天美传媒

鈥淥n the one hand, technological development means that more and more human activities can be replaced by machines. On the other hand, philosophical reflection would lead us to conclude that work is essential to human beings.鈥�

This sometimes uneasy relationship between people and machines in the workplace, summed up by Prof. Joan Fontrodona, was one of the themes of 天美传媒鈥檚 20th International Symposium on Ethics, Business and Society held this week on the Barcelona campus.

The symposium examined the meaning of work in a technology-driven society, with speakers addressing topics such as the substitution of human beings for machines; how technology can improve society; and ways people and computers can think together.

But while all speakers agreed that technology is changing many aspects of work, many thought the human-machine relationship need not be fraught. 鈥淚 think a lot of people are more worried than they need to be,鈥� said Thomas Malone, director of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. 鈥淲e麓re spending way too much time thinking about people versus computers, and not enough time thinking about people and 肠辞尘辫耻迟别谤蝉.鈥�

Prof. Jordi Canals agreed. 鈥淲e should not be afraid of technology. We just need to put management and leadership back on track.鈥�

What Will Future Generations Say?

For Anne Marie Engtoft Larsen, Knowledge Lead, Science and Technology Studies at the World Economic Forum, future generations will look back on the ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution either in deep disappointment at how problems were bungled 鈥� or impressed by the solutions that were ultimately found.

The current revolution is 鈥渁 societal transformation and we鈥檙e standing at the brink,鈥� she said during the session 鈥淭he Rise of Machines and the Future of Human Work.鈥�

The Fourth Revolution, she said, is marked by 鈥渂uckets鈥� of emerging technologies such as blockchain, 3D printing and quantum computing, leading to greater disruption across industries. During any industrial revolution, however, norms and social behaviors change, and in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the human being has moved to the center.

Amid this shift, she said, society should ask three central questions: 鈥淲ho gains? Who loses? And who are we?鈥�

A top concern is how to ensure that the benefits of the current revolution are distributed fairly. Past revolutions have led to increasingly large numbers of people without access to the technologies that were subsequently ushered in.

Society cannot brush aside the consequences of technology, as if it were values-neutral, she said. This means focusing on the systems that new technologies operate within, rather than the technologies themselves.

鈥淲e should start talking a lot more about values 鈥� in the boardroom, in all decision-making organizations and also take it into the business schools,鈥� she said.

New Labor Paradigms

Perspective is also key. 鈥淭hroughout the history of humankind, different jobs have been replaced by others. It鈥檚 not about abundance of jobs, it鈥檚 about bundles of tasks,鈥� said Juan Men茅ndez-Vald茅s, director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofund).

While the rise of artificial intelligence and robotics is causing many jobs to disappear and others to emerge, a bigger challenge for society may be how to address today鈥檚 changing relationship between companies and employees. The traditional job market is becoming fragmented, calling for a reframing of issues such as regulation, taxation, employee well-being and performance, said Men茅ndez-Vald茅s.

Today鈥檚 complex labor market includes new forms of work such as casual work, voucher-based work, employee sharing, interim management, platform-based models and others. The challenge for society is to create and agree upon new systems for these, Men茅ndez-Vald茅s said. To be successful, however, research suggests that any new framework will need to involve employee participation, giving people a voice in the workplace about how decisions are made.