Changing human resource management and managers: Middle-managers’ rage against the machine?

By Professor Barbara Bechter and Professor Bernd Brandl

There’s no question that digitalisation and the advancement of new technologies have drastically changed the way in which we work and how work and people are managed. More specifically, the increased use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and algorithmic and analytical management has changed Human Resource Management (HRM) in many ways.   

It’s well known and understood in the literature that today, new technologies like HR analytics and AI are used in all areas of HRM, including workforce planning and recruitment and selection, HR development (i.e. training and development), rewards (i.e. compensation and benefits), talent management, and performance management (i.e. performance monitoring). Consequently, humans have become increasingly managed by ‘machines’ and not (directly) by human managers.  

In this sense, the line manager responsible for evaluating employee performance and making decisions about promotions or dismissals has been replaced by a ‘machine’, specifically an algorithm.  

Of course, this change in the relationship between human employees and human/non-human managers leads to concerns among the workforce, which also explains resistance to the use and implementation of new technologies in firms. We’ve analysed the role of different factors which hinder and facilitate the effective use and implementation of ‘machined HRM’ in companies.    

What’s less known and often underestimated is that the use of new technologies and AI (i.e. ‘machined HRM’) has also changed dramatically the jobs of management, in particular HR Managers. The fact that employees are increasingly managed via the use of ‘machines’ makes many HR Managers obsolete. In our recent research, we’re analysing how the structure of HR and HR roles are changing, which jobs are lost, and which are evolving.  

While top management is deploying AI for better-informed strategic decision-making, middle-managers, responsible for implementing AI in the workplace, are becoming increasingly obsolete by the very same technology. Middle and lower HR managers who are responsible for HR non-strategic tasks such as performance monitoring and recruitment and selection are increasingly replaced by ‘machines’. Middle HR managers are therefore often very concerned about using AI and algorithmic management. For that reason, resistance, and ‘rage’ against ‘machined’ HRM can be expected by HR managers themselves and not necessarily the workforce.  

As we’ve shown, top strategic HR management positions benefit from the information generated by AI and algorithmic management, while those responsible for implementing AI and who are managed by it do less so. Furthermore, it’s also often the top HR management that makes decisions on how AI and algorithmic management is used and what is ‘behind’ or in the ‘machines’, i.e. on how algorithms work and who benefits (or doesn’t). Such decisions about the design and use of AI and HR analytics are of strategic importance, and therefore decision-making is held at the highest level. 

Against that background, we show that resistance on the use and implementation of new technologies in HRM isn’t often high among employees, employee representatives, or trade unions as literature sometimes argued. Still, resistance and rage can be particularly high from the middle and low HR management itself – especially HR managers at middle and lower levels who feel threatened by using AI and analytical methods in HRM. 

We also argue that such change in HRM and in particular among HR managers is not new and that HRM has witnessed many changes in previous decades, not least because HRM has had to adapt to changes in technologies before. As often when new technologies replace old technology in a process of creative destruction, there can be strong resistance and rage among management and the workforce. However, as history also shows, such periods of change can be managed and overcome in different ways to facilitate transitions. Therefore, we conclude that HRM, especially at the top level, must collaborate transparently with everyone involved. This includes providing upskilling and training for middle and lower-level HR management to ensure technological changes benefit the workforce and prevent rage and unrest.