• SIG 01: Media studies

Media Studies Special Interest Group welcomes all studies about blue and grey collars and all other designations related to the workers within the context of production, consumption, and representation. It covers various topics from working conditions and wage policies, to the production of media texts, to representation in media texts such as news and films and to their reception/consumption by the audience. By embracing both qualitative and quantitative research methods and taking an interdisciplinary approach within the context of collar studies, this study group aims to juxtapose media studies with management/organizational studies.

KEYWORDS: media studies, organizational studies, production, reception, representation

GROUP LEADERS: Prof. G. Senem Gençtürk Hızal (Başkent University) and Assist. Prof. Ebru Akçay (Başkent University)

  • SIG 02: Blue and grey collar workers in the context of digital transformation in organizations

In the rapidly evolving landscape of the modern workplace, digital transformation has brought about significant changes in the roles and responsibilities of both blue and grey-collar workers. Blue-collar workers traditionally refer to individuals engaged in manual labor and trades, while grey-collar workers occupy positions that require a mix of both manual and clerical work. With the integration of digital technologies, these workers are facing a transformation in their work environments, tools, and skill requirements.

KEYWORDS: Digital transformation, Automation, Workforce technology, Skill development, Job displacement, Hybrid workforce

GROUP LEADERS: Prof. Fatih Çetin (Başkent University)

  • SIG 03: Impact of digitalization on the blue and grey collar workers: GIG Economy/Platform Economy

This Special Interest Group welcomes all studies about the impact of digitalization on blue and grey-collar workers and all other designations related to the gig economy/platform economy. Many people work in part-time or temporary positions or as independent contractors in a gig economy. Is this a model of work that will become more and more popular? This SIG covers various topics from working conditions and wage policies to recruitment, new qualifications, problems, and eliminating barriers and new challenges. By embracing both qualitative and quantitative research methods and taking an interdisciplinary approach within the context of the impact of digitalization on blue and grey-collar workers.

KEYWORDS: digitalization, gig economy, digital transformation, labor market

GROUP LEADERS: Dr Monika Roman (Warsaw University of Life Sciences)

  • SIG 04: Blue-collar women with a focus on gender equality

Gender inequality which is a major problem for blue and grey collar jobs,  also exist in terms of technology usage and digital skills of blue and grey collar workers. In this respect, development of digital skills is important for blue and grey collar women. This track seeks to clarify the current situation, identify problems and develop solutions regarding gender equality and digital inequalities.  As a matter of fact, it has been seen that the number of studies related to gender inequality among blue & grey collar workers; as well as family obligations, work-life conflict, working conditions and wage inequality of blue and grey collar female employees is insufficient. In particular, with the Covid-19 outbreak, the pressure and burden on women has increased. Due to the epidemic, women are 24% more likely to lose their job than men and spend 3 times more time on domestic work than men (United Nations, 2020; Dang and Nguyen, 2021). Even if the COVID-19 crisis is experienced strongly in many industries and occupations, it has particularly affected blue and grey collar women in terms of managing their paid jobs and household responsibilities (OECD, 2021). Moreover, in order for blue and grey collar women to obtain decent employment opportunities, their digital skills need to be developed. The necessity for digital skills of blue & grey collar workers is increasing and employers should adopt digital learning for their employees. There is a need for research on the use of technology and digital skills for blue and gray collar workers. In this context, there is a need for studies that provide solutions to these problems, investigate these issues in depth and enable the development of theories in this field. This strategic interest group aims to enrich the literature on all these problems covered under the name Blue-Collar Women with a Focus on Gender Equality.

KEYWORDS: Organizational Perspective on the Work-Family Balance of Blue & Grey Collar Women, Blue& Grey Collar Women and their Domestic Work, Working Conditions and Pay Inequality for Blue & Grey Collar Women, The Blue & Grey Collar Woman and the Glass Ceiling Effect, Blue & Grey Collar Women and Technology, Digital Inequalities

GROUP LEADERS: Prof. Dr. Yonca Deniz Gürol (Yıldız Technical University)

  • SIG 05: Blue and grey collar workers in the post-pandemic world: past, current and future challenges

The limitations introduced due to the coronavirus deeply influenced labour markets, making the working environment more tough but more flexible. The traditional relationships with employees and employers, work time and working hours, the work–life balance (WLB), and workers’ approach to work were suddenly changed. Keeping social distancing was essential, and organizations introduced many methods to reduce the presence of employees within work environments while sustaining organizational activities. The results of this new reality left a strong mark and still are visible in many firms. Such profound transformation reshaped many aspects of HR roles and procedures, e.g., job descriptions, pay, motivation issues, and benefits, creating various employee and employer problems. This session is dedicated to all the challenges blue and grey-collar workers face in the post-pandemic world. The interest is how organizations adopted changes like remote or partial hybrid work. How workers’ work attitude has changed and how people work, live and establish a work–life balance has changed. How blue and grey-collar workers matched new requirements. What they complained about, and what they had the most significant problems.

KEYWORDS: blue and grey-collar workers, work-life balance, work flexibility, labour markets, employment practices, remote or partial hybrid work, challenges, barriers

GROUP LEADERS: PhD. Monika Gębska (Warsaw University of Life Sciences) and PhD. Sławomir Jarka (Warsaw University of Life Sciences)

  • SIG 06: Blue-collar vs. white-collar workers in the finance industry

Compliance with data privacy and security regulations is critical, especially in the finance industry, where sensitive customer information is involved. The finance industry faces several challenges related to AI implementation as a tool to empower workers and improve their job performance. The main challenges of the finance industry cover the issues associated with market volatility and economic uncertainty or regulatory complexity. Also, the main issues concern the role of algorithms of trading and robot advisors, ethical dilemmas, income inequality, job automation and AI role, the interconnectedness of the finance sector and cybersecurity threats. Blue-collar workers need to review the key competencies. Their repetitive work could be substituted by AI algorithms, tools, chatbots or going into online banking trends. It will reduce certain tasks, changes in job stability and new strong customer service skills needed. The financial industry will be more efficient thanks to AI-driven authentication systems and virtual Assistants that can assist blue-collar workers, better optimize cash management or fraud detection and better skill development. These changes put significant pressure also on white-collar workers to focus on more complex tasks and provide personalized assistance. In this scope also, AI will influence their work to increase job efficiency. Thanks to automating the process of monitoring transactions and records, data analytics tools can help financial analysts and advisors or AI in trading enhance decision-making, improve portfolio performance and finally empower workers. Addressing these issues requires a combination of regulatory reforms, industry adaptation, and workforce development strategies.

KEYWORDS: finance industry, AI, changes workers’ skills, new blue-collar and white-collar skills matrix, key competence, regulation, cybersecurity, data analytics

GROUP LEADERS: Assist. Prof., Dr Magdalena Mądra-Sawicka (Warsaw University of Life Sciences)

  • SIG 07: CSR in the organization

The organization is part of the environment, and the links with the environment are so strong that it has become a necessity for companies to care for the environment in which they operate. Social responsibility is therefore a kind of duty to take care of everything that surrounds the organization. The awareness of these responsibilities and the need to fulfil them as part of the concept of social responsibility, which is to benefit organizations, are strongly supported by state authorities. Corporate social responsibility is a factor that increases the quality of life. It affects development social and economic thanks to business commitments implemented in cooperation with the staff and other entities operating in the environment. Organizations should be oriented towards planning and long-term action. Organizations compete among themselves, using CSR activities, which is why it is so important to communicate to the environment what characteristics an entity actually implementing CSR should have.

KEYWORDS: responsibility, organization, society, environment, profit

GROUP LEADERS: Assist. Prof., Dr Ewa Stawicka (Warsaw University of Life Sciences) and Prof. Marcin Ratajczak  (Warsaw University of Life Sciences)

  • SIG 08: Diversity and discrimination of blue and grey-collar employees

An outstanding factor of competition among business organizations through innovation is diversity.  If diversity is well managed, any organization can benefit from the richness of ideas and perspectives. However, reaping the benefits of a diverse workforce has its challenges and when diversity is not managed well enough, it is likely that employees develop strong feelings of and/or experience discrimination, which have negative effects on the level of their performance. The majority of studies on any employee perception and experience are highly concentrated on white collar employees, and due to the different nature of their jobs, one can hardly assume or expect to find the same perceptions of diversity, feelings and experiences of discrimination among blue and grey collar employees. Therefore, studies are sought out which answer these questions: Does being a member of a particular collar group mean different levels of awareness with respect to various dimensions of diversity? If there are different sensitivities toward different dimensions of diversity, then do those sensitivities translate into discrimination? Do the experiences of discrimination differ among collar groups, especially among blue, grey, and white-collar employees? Do blue and grey collar employees show comparatively different reactions compared to each other and compared to white-collar employees? Does organizational culture determine institutional reflexivity in individual professional groups? Is the type of interpersonal relations in the organization determined by the employee’s status (belonging to a vocation group)?

KEYWORDS: diversity, diverse workforce, discrimination, blue-collar employees, grey-collar employees, interpersonal relations, institutional reflexivity, intergroup relations

GROUP LEADERS: Prof. Dr Demet Varoğlu (TOBB University of Economics and Technology) and Prof. Joanna Wyleżałek, (Warsaw University of Life Sciences)

  • SIG 09: Cybersecurity and privacy issues within organizations

Cybersecurity has various dimensions, it can be considered in macro terms, for example, as the security of strategic systems of the state and the security of individual organizations. Cybersecurity can also be seen as an essential part of an organization’s economic activity. An important issue is the integral maintenance of the organization’s system, while at the same time ensuring the freedom to obtain, collect and process information and minimize the risk of interference by unauthorized persons and institutions. The essence of cybersecurity management is also to ensure consumer privacy, and this is significantly limited. There are numerous questions about the effectiveness and risk of running a business, including in particular the marketing risk of new information systems in organizations: What is the essence of digital security management in organizations? How is the perception of information security changing from the concept of limited access to information to the concept of “zero trust”? What is the cooperation in the field of cybersecurity between public institutions and enterprises? How to increase the knowledge and skills of employees to minimize the risk of cybercrimes? What new rules of international law must be in order to minimize the risk of cybercrime?

KEYWORDS: cyber management, cybersecurity, zero trust management, cybercrime

GROUP LEADERS: Prof. Wojciech Pizło (Warsaw University of Life Sciences)

  • SIG 10: Artificial intelligence and machine learning in organizations

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Organizations Special Interest Group welcomes all studies about the use of modern technologies, which are elements of the Industrial Revolution 5.0., in modern organizations. Artificial intelligence (AI) is at our doorstep with machine learning (ML) services and applications incorporated in agricultural, energy, financial, healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation systems. These technological capabilities bring about tremendous world changes, boosting the economy, increasing productivity, and providing new chances. Most generally, AI and ML have a significant impact on human life and are helping to transform life for the better. For example, AI offers new opportunities to improve packaging performance as volume and complexity increase. In contrast, ML contributes to improved decision-making by offering directions for new innovations. Group leaders are looking for publications that address these topics, but their work is not limited to these, including other aspects of artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

KEYWORDS: artificial intelligence, machine learning, Industry 5.0, optimization, decision

GROUP LEADERS: Assist. Prof., Dr Piotr Pietrzak (Warsaw University of Life Sciences) and Assist. Prof., Dr Olena Kulykovets (Warsaw University of Life Sciences)

  • SIG 11: Trust and intuition in the management of blue and grey-collar workers

“Trust and intuition in management of blue and grey collar worker” Special Interest Group welcomes all studies about blue and grey collars and all other designations related to the workers within the context of trust and intuition in management. Trust and intuition play important roles in the management of both blue and grey collar workers. In the area of employee confidence, it covers various topics such as building relationships at work, promoting a positive working environment, and organisational culture, motivating employees, setting achievable goals, delegating responsibilities, recognising and rewarding hard work, providing opportunities for professional development and keeping communication channels open. In the field of intuition, on the other hand, covers the role and tasks of intuition in managing employees (e.g. in problem-solving) in planning and organising tactical and operational activities and introducing change and innovation in the company. By embracing both qualitative and quantitative research methods and taking an interdisciplinary approach within the context of collar studies, this study group aims to juxtapose trust and intuition studies of blue and grey collars with management/organizational studies.

KEYWORDS: trust, intuition, management, blue collars workers, grey collars workers, motivation, company culture

GROUP LEADERS:  Assist. Prof. Anna Jasiulewicz (Warsaw University of Life Sciences) and Assist. Prof. Agnieszka Tul-Krzyszczuk (Warsaw University of Life Sciences)

  • SIG 12: Being a refugee worker in the workplace: New employment forms and ties between employers and employees in the age of migrations

“Being a refugee worker in the workplace: New employment forms and practices in the age of migrations” Special Interest Group welcomes studies that theoretically and empirically focus on refugee workers. To explore the emerging employment practices adopted or developed by organizations, we may ask several questions as follows: (i) Which refugee workers-specific employment practices are companies adopting, particularly recruitment, roles assignment , and compensation? (ii) What types of nascent employment practices emerged for refugee workers in the workplace? (ii) In what way are these practices legitimated, particularly in emerging markets? (iii) Are these practices threaten companies’ legitimacy, reputation, and identity? (iv)What types of institutional pressures motivate or discourage companies from adopting illegitimate, in nature, employment practices?

Furthermore, by taking a positivist lens, the question of how organizations can build a refugee-inclusive working environment may also be considered. The best practices of listed companies showing how an ethnicity-based, non-discriminative, and inclusive working environment can be built may provide a road map for such an organizational change and development project. On the other hand, questioning if the workers identify themselves with their ethnicities rather than their organizational memberships in the age of migration and, if so, whether the identity construction is a challenging process in such contexts is also worth exploring. In the organizational context where refugee workers are recruited and ethnic discrimination is embedded in organization culture, identity constructions of both local and refugee workers are supposed to be much more complicated processes. According to Tajfel &Turner (1979, 2001), there is an identity continuum on which different social identities take place. Depending on the context (Hogg&Terry, 2000; Turner&Reynolds, 2011; Haslam et al., 1999), one of these social identities is becoming salient. Outgroup derogation and polarization between the social categories (i.e., Syrian versus Turkish) escalate the identity salience of the individuals. Thus, in the local contexts where the ethnicity of refugee workers is a part of hostile political rhetoric, and refugees are blamed for causing a high unemployment rate of young local people and getting jobs the fired local people and poorer economic conditions the locals, ethnic identities are both refugee and local workers are supposed to become salient. In sum, in such contexts mentioned here, constructing a social identity derived from organizational membership is a challenging process for refugees and local workers. Thus, extant social identity literature is required to elaborate identity construction strategies (Cheney,1983; Prat, 1998, 2000) in the age of non-voluntary migrations.  Lastly, investigating whether organizational and individual level outcomes vary along with the changing worker composition by ethnicity has a potential for a theoretical contribution to extant OB literature. Exploring the nature of the ties between refugee workers and organizations and organizational and individual-level outcomes of employing refugees is an emerging research area. The point is that the constructs representing antecedents or consequences of work attitudes and behaviors, particularly organizational commitment, job-seeking behavior, trust, and turnover intention, need to be re-conceptualized for refugee studies. For instance, a researcher can not explain why refugee workers commit to employers or organizations they work for or intend to stay by employing the OC construct’s affective, normative, or continuous commitment dimensions (Allen & Meyer, 1991). Preliminary empirical evidence showed that there is no room for mobility for the refugee workers because they are employed informally and have no legal status in the workplace to resist, reject or negotiate even slavery-like working conditions to which they hopelessly complied. These empirical studies also showed that, in most cases, refugees stay in organizations that provide poor working conditions like modern slavery, neither because they feel obligated to the company for the opportunities for their personal development and growth nor because of calculative reasoning in their minds. Thus, by employing traditional OC or intent to leave measures, a researcher can not appropriately explain the results revealing that refugee workers are the ones who highly intend to stay and are highly tenured in the organization. In sum, developing nascent and revised attitudinal and behavioral constructs are required for scholars and practitioners in the age of migration.

KEYWORDS: Employment forms and practices,  Refugee worker,  Informal employment,  Ethnic identity, Self-categorization,  Polarization,  Ethnicity-based, non-discriminative, and inclusive workplace, Organizational legitimacy,  İnstitutional pressures

GROUP LEADERS: Bilçin Tak Meydan (Uludag University) and Ceyda Kavurmacı Aytaç (Uludag University)

  • SIG 13: Information management systems at the workplace

Information Management Systems at the Workplace Interest Group is pleased to welcome research on the impact of Information Management Systems (IMSs) on the organization. We invite scientists and IT specialists, managers and employees from various business sectors. Particularly welcome are interdisciplinary studies showing different points of view, experience from practical implementations, technical issues of IT systems as well as analyzes of business benefits of using IMSs in organizations. Research based on the methodology of computer science as well as social sciences in the field of quantitative and qualitative studies is promoted.

KEYWORDS: Information Management Systems, IT Systems, Business Intelligence, Data Management, Data Mining, Cybersecurity, Data Warehousing

GROUP LEADERS: Dr Hubert Szczepaniuk, PhD (Warsaw University of Life Sciences)

  • SIG 14: Knowledge management in organizations

Knowledge management, organizational learning and learning organization are well-established concepts in the literature, although the first of these is definitely dominant. Despite this, many of aspects related to knowledge and learning in enterprises have not yet been fully examined. Moreover, new challenges now await – companies are changing and old research results may not necessarily fit the new reality. The working practices in companies are evolving. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, there has also been an increase in remote working which has also had an impact on the flow of knowledge within companies, as well as the possibilities and ways of sharing knowledge between employees. Many ICT tools have emerged to facilitate knowledge management, but these must be used appropriately to be effective. It is also important to note that companies are now operating in the face of increasing uncertainty. Appropriate knowledge management can have an impact on increasing a company’s resilience. Another important phenomenon affecting knowledge management is the increasing globalization of the economy. As a result of offshoring, many corporations operate in multiple, often very remote locations which can significantly impede the flow of knowledge within an organization and lead to inefficiencies in their operations. In summary, knowledge has always been an important corporate resource, but it is becoming even more important nowadays. A constantly updated knowledge resource is crucial for the creation of innovation in any company, and for this, efficient, well-planned processes are needed.

KEYWORDS: Knowledge management, knowledge, knowledge sharing, competitiveness, business performance, knowledge sources, knowledge management systems, knowledge management culture, knowledge management structure, organizational learning, learning organization, remote work, work from home, resilience, knowledge-based view, dynamic capabilities, offshoring, reshoring, innovation, innovativeness

GROUP LEADERS: Dr. Marcin Soniewicki (Poznań University of Economics and Business)

  • SIG 15: Motivation and engagement at the workplace

Motivation and engagement in the workplace. We invite you to publish the results of research on issues of motivation and commitment in the workplace. Issues include topics on motivational factors and tools, the effectiveness of motivational systems, the use of classical and modern theories of motivation, and topics on employee commitment to work, the determinants of this commitment, building an organizational culture based on commitment, and loyalty.

KEYWORDS: motivation, engagement at the workplace

GROUP LEADERS: Assist. Prof., Dr Katarzyna Łukasiewicz (Warsaw University of Life Sciences) and Assist. Prof., Dr Agnieszka Werenowska (Warsaw University of Life Sciences)

  • SIG 16:  The development of human resources in organizations

The development of human resources in an organization  Special Interest Group welcomes all studies on the development of human resources in organizations. It covers various topics from talent management, organizational culture, training and development, performance management, sustainable development, diversity and inclusion, to modern technologies in human resource management processes and challenges in the era of the pandemic. The group encourages the publication of articles based on an interdisciplinary approach, using both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

KEYWORDS: technologies in human resource management, talent management, career development, employee training

GROUP LEADERS: Assist. Prof., Dr Barbara Wyrzykowska (Warsaw University of Life Sciences) and Assist. Prof., Dr Тetiana Balanovska (National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine)