University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
People and Machines
Article

People and Machines

Partners in Innovation

Senén Barro and Thomas H. Davenport
MIT Sloan Management Review, 2019
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

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  • Well Structured
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Recommendation

Professors Senén Barro and Thomas H. Davenport express concern about companies’ lack of preparation for handling the skill gaps that technological advances will open. The authors discuss the value of building up human expertise to work with AI and provide guidance on how to achieve this.

Summary

Adopting AI technology will be crucial to many firms’ survival, but few have begun to adapt their workforces accordingly.

Many companies will need to embrace intelligent technology to thrive, which in turn will necessitate redesigning jobs and tasks to make the most of technological progress. According to surveys, many executives believe that AI will bring significant changes to their businesses but also admit that their companies are unprepared to deal with potential skill gaps.

So far, few firms have invested in job redesign or retraining programs to support advances in technology. Smart companies will look to upskill employees while implementing new systems and will use technology as a catalyst...

About the Authors

Senén Barro is the scientific director of the University of Santiago de Compostela’s Singular Research Center on Intelligent Technologies. Thomas H. Davenport is the President’s Distinguished Professor of IT and Management at Babson College.

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