How will leadership look in the future with more automation right around the corner? With the growth of technology that is taking over industries throughout the world, what type of leader will be effective, and how will leadership styles change to accommodate the computerization ahead.
I managed restaurants for a decade, and all of my employees were human beings. This meant that sociability was a key trait to have as leading employees well through interaction was paramount to the success of the operation. With the increase of automated systems, especially in restaurants, the key leadership traits are going to shift from ones such as sociability and extraversion to task knowledge and problem solving.
I was walking through O’Hare International Airport the other day, and noticed a self-serve beer bar. Patrons belly up to a wall that has a variety of taps on it, order and pay through a kiosk and choose which ever type they want and the number of ounces that they would like to try. It looked like a one employee operation where the employee is checking IDs if necessary, handing out a glass, as well as giving out a card that can be loaded with any dollar amount that one may choose.
I have visited similar wine kiosks and made to order food kiosks. Working and eating at Penn State has given me a first-hand look at the food kiosks. The new dining facilities have taken out much of the face to face ordering processes, and shifted to ordering through a machine. This means that those leading this operation are going to place more emphasis on the knowledge of this technology and less emphasis on emotional and social intelligence because of the lack of human interaction.
This leads me back to my original question. What type of leader will these types of restaurants be looking for in the future? It seems to me that they will be looking more for a leader that makes knowledge their most important skill as opposed one that has a vast amount social skills. Senior leaders may be looking this way as well, with more focus being placed on how to maximize the efficiency and knowledge of how to understand breakthrough technologies. According to Northouse, knowledge indirectly influences a leader’s capacity to define complex organizational problems and to attempt to solve them. (Northouse, 2016)
This may lead to leaders that have learned skills as opposed to innate traits. Knowledge, a key aspect of the skills model, is going to be needed in this new age of automation. According to Firlej and Kluz, “digital leadership can be defined by a leader’s contribution to the transition toward a knowledge society and their knowledge of technology” (Firlej and Kluz, 2016). They also point out that “Today’s leaders must have the ability to identify technological trends across different sectors, such as big data, cloud computing, automation, and robotics. However, first and foremost they must possess sufficient knowledge. (Firlej and Kluz, 2016) Moving into the future, knowledge as opposed to social intelligence will be a key aspect of leadership, as human interaction is beginning to be phased out and automation and technology start to take over business. Leadership sure is changing.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Firlej, M.; Kluz, A. (2016). How to be a leader in the digital age. Retrieved from www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/05/how-to-be-a-leader-in-the-digital-age/
Graciela Rosita Pulido says
I was just talking about this topic with a friend of mine. We were eating at Red Robin restaurant and there was no server to take our order. We had to order our food through this small touch screen kiosk. More and more of these automated kiosks are popping up in restaurants in California. We began discussing how there was a kiosk at the burger restaurant Stacked. We talked about how more and more automation has hit the food industry. Now the alcoholic beverage industry is feeling the kiosk takeover. I think that leadership is a different approach to explore this new automation takeover. It is interesting because when and if that ever happens, who will be there to regulate the automated leader? It does not make much sense to make a computer be in charge of real live people or possess the powers of a leader role.
The Washington Post reveals who the five leaders of the robot revolution are. Some of which are former students of MIT and Harvard. These great minds are wonderful and deserve the credit for creation of such technological advances. Keep an eye out for these robot creators as time goes on, for they may be the ones who shift the move towards automated leadership one day in the future of society.
-Graciela
Reference
De Vise, D.(2011). Five Leaders of the Robot Revolution retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/five-leaders-of-the-robot-revolution/2011/11/04/gIQAbfh1lM_blog.html?utm_term=.25857a10baac
Rebecca Reyes Perez says
This was a really interesting read! It’s important to think about how our future will change as our technology advances. So many aspects of human life will change due to our rapidly growing technology. Now more than ever we are experiencing this rapid growth in technology, globalization to be exact. Globalization is allowing technology along with news to travel around the world within minutes. I also believe that traits or skills that we once looked for in a leader will be different in the future. If there isn’t a lot of interaction than surely traits such as sociability won’t be as sought compared to others. It will be interesting to see in the coming years how technology will impact our definition and view of leadership. Will we have a different idea of leadership as technology advances? I think so, leadership will de defined by it’s relevant traits. I really enjoyed reading your blog and look forward to your future thoughts!
Thank you!
Rebeca Perez
John David Shelton says
I think automation will drastically change leadership in the workplace but not necessarily in the ways you describe.
When I worked for the federal government in a very leadership-intensive occupational field, we always drew a clear line between managing and leading. One would manage programs, policies, buildings, etc., but one would lead people. If someone told you you were a great manager but didn’t follow it up with “…and leader,” it was seen as damning with very faint praise. In the scenarios you wrote about, it would seem the leadership aspect would be removed altogether. You don’t lead automated machines, you manage them. You order them from a catalog, you have them installed, schedule their maintenance, get them repaired when they break, and you plan for their obsolescence. I don’t have to figure out what motivates a self-serve kiosk. Along with replacing humans with robots and programs and algorithms, automation will also make leadership in many workplaces obsolete. Employers won’t look for leaders with good technical abilities, they’ll look for the cheapest manager to keep the automation systems running.
But your post brings up another topic that has gained a lot of attention in the past two year, Artificial Intelligence, or AI. It’s easy to manage a bunch of glorified iPads who are no closer to self-awareness than a toaster would be but what does, what will, a human leader do when confronted with an AI system that questions what their motivation is? How will a human convince a machine to follow her? Will it react to charisma? Will it react negatively to a leadership trait that is lacking in a person? Will it be programmed to react negatively to bad leadership? Will humans be the leaders or the followers? I hope this doesn’t sound too geeky or too future-sci-fi but with all the media attention AI has received recently, I think it deserves at least a passing comment.