The Demands of Industry 4.0 on Project Teams

Abstract

Future project teams will consist of both humans and nonhumans as organizations' internal and external landscapes are becoming more connected during the fourth Industrial Revolution. This paper explores the competencies project team members should require and what the impact is on the project management of these teams. The impact of Industry 4.0 is felt in various industries. Research on the impact of Industry 4.0 focuses mostly on future factories and the integration of technologies. Little or no research has been done on the impact of Industry 4.0 on project management or, for that matter, project teams. This paper focuses on the demands of Industry 4.0 to determine what future demands there will be on team members as well as the competencies that team members need to exhibit to cope with and meet these demands. The results imply that four categories of competencies are required of future project team members, in particular critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The composition of future project teams will also drastically change with the introduction of artificially intelligent robots as team members.