The Data Imperative: How Digitalization is Reshaping Management, Organizing, and Work

Description

Companies across all industries are engaging in digital transformation to harness the power of advanced information technologies. Building on interviews and diverse case studies, this book provides an in-depth look at how data and algorithms are reshaping management practices, organizational structures, corporate culture, and work roles. Henri Schildt develops a broad framework for understanding digitalization not as a technological change but as a new normative mind-set, here called 'the data imperative'. It describes the new managerial ideals that compel companies to pursue digital omniscience and omnipotence-abilities to represent and understand the world through real-time data flow and to control customer experiences, physical equipment, and workers with software. The efforts to complement and replace human expertise with data and smart algorithms are associated with shifts in strategic priorities, adoption of powerful modular architectures, new organizational structures, and the introduction of artificial intelligence into diverse work roles. Surveying the developments in management and the workplace, this book offers an integrative and balanced account of the on-going changes that will continue to affect everyone from executives and professionals to front-line workers. Cover The Data Imperative: How Digitalization is Reshaping Management, Organizing, and Work Copyright Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Boxes Chapter 1: Digital Transformation From Business Computing to the Digital Transformation Ubiquity and the Value of Digital Data in Business From Human Routines to Algorithmic Processing Digitalization as a Change in the Mindset and Norms of Management Data as a Management Priority Outline of the Chapters Digital Transformation and the Future of Work Chapter 2: The Data Imperative Reinventing Business with Digitalized Processes Omniscience: Perceiving the World Through Data Creation of Digital Data Combination and Analysis of Data Omnipotence: Control Through Data Data-driven Conception of Business Processes Smart Control of Processes with Data A Programmable World Using Data to Reimagine Transactions at Google The New Mindset of Digitalization Chapter 3: Strategic Priorities in the Digital Era The Three Strategic Priorities of Data-driven Companies Constant Optimizing Experimenting to Diversify Building Interactive Digital Relationships Strategies Reach Beyond Firm Boundaries The Promise of Digital Strategy Chapter 4: Complexity and Modularity Three Kinds of Modularity Modularity in Design Modularity in Production Modularity in Operation The Commercial Triumph of Modularity Open Modularity Layered Modularity and the New Logic of Digital Innovation Digital Innovation Through Recombination Bringing Digital Innovations to Customers Designed to Fail: the Surprising Robustness of Modularity Twilio Flex The Costs of Modularity Organization Follows Technology Chapter 5: Organizing Data-driven Companies How Software and Adaptability Motivate Changes in Organizational Design The Importance of Software Development Speeding up Decision-making and Implementation Approaches to Organizing in the Digital Era: Efficiency, Adaptability, and Coordination Structures that Balance Multiple Goals Mixing it Up: Hybrid Responses for Complex Challenges The Culture and Processes in Digital Corporations Mechanisms of Control: From Predictability to Ethos Cultures of Transparency and the ‘Social Media Organization’ Sources of Authority: From Position and Expertise to Situated Performance Organizing Beyond the Firm: Ecosystems and Platforms Strategy in Digital Ecosystems Summary: How the Data Imperative is Reshaping Organizations Chapter 6: Artificial Intelligence and Human Expertise Artificial Intelligence Core Challenges in Combining Human Intuition and Algorithms Case Study: Finnair Revenue Management Case Study: Stitch Fix Four Approaches for Combining Algorithms and Human Tasks AI-generated Resources for Human Work Smart Interactive Tools AI-guided Work Algorithmic Control of Human Work Organizational Learning in Human–Algorithm Hybrids The Original Cycle of Choice Model Artificial Intelligence and Organizational Learning Limits to Algorithmic Control and Human Oversight Inflexibility in Automation and Routines Blindness to Algorithms and Blindness to Humans Information Overload and Encoding Problems The Core Question: to Simplify or Not to Simplify? Better Together, But With Some Serious Design Challenges Chapter 7: Algorithmic Management of Humans Working for an Algorithm The Data Imperative and Algorithmic Management The Nefarious Dynamics of Job Impoverishment The Upwards Creep of Algorithmic Management: the Future of Software-controlled Professionals? Building Better Algorithmic Management Make the System Fair and Transparent Improve Safety and Provide Care Build Digital Communities The Future of Work Needs to be Designed Chapter 8: The Promises and Pitfalls of the Data Imperative Towards the ‘Artificially Intelligent Organization’ The Optimization Traps Risks of Simplification and Specialization Digitally Induced Myopia How to Remain Relevant and Survive the Data Imperative Knowing What to Optimize Unlearning Old Habits of Decision-making Conclusion References Index