Ambition is AMBA’s thought leadership magazine, offering regular insights into the challenges and trends that matter most in global management education
Ambiti n The monthly magazine of the Association of MBAs (AMBA) BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY
Issue 68 NOVEMBER 2023
THE GIG IS UP Analysing the lean, mean algorithmic machine
OPPORTUNITIES OF A LIFETIME Aalto on a new kind of learning experience
BRAVE NEW WORLD LEADERS Iedc-Bled’s compelling vision for the future
A JOB SKILFULLY DONE Employers adopt a resourceful approach to HR
Excellenc Award
Issue 68 | NOVEMBER 2023
NEWS & INS IGHT
REGULARS
EDI TOR’ S LET TER
How new business school research and leadership approaches offer insights into an evolving world of work challenges and opportunities SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS A profile of Goa Institute of Management in India, which achieved joint AMBA & BGA accreditation at the turn of the year
FROM THE CEO
Andrew Main Wilson reflects on a record-breaking year of growth for both AMBA and BGA
BUS INESS BRI EF ING
The latest selection of updates includes research into culturally ingrained gender exploitation, the impact of mindful meditation on social media behaviour and news of a real-time indicator of inflation expectations THE TBS TRAILBLAZERS TBS Education’s Soumyadeb Chowdhury and Cameron Guthrie explain how the school’s AMBA award-winning pitching process borrows from a TV singing competition to boost student engagement
OPINION
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Why female leaders can be just as inspiring as their male counterparts, even if men continue to command the lion’s share of the limelight
Ambition NOVEMBER 2023 | 3
AMBA & BGA European capacity- building workshop
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Issue 68 | NOVEMBER 2023
FEATURES
THE INFORMATION EQUATION Iedc-Bled School of Management’s Pierre Casse and Elnura Irmatova share some ideas for management strategies that can keep pace with the rise of generative algorithms A TIME OF TRANSFORMATION Aalto University’s Laura Sivula explains why calls for a new philosophy of learning and leadership should be seen as an exciting opportunity, rather than a challenge
WORKERS’ RIGHTS & WRONGS Cork University Business School researchers explain how gig economy workers are controlled by algorithms fed by user ratings
AN AGILE APPROACH
Skills-first HR practices can boost organisational performance and promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, say John McMackin and David Collings
Ambition NOVEMBER 2023 | 5
RESEARCH AND INSIGHT: STAY AHEAD OF THE TRENDS IN BUSINESS EDUCATION
AMBA & BGA’s Research and Insight Centre produces a wealth of groundbreaking new research and compiles reports citing views from business school practitioners, faculty, students and graduates across the globe on the issues that matter most in business education Recent AMBA & BGA research has investigated business schools’ attitudes to poverty, rankings, climate change and education technology. We have analysed career trajectories, graduate success in the new normal, application and enrolment figures across a spectrum of programmes, as well as employer and student perceptions of lifelong learning
We also seek to collaborate with business schools and corporate partners in order to further enhance AMBA & BGA’s research offering
If you are interested in partnering on research, joining one of our roundtables or focus groups to delve into the findings, or even sharing your thoughts on what topics you would like AMBA & BGA to explore, please contact research@associationofmbas.com
EDITOR’S LETTER
All in a day’s WORK
EDITORIAL Head of editorial Colette Doyle c.doyle@amba-bga.com Content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul t.dhoul@amba-bga.com
ducation is at the heart of everything we do at AMBA, so it’s natural for us to dedicate the pages of Ambition magazine to an in-depth examination of the latest pedagogical techniques and learning strategies. Inside this issue, however, we take a ‘bigger picture’ approach and delve into various enthralling aspects of the world of work. Our cover feature dissects some fascinating research on the gig economy and discovers that, far from ‘being their own boss’, such workers are mercilessly monitored by technologies that serve the interests of online platforms and which are controlled by rigid and demanding algorithms fed by user ratings. A group of academics at Cork University Business School deconstruct the prevailing narrative to explain the complex power dynamics at play. In our article by John McMackin and David Collings, based at DCU and Trinity business schools respectively, we hear how companies are increasingly recognising the value of skills-first HR practices, which can enable not only enhanced strategic agility and improved organisational performance, but also positively impact employee perceptions of empowerment and promote diversity, equity and inclusion. The Dublin-based faculty members elaborate on how skills-first HR can be a counterpoint to traditional, relatively rigid approaches to staff management; it focuses instead on those individual skills required to complete key work projects and aims to break down established boundaries. Meanwhile, the rapid rise of generative algorithms is what concerns contributors Pierre Casse and Elnura Irmatova from Iedc-Bled School of Management in Slovenia, who share their ideas for future-proof management strategies. There is no right or wrong decision to be reached, they assure us; however, the choices that a leader makes must be based on acknowledging the power of artificial intelligence and being ready to reinvent their organisation and their own leadership style whatever challenging scenario may present itself. Enjoy the issue; we’ll be back in December with an overview of our recent conference for schools in the Latin America region, an interview with an Audencia MBA graduate who has become a hugely successful entrepreneur and a feature on the surprising benefits of outdoors learning. Exploring the challenges of the gig economy, the bene its of skills- irst HR and strategies for adopting AI E
Art editor Sam Price Sub-editor Heather Ford
Insight, content and PR manager Ellen Buchan e.buchan@amba-bga.com CORPORATE Commercial relations director Max Braithwaite m.braithwaite@amba-bga.com
Head of marketing and communications Leonora Clement
Senior marketing executive Edward Holmes
Head of IT and data management Jack Villanueva
Head of events Carolyn Armsby
HR and employer relations manager Aarti Bhasin Finance and commercial director Catherine Walker
Colette Doyle , Editor, Ambition
THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS
Chief executive o cer Andrew Main Wilson
Executive assistant to the CEO Amy Youngs a.youngs@amba-bga.com ACCREDITATION ENQUIRIES accreditation@amba-bga.com
RONAN CARBERY
PIERRE CASSE
SOUMYADEB CHOWDHURY
DAVID COLLINGS
CAMERON GUTHRIE
ELNURA IRMATOVA
JOHN MCMACKIN
SALLY PERCY
LAURA SIVULA
NAGA VENKATESH DEVAGUPTAPU
Copyright 2023 by Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association ISSN 2631-6382 All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. While we take care to ensure that editorial is independent, accurate, objective and relevant for our readers, AMBA accepts no responsibility for reader dissatisfaction rising from the content of this publication. The opinions expressed and advice given are the views of individual commentators and do not necessarily represent the views of AMBA. Whenever an article in this publication is placed with the financial support of an advertiser, partner or sponsor, it will be marked as such. AMBA makes every opportunity to credit photographers but we cannot guarantee every published use of an image will have the contributor’s name. If you believe we have omitted a credit for your image, please email the editor.
Ambiti n
Ambition NOVEMBER 2023 | 7
BUSINESS BRIEFING
All the latest updates from across AMBA’s global network
Ambition ’s latest selection of updates includes research into culturally ingrained gender exploitation, consumers’ shifting attitudes towards everyday items and news of a real-time indicator of inflation expectations. Compiled by Tim Banerjee Dhoul , Ellen Buchan and Colette Doyle
INCAE COMPELLED TO CLOSE ITS DOORS IN NICARAGUA
SCHOOL: Incae Business School COUNTRY: Costa Rica/Nicaragua
community to stand together against “any form of obstruction of education”. Cladea added that it was “essential to remember that the growth of a nation is determined by the quality of the education of its people and, with these recent events, the rights of all individuals to choose quality education and opportunities have been affected. These acts go against our fundamental principles and we must strongly condemn them.” A similar point was raised by Bolaños and Incae dean of strategy and institutional affairs Camelia Ilie Cardoza, in an article in the ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America : “What worries us most… is the damage done to the development and education of so many young people who could aspire to have higher quality jobs in both public and private institutions in Nicaragua and, at the same time, impact the lives of many other people through their practice of conscious leadership,” they wrote. The move to shut down Incae’s campus in Managua, Nicaragua, follows a similar decision to cancel the legal status and confiscate the campus of Managua’s Universidad Centroamericana, known as ‘La UCA’. TBD
Incae Business School has been forced to cease operations in Nicaragua, following the cancellation of its legal status and confiscation of its campus for alleged administrative irregularities. The dual-campus AMBA-accredited business school established in 1964 remains active from Costa Rica. “Throughout almost 60 years since its foundation, Incae has been faithful to its mission of actively contributing to the sustainable development of Nicaragua and the region,” said Incae rector Enrique Bolaños, in a statement posted on the school’s website. The international management education community has moved to express its support for the school and condemnation of the decision. “The recent developments in Nicaragua undermine academic freedom, discourage international collaboration and are a huge loss not only for the country but also for the whole of Latin America,” AMBA & BGA CEO Andrew Main Wilson wrote in a statement on behalf of the accreditation and membership organisation. A statement by the Latin American Council of Business Schools (Cladea), meanwhile, urged the regional educational
8 | Ambition |
NOVEMBER 2023
NEWS & INSIGHT
HOW MINDFUL MEDITATION CAN INFLUENCE SOCIAL MEDIA BEHAVIOUR
SCHOOL: University of Auckland Business School COUNTRY: New Zealand
X (formerly known as Twitter) users who completed a 60-day online meditation challenge were more likely to post positive original tweets, according to a University of Auckland study. This piece of research is one of the first to track real-world behavioural changes in a group of Twitter users before, during and after attempting a mindfulness challenge. The study was led by University of Auckland Business School researcher Shohil Kishore, to see if and how contemplative practice, such as mindfulness, might influence online behaviour. Results were based on an analysis of anonymised tweets from meditation challenge participants and those who had intended to complete the challenge but didn’t follow up on it. Kishore and fellow researchers Sanghyub John Lee from the University of Auckland and Amy Errmann from Auckland University of Technology found that those who completed the 60-day online meditation challenge showed an increase in posting original tweets compared to retweets.
“We found that they were posting more content overall and more original content compared to retweets. In addition, the tweets they were creating were more positive in nature than [those posted by] their counterparts who didn’t complete the challenge,” noted Kishore. In terms of retweets, the users who finished the meditation challenge displayed fewer positive reactions than the incomplete group. Meanwhile, users who finished the challenge exhibited higher engagement levels in terms of replies and length of tweets. The study also found that Twitter users who completed the challenge exhibited more positive emotions in original tweets. “There’s a lot of research on mindfulness in terms of investigating the effects of meditation on positivity, but we wanted to explore whether it can result in any tangible change. Our findings indicate that an individual’s relationship with technology can evolve over time when engaging in meditation regularly,” concluded Kishore. CD
Ambition | NOVEMBER 2023 | 9
CAN BUYING A HOOVER MAKE YOU HAPPIER THAN PURCHASING A TAYLOR SWIFT TICKET?
SCHOOL: Copenhagen Business School COUNTRY: Denmark
Consumption is typically broken into two groups – experience and material purchases. Traditionally, experiences have been seen as something you might spoil yourself with – so, depending on your individual interests, perhaps a beauty product, film ticket or even an elusive Taylor Swift concert ticket. Material things, meanwhile, have been seen to be more practical and logical purchases. But is this dynamic changing? Can the purchase of everyday material items, such as a coffee mug, t-shirt or toolbox, activate the same level of happiness as the purchase of an experience? New research has found that items which create a special bond with the buyer – such as a suitably illustrated coffee mug or a toolbox with a personalised quote – can create as much happiness for the buyer as a prized experience. “We asked people what purchases they remembered and what made them happy. Their answers surprised us because, until now, we have had a functional approach to everyday material products, such as vacuum cleaners,
coffee mugs and t-shirts,” said Copenhagen Business School associate professor Georgios Halkias, one of the researchers behind the study. “But it appears that consumers no longer buy such products for practical reasons only. A vacuum cleaner with a monogram can get the job done but also brings joy. The use of unique or unconventional designs or vibrant colours, stickers, personal badges and quote prints can increase the enjoyment and pleasure associated with a product.” The study’s authors believe that manufacturers and marketers should take note of this shift in consumer behaviour and interest in products that mix aesthetics and fun with functionality. “The boundaries between buying experiences and material things will blur and boring products will change and become more personal,” added Halkias. Conducted with Nova School of Business and Economics’ Sofia Kousui and Flora Kokkinaki at the Athens University of Economics and Business, the study has been published in the journal Psychology & Marketing . EB
10 | Ambition | NOVEMBER 2023
NEWS & INSIGHT
Estimates suggest that 34 per cent of the world’s population will be over 50 years old by 2030. This shift in demographics comes with clear implications for business and was the subject of a recent event held at Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA). The Silver Economy Forum focused on how ageing populations are impacting the future of work and the sustainability of retirement systems. It also considered the opportunities of tapping into the ‘silver market’, said to be worth $15 trillion worldwide. “In education, for more than two centuries we have been stuck in an incorrect paradigm because the system is designed for young people under 25 years of age,” said director of UCA Business School Juan Pablo Manzuoli in a panel on continuous learning. “A large part of the population is left out because 60 per cent of people worldwide are over 25 years old… it is important to talk about an educational paradigm that considers all stages of life,” Manzuoli continued, before suggesting that the term ‘university’ is replaced by ‘universeniority’. Another panel focused on how businesses must factor age diversity into their thinking, alongside other aspects of diversity. Director of the Humanist Business Management Centre at UCA Business School Adriana Sirito highlighted the importance of intergenerationality and longevity from a company perspective. She also discussed the value of promoting training, awareness and sensitisation of these issues, with a view of shared responsibility between the government, civil society organisations, companies and citizens. In addition, a panel on the aforementioned ‘silver market’ looked at how institutions, as well as companies, can benefit by catering to the needs and ambitions of the over-50s. Discussions over the changing requirements of retirement systems, meanwhile, focused on the need to prepare citizens by providing greater financial education. TBD AGEING POPULATIONS AND THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION SCHOOL: UCA Business School, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina COUNTRY: Argentina
Despite all the progress made by modern technology and the advantages this has created when working remotely and with far-flung teams, it seems that location can still a ect the e ciency and success of a business. Research led by Durham University Business School assistant professor Ivan Lim has found that making a bank branch easier for managers to visit from headquarters impacts on that branch’s performance. The research centred on an investigation of flight route patterns in the US and, in particular, changes that lessened the time taken to travel between a bank’s headquarters and its branches. It found that when the time to get to a bank branch was reduced, it led to a 5.5 per cent increase in mortgage-lending volume, relative to nearby branches that did not see a drop in travel time from new airline routes. Branches that became easier to reach also exhibited better performance, being 1.7 per cent less likely to default than others. The researchers say that such branches enjoy an uptick because an increase in monitoring from managers based at the bank’s headquarters holds the branch and its employees to higher standards. Without the in-person scrutiny, employees are more likely to become ine cient and put less e ort into their work. “Over the past 30 years, the average distance between a bank’s headquarters and its constituent branches has increased from approximately 80 miles to 350. While there are certainly benefits in banks expanding and increasing their geographical reach, there are also real concerns, particularly in terms of how distant branches are being overseen by headquarters,” said Lim. The research highlights the importance of retaining some in-person monitoring in this new era of technology and recommends that banks pay closer attention to branches that are more distant, as well as those that managers from headquarters can reach easily. Published in the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking , Lim’s research was conducted with Durham University Business School colleague Louis Nguyen, as well as Linh Hoai Nguyen and John Wilson from the University of St Andrews. EB PROXIMITY BREEDS BANK BRANCH EFFICIENCY SCHOOL: Durham University Business School COUNTRY: UK
Ambition NOVEMBER 2023 | 11
MONASH OVERHAULS MBA PROGRAMME
SCHOOL: Monash Business School, Monash University COUNTRY: Australia
Monash Business School has revamped its master’s programme portfolio, including the MBA, in a bid to keep pace with the evolving needs of students and the demands of business. Postgraduate single degrees have been streamlined to enable students to complete their studies in a shorter timeframe of between one and two years. Also on offer is a new range of double degrees that can be completed in two years. The school’s full-time MBA forms part of the changes, transitioning to new offerings under the global executive MBA (GEMBA) programme launched in 2018. From 2024, enrolees can study the GEMBA as a standalone degree over 18 months or as a two‑year double degree together with a master’s of business. Both options are said to offer a global orientation and invaluable networking opportunities, with students continuing to enjoy the usual MBA cohort benefits of peer-to-peer learning among experienced international classmates. A minimum of five years’ prior management experience is an admissions requirement. Aside from the MBA, the emphasis is on pre-experience possibilities, though those meeting certain prior study and experience requirements can shave six months off the degree period. This will be a single year in the case of seven new postgraduate programmes, including a master’s of management and a master’s of advanced finance. Existing postgraduate programmes at Monash, such as the master’s of business, can now be completed in 1.5 years. The new master’s of management or master’s of global business programmes can also be packaged into one of 12 double degree options undertaken over two years. The redesigned portfolio aims to offer students greater flexibility, in terms of study time and choice of study path, with a view to unlocking a broader range of employment opportunities. TBD
HOW SOCIAL MEDIA & AI CAN PREDICT INFLATION
SCHOOL: Frankfurt School of Finance & Management COUNTRY: Germany
Frankfurt School of Finance & Management has developed a way to produce real-time, short-term inflation expectations for Germany using the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) at its new Centre for European Transformation. The AI-infused index downloads all German-language tweets that include words related to inflation and prices. First, the raw data is cleaned to remove any potential bias and clear it of any bots. Tweets are then classified as ‘up’, ‘down’, or ‘neutral’ using a neural network language model that was trained with the help of ChatGPT. A daily inflation index is subsequently created from these labelled tweets. The index has analysed tweets going back to 2011 and has already produced findings that match up to inflation rates over that period. “Our Inflation Expectations Index is strong proof of how Frankfurt School and our Centre for European Transformation combine excellent research with a high level of practical relevance on challenges affecting the economy, politics and society. We plan to extend our index analyses, for example, by exploring the link between inflation and private consumption. In addition, we can develop indices for other countries,” said Frankfurt School professor and director of the Centre for European Transformation Sascha Steffen. Inflation expectations are important because of their influence on consumption, saving and investment decisions. Forecasting future inflation is, of course, also essential to the work of central banks and the adoption of related policy measures. To date, accurate inflation measurements come with a considerable time lag, so a real-time index could prove popular. Investment management firm DWS supports the work of the Centre for European Transformation and its global head of research, Johannes Müller, called the index “a great example of how academia can add real value and practical relevance not only for financial institutions but also the economy as a whole.” EB
12 | Ambition | NOVEMBER 2023
NEWS AND INSIGHT NEWS & INSIGHT
WHEN GENDER PREFERENCE ENGENDERS FEMALE FAMILY MEMBER EXPLOITATION
SCHOOL: Lancaster University Management School COUNTRY: UK
Gender inequality to the point of sustained exploitation at the hands of family members is revealed in new research from Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) senior lecturer Chihling Liu. Liu’s study delves into the dark side of life in certain families in China to uncover ingrained discrimination felt by many women throughout their lives. Specifically, she reports on what is termed ‘son preference’, where families that exhibit a strong preference for sons over daughters often expect female family members to make substantial financial or labour contributions to their parents before and after marriage, habitually to subsidise the schooling and living expenses of their brothers. “My research sheds some light on why women may seemingly allow this exploitation to continue throughout their lives. Evidence suggests that daughters are prepared for this exploitation from birth and grow up believing that their role is to ‘give’ to their family and they should not expect to receive anything from the family in return – all because of their gender,” explained Liu, who is also programme director for the MSc in advanced marketing management at LUMS. “They grow up carrying a weight on their shoulders, believing they are indebted to their family and must pay them back with total commitment
for however little they have received. Their debt starts from the day that they are born.” Drawing on a range of anonymised testimonies, Liu argues that the ensuing impact on women’s lives and personal wellbeing is such that is bears comparison with those affected by modern slavery. “Whereas in cases of modern slavery, victims may be aware of the fact they are being exploited but lack the economic means or knowledge of the law to escape their situation, this is rarely the case in the family context I’ve studied. Yet, it is clear that sustained exploitation takes place today and is normalised in so many families,” Liu highlighted. The study, published in the Journal of Marketing Theory , is based on an analysis of more than 30,000 comments on online Q&A forum zhihu.com and YouTube equivalent bilibili.com between 2016 and 2022. The timeframe was designed to take in renewed public interest in the topic of family discrimination and abuse fuelled by popular TV series Ode to Joy . TBD
SHARE YOUR NEWS AND RESEARCH UPDATES by emailing AMBA & BGA’s content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul at t.dhoul@amba-bga.com
Ambition | NOVEMBER 2023 | 13
Far from ‘being their own boss’, gig economy workers are meticulously guided by technologies that serve the interests of online platforms and are controlled by algorithms fed by user ratings. Ronan Carbery and fellow researchers at Cork University Business School deconstruct the prevailing narrative to explain the complex power dynamics at play Workers’ rights wrongs &
14 | Ambition NOVEMBER 2023
THE GIG ECONOMY
T hink of the last time you took an Uber. How much thought did you give to the rating you provided at the end of the trip? Whether it was a one or five-star rating, you carried out a critical role in exercising control over your driver. The control of work and workers features heavily in management research because it plays a central role in ensuring workers’ behaviour is consistent with organisational objectives. Organisations seeking to realise their goals and objectives require a strategy and associated practices to coordinate and control employees in ways that facilitate organisational functionality. Most often, this will involve two parties – a manager acting on behalf of an organisation who enacts control mechanisms and the workers who experience these systems of control. Extensive research examining employee control within traditional work arrangements has already been carried out, but the emergence of new forms of work, particularly those in the gig economy, challenges how we think about control and creates new perspectives on how this is carried out. A growing sphere The gig economy uses online platforms to connect workers, or individual service providers, with consumers digitally. It has become synonymous with work that is mediated by online labour platforms, such as the
ride-hailing (or taxi-style) company, Uber and the food delivery organisation, Deliveroo. During the Covid-19 pandemic, demand for gig workers surged in many sectors, with people opting for the ease and convenience of swift takeaway food and other services. The gig economy is a rapidly growing sphere of activity, with its global value reaching $455 billion in 2023. Uber Eats, for instance, is now the world’s most popular food delivery service, with 88 million users. It generated $10.9 billion in revenue in 2022, representing a 31 per cent year-on-year increase. In addition, Uber made $14 billion in revenue from its ride-hailing service in 2022. Deliveroo, meanwhile, reported a 110 per cent increase in food orders for the first half of 2021 across the UK and Ireland, compared with the first half of 2020, and announced that its service would now o ers takeaways from more UK restaurants and food merchants than any other. The number of people who are directly employed by these online platforms tends to be a fraction of those who provide services for them. For example, Deliveroo directly employs just 10 people in Ireland, yet it is estimated that more than 1,000 workers – classified as self-employed – deliver food on behalf of the platform. In the ride-hailing sector, Uber reportedly had more than 5.4 million drivers worldwide in 2022, with at least one million drivers in the US alone. Comparatively, the total number of Uber employees globally was 32,000 in 2022. Working conditions In the gig economy, workers are generally not hired as permanent employees. Their working conditions often do not provide legal minimum wage levels, nor do they o er prospects for training and development
Ambition NOVEMBER 2023 | 15
or career progression. In addition, platform organisations can operate in ways that avoid the costs of legal employment. Gig workers enter into temporary formal agreements with these on-demand platforms to provide services to the platforms’ clients. The clients are the end users, either an individual consumer or an institution, that make a request for an individual gig worker to perform a task. For these reasons, gig working arrangements, by their very nature, are mostly characterised by poor job security, low pay, reduced commitment and decreased loyalty between parties. However, the structural features of this work should confer substantial autonomy on to the individual gig worker. Yet, unions representing gig workers have been embroiled in a series of long-running disputes with corporate giants of the gig economy for much of the past decade. Similarly, individual stories have been highlighted that raise concern over precarity and exploitation. Typically, such accusations are denied by platform organisations. At the centre of many of these disputes is the ongoing struggle for control (and rights) between workers and labour platforms. The issues at play here are important not just because of the gig economy’s growing prominence but also because the allure of work in the sector is often characterised by the flexibility for individuals to decide when, where and how much they wish to work. Deliveroo, for example, promises “work that fits around your life”, while Uber o ers the chance to “fit driving around your life, not the other way around”. Yet, the reality appears to increasingly tell a di erent story. The prevailing narrative of gig work being flexible is driven by the organisational perspective and not from the real, lived experiences of gig workers. In a recent study, we interviewed gig workers in the food delivery and transportation sectors to understand how much control they exercise in their roles. How users shape the equation The study identifies the widespread use of a new system of organisational control – algorithmic human resource management (algorithmic HRM) control – that regulates the actions of individuals to align them with organisational needs and interests. Unlike common forms of control in more traditional organisations, where the working relationship exists within the boundaries of the organisation, algorithmic HRM control enables non-organisational parties to control workers – directly and indirectly – even though these workers are usually classified as self-employed freelancers rather than employees. The study found that customers in the gig economy exercise a high degree of control over how workers approach tasks by quantitatively rating their performance. Similarly, restaurants influence the earning potential of food delivery workers, as the e ciency in delivery is directly connected to the e ciency in supply. Many restaurants have struggled to rebound since the Covid-19 pandemic and food delivery platforms have provided them with a much-needed lifeline. The research challenges the notion of abundant autonomy in gig work by identifying an intricate and comprehensive system of algorithmic control that substantially shapes the lived experiences of workers. Enabled by self-learning technologies, labour platforms are empowered to manage worker performance and strategically regulate rewards, all in the name of
BIOGRAPHIES
Ronan Carbery is vice-dean for graduate studies and programme director of the executive MBA at Cork University Business School. His research interests include gig work, algorithmic management and learning and development James Duggan is a lecturer in human resource management at Cork University Business School. His research interests include algorithmic HRM, gig work and HRM in the future workplace Ultan Sherman is a senior lecturer in organisational behaviour and human resource management at Cork University Business School, where he is also programme director for the MSc in human resource management Anthony McDonnell is professor of human resource management at Cork University Business School. His research interests include international HRM, talent management and work in the gig economy
16 | Ambition NOVEMBER 2023
THE GIG ECONOMY
should consider delivering takeaways and avail themselves of the “great opportunities” afforded by gig work. As policymakers continue to grapple with the grand challenge of regulating gig work, a broader understanding of algorithmic control and the multifaceted challenges faced by workers can pave the way for meaningful reforms and improved working conditions. Acknowledging these challenges would be a small but important step towards creating a more equitable and sustainable gig economy. The increasing use of algorithms within traditional work must also be critically examined from multiple stakeholder perspectives. Questions for educators As educators, the implications of this research and the associated rise in how algorithms are used at work raise important questions. Employment should involve opportunities for productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. People engage in work with the goal of being productive in a way that meets human needs and because it enhances our sense of identity to become healthy, contributing members of society. While a significant number of gig workers are likely to see such roles as temporary arrangements, there are still many who consider it a full-time, long-term endeavour. How likely then are these gig workers to experience the reassurance of decent work? Control underpinned by algorithms allows platform organisations to allocate tasks dynamically and coordinate workers’ activities closely. It also allows them to continuously aggregate data and ratings to monitor worker performance and strategically manage reward systems, based on aggregated ratings and levels of customer demand. While this replaces a lot of the work done traditionally by human managers and provides significant economies of scale, there is substantial potential for workers to be impacted negatively (see box below) . Is this form of hyper-transactional work something that we want to continue growing? Should we be concerned that traditional organisations may seek to move away from more relational employment arrangements with workers to a more distant, harder model of control? Now is the time to consider what factors need to be central in the minds of organisational decision-makers when determining how, and to what extent, they make use of algorithms to manage work and workers. The trouble with gigs • The potential impact on worker wellbeing involves increased job and income insecurity, due to the unpredictability of work demands • Difficulty in exerting autonomous decisions in task performance to comply with given instructions • Accidents and mental distress at work • High work intensity to meet requirements and/or secure sufficient and steady income • Work/life balance difficulties caused by unpredictable scheduling and the prolonged online availability needed to get assigned tasks and secure a reliable income
aligning worker activities with company objectives. This is despite these workers not receiving any of the benefits afforded to direct employees, such as job or income security. Control is, of course, a key feature needed within all organisational forms and the business model of online labour platforms certainly offers a distinct and novel approach in this respect. While one might expect the platforms themselves to hold all the power, our study reveals additional layers of algorithmic control that are markedly different to how organisations in more traditional work contexts operate. Non-organisational actors, including those outside the company’s structure, play a significant role in shaping the fate of gig workers. By feeding the algorithm with important job-specific data based on their direct interactions with workers, these actors hold influence over worker efficiency and contribute to the worker rating systems used by labour platforms. These ratings typically govern ongoing access to further work, or ‘gigs’, and therefore, a worker’s ability to earn. Satisfying demand The findings paint a challenging picture for gig workers, who find themselves at the mercy of multiple stakeholders, each with their own set of unique demands. These non-organisational stakeholders are also unlikely to truly appreciate the influence they are exerting. To maintain access to work and secure a steady income, gig workers engaged in food-delivery services, for example, are compelled to constantly navigate the intricate dance of satisfying labour platforms, customers and even restaurants. Customers, for example, wield a high degree of control by quantitatively rating gig workers’ performance. This influences how workers subsequently approach tasks. Workers with low ratings, for example, may face repercussions from the algorithm that can range from subtle warnings to complete removal from the platform. There is also the impact of restaurant suppliers on food-delivery platforms to consider. In our research, gig economy workers said that lengthy, unpaid waiting times in restaurants – known as ‘dead-waiting’ – significantly reduced their average hourly earnings. This highlights an additional complexity faced by gig workers, where delivery efficiency and earning potential are directly linked to efficiency in supply. There is also very little a worker can do to influence restaurants to be more punctual and keep their own waiting times to a minimum. In this light, algorithmic HRM control, with its ability to monitor, evaluate and shape gig workers’ behaviour is clearly blurring the line between independence and subservience. By prioritising organisational objectives and ensuring task efficiency, the system fosters a complex network of power dynamics that seem largely invisible to those not directly involved in gig work. Acknowledging the power dynamics The myth of ‘being your own boss’ is shattered once gig workers realise that their actions are meticulously guided by technologies that serve the interests of platforms. This is concerning when platform-driven narratives surrounding gig work are repeated and promoted by governments. In the UK, for example, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride has suggested that people over the age of 50 who are looking for work
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Research conducted by Dr John McMackin and Professor David Collings suggests that business leaders are increasingly recognising the value of skills-first HR practices. It appears that such practices can enable not only enhanced strategic agility and improved organisational performance, but also positively impact employee perceptions of empowerment and promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace An agile approach
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WORKPLACE SKILLS
Skills-first HR Organisations are facing unique challenges to ensure that they have the skills they need, when and where they need them, to deliver on their strategic intentions. In order to address these challenges, HR managers are increasingly recognising the value of skills-first HR, which can be a great boon in this regard as it enables strategic agility and enhances organisational performance. Skills-first HR can be viewed as a counterpoint to traditional approaches to human resource management, which have tended to be relatively inflexible. This is evident in organisation charts that represent hierarchical promotion opportunities and the use of rigid job descriptions, with selection and promotion processes focused on qualifications and experience rather than skills and capabilities. A skills-first approach focuses on the individual abilities required to complete key work projects and aims to break down traditional boundaries such as overly restrictive job hierarchies. Matching skills to demand across the organisation is thus key. We define skills-first HR as an approach to enabling an organisation’s strategy that positions skills at the centre of HR planning. It offers a more agile approach to matching worker expertise with available and potential opportunities. Skills-first HR values skills over education and experience, while data and technology enable mapping of current employee profiles to fit emerging skill demands. While the logic of a move to skills-first HR is compelling, its full-scale adoption in practice is still in its infancy. For example, a recent Deloitte study found that 98 per cent “Skills-first HR values skills over education and experience, while data and technology enable mapping of current employee profiles to fit emerging skill demands”
Growing volatility in demand for goods and services means that even the largest organisations need strategic agility – the capability to react to changes in the environment in a timely manner – to survive and thrive. For example, almost 40 per cent of respondents to PWC’s recent CEO Pulse survey felt that their business would not be viable in 10 years if it were to continue on its current path. An essential building block for organisations seeking to become strategically agile is the capability to rapidly redeploy skills and talent to meet shifts in demand. The need for this capability is intensified by skills shortages in global labour markets. A 2023 report from the European Commission found that three in four EU companies have difficulty in finding workers with the skills they need and forecast that these skills shortages are set to continue for the long term. These trends are challenging leadership teams and HR leaders to reconsider the job-based model of organisation that has been a cornerstone of organisational design since the industrial revolution. The World Economic Forum predicts that by 2025 some 85 million jobs will be displaced, owing to automation and technology such as artificial intelligence (AI). An analysis of 15 million US job postings since 2016 by BCG and the Burning Glass Institute/EMSI concludes that jobs are more disrupted today than ever before due to considerable acceleration in the pace of change. Such continuous disruption calls into question the viability of the job as the basic unit of organisation. For example, complex job descriptions now seem at best an unwieldy basis for deploying or redeploying talent within the organisation at the pace demanded by rapidly changing markets.
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A key consideration for any organisation evaluating the introduction of a skills taxonomy is understanding the trade-o s between building and buying one. Developing a bespoke skills taxonomy is a major undertaking and may generate resistance or power struggles between organisational stakeholders. Equally, the challenge of ensuring that the taxonomy remains up to date and reflects the emergence of new skills is significant. Given that there are some relatively advanced and user-friendly taxonomies available in the marketplace that o er viable options, we saw a preference for external sourcing of skills taxonomies in many firms in our study. Key factors considered in evaluating this decision included relevance, timeliness and cost. Building block 2: Skills audit Having agreed a skills taxonomy and created a shared language to frame the skills conversation, a key next step for organisations is to develop a baseline understanding of the skills that are currently available in the organisation – a process commonly referred to as a skills audit or skills inventory. Most of the organisations in our study began with a reliance on employee self-assessments, in some cases supported by discussions with line managers, in building their initial skills data. Logistically, getting employees to complete skills self-assessments could be a major challenge, especially
of business executives said they plan on moving to become a skills-first organisation. However, the same study found that fewer than one in five of those organisations were adopting skills-first approaches in a clear and repeatable way, a finding that is supported in our own recent research, supported by Skillnet Ireland and carried out in partnership with the Learning and Development Institute. Shifting to skills-first HR presents significant challenges in practice and from our research we have distilled four building blocks that are essential for its development. Taken together, these building blocks o er a roadmap for an organisation’s journey to skills-first HR. Building block 1: Skills taxonomy One of the key challenges faced by organisations in transitioning to skills-first HR is developing a shared language and framework to capture skills across the organisation. The term, ‘skills taxonomy’ describes a classification system for all skills, both interpersonal and technical, that employees in the organisation may need. A full skills taxonomy typically includes definitions of skills as well as descriptors that can be used to assess the level of ability an employee may have. They are an essential building block in realising some of the most important benefits of skills-first HR practices, including enhanced mobility, career opportunities and the capability to redeploy relevant skills to where they are most needed.
Comparing traditional and skills-first HR
Traditional HR Job description
Skills-first HR
Core unit of analysis
Employee skills profile
Criteria for selection/hiring
Knowledge (education and qualifications); abilities (previous experience), personality
Skills (developed through practice)
Job architecture
Hierarchy, job families
Broad, open
Mobility/careers
Generally through a job hierarchy structure, upward career trajectory
Fluid aligned with career aspirations and work demand
Employee agency/ career management
Low to medium
Medium to high
Talent planning
Critical roles, succession planning
Analysis of skills data using Al to understand current and changing availability and demand Primarily internal, redeployment, development, some external hiring
Filling talent gaps
Primarily external hiring, some development
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WORKPLACE SKILLS
can be relatively rigid. The tension is clear – a traditional job-based architecture in which careers unfold within geographic and functional divisions, with progression typically vertically through those hierarchies, is at odds with the goal of enhanced mobility and agile redeployment of skills to where they are most needed by the wider organisation. To realise the benefits of investing in skills-first HR practices, organisations need to review their structures with a view to reducing barriers to mobility by broadening their organisation’s architecture. Managing the transition Skills-first HR enables a much more proactive and strategic approach to meeting skills needs. It involves a shift from reactively responding to skills demands to proactively contributing to the development of organisational strategy and enabling the implementation of that strategy. However, moving to skills-first HR is disruptive because it impacts every employee and manager in the organisation. The transition to skills-first HR for an established organisation is therefore likely to have all the characteristics of a transformational change programme. While at its core this is an HR change programme, many of our respondents emphasised the importance of it being positioned as a solution to a strategic business challenge and the need for agility. One chief human resources o cer described this as “HR fading into the background”, allowing senior organisational sponsors to drive the skills discussion in the business in order to maintain strategic momentum. Organisations that reported positive progress also highlighted the value of piloting skills initiatives in critical parts of the business that were experiencing skills challenges; examples included software engineering, sales and data analytics. It is important to recognise the change in skill required by HR teams to deliver on this agenda. Specifically, HR teams need to embed themselves in the business in which they operate to truly understand corporate objectives and emerging strategic priorities. It requires HR professionals to think beyond traditional silos, such as centres of excellence, and to operate across the full range of functional areas of HR. They also need to become increasingly comfortable with data, technology and evidence-based decision making in their organisations.
with large numbers of geographically dispersed employees. However, research suggests that employees are willing to share their skills data. For example, one Deloitte study found that almost 80 per cent of workers were willing to share their skills data to help organisations make decisions such as matching them to suitable work opportunities. For many of the participants in our study, skills audits emerged as a roadblock as they struggled in their ambitions to perfect data quality. This is an area where we argue that perfection can be the enemy of good and highlight the importance of building good enough data to get the skills project up and running. Building block 3: Demand modelling Skills-first HR processes, using high quality current internal skills data and analytics, can significantly reduce dependence on external labour markets to achieve strategic objectives. While skills audits focus on the supply of skills internally, a skills-first approach also requires an understanding of demand trends. Demand analysis can inform the identification of skills ‘pinch points’ over time and provide insights into how to address them through a blend of development, redeployment and external hiring. Our interviewees described a range of skills-first actions under this heading, ranging from strategic workforce planning to externally sourced expert analyses of demand and supply of key skills in global labour markets and specific geographic regions. We have seen evidence, in a minority of organisations, of increasingly structured approaches to assessment of external labour market data. This was particularly evident in larger global corporations that possessed significant resources. There are a growing number of specialist providers of this type of data. We saw evidence of external data influencing key decisions, such as where to locate critical work to align with skills availability in specific geographies. Such data can also inform investment decisions by highlighting skills that are growing in importance versus those in decline. Providers such as Burning Glass and Coursera are building richer insights and in-depth understanding of a skill’s value to the organisation, the time it takes to build those skills and their longevity. Building block 4: organisational architecture Traditional approaches to work design emphasise a job-based architecture that is structured around hierarchical organisational charts and
BIOGRAPHIES
John McMackin (pictured top) is an associate professor at Dublin City University Business School and chair of the school’s executive MBA programme. He teaches on executive programmes on topics ranging from personal leadership skills to performance management and cross-cultural communications. McMackin’s current research focuses on the application of agile concepts to human resource management, the role of skills in the future of work and the relationships between these topics David Collings is chair of sustainable business at Trinity Business School at Trinity College in Dublin. His research, teaching and consulting focus is on sta ng with a particular interest in global mobility, talent management and sustainable work
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