When organizations try to get better at using digital tech, how they look at info might change if they take out human biases.

A new study from the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management says that using digital stuff like Artificial Intelligence (AI) in organizations might mean less human oversight. Instead, these systems could decide on their own how to use info to shape how they work.

Removing human judgment

The study looks at what happens when you take out human judgment and biases from basic organizational processes. It suggests that if we rely more on digital tech, organizations could transform a lot without human influence.

They checked if we could swap humans with digital tech for important jobs, like understanding what’s going on in organizations and learning. What they found is that organizations might stop working the way humans do things and become more like digital systems that build their way of working using bits of information.

“This is highly significant because it may limit or entirely prevent organizational members from recognizing automation biases, noticing environmental shifts, and taking appropriate action,” the researchers explain.

Mixed results

The study found that swapping humans with digital tech could have both positive and negative effects.

On the upside, it could make scanning, understanding, and learning things more efficient and precise. However, it might limit how well organizations can actually work.

Even though it might boost efficiency and performance, it could be tough for top-level managers to be a part of the process.

If we rely solely on digital tech, organizations might lose the human touch. Digital systems could take over, interpreting info and shaping environments without human input.

This shift could affect people already working in these fields and those wanting to join them. It might change what we think of as human expertise and how top managers play a role in organizations. This includes professionals in various fields like medicine, business consulting, accounting, law, and finance.

“Digitally transformed organizations may leverage the benefits of technological advancements, but digital technology entails a significant change in the relationship between organizations, their environments, and information that connects the two,” the researchers conclude. “Organizations no longer function as human systems of interpretation, but instead, become systems of digital enactment that create those very environments with bits of information serving as building blocks.”