supra- organizational levels (Günther, Mehrizi, Huysman, & Feldberg, 2017) and have contrasting outcomes for different stakeholders. For example, new technologies have the potential to augment and enhance worker behaviours and enrich job roles, but also to facilitate high levels of surveillance and control, performance monitoring, and the loss of jobs. The tensions between these possible outcomes have generated considerable debate in the academic press (Günther et al., 2017). However, much of the research underpinning these debates is conceptual in nature. This has led to calls for more empirical studies on organizations’ actual strategic decisions on the use of new technologies e.g. on the automation of work (Markus, 2017). This also presents an opportunity for IS researchers to bring together literatures from other academic disciplines (Loebbecke & Picot, 2015; Newell & Marabelli, 2015). Operating at the intersection of many scholarly disciplines, considering both social and technical perspectives, Information Systems (IS) researchers are ideally placed to assemble a cohesive understanding of this rapidly advancing research challenge.

The workshop invites short papers that consider these new technologies at the worker, organisation or supra-organisational levels. Example issues to consider may include (but are not limited to):

• Are there new methods for forecasting use or organisational impacts of new technologies?
• Can methods or tools be developed to help with understanding the potential purposes, markets and regions for new technologies?
• How can research in new technologies addressing grand challenges (e.g. sustainable food production, water and energy use)?
• Research methods relevant for complex and rapidly changing technologies
• Robot/human decision-making conflict? Do humans stay in the loop with AI informed decision making?
• The impacts of new technologies on skills (degradation or enhancement)
• Trust and ethical issues in new technology decision making e.g. can we trust robo-decisions for healthcare and financial decisions?
• Privacy and surveillance: are we still challenging these issues enough or has apathy replaced empathy?

The workshop particularly encourages empirical submissions but conceptual or viewpoint papers are also welcome. Paper submission is not required for attendance at the workshop.

Please see here for more details and instructions on submitting.