Companies are increasingly exposed to social change, high dynamics and complexity - and yet they are expected to organise themselves competitively and operate successfully. This leads to growing demands in management, in the leadership of individuals and teams and in the further development of creative, innovative business ideas.
This research area deals with the effects of changes in society, the economy and technology on companies, their employees and their management, as well as the recognition of innovation potential and the implementation and control of start-up and innovation processes.
We perform research and development in the following topics:
Infrastructure:
The JOBCRAFT project is dedicated to a proactive, self-organized and meaning-oriented form of work design by employees, called job crafting, where an optimal fit between job and person is sought. The process is based on the goals, needs, skills and values of the employees in order to find more fulfillment and meaning in work. There has been informative, practice-oriented research on this worldwide for around 20 years, but hardly any in Austria. The approach that promotes employee participation at the workplace also seems to be little known in (Lower) Austria. In the project, on the one hand, questionnaire studies (panel: cross-sectional study, pre-post evaluation study: longitudinal study) on the spread and effectiveness of job crafting in the Lower Austria area, and on the other hand, job crafting day workshops for employees from ideally two partner companies are to be carried out to determine the effects of this intervention on job crafting and the work behavior of employees in the company. The project aims to make a significant contribution to the sustainable humanization of work as part of its digital, organizational and cultural transformation. To ensure that the changes in modern working life do not overwhelm employees, employees should be involved in shaping their changing of work. As much as possible, they should take responsibility for structuring their job profile and be able to design their work in such a way that they can reflect their skills and preferences, their personality and development goals.
The overall objective of this project (funded by the European Union) is to improve people skills in project management education. We will analyze the existing best practices of responsible leadership in project management, specify and include the principles of responsible leadership into the project management education, develop easy-access short (EAS) courses and tools for responsible leadership in relation to IMPA people skill standards and raise awareness of responsible project management to achieve this objective.
The aim is to exchange experiences, knowledge and best practices on the topic of entrepreneurship with a focus on the environment and climate change together with the international partner universities for effective cross-sectoral action, enabling conditions, motivation and a support system for students, alumni and staff*. The main objectives are: 1) Increase transnational work capacity 2) Build a community and new networks for effective cross-sector action to better integrate the higher education sector into the innovation ecosystem 3) Create the conditions to develop relevant skills for implementing innovative, high-potential business ideals 4) Develop, test and implement new approaches to entrepreneurial education.
This research project focuses on how companies, managers with leadership responsibilities and as well as employees handle diffuse working hours. Extended home office regulations have been introduced in many companies due to the pandemic. Employers and employees are faced with frequently changing framework conditions and increased working time flexibility. In cooperation with Lower Austrian companies and their work councils, the research team develops solutions for a reasonable approach towards working time flexibility. This research project is funded by the Future Programme Project Fund Work 4.0 of the Lower Austrian Chamber of Labour. The project team consists of faculty members from the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt and the University of Graz.
Nachreichung erfolgt in Kürze
This project analyses team work and team performance: How do teams learn? Which new leadership approaches foster learning processes in teams? Trends (e.g., digitalization, sustainability, agility) are considered as well as the dark side of teamwork (e.g., burnout, peer pressure).
This study investigates the current status of digitalisation in tax advisory companies as well as in accounting and auditing companies in the regions of Vienna and Lower Austria. In addition, the future competencies of soon-to-be tax advisors and auditors are explored, in order to define teaching contents based on the outcomes of this survey.
In the new world of Work 4.0, more and more people are asking about the objectives of work, hence companies are increasingly under pressure to set purposeful goals for their employees. Consequently, we should consider what kind of framework conditions management in higher education needs to create in order to satisfy this wish for meaningful employment.
We analyze the role of a cross-functional project team decoupled from their Weberian context and entrusted with offering innovative solutions regarding the city council’s facility management. Based on the results, we developed a model relating public innovativeness and organizational ambidexterity to micropolitical efforts, which has so far remained a ‘black box’.
Investigation whether a design-based research can improveemployees’ digital competences during work in production companies in collaboration with co-workers and colleagues.
Feel free to contact us: FuE@fhwn.ac.at