Craft approach to work: a humanist model of work in organizations

Over the past two decades, craft has had an extraordinary resurgence, leading to a broader transformation of business sectors. Craftwork focuses on human labour, contrasting with mechanized processes leading to globalization and standardization. However, the existing literature on craft is scant and fragmented. Therefore, we need to have a nuanced understanding and consensus on how organization and management scholars have expended effort to contextualize craft across multiple disciplines and paradigms. To address this research gap, we reviewed 153 articles to identify various underlying themes of the existing literature on crafts and craft approaches to work. Specifically, this paper makes three broad contributions from the perspective of society and policy makers. First, we provide a critical account of perspectives on crafts. Second, we offer an organizing framework regarding views, enabling conditions, drivers, and outcomes. Third, this paper identifies opportunities and fruitful areas for scholars to engage in future research to explore craft-based approaches to work in various formal and informal settings. Lastly, this article paves pathways to build and sustain crafts as a humanized form of employment in present-day society – as an alternative to corporate-driven large-scale industrial approaches.