scholarly journals Artificial intelligence and the future of work – lessons from the sociology of expectations

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilla Vicsek

PurposeWhat is the future of work going to look like? The aim of this paper is to show how the sociology of expectations (SE) – which deals with the power of visions – can make important contributions in terms of thinking about this issue by critically evaluating the dominant expert positions related to the future-of-employment- and artificial intelligence (AI) debate.Design/methodology/approachAfter providing a literature review regarding SE, an approach based on the latter is applied to interpret the dominant ideal-type expert positions in the future of work debate to illustrate the value of this perspective.FindingsDominant future scripts can be characterized by a focus on the effects of AI technology that give agency to technology and to the future, involve the hype of expectations with polarized frames, and obscure uncertainty. It is argued that these expectations can have significant consequences. They contribute to the closing off of alternative pathways to the future by making some conversations possible, while hindering others. In order to advance understanding, more sophisticated theorizing is needed which goes beyond these positions and which takes uncertainty and the mutual shaping of technology and society into account – including the role expectations play.Research limitations/implicationsThe study asserts that the dominant positions contain problematic assumptions. It makes suggestions for helping move beyond these current framings of the debate theoretically. It also argues that scenario building and backcasting are two tools that could help move forward thinking about the future of work – especially if this is done in a way so as to build strongly on SE.Practical implicationsThe arguments presented herein enhance sense-making in relation to the future-of-work debate, and can contribute to policy development.Originality/valueThere is a lack of adequate exploration of the role of visions related to AI and their consequences. This paper attempts to address this gap by applying an SE approach and emphasizing the performative force of visions.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhumika Gambhir ◽  
Anindita Bhattacharjee

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight how Artificial intelligence (AI) and its subsets are changing the face of the accounting and finance (A&F) profession. Expectations from A&F professionals are changing due to the expeditious changes in technology. This paper proposes new skill set expectations from these professionals. Design/methodology/approach This is a viewpoint paper based on the opinions/views of the employees working in medium and large organizations in A&F in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The employee viewpoints were gathered through an emailed questionnaire. Findings This paper illustrates the need to embrace technology and acquire the necessary skills to work in conjunction with machines. This will help A&F professionals to meet the changing expectations of employers. Practical implications This paper emphasizes the usefulness of training, learning, and development of the skills necessary for A&F professionals to work with AI and its subsets. Originality/value This paper discusses how AI will bring in challenges and opportunities in the future. It suggests how A&F professionals can embrace technology (driven by AI) and understand to work with it.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-14
Author(s):  
Ryan Scott ◽  
Malcolm Le Lievre

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore insights methodology and technology by using behavioral to create a mind-set change in the way people work, especially in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Design/methodology/approach The approach is to examine how AI is driving workplace change, introduce the idea that most organizations have untapped analytics, add the idea of what we know future work will look like and look at how greater, data-driven human behavioral insights will help prepare future human-to-human work and inform people’s work with and alongside AI. Findings Human (behavioral) intelligence will be an increasingly crucial part of behaviorally smart organizations, from hiring to placement to adaptation to team building, compliance and more. These human capability insights will, among other things, better prepare people and organizations for changing work roles, including working with and alongside AI and similar tech innovation. Research limitations/implications No doubt researchers across the private, public and nonprofit sectors will want to further study the nexus of human capability, behavioral insights technology and AI, but it is clear that such work is already underway and can prove even more valuable if adopted on a broader, deeper level. Practical implications Much “people data” inside organizations is currently not being harvested. Validated, scalable processes exist to mine that data and leverage it to help organizations of all types and sizes be ready for the future, particularly in regard to the marriage of human capability and AI. Social implications In terms of human capability and AI, individuals, teams, organizations, customers and other stakeholders will all benefit. The investment of time and other resources is minimal, but must include C-suite buy in. Originality/value Much exists on the softer aspects of the marriage of human capability and AI and other workplace advancements. What has been lacking – until now – is a 1) practical, 2) validated and 3) scalable behavioral insights tech form that quantifiably informs how people and AI will work in the future, especially side by side.


2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-18

Purpose – Describes the various approaches taken to training and development at Edwardian Group London, a group of hotels. Design/methodology/approach – Examines the reasons for the training, the form it takes and the results it has achieved. Findings – Emphasizes the importance the company attaches to training in the first 90 days of an employee's tenure, when recruits receive general induction training plus training specific to their area of operation. Practical implications – Outlines how the company spots and develops its managers of the future. Social implications – Highlights the crucial role of training in ensuring that hotel guests have the best possible stay. Originality/value – Provides a thorough examination of the various forms of training at Edwardian Group London.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 60-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ravin Jesuthasan

Purpose This paper aims to explore how a new industrial revolution with digital technology at its core is disrupting the workplace. It shares how HR has an opportunity to use data and digital technologies to reinvent how organizations engage with their workforce. It answers the question of how HR pivots from its legacy focus on compliance and being a steward of employment to the work and helping the organization strengthen its connection with its workers through improved digital engagement. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on Willis Towers Watson thought leadership and references recent findings from their research. Findings The paper explores how digital technologies have changed how workers connect with their co-workers and the organization. In addition, it examines how digital technologies are changing how work gets done. Research limitations/implications The paper is not exclusively based on research. Practical implications The paper explores how digital technologies drive engagement, HR’s role as steward of the work and enabler of digital engagement and best practices for enabling digital engagement in the modern workplace. Originality/value This paper fulfills a need to assist HR leaders in thinking through the implications of the future of work and how digital technologies will shape that future.


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 809-833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Breidbach ◽  
Sunmee Choi ◽  
Benjamin Ellway ◽  
Byron W. Keating ◽  
Katerina Kormusheva ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the history and future of service operations, with the goal to identify key theoretical and technological advances, as well as fundamental themes that can help to imagine the future of service operations in 2050. Design/methodology/approach A review of the service operations literature was undertaken to inform a discussion regarding the role that technology will play in the future of service operations. Findings The future of service operations is framed in terms of three key themes – complexity, orchestration, and elasticity. The paper makes three contributions to the service science literature by: reviewing key themes underpinning extant service operations research to frame future trajectories of service operations research; elaborating a vision of service operations in 2050 based on history and technology; and outlining a research agenda for future service operations. Practical implications The case of service automation is used to provide an illustration of how the three themes converge to define future service operations, and in particular, to show how technology is recasting the role of the firm. Originality/value Service operations in the next 30 years will be very different from what it was in the past 30 years. This paper differs from other review papers by identifying three key themes that will characterize and instill new insights into the future of service operations research.


foresight ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 378-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annukka Näyhä ◽  
Päivi Pelli ◽  
Lauri Hetemäki

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze and provide a synthesis of how services are understood, how they are likely to develop and how future development can be studied more closely in the forest-based sector (FBS). Services are likely to have an increasing role in the FBS in the future. Design/methodology/approach – The findings are based on a literature review of FBS outlook studies, strategies and programs and services-related studies in FBS and general services literature. Three case examples of services businesses in FBS companies are presented, and possible foresight approaches related to them are discussed. Foresight methods used in parallel sectors are also discussed. Findings – The study provides the first systematic introduction, classification and review of FBS services to include both industry- and non-industry-related services. The paper also points out the need for foresight studies and suggests various approaches for an analysis of the potential of FBS services in the future bioeconomy. Practical implications – The study shows that the role of services in FBS research has been understood too narrowly. As a result, services research has been rather lacking and the future potential of services in the FBS has not been fully acknowledged. The study argues for and points toward the need to use foresight approaches to update FBS strategies, business models and policies to fully benefit from the future potential of services. Originality/value – The study is a novel introduction, review and discussion of the role of services in the FBS and their future outlook.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhiannon Firth ◽  
Andrew Robinson

PurposeThis paper maps utopian theories of technological change. The focus is on debates surrounding emerging industrial technologies which contribute to making the relationship between humans and machines more symbiotic and entangled, such as robotics, automation and artificial intelligence. The aim is to provide a map to navigate complex debates on the potential for technology to be used for emancipatory purposes and to plot the grounds for tactical engagements.Design/methodology/approachThe paper proposes a two-way axis to map theories into to a six-category typology. Axis one contains the parameters humanist–assemblage. Humanists draw on the idea of a human essence of creative labour-power, and treat machines as alienated and exploitative form of this essence. Assemblage theorists draw on posthumanism and poststructuralism, maintaining that humans always exist within assemblages which also contain non-human forces. Axis two contains the parameters utopian/optimist; tactical/processual; and dystopian/pessimist, depending on the construed potential for using new technologies for empowering ends.FindingsThe growing social role of robots portends unknown, and maybe radical, changes, but there is no single human perspective from which this shift is conceived. Approaches cluster in six distinct sets, each with different paradigmatic assumptions.Practical implicationsMapping the categories is useful pedagogically, and makes other political interventions possible, for example interventions between groups and social movements whose practice-based ontologies differ vastly.Originality/valueBringing different approaches into contact and mapping differences in ways which make them more comparable, can help to identify the points of disagreement and the empirical or axiomatic grounds for these. It might facilitate the future identification of criteria to choose among the approaches.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-281
Author(s):  
Raul V. Rodriguez ◽  
Sanjivni Sinha ◽  
Sakshi Tripathi

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to highlight the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the healthcare industry through the Ayushman Bharat health protection scheme by analyzing various technologies being integrated to improve the customer service and experiences in India. The key focus lies on the understanding of the influence of AI in the healthcare system services, the clinical treatment, and the facilities to progress with accurate and precise health screening in India.Design/methodology/approachA systematic study on the emerging technologies of AI and the applications in the healthcare sector is presented in the form of a viewpoint.FindingsAI certainly enhances experiential services; however, it cannot surpass the human touch which is an essential determinant of experiential healthcare services. AI acts as an effective complementary dimension to the future of healthcare.Originality/valueThis viewpoint discusses the applications and role of AI with the help of relevant examples. It highlights the different technologies being applied and how they will be used in the future focusing upon the Ayushman Bharat health protection scheme in India.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-17
Author(s):  
Geeta Rana ◽  
Alok Kumar Goel

Purpose – Consider the various employee-development initiatives at Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd (BPSL), India. Design/methodology/approach – Underlines the key role of employee development at the firm, and explains in particular how it develops its future managers. Findings – Reveals how employee competencies are mapped and how training is designed around these and the skill needs of the company. Practical implications – Details the benefits of this approach for both individual employees and the company. Social implications – Advances the view that BPSL’s managers are more rounded and knowledgeable than those in comparable Indian companies. Originality/value – Highlights the importance of taking into account the skill needs of the individual as well as the organization as a whole.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 255-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay ◽  
Komal Khandelwal

Purpose This paper aims to review the applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in the hiring process and its practical implications. This paper highlights the strategic shift in recruitment industry caused due to the adoption of AI in the recruitment process. Design/methodology/approach This paper is prepared by independent academicians who have synthesized their views by a review of the latest reports, articles, research papers and other relevant literature. Findings This paper describes the impact of developments in the field of AI on the hiring process and the recruitment industry. The application of AI for managing the recruitment process is leading to efficiency as well as qualitative gains for both clients and candidates. Practical implications This paper offers strategic insights into automation of the recruitment process and presents practical ideas for implementation of AI in the recruitment industry. It also discusses the strategic implications of the usage of AI in the recruitment industry. Originality/value This article describes the role of technological advancements in AI and its application for creating value for the recruitment industry as well as the clients. It saves the valuable reading time of practitioners and researchers by highlighting the AI applications in the recruitment industry in a concise and simple format.


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