Disruptive Changes Based on New Work and Coworking (3 ECTS)

Learning outcomes

At the end of this project course students should be able to answer specific questions in the context of changing working environments, especially based on new work and coworking. Furthermore, students should be able to answer research questions with qualitative methods and basic quantitative statistics.

Content

The topics of the course are new work, coworking and changing working environments such as organizations without hierarchy. The course is project-oriented which means that the students work on their own research questions in order to explore these topics.

Thus, we will practice academic research within our course and we will answer real research questions. This means we will start with a literature review of new work, coworking and related topics. In the next step, we will define potential research questions based on the literature review and specify concrete research questions. In the empirical part of the course, there will be different empirical methods such as desk research or case studies in order to collect data sets. The next step includes the analysis of the data sets using qualitative methods and basic quantitative statistics. In our last step, we will discuss limitations of our study and implications of our results.

The research process is organized in small groups. Between the different steps of the research process, there will be intermediate presentation of all student groups.

Prerequisites

Students need basic knowledge in research methods and academic research and writing. They should be interested in changing working environments and passionate about answering related research questions from the perspective of psychology, business administration or management. Basic reading on new work, coworking and changing working environments in general are highly encouraged before the course.

Assessment methods and criteria

The course assessment is based on
- active attendance
- continuous intermediate presentations
- individual contribution to research project
- final presentation of the research study

Evaluation scale

0-5

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

Student knows basic facts about disruptive changes of the working environment.

Assessment criteria, good (3)

Student knows detailed facts about disruptive changes of the working environment.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

Student knows detailed facts about disruptive changes of the working environment and answers related research questions.

Assessment criteria, approved/failed

Student knows basic facts about disruptive changes of the working environment.