1900: Minds and Machines: Expertise in an Age of Intelligent Machines (15517)

Organizer(s)

• SP

  Sienna Helena Parker

  U. of California, Santa Barbara, United States
• BL

  Brandon Lepine

  U. of California, Santa Barbara, United States

Discussant(s)

• MV

  Melissa Valentine

  Stanford U., United States

Presenter(s)

• CA

  Callen Anthony

  New York U., United States
• SL

  Sarah Lebovitz

  U. of Virginia, United States

Participant(s)

• EG

  Emmanouil Gkeredakis

  IESE Business School, Spain

Presenter(s)

• KL

  Kevin Lee

  U. of British Columbia, Canada
• HR

  Hatim Rahman

  Northwestern Kellogg School of Management, United States
• MB

  Matt Beane

  U. of California, Santa Barbara, United States

Intelligent machines are transforming the nature of knowledge, skills, and expertise, challenging many of our assumptions about work and organizing. Researchers have long emphasized the impact of emerging technologies on reshaping interactions within organizations and occupational communities. From paper mill operators with software systems (Zuboff, 1988), radiologists with computerized CT scanners (Barley, 1986), librarians with internet search (Nelson & Irwin, 2014), and NASA scientists with open-source innovation (Lifshitz- Assaf, 2018) scholars have found that the introduction of digital technologies can occasion changes to occupational identities and trouble the boundaries of domain knowledge within and between organizations. However, our understanding of expertise in the era of machine learning, algorithms, and AI is still nascent. Unlike previous digital technologies, intelligent machine applications can handle complex decision-making tasks and analysis of large amounts of structured and unstructured data, disintermediating the tasks of managers and workers (Kellogg et al., 2020; Murray et al., 2021; Faraj et al., 2018). As such, recent calls for research emphasize the need for more theorizing on expertise and more empirical studies on how workers, occupational communities, and organizations can adapt to and cultivate the skills needed in this new world of work (Heimstädt et al., 2023; Nicolini et al., 2022). Therefore, this symposium provides new perspectives and insights at the nexus of intelligent machines and the evolving nature of knowledge, skills, and expertise. It will consist of two conceptual and three empirical papers that grapple with differing forms of intelligent technologies and their impacts. In concert, these presentations foreground and question the assumptions and heuristics that scholars of work, management, and organizing have traditionally held preceding the proliferation of intelligent machines. This symposium is designed to encourage discussion and integrate diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to the evolving landscape of work and technology.

Presentations:

• 09:45 – 11:15 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

  1900: How Autographic Affiliations Shape Patterns Of Technology Use (15517)
  

  Author: Callen Anthony – New York U.
• 09:45 – 11:15 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

  1900: Ethical Expertise in the Era of Fair Algorithms in Organizations (15517)
  

  Author: Sarah Lebovitz – U. of Virginia

  Author: Emmanouil Gkeredakis – IESE Business School
• 09:45 – 11:15 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

  1900: Monsters of Our Own Creation: AI, Occupational Cannibalization, and the Future of Work (15517)
  

  Author: Kevin Woojin Lee – U. of British Columbia
• 09:45 – 11:15 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

  1900: Integrated Organizational Training in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (15517)
  

  Author: Hatim A. Rahman – Northwestern Kellogg School of Management
• 09:45 – 11:15 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

  1900: Characteristics as a Complement to Process: Theorizing Skill in an Age of Intelligent Machines (15517)
  

  Author: Matt Beane – U. of California, Santa Barbara