The working world is undergoing a monumental shift. Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to transform management and leadership, with smart software taking on an increasing number of responsibilities once reserved for humans. From recruiting and onboarding to performance management and goal setting, AI managers promise to bring unprecedented productivity and insight to the workplace of tomorrow.
The Rise of AI in Business
The use of AI in business has exploded over the past decade. According to research firm Gartner, the market for AI software alone is projected to reach a staggering $62 billion by 2023, up from just $2.9 billion in 2018. From AI virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa to supply chain optimization, predictive analytics, automated customer service, and more, companies have already implemented AI solutions across industries to cut costs, boost efficiency, and uncover hidden insights.
The natural next step, many experts say, is the AI manager. The World Economic Forum predicts that machines and algorithms will replace 75 million jobs globally by 2025, while also creating 133 million new ones – many of those being positions that manage AI and correspond with the rise of the AI manager.
“AI is automating a growing share of repetitive tasks in the workplace, freeing up managers to focus on more strategic, creative responsibilities,” says McKinsey partner Brian McCarthy. “As this continues, leadership roles will become more about coaching and maximizing employees’ strengths rather than dictating tasks.”
What Does the AI Manager Look Like?
So what exactly will the AI manager look like? Many predict a collaboration between humans and AIs, with smart software taking care of routine duties.
“Simple management responsibilities – tracking employee productivity, schedule management, maintaining records – are already being handed off to AI,” explains Tom Davenport, professor of IT and management at Babson College. “But nuanced tasks like employee development, conflict resolution, and driving culture change likely will remain human responsibilities.”
Davenport highlights how an international consulting firm he works with now uses an AI tool called Mya to answer routine employee queries, freeing up managers to tackle higher value work. The firm conservatively estimates this one change has recovered over 10,000 hours of manager time in the past year alone.
Meanwhile, more strategic management is being enhanced by AI, not replaced by it. Leadership consulting firm McKinsey relies on AI personality modeling to guide executives through leadership transformations. By analyzing speech patterns during coaching sessions, the tech provides feedback such as “you tend to be distrustful of others” or “you are inspirational when speaking publicly.”
According to McKinsey, this allows coaches to better understand leadership blindspots and provide targeted development. Employees confirm the AI has helped leaders become more self-aware and effective.
The Quantified Employee
From recruitment to performance management, workplace AI allows managers to better understand, connect with, and develop employees.
Take how AI is transforming the hiring process. “AI resume screening is becoming widespread among large companies,” says Raj Mukherjee, senior VP of Product at Indeed. The job site uses machine learning algorithms to rate resumes based on success indicators and provide insights to HR departments.
This allows managers to bring in only the most promising candidates for interviews. As Mukherjee explains, “AI helps remove unconscious bias in resume screening and pick up on potential flags – like short tenures at past jobs – that humans might miss.”
Once hired, employees are managed and tracked with increasing precision. Electronic Arts uses AI to comb through testers’ play data for the wildly popular FIFA soccer video game franchise. The tech analyzes over 3 million data points to generate tester performance scores.
Managers can then monitor progress on an individual and team level to check that quality standards are being met. Employees are ranked from most to least efficient and provided targeted feedback.
“Our AI algorithms allow us to quantify tester performance like never before,” explains Cam Weber, EA’s Chief Technology Officer. “We can incentivize specific behaviors to drive productivity.”
Criticisms and Concerns
However, workplace AI does raise concerns around privacy and employees feeling reduced to data points. A recent study found over 65% of workers are uncomfortable with how much their employers currently track them, not to mention AI oversight.
“It’s crucial that employees understand why AI is being implemented and how it will actually help them,” says Harvard Business School professor Prithwiraj Choudhury. “Transparency, upskilling, and opportunities for human connection must remain priorities.”
Striking the right balance means workflow innovations powered by AI data should aim to improve employee satisfaction as well as company goals. For instance, the HR startup HiBob uses sensor and computer vision technology to capture real-time employee moods coming in and out of the office, which managers can then base decisions on.
“Happy employees make for not only a great culture but are 31% more productive,” says HiBob CEO Ronni Zehavi. “Our AI looks to support mental health and a superior employee experience.”
The Ideal Human-AI Collaboration
When done ethically, the benefits for both managers and employees are clear according to Gartner research- increased efficiency, improved coaching and development, deeper insights, and stronger talent management.
For instance, global insurance provider MetLife uses IBM Watson’s natural language processing to guide managers’ conversations with sales reps. The AI highlights how to better listen, coach, and motivate based on analyzing past exchanges. Employees reported the AI helped managers provide more meaningful feedback.
“Sales reps want to be understood and cared for as individuals – and AI is helping make their managers better ‘people persons,'” says Samantha Brown, Global Head of Transformation at Metlife.
Leadership advisor Ram Charan writes: “The fundamentals of management will stay the same – establishing trust, building relationships, asking good questions, understanding people’s strengths. But AI will make it possible to do all this at much higher levels.”
Indeed, the most effective organizations may pair AI managers with human managers as complementary forces argues Ernest & Young’s global AI leader Nigel Duffy.
AI can provide the rigor, organization, and data to enhance decisions, while uniquely human traits like compassion, creativity, and strategic thinking must remain the ultimate drivers of workplace culture. As Duffy puts it, “AI will augment managers, not replace them.”
The Human Touch
While AI will streamline administrative and analytical duties once comprising over 65% of a manager’s workload, the role still benefits enormously from human intuition and emotional intelligence.
As Tom Davenport agrees, despite AI’s data analysis and prediction capabilities, it will remain severely limited from a human perspective.
“AI lacks empathy, humor, ethics, the ability to motivate or have meaningful conversations,” he says. “The technology will continue requiring people to add these indispensable ‘softer’ management skills.”
The last word on human plus AI leadership goes to McKinsey’s Brian McCarthy: “The best managers have an inherent people orientation – data and technology alone can never replicate that.”
Preparing for the Future
The future will likely see emerging roles like the AI manager coordinator – someone who helps build organizational trust in AI and maximize human-machine collaboration. But fundamentally, the timeless human skills of motivating, developing, and connecting with people will only grow more essential as workplaces leverage unprecedented AI capabilities.
AI education will be critical. “Employees at all levels will need to become ‘bilingual’ in human and machine intelligence,” says Ram Charan. “Companies investing in continuous training around AI will have an edge.”
Combining the best of human and artificial intelligence will drive companies where only one or the other could not. With smart adoption, the AI manager promises to herald in a new era of insight, productivity, and leadership excellence. The robots are here to help.
Key Takeaways:
- Global AI manager market projected to reach $62 billion by 2023
- Routine tasks automated, allowing managers to focus on strategy, creativity
- AI provides insights into staff performance, goals, development
- Risks of employee monitoring must be carefully managed
- Human skills like empathy remain irreplaceable
- AI expected to augment, not replace, managers long term
- Training in AI will create competitive edge
The future will likely see emerging roles like the AI manager coordinator – someone who helps build organizational trust in AI and maximize human-machine collaboration. But fundamentally, the timeless human skills of motivating, developing, and connecting with people will only grow more essential as workplaces leverage unprecedented AI capabilities.
Combining the best of human and artificial intelligence will drive companies where only one or the other could not. With smart adoption, the AI manager promises to herald in a new era of insight, productivity, and leadership excellence. The robots are here to help.
