Knowledge is power: How can AI help to flatten hierarchy within organizations?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is on the cusp of transforming the world as we know it. So, it was no surprise that AI technologies were the talk of the World Economic Forum, which I attended earlier this year. Discussions at the event centered on the potential opportunities and challenges of AI and explored a wide range of topics. These topics ranged from regulation and business competitiveness through to the threats of AI exacerbating existing social inequalities and displacing millions of jobs.

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There is no doubt that AI will have a pronounced impact on the workplace over the coming years – even if we can’t yet envisage exactly what that impact will look like. Research by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has found that 40% of the global workforce will be exposed to AI, with around half of those jobs being positively impacted through greater productivity. Unfortunately, the IMF predicts that the other half will be negatively affected, perhaps due to lower wages or reduced hiring, or the jobs disappearing altogether.

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Force for democratization

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The debate over the likely impact of AI on people’s jobs is likely to continue for some time. Nevertheless, one argument from the forum discussions that particularly resonated with me came from Hadi Partovi, founder of Code.org. He said the real risk isn’t people losing their job to AI; it is that they lose their job to somebody else who knows how to use AI.

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Partovi’s observation underlines the importance of AI skills for employability in future. At the same time, it highlights the huge potential for AI to be a force for democratization within the workplace. In fact, I believe that AI is set to positively revolutionize the workforce, as well as workforce dynamics, in several important ways:

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• Flattening hierarchies. Most of us will be familiar with the adage ‘Knowledge is power’. Certainly, we live in a world that revers and rewards knowledge. Those who have successfully accumulated knowledge are more likely to secure senior roles while, for others, a lack of knowledge can be a barrier to career progression. In an AI-enabled workplace, however, knowledge will be the preserve of the many, not the few. When everyone can potentially access the same breadth and depth of knowledge, communication becomes more open and transparent, and data-based decision-making is enabled at every level. No longer will employees need to go through bureaucratic layers for approvals or inputs. This, in turn, will lead to a decline in rigid, hierarchical organizational structures.
• Redefining roles.?Today, many employees are burdened with lengthy to-do lists, mostly consisting of mundane tasks. These to-do lists sap them of the time and the energy to contribute to strategic decision-making. Being excluded from decision-making then limits their scope for progression, so they end up feeling trapped in roles that prevent them from generating real value for their organization and only bring them limited intellectual fulfilment. Yet AI can be a powerful enabler that allows employees to redefine their roles. By taking over their routine, repetitive tasks, it frees up employees to engage in more complex, thought-driven work. To succeed in this work, however, employees will need to develop their own strategic thinking, creativity and interpersonal skills – and their employers should redesign their jobs to specifically complement their strengths.
• Promoting continual learning. AI technologies are going to constantly evolve in future – and employees will need to continually reskill and upskill to make effective use of those technologies over time. It goes without saying that employers will need to support their employees with this endeavor. They will also need to provide training that supports their people with creative, strategic activities instead of helping them to master repetitive tasks. As a result, the rise of AI should provide employees with an exciting opportunity to learn on a continual basis while requiring employers to foster a culture of lifelong learning and adaptability.
• Enhancing the employee experience.?For many employees, the workplace can be a complex, opaque and frustrating environment to navigate. Often, they can struggle to get the help they need, at the time they need it, to work efficiently and productively. Going forward, however, employers will be able to deploy AI tools that customize the employee experience to boost engagement and productivity. Think AI chatbots that provide real-time assistance at the touch of a button, or predictive analytics tools that help employees to anticipate future customer trends without having to undertake extensive market research. Generative AI is set to generate huge productivity gains for employees by taking over a wide variety of their tasks, from software coding through to monthly financial reporting and the production of content for marketing campaigns.
• Transforming the workplace.?In an AI-enabled world, employees will have more opportunities than ever before to work when and where they want, and to work for their employer of choice. AI is already enabling remote and flexible working by automating administrative tasks, making meetings more productive through AI-assisted agendas, and supporting real-time collaboration through digital platforms. When AI tools are used in the recruitment process, they can reduce the unconscious biases that influence human hiring decisions. So, thanks to advances in AI, workplaces are set to become more inclusive, flexible, and productive – and better environments for nurturing human talent.

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Shaping the future

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Within my own organization, I can already see the positive impact that AI is having on workplace dynamics. All our people – in every role, and at every level – can take advantage of our conversational AI assistant, EYQ. With EYQ, everyone has quick and convenient access to a comprehensive source of collective knowledge. As a result, they can ideate, research and create – and play a more active role in shaping the strategic direction of our business.?

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A recent study of customer service agents by Stanford professor Erik Brynjolfsson and two other academics shows that AI is already driving the democratization of the workplace. The research found that customer service agents enjoyed an average productivity gain of around 14% when they started using a generative AI-based conversational assistant. Significantly, the least experienced agents benefited from a 34% productivity gain – far greater than their more experienced counterparts.

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While there is understandably much anxiety around the emergence of new technologies, the rise of AI should change our workplaces for the better. That’s because it enables people to do much more strategic, value-added and meaningful work, in the context of flatter and more inclusive organizational structures.