Intelligent Work: Zarion Project
Background
The recent development in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has brought significant changes to the workplace, giving birth to the concept of Intelligent Work. While many AI and machine learning applications have been adopted in the business processes, how these changes affect workers’ wellbeing and consequently impact the company’s revenue remain neglected.
Operations management usually focuses on business processes, business units or departments, as well as the corresponding tools or technologies to achieve the economic goals for the company. Often the ‘human factor’ and worker wellbeing in the system are not well understood, leading to errors, suboptimal performance, worker burnout and challenges to professionalism. From a business perspective, this has a cost implication (for example, costs of delays/worker productivity, staff retention, sick leave, cost of errors etc.).
The impact of new working practices and trends – such as the blended workforce (i.e. mix of human and intelligent agents), the flexible workforce (virtual/remote work, gig economy, work teams with varied contracts) and new IT enabling workforce analytics, surveillance in work, and workflow orchestration and management, presents both risks and opportunities. There is a strong human/moral imperative along with a business case to move towards ‘responsible work’ concepts.
Millennial and Generation Z employees are looking for more autonomy and flexibility in work. With the increased adaption of automation in work, and the use of mobile apps and health monitoring technologies (for example, Fitbits), work/life balance is starting to mean something more than was traditionally understood.
Future human resource management requires better safeguarding in relation to human assets and the application of AI and machine learning to ‘human in the system’ problems (i.e. link between performance management, operations management, wellbeing protections and data analytics).New intelligent work concepts/systems must be premised on a rich picture of the human role and requirements from a worker and customer service perspective. Further, it must address the potential barriers to adoption and issues pertaining to stakeholder acceptability and organisational change.
Project Objectives
The aim of this research project is to study how AI technologies and workers can work together more efficiently and intelligently to improve the workers’ wellbeing and the company’s long-term revenue. We would like to investigate how to augment automated work and people so that work is healthy, workers are healthy, and workers are set up for success.
Specifically, this project will demonstrate how the application of new intelligent work models, concepts and technologies (using machine learning and artificial intelligence) will deliver value at a human level (i.e. a healthy and productive workforce), at a commercial level (i.e. company profit and sustainability) and from a societal perspective (i.e. responsible business, ethical automation, role of human/worker in technologically mediated system).
Ethics & Underpinning Values & Vision
Human activity should not compromise the long-term balance between the economic, environmental, and social pillars (i.e. the triple bottom line).
New concepts of ‘responsible business’ and ‘regenerative business’ reflect a shift from a model of responsibility to shareholders (i.e. shareholder primacy) to responsibility to all stakeholders (includes staff). The introduction of the tripartite labour collaboration includes a third stakeholder—society.
Work is part of our wellbeing and a key driver of health.
Many companies treat workers in terms of enterprise resources. Workers are more than commodities/resources. They are human beings! And there are benefits to designing workplace procedures and technologies with the human in mind. Further, there are benefits to employees and employers for promoting self-efficacy for employees.
Workplace IT systems were historically introduced to promote efficiency – there was insufficient attention to issues around the human role in the system, promoting healthy work and worker wellbeing, enabling worker self-efficacy and augmenting team performance and trust. Now, there is a greater emphasis on fostering trust, the promotion of psychological wellbeing in the workplace, the avoidance of work-related stress and absenteeism and developing ethically aligned technologies (and specifically technologies that prioritize human wellbeing). This change is to be valued. This change is at early stage. We need to design the work and workplace of the future.
Approach
This project uses human factors, operations management, business process analysis and artificial intelligence knowledge to define innovative and human-centred work concepts (i.e. the workplace of the future) which will optimise worker wellbeing, safety, productivity and efficiency, using novel ‘intelligent work’ concepts and allied technology systems. Critically, these systems will deploy artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies in an ethical manner.
Funding
This research is funded under the Innovation Partnership Programme (Enterprise Ireland).
Publications & News Items
Published Work
Cahill, J (2020) - Workforce diversity, workforce monitoring and robotic process automation (RPA / Inspire Event, Diversity in the Analytics Sector Hosted by Central Bank of Ireland. https://www.tcd.ie/cihs/news-events/2020/datanalytics.php
Cahill, J. (2020) - Automation and the requirements for healthy and ethical work / Presentation at the Automation & Robotics Summit, January 2020.
Cahill, J & Yufie Huang (2020 - Shaping the Future of Work in Financial Services Enterprises / White Paper on Intelligent Work https://ucarecdn.com/6627060f-9b47-489e-abb5-ef4e48fd43d0/TCD%20Whitepaper%20Nov%202020_finalv2.pdf
Yufie Huang & Joan Cahill (March 2021) - AI, Employee Performance & Wellness: Towards a Law of Robotics in the workplace. The Council on Business & Society (March 2021) / Website Article https://councilcommunity.org/2021/03/09/ai-employee-performance-wellness-towards-a-law-of-robotics-in-the-workplace/
Zarion Project Team (2021) - Designing the Workplace of the Future (Video) / Video introducing the project https://vimeo.com/519008358
Conference Proceedings & Journals (In Press)
Cahill, J., Huang Y., Yeju, J, Ralph S & Dillon, A. (In press). Intelligent Work, Workplace Wellness & The Triple Bottom Line. (In press). Extended abstract and short paper accepted to be presented at HCI International 2021 and published in the conference proceedings.
Cahill, J., Howard, V., Huang Y., Yeju, J, Ralph S & Dillon, A. (In press). The Future of Work in Financial Services: Person Centred People Operations, Intelligent Work & The Triple Bottom Line. Paper Accepted and to be presented at Digital Human Modelling and its applications: Parallel Session – Emerging Methods, as part of HCI 2021 and published in the conference proceedings. Paper selected for publication in Springer Series.
Publications (Under Review)
Cahill, J., Howard, V., Huang Y., Yeju, J, Ralph S & Dillon, A. The design of future of work and work systems: Using Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence to support Smart, Healthy and Ethical Work in Financial Services. Springer ACES Celebration G. Salvendy. Book Chapter.
Project Partners & Contacts
For more information, please contact
Dr Joan Cahill cahilljo@tcd.ie Centre for Innovative Human Systems
Ms. Vivienne Howard vhoward@tcd.ie Centre for Innovative Human Systems
Prof. Yufei Huang yufei.huang@tcd.ie Trinity Business School
Mr. Stephen Ralph sralph@zarion.comZarion Ltd.