TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES AND HUMAN RESOURCES SET Coordinated by Patrick Gilbert The accelerating pace of technological change (AI, cobots, immersive reality, connected objects, etc.) calls for a profound reexamination of how we conduct business. This requires new ways of thinking, acting, organizing and collaborating in our work. Faced with these challenges, the Human and Social Sciences have a leading role to play, alongside others, in designing, supporting and implementing these digital transformation projects. Their ambition is to participate in the development of innovative and empowering devices, that is to say, systems that are truly at the service of human beings and their activity, that empower these professionals to take action and that also provide occupational health services. This book takes a multidisciplinary look at the challenges of these digital transformations, making use of occupational psychology, ergonomics, sociology of uses, and management sciences. This viewpoint also helps provide epistemological, methodological and empirical insights to better understand and support the changes at work.

TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES AND HUMAN RESOURCES SET Coordinated by Patrick Gilbert The accelerating pace of technological change (AI, cobots, immersive reality, connected objects, etc.) calls for a profound reexamination of how we conduct business. This requires new ways of thinking, acting, organizing and collaborating in our work. Faced with these challenges, the Human and Social Sciences have a leading role to play, alongside others, in designing, supporting and implementing these digital transformation projects. Their ambition is to participate in the development of innovative and empowering devices, that is to say, systems that are truly at the service of human beings and their activity, that empower these professionals to take action and that also provide occupational health services. This book takes a multidisciplinary look at the challenges of these digital transformations, making use of occupational psychology, ergonomics, sociology of uses, and management sciences. This viewpoint also helps provide epistemological, methodological and empirical insights to better understand and support the changes at work.

This open access book addresses the future of work and industry by 2040—a core interest for many disciplines inspiring a strong momentum for employment and training within the industrial world. The future of industrial safety in terms of technological risk-management, although of obvious concern to international actors in various industries, has been quite sparsely addressed. This brief reflects the viewpoints of experts who come from different academic disciplines and various sectors such as oil and gas, energy, transportation, and the digital and even the military worlds, as expressed in debates and discussions during a two-day international seminar. The contributors address such questions as: What influence will ageing and lack of digital skills in the workforce of the occidental world have on safety culture? What are the likely impacts of big data, artificial intelligence and autonomous technologies on decision-making, and on the roles and responsibilities of individual actors and whole organizations? What role have human beings in a world of accelerating changes? What effects will societal concerns and the entrance of new players have on technological risk management and governance? Managing Future Challenges for Safety will interest and influence researchers considering the future effects of a number of currently developing technologies and their practitioner counterparts working in industry and regulation.

This is the first book to show how digitalisation and the better provision of information and communication technologies (ICTs) can improve access to a wide-range of social services, as well as make them more inclusive. Overcoming disparities across social groups using contemporary digitalisation models will have lasting consequences on social well-being and human welfare. Reflecting on current trends the authors vividly illustrate the collective, global nature of the challenge that digitalisation represents for providers, administrators and users of welfare services. It is important, therefore, to bear in mind the following for research design and practice: Citizens' rights must be protected Consideration should be given to how the services provided can be improved by more effective use of ICTs Digital interventions require better service coordination in the setting of priorities and specific training in digital skills for service providers and service users The chapters in this book address these problems and challenges in great depth, analysing the role of ICTs in promoting social inclusion and social welfare, drawing on examples of successful ICT applications around the world. The book contains country case-studies from the United States, Brazil, India, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong (China), Zimbabwe, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Singapore and will be of interest to all scholars and students of social policy, to social work educators, and social care providers.

This book examines four distinct areas of education that suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asian and African regions, and tackles the challenges and barriers that came as a result of the shift to online learning. Presenting perspectives from China, Malaysia, Nigeria, and the UAE, chapters frame research within the context of "innovation experiences" to explore transformative learning theory, and set out the ways in which leaders, educators, students, and parents adapted to learning during the pandemic. Foregrounding four central topics (challenges and barriers; teaching and learning; assessment; educational technology; and interactive learning environments), the volume provides globally relevant findings and implications for the effects of the pandemic on learning in these regions, and furthers the field of educational technology more broadly. Topics covered range from teaching and leading in the online learning environment to educational technology and the interactive learning space. Sharing innovative experiences to aid progression and share best practice for online learning moving forward, the book will be highly relevant to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of higher education, online and eLearning, and technology in education.

Every organization faces the challenge of competing in the digital economy. An increasingly dynamic environment requires more flexible and resilient organizations. The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic revolutionized dormant concepts and standards, requiring innovative approaches to bring forth new scenarios. Redesigning the work environment is an issue that cuts across both academic and practical levels and involves reorganizing traditional business models. This book explores the potential of different approaches to work organization and proposes solutions to improve collaboration and efficiency in the work environment, while enabling a better balance between personal and professional life. The book includes an analysis of the public sector. By illuminating advantages and disadvantages, the research results contribute to discussion in the public organizations field, with the aim of proposing new strategic paradigms for sustainable and resilient future work environments.

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to examine our understanding of the opportunities and challenges that ICTs offer to support the functioning of all aspects of education. The closure of educational institutions has forced a radical change in the practices of teachers and societies regarding the use of ICT to support teaching, learning, social relations and work in many sectors. In the training of digital skills, the instrumental mastery of ICT continues to outweigh the preparation of citizens to make constructive and safe use of technologies. After two decades of educational policies, we continue to reduce digital literacy to instrumental skills. That is, you do not learn why to use educational technologies and how, or to be critical of their use. Education 4.0 seeks to develop and enhance the digital skills of students and teachers in digital teaching environments, through the creation of a line of academic training programs for undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education. This article collection welcomes contributions to improve training policies and practices in Educational Digital Transformation for educational development (strategies, activities, proposals for assessment and certification of skills).

Measuring the Digital Transformation: A Roadmap for the Future provides new insights into the state of the digital transformation by mapping indicators across a range of areas – from education and innovation, to trade and economic and social outcomes – against current digital policy issues, as presented in Going Digital: Shaping Policies, Improving Lives.

"A small business is not a little big business." Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are considered the engines of worldwide economies and the main sources of job creation. Management in these companies is different from management in larger/older enterprises with their already established concepts and instruments. In view of the high importance of SMEs in emerging, developing and developed economies worldwide, the De Gruyter Handbook of SME Entrepreneurship investigates the underlying mechanisms and practices of management within these companies with a focus on entrepreneurship, growth and innovation. It argues that it is time for a dedicated theory of "SME Entrepreneurship" to emerge. Entrepreneurial thinking and behavior in SMEs must be differentiated from that of start-ups and large companies. On the other hand, it also explores the different entrepreneurship manifestations that exist within a widely heterogeneous group of SMEs. The handbook provides a theoretical framework in which to understand, compare and contrast the complexity of SMEs in both domestic and international processes and addresses the strengths, achievements, and challenges of entrepreneurship in SMEs.

One of the realities characterizing the globe is the exclusion of marginalized communities in digital transformation. Their exclusion has resulted in a lack of participation in the digital space, which has catastrophic consequences on the digital economy. To promote digital inclusiveness in marginalized communities, there is a need to deconstruct the illusion that digital transformation is an urban phenomenon. Digital Transformation for Promoting Inclusiveness in Marginalized Communities discusses how digital transformation can be utilized to promote inclusiveness in marginalized communities by exploring opportunities and challenges and determining change mechanisms required to enhance digital transformation in marginalized communities. Covering a range of topics such as augmented reality and remote communities, this reference work is ideal for government employees, technologists, policymakers, industry professionals, researchers, scholars, academicians, instructors, and students.