Industrial organizations invest more and more in devices that are equipped with sensors to enable Internet of Things (IoT) networks. The options offered by these devices are however often not used adequately by employees as the interaction patterns and roles of IoT-objects are unclear. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the connections between IoT (especially connected objects) and the employee perspective by revealing how IoT as an object-centric information and communication technology (ICT) can structurally empower workers of companies in industry. We gather data from different industrial organizations and apply the method of scenario-based designs. We use data from interviews, observations and company documents to create problem and activity scenarios, and we evaluate the latter with quantitative data. Drawing on previous models of individual-centric ICT, we present a framework for empowering employees with object-centric ICT. The framework provides practical recommendations for empowering industrial employees with object-centric ICT, thereby underlining the importance of empowering employees with IoT instead of allowing them to feel dominated by autonomous objects.

工业组织对配备传感器以启用物联网（IoT）网络的设备的投资越来越多。但是，由于不清楚物联网对象的交互模式和角色，员工通常无法充分利用这些设备提供的选项。本文的目的是通过揭示物联网作为一种以对象为中心的信息和通信技术（ICT）如何从结构上增强企业中的员工的能力，来说明物联网（特别是连接的对象）与员工视角之间的联系。我们收集来自不同行业组织的数据，并应用基于方案的设计方法。我们使用来自访谈，观察和公司文档的数据来创建问题和活动方案，并使用定量数据对其进行评估。利用以前以个人为中心的ICT模型，我们提出了一个框架，以使员工能够使用以对象为中心的ICT。该框架提供了实用的建议，旨在为工业员工提供以对象为中心的ICT，从而强调了为员工提供IoT的重要性，而不是让他们感到被自治对象所支配。