The world of factories is on the threshold of a change so profound that it is recognized as the fourth industrial revolution. A change that overwhelms products, services and production methods and that has, as its heart, an unprecedented technological break. If expectations are very high, the result is by no means a foregone conclusion. In this context, managing the change towards the digitalization of manufacture is becoming essential. If on one hand, the available literature concerning Industry 4.0 features and characteristics is growing and evolving at a consistent pace, on the other hand, few contributions focused on how to face the change led by the new paradigm have been developed. The aim of this thesis is precisely to investigate the relationship between these two world, Industry 4.0 and Change Management, to understand how firms should deal with this transformation. Since, the existing literature does not provide yet a structured scientific expertise and the topic is worth to be deeply investigated, an exploratory approach has been chosen to carry out the research and case study has seemed to be the most suitable methodology. By applying a framework analysis to data collected from interviews, insights have been discovered, filling some literature gaps and expanding what has already been reported by academics. In particular, it has been possible to find some managerial implications and practices concerning different areas of interest: the enabling factors a firm must have before starting an Industry 4.0 project; how project governance should be structured to improve the probability of success of the change; the role of the HR function during the change; how to manage resistance to change in a 4.0 context. Obviously, the novelty of the theme and the type of methodology leave plenty of room for future analysis, such as extending the research abroad, deepening the single sub-stages of change or focusing on particular clusters of companies, such SMEs.
Il mondo delle fabbriche è alle soglie di un cambiamento così profondo da essere riconosciuto come la quarta rivoluzione industriale. Un cambiamento che travolge prodotti, servizi e metodi di produzione e che ha, come cuore, una rottura tecnologica senza precedenti. In questo contesto, gestire il cambiamento verso la digitalizzazione della produzione sta diventando essenziale. Se da un lato la letteratura disponibile sulle caratteristiche e sulle peculiarità dell'Industria 4.0 cresce e si evolve a ritmo costante, dall'altro sono stati sviluppati pochi contributi focalizzati su come affrontare il cambiamento guidato dal nuovo paradigma. Lo scopo di questa tesi è proprio quello di indagare il rapporto tra questi due mondi, Industria 4.0 e Change Management, per capire come le aziende dovrebbero affrontare questa trasformazione. Poiché la letteratura esistente non fornisce ancora una visione scientificamente strutturata e l'argomento necessita di essere approfondito, è stato scelto un approccio esplorativo per portare avanti la ricerca e il caso studio è sembrato essere la metodologia più adatta. Applicando un framework di analisi alle informazioni raccolte dalle interviste, sono state scoperte diverse indicazioni che colmano alcune lacune della letteratura e ampliano ciò che è già stato riportato dai ricercatori accademici. In particolare, è stato possibile trovare alcune implicazioni manageriali e pratiche riguardanti diverse aree di interesse: i fattori abilitanti che un'azienda deve avere prima di avviare un progetto Industry 4.0; come dovrebbe essere strutturata la governance del progetto per migliorare le probabilità di successo del cambiamento; il ruolo della funzione HR durante il cambiamento; come gestire la resistenza al cambiamento in un contesto 4.0. Ovviamente, la novità del tema e il tipo di metodologia lasciano ampio spazio ad analisi futuri, per esempio estendendo la ricerca all'estero, approfondendo singole fasi del cambiamento o focalizzandosi su particolari cluster di imprese, come le PMI.
Managing change towards Industry 4.0: how organizations design and implement Industry 4.0 projects
FONTANA, JACOPO;FARINA, JACOPO
2018/2019
Abstract
The world of factories is on the threshold of a change so profound that it is recognized as the fourth industrial revolution. A change that overwhelms products, services and production methods and that has, as its heart, an unprecedented technological break. If expectations are very high, the result is by no means a foregone conclusion. In this context, managing the change towards the digitalization of manufacture is becoming essential. If on one hand, the available literature concerning Industry 4.0 features and characteristics is growing and evolving at a consistent pace, on the other hand, few contributions focused on how to face the change led by the new paradigm have been developed. The aim of this thesis is precisely to investigate the relationship between these two world, Industry 4.0 and Change Management, to understand how firms should deal with this transformation. Since, the existing literature does not provide yet a structured scientific expertise and the topic is worth to be deeply investigated, an exploratory approach has been chosen to carry out the research and case study has seemed to be the most suitable methodology. By applying a framework analysis to data collected from interviews, insights have been discovered, filling some literature gaps and expanding what has already been reported by academics. In particular, it has been possible to find some managerial implications and practices concerning different areas of interest: the enabling factors a firm must have before starting an Industry 4.0 project; how project governance should be structured to improve the probability of success of the change; the role of the HR function during the change; how to manage resistance to change in a 4.0 context. Obviously, the novelty of the theme and the type of methodology leave plenty of room for future analysis, such as extending the research abroad, deepening the single sub-stages of change or focusing on particular clusters of companies, such SMEs.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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2019_12_Farina_Fontana.pdf
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/151855