Abstract:

In technological transformations Industry 5.0 should bring us towards a sustainable, humancentric and resilient European industry, as put by the European Commission. However, digitalization has proved to be challenging, and one underlying cause is the inherent complexity when technological, social, and organizational factors interact (Alter, 2008; DeSanctis and Poole, 1994). When designing and performing a digitalization project it is of vital importance to understand and apply Critical Success Factors (CSFs) (Aggestam and van Laere, 2012). CSFs concern actions that must be conducted for an organization to achieve its objectives in a project (Juniawan et al, 2022). To meet expected project benefits, applying and managing CSFs need to be included in the risk management of digitalization projects (Cyrus et al, 2018).

This paper aims to share experiences concerning how CSFs have been used to analyze and understand the main challenges in a Swedish industrial company that is into implementing a digital tool to support employees´ well-being and contributing to a sustainable workforce. Data has been collected by 18 interviews and then deductively analyzed by using CSFs as an analyzing tool. The four used CSFs can be summarized as follows (Aggestam, et al., 2023):
- CSF1: To understand the culture and to learn from earlier projects as well as clearly communicate how it influences design and implementation.
- CSF2: To have a holistic approach and to understand systems complexity, including paying attention to needed resources and risk management.
- CSF3: To have well-defined and accepted objectives, on the three levels of inquiry (van Gigch, 1991), as well as an agreement concerning the working approach.
- CSF4: To involve, motivate, and prepare the “right” stakeholders.

The findings confirm the critical importance of learning from earlier projects and to clearly communicate how this learning will be addressed in the current project (CSF1). "Values and culture are critical since they shine through in, not only for managers but also for operators" (translated from one interview). For example, experiences of starting (successful) things but after a while letting things down, “The production lift and then everyone was on, but then"… “ (translated from one interview), but also how the company´s culture has been influenced by its history of mergers and acquisitions during a ten year period of time have influenced. Furthermore, findings related to the other CSFs reinforce and concretize CSF1. For example:
- CSF2: The importance of holding the whole together, reducing the distance between the administration and the production as well as the visibility of the management in production. Also, the critical importance of needed resources was lifted, “Raising problems means that you often have to deal with it yourself, without extra resources” (translated from one interview)
- CSF3: The importance of understanding why things must be changed. “Decisions are made, but the right reason is not communicated” (translated from one interview)
- CSF4: The importance of both being listened to and getting feedback (CSF4).

We can conclude using CSFs as an analyzing tool gives us critical knowledge in how to design and implement the current digitalization project aiming to employees´ well-being and contributing to a sustainable workforce.

Keywords:

Critical Success Factors (CSFs), digitalization, sustainable workforce.