AI's penetration into our workplaces is relentless.
If you have lived through the industrial age, the information age, and now the digital age, you have not seen changes like these, yet.
The sooner we grasp this reality, the better equipped we are. And so will our organizations be.
The impact of AI on our work's future cannot be underestimated. However, our organizations are still struggling with outdated management and organizational theories inherited from the Forties. Without a doubt, we must acknowledge the invaluable contributions of past organizational thought leaders, from Taylor to Gilbreths in the industrial age, and from Gantt to Drucker for administrative thinking, despite their reliance on crude and inefficient technologies of their time.
Yet, Times Change
Digital technologies are transforming our organizations at an unprecedented pace, resembling a sharply rising curve on a graph. They revolutionize communication, automation, and access to information, fostering global collaboration, efficiency, and innovation. They democratize education, empower entrepreneurship, and promote sustainable practices, driving economic growth, social development, and environmental sustainability worldwide.
Moore's Law and Metcalfe's Law illustrate the exponential growth and interconnectedness driving these changes.
Moore’s Law by Gordon Moore of Intel (1965): The observation that the number of transistors on a microchip roughly doubles every two years, whereas its cost is halved over that same timeframe. Moore's Law implies that computers, machines that run on computers, and computing power all become smaller, faster, and cheaper with time as processes become more efficient and components smaller and faster.
Metcalfe’s Law by Robert Metcalfe (1980): Metcalfe’s Law is one of the main principles of network economics. It suggests that as a network grows, its value grows much faster than its user base. While a network’s cost generally grows as a direct proportion of its total number of nodes (e.g., persons or computers), its value grows in proportion to the square of that number. Network value grows fast because it’s related to the number of connections between nodes rather than the number of nodes. Metcalfe’s idea implies that node connectivity is the real source of utility in a network.
But We are Still so Slow
However, organizational adaptation follows a slower logarithmic curve, hindered by entrenched structures, processes, and cultural inertia. Despite the undeniable velocity of technological advancement, organizational change remains constrained by human capacity and resistance. The gap between the exponential rise of technology and the gradual pace of organizational adaptation poses significant challenges. As organizations grapple with this reality, the imperative to embrace digital transformation becomes increasingly urgent, requiring proactive measures to bridge the gap and navigate the evolving landscape effectively.
AI's technological advancements hold the potential to propel organizations to unprecedented performance peaks, as described by Martec's Law of disruptions.
Martec’s Law coined by Scott Brinker of MarTech Conference, 2020: Technology changes exponentially, organizations change logarithmically. The law sees the gap between the rate of change at which technology progresses and the ability of organizations to adapt as the most important OD and management challenge of the 21st century.
The faster the AI propagates and the slower the rate of adoption the greater the gap between expectations and practice will become. The challenge is that AI requires fundamental organizational change. Most organizations, however, are far away from adopting an AI first approach. This requires a clear vision and a major rethink to digital transformation of the organization. This, in turn, requires high level of learning and commitment over all hierarchies, functions and teams.
Adaptation Lags Behind
While not a widely recognized law, this logarithmic limit to organizational change is empirically observed, supported by numerous publications on personal and organization change. Changing people's thinking and behavior, especially within established structures and cultures, demands considerable effort and time. The larger the organization, the more layers there are, the greater the bureaucracy. And expectedly, the greater the resistance to change. As AI advances, organizations must stay ahead and thrive. But many struggle to adapt, especially as they scale up. Size brings more mess and red tapes. In general, our capacity for complexity and change falls short of linear progression.
Facing AI’s Onslaught
Organizations must acknowledge their slow adaptation to AI’s integration into their workforce. This reluctance resembles waiting for a train that missed its arrival schedule in a station, a consequence of the digital transformation fervor in the pandemic then waned-off thereafter.
An AI Roadmap
In a recent AI Unveiled webinar attended by 130 “women helping women victims of violence,” I outlined some immediate and long-term measures to prepare organizations for AI integration.
Short-term measures include adopting the 3-4-5 learning architecture, creating Learning Groups for specific AI projects, embracing the 6P (Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance) attitude, developing digital products, and fostering lifelong learning.
Longer-term strategies involve building AI capacity through experimentation and discovery. Resolute documentation to capture the “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:” practices. Celebrate AI’s performance and productivity boosts. Establish the thresholds of what may be “acceptable,” and “unacceptable,” practices. Then, mark the areas of uncertainties and vulnerabilities. These measures are essential for organizations to craft their own manifesto of ethical and responsible AI use and navigate through the revolution successfully.
NOTES:
(a) Forthcoming Events for OD Professionals
1. ODPN Conversations. Coming this year. 3 transformative themes that will redefine how you engage, innovate, and thrive in your organizations.
Theme A: Recharge Your Workforce (March - April)
Leap into the digital era with Organizational Engagement for Our Post-Pandemic World: (a) Decode the hush-hush whispers of Quiet Resignation and turn them into roars of commitment in April and (b) Master the art of Leveraging Emotions to fuel a passionate and high-performing organizational heartbeat in April.
2. In-person OD Courses led by our OD Experts: (a) Essentials of OD - Ms Milalin Javellana and Ms Tita Puangco and (b) Diagnosing Organizations - Dr Joy Teng-Calleja - June 20.
3. ODLab24 will happen on July 4 to 5 in the Sugarland Hotel, Bacolod City. Save the date. Watch for more announcements in this space.
(b) Ed Canela Courses
1. UP ISSI AI Appreciation Course for MSMEs (COPE). April 25, 2024, 2:00 to 4:00 pm webinar. Contact Joanna Rose T. Laddaran (jtladdaran@up.edu.ph). Join us for FREE.
2.Webinar on Transformative Leaders: Lead to Learn by Legacy 17, 5-7 May 2024, Lund, Sweden. SAVE THE DATES! Visit: LinkedIn OR Facebook.
3. 5th Data Analytics for MSMEs. 3 Saturdays (July, 2024) In-Person hands-on at the University of the Philippines Institute for Small Scale Industries (UPISSI) REGISTER NOW. REACH US AT: University of the Philippines Institute for Small-Scale Industries Room 401, Fourth Floor, E. Virata Hall, E. Jacinto Street, UP Campus, Diliman Quezon City, Philippines 1101 Trunk Line: 8981-8500 loc. 4054 or connect to our Facebook site.
4.SAIDI Webinars: (a) AI for HROD Professionals August 1, 2, and 5 from 9:30 am~4:00 pm for HR/OD Professionals, Trainers, Consultants, Senior Managers, and PhD candidates; (b) 2ndAI for Academics, Sept 5, 6 and 9 from 9:30 am~4:00 pm for Academics, Principals, Teachers, Education Advocates, and CHED/DepED specialists and staff. Contact SAIDI for Early Bird and discounts. E-mail or call: Cynthia Cruz at cecruz@saidi.edu.ph or 8-5545373.