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[Translate to English:] © Jürgen Huhn​/​TU Dortmund
Federal Funding

Examining Hybrid Collaboration in Everyday Working Life

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Vier Menschen an einem Tisch, die an einer Videokonferenz teilnehmen © Andrey Popov​/​AdobeStock
The new joint project aims to improve hybrid forms of work in which some participants come together in one place and others are connected digitally.
Working from home today, in the office tomorrow and on the train the day after that: For many people, hybrid working has become a matter of course. A new project led by Professor Frauke Mörike and Professor Jens Gerken from the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences explores how hybrid collaboration can be designed in such a way that it is both productive and satisfying for all those involved – regardless of whether the participants are online or on site. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF Plus) of the European Union are funding the collaborative project, called PRAESCO, over three years with around 1.6 million euros, of which about 1 million euros have been allocated to TU Dortmund University.

The way we work has changed dramatically in the last years: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the introduction of remote working on a broad scale. Everyday working life without tools such as Teams, Zoom and Miro has become inconceivable. While purely physical and purely virtual meetings usually run smoothly, hybrid formats, where some participants meet on site and others join them online, pose major challenges: Those taking part remotely often feel left out, spontaneous discussions mostly only take place in individual groups, and the technical implementation is sometimes complex. In addition, it is difficult to achieve a balance between the two different groups when chairing such meetings. As a result, the perceived presence and active contribution of the people in the office is often higher than that of their colleagues participating online. The result is socio-technical asymmetry.

Supporting low-threshold communication

The objective of the PRAESCO project, whose full title is “Hybrid Presence and Collaboration in European Collaborative Networks for Agile Working Methods”, is to examine precisely these problems. The aim is to understand and optimize hybrid collaboration in complex and innovation-driven work environments from the perspective of occupational science and to support this collaboration with technologies in order to remove the problems mentioned above and create new added value. “Our goal is to support above all low-threshold communication, such as nodding in agreement, for example, with the help of a haptic-digital device, which we will develop at TU Dortmund University, and in this way give those participating remotely a feeling of being physically present in the room, enhancing their involvement and emotional connection without being intrusive or disruptive,” explains Professor Jens Gerken, who heads the “Inclusive Human-Robot Interaction” research unit at the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences.

The research focuses on two specific hybrid work settings: structured meetings and informal office collaboration. In terms of methodology, the project is geared toward everyday hybrid collaboration through field-based research in order to link the fundamental requirements of agile collaboration with pioneering technologies for hybrid collaboration. Here, the project adopts an inclusive approach, with the aim of removing barriers in general and leveraging the existing potential of hybrid work configurations to upgrade participation in working life for people with special needs.

The research consortium

TU Dortmund University is working in the PRAESCO project with the Institute for Work and Technology (IAT) at Westfälische Hochschule – Westphalian University of Applied Sciences, the University of Siegen, and Colenet GmbH, consultants specializing in agile transformation.

Eine Gruppe von Menschen, die vor einer Tafel stehen. Links ist ein Mann per Video zugeschaltet. © Colenet GmbH
Project kick-off on 26 February at TU Dortmund University: (From left) Axel Starke (Colenet), Professor Marc Hassenzahl (University of Siegen), Carolin Fiechter (Colenet), Elena Fitzer (Westfälische Hochschule – Westphalian University of Applied Sciences), Rebecca Gerstenberg (University of Siegen), Niko Reiz (TU Dortmund University), Ronda Ringfort-Felner (University of Siegen), Dr. Peter Enste (Westfälische Hochschule – Westphalian University of Applied Sciences) and (all from TU Dortmund University) Dr. Max Pascher, Marie Altmann, Kimberly Hegemann, Professor Jens Gerken and Professor Frauke Mörike.
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