When we think about artificial intelligence in the workplace, many of us draw robots and drones.
However, AI is much larger than those, and there is a part of the workforce that has disappeared because of it.
It is called “Great Flattening” and affects the middle manager and those who report to them.
“In the last two years, there's been an incredible speed at which AI can develop what it can do,” said Peter Cohan, an associate professor at Babson University.
Modern AI can do more refined tasks and provide tasks that are usually associated with intermediate managers.
“The job of a middle manager is to translate the executive's grand strategic vision into specific tasks that people within the organization actually perform,” Cohan said.
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Cohan points out the layoffs of major technologies like Microsoft and Amazon.
“I think one of the big reasons they do this is because they spend a lot of money investing in AI,” Cohen said.
Losing middle managers is now called “big flattening” as the layer between line workers and executives disappears.
“That kind of thing takes away the big adjustments that the intermediary managers officially used to perform,” Cohen said.
Data from HR company Gusto shows that since 2019, the number of workers reporting to middle managers from three to about six, potentially affecting how people feel about the workplace.
“One of the things AI can't replace is communication from individual to person,” said Greg Stoller of Questrom School of Business at Boston University.
Stoller told you to protect your work, you should be proactive about growth.
“The first thing you should do to eradicate work is to talk to your supervisor and volunteer to volunteer to do additional work, “What am I doing? Can I improve?”,” Stoller said.
Researchers have already seen changes in hi-tech jobs. The unemployment rate for new university graduates has doubled, affecting entry-level jobs in design, web search and programming.
And generative AI is just beginning.
In the past, technology jumps have become a job creation. So keep an eye on new jobs, such as those who do quality checks with AI and demand for AI training roles.
