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Future

When Your Boss Is Really An Algorithm

Hard questions amid the increasing use of software algorithms to take on managerial functions, such as hiring, firing and evaluating employees.

a man checking his phone

Algorithm management is having toxic conquences on the workplace.

Raw Pixels / Creative Commons
Robert Donoghue and Tiago Vieira*

The 1999 cult classic film Office Space depicts Peter’s dreary life as a cubicle-dwelling software engineer. Every Friday, Peter tries to avoid his boss and the dreaded words: “I’m going to need you to go ahead and come in tomorrow.”

This scene is still popular on the internet nearly 25 years later because it captures troubling aspects of the employment relationship – the helplessness Peter feels, the fake sympathy his boss intones when issuing this directive, the never-ending demand for greater productivity.

There is no shortage of pop culture depictions of horrible bosses. There is even a film with that title. But things could be about to get worse. What is to be made of the new bosses settling into workplaces across all sectors: the algorithm managers?


The prospect of robots replacing workers is frequently covered in the media. But, it is not only labour that is being automated. Managers are too. Increasingly we see software algorithms assume managerial functions, such as screening job applications, delegating work, evaluating worker performance – and even deciding when employees should be fired.

What is algorithm management?

The offloading of tasks from human managers to machines is only set to increase as surveillance and monitoring devices become increasingly sophisticated. In particular, wearable technology that can track employee movements.

From an employer’s point of view, there is much to be gained from transferring managers’ duties to algorithms. Algorithms lower business costs by automating tasks that take longer for humans to complete. Uber, with its 22,800 employees, can supervise 3.5 million drivers according to the latest yearly figures.

Artificial intelligence systems can also discover ways to optimise business organisations. Uber’s surge pricing model (temporarily raising prices to attract drivers during busy times) is only possible because an algorithm can process real-time changes in passenger demand.

Why is algorithm management dangerous?

Some problems associated with algorithm management receive more attention than others. Perhaps the risk most discussed by journalists, researchers, and policymakers is algorithmic bias.

Amazon’s defunct CV ranking system is an infamous example. This program, which was used to rate applicant CVs on a one-to-five scale, was discontinued because it consistently rated CVs with male characteristics higher than comparable ones deemed more feminine.

But several other issues surround the growth of algorithm management.

One is the problem of transparency. Classic algorithms are programmed to make decisions based on step-by-step instructions and only give programmed outputs.

Machine-learning algorithms, on the other hand, learn to make decisions on their own after exposure to lots of training data. This means they become more complex as they develop, making their operations opaque even to programmers.

When the reasoning behind a decision like whether to sack an employee is not transparent, a morally dubious arrangement is afoot. Was the algorithm’s decision to fire the employee biased, corrupt or arbitrary?

If so, its output would be considered morally illegitimate, if not illegal in most cases. But how would an employee demonstrate that their dismissal was the result of unlawful motivations?

Algorithm management exacerbates the power imbalance between employers and employees by shielding abuses of power from redress. And algorithms cut a critical human function from the employment relationship. It’s what late philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau called our “natural sense of pity” and “innate repugnance to seeing one’s fellow human suffer”.

Even though not all human managers are compassionate, there is zero per cent chance that algorithm managers will be. In our case study of Amazon Flex couriers, we observed the exasperation that platform workers feel about the algorithm’s inability to accept human appeals. Algorithms designed to maximise efficiency are indifferent to childcare emergencies. They have no tolerance for workers moving slowly because they are still learning the job. They do not negotiate to find a solution that helps a worker struggling with illness or disability.

What can we do

The risks faced by workers under the management of algorithms are already a central focus of researchers, trade unions and software developers who are trying to promote good working conditions. US politicians are discussing an extension of digital rights for workers. Other solutions include regular impact assessments of how algorithms affect workers and giving employees a say in how these technologies are used.

While businesses may find management algorithms to be highly lucrative, the need to make a profit is no reason to tolerate employee suffering.

Peter eventually learned how to manage his boss and make work enjoyable. He did this by showcasing his value in highly personable encounters with top levels of management. The question is, how would he have fared if his boss had been an algorithm?The Conversation

*Robert Donoghue, is a PhD Candidate, Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath and Tiago Vieira, a PhD Candidate, Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Geopolitics

The Trudeau-Modi Row Reveals Growing Right-Wing Bent Of India's Diaspora

Western governments will not be oblivious to the growing right-wing activism among the diaspora and the efforts of the BJP and Narendra Modi's government to harness that energy for political support and stave off criticism of India.

The Trudeau-Modi Row Reveals Growing Right-Wing Bent Of India's Diaspora

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20 Summit in New Delhi on Sept. 9

Sushil Aaron

-Analysis-

NEW DELHICanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has brought Narendra Modi’s exuberant post-G20 atmospherics to a halt by alleging in parliament that agents of the Indian government were involved in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian national, in June this year.

“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau said. The Canadian foreign ministry subsequently expelled an Indian diplomat, who was identified as the head of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s foreign intelligence agency, in Canada. [On Thursday, India retaliated through its visa processing center in Canada, which suspended services until further notice over “operational reasons.”]

Trudeau’s announcement was immediately picked up by the international media and generated quite a ripple across social media. This is big because the Canadians have accused the Indian government – not any private vigilante group or organisation – of murder in a foreign land.

Trudeau and Canadian state services seem to have taken this as seriously as the UK did when the Russian émigré Alexander Litvinenko was killed, allegedly on orders of the Kremlin. It is extraordinarily rare for a Western democracy to expel a diplomat from another democracy on these grounds.

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