According to the new MIT/Boston Consulting Group Research, employees who derive at least moderate value from AI technology are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs.
A new report from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group finds that, despite the widely held belief that AI-powered automation can take over workers’ jobs, 60% of workers view AI as a colleague, not a threat. for work.
In addition, organizations with employees who derive value from AI are 5.9 times more likely to see significant financial benefits than those whose employees do not derive value from AI, the report said. Achieving individual and organizational value with AI.
What does it really mean to use AI?
The study, based on a global survey of 1,741 executives and interviews with 17 executives, found that individuals derive personal value from AI “when using the technology enhances their self-determination, which includes their competence, autonomy and connectedness,” the report said. .
The report discusses what ‘the use of AI’ really means and defines it as ‘a wide range of applications in which AI can be a more or less prominent part’. Citing Salesforce’s customer relationship management software Einstein as an example, the report explains that the tool is used for classic AI tasks: to predict customer behavior, understand customer sentiment, and automate customer service.
However, end users may not be aware or care that AI is behind the performance of the product.
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“Many technologies have embedded, even hidden, AI components that employees may not even be aware of,” said Sam Ransbotham, an analysis professor at Boston College and guest editor for the MIT SMR. Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy Big Ideas research initiative. “If everyone uses AI to some extent – and extracts value from it – familiar tropes become problematic.
“For example, the idea that managers using AI will replace managers who don’t use AI loses meaning when everyone uses AI.”
The report even notes that managers can encourage the use of AI and catalyze value creation at the individual level by building trust, understanding, choice and awareness.
Some workers take AI for granted
The use of AI is so widespread that individual workers take some of its uses for granted. According to the findings, 66% of individuals reported that they use AI only minimally or not at all. But when asked about specific examples of AI-enhanced business applications, such as office productivity applications, calendar planners, and CRM software, 43% of these respondents indicated that they regularly or occasionally use business products embedded with AI.
“Obviously, if individuals don’t know they’re using AI, they have a harder time recognizing its value,” said François Candelon, global director of the BCG Henderson Institute and co-author of the report. “But our research shows that employees who consciously use AI are 1.6 times more likely to gain individual value and 1.8 times more likely to be satisfied with their jobs than those who don’t realize they are using AI. “
AI impacts job satisfaction, competence and interaction with colleagues
According to the report, about 64% of survey respondents personally derive at least moderate value from using AI. These employees are 3.4 times more likely to be more satisfied at work than employees who do not derive any value from AI. Only 8% of global survey respondents said they feel less satisfied with their jobs because of AI.
Individuals who receive AI-based suggestions to improve their performance are 1.8 times more likely to feel more competent in their role than those who don’t. In addition, employees whose organization invests in AI that improves the quality of decision-making in areas such as operational planning, inventory management, and marketing return on investment are 1.5 times more likely to experience individual value from the technology compared to employees in organizations who don’t invest in this type of AI.
The survey found that many respondents believe that using AI has improved how they interact with their team members (56%), with their managers (47%), and with other people in their departments (52%), and helped them feel better. able to feel in their performance at work.
How to help employees feel comfortable using AI
The report also provides advice on how to familiarize employees with the use of AI and what benefits they can realize.
“To gain the financial and organizational benefits of AI, managers must foster a virtuous cycle of use and value at the individual level by cultivating trust, understanding and awareness of the technology,” said Shervin Khodabandeh, senior partner and managing director at BCG. co-leader of GAMMA in North America, and co-author of the report. “The relationship between [the] individual and organizational value of AI is additive, not zero sum.”
Mandating the use of AI will help overcome resistance to it
Interviewees and respondents indicate that mandating the use of AI is an important first step in overcoming resistance. By making AI mandatory, the chance of use is tripled. Individuals who need to use AI at work are three times more likely to use the technology regularly than those who don’t need to use it professionally.
But managers still need to ensure that individuals have freedom of choice. Individuals who can ignore AI are 2.1 times more likely to use it regularly compared to those who cannot ignore it. In addition, managers who lead by example by using AI with their teams are 3.4 times more likely to drive regular AI use among individual team members than managers who don’t.
“Trust is just one factor driving AI adoption: being compelled to use it. Watching your boss use it. Have the ability to overwrite it. These all contribute to adoption, especially in the early stages of AI implementations,” said David Kiron, MIT SMR editorial director, research and co-author of the report.
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