Reinventing Jobs: A 4-Step Approach for Applying Automation to Work

by Ravin Jesuthasan, John Boudreau

Overview

How to Optimize Human-Machine Work Combinations

Your organization has made the decision to adopt automation and artificial intelligence technologies. Now, you face difficult and stubborn questions about how to implement that decision: How, when, and where should we apply automation in our organization? Is it a stark choice between humans versus machines? How do we stay on top of these technological trends as work and automation continue to evolve?

Work and human capital experts Ravin Jesuthasan and John Boudreau present leaders with a new set of tools to answer these daunting questions. Transcending the endless debate about humans being replaced by machines, Jesuthasan and Boudreau show how smart leaders instead are optimizing human-automation combinations that are not only more efficient but also generate higher returns on improved performance.

Based on groundbreaking primary research, Reinventing Jobs provides an original, structured approach of four distinct steps—deconstruct, optimize, automate, and reconfigure—to help leaders reinvent how work gets bundled into jobs and create optimal human-machine combinations. Jesuthasan and Boudreau show leaders how to continuously reexamine what a job really is, and they provide the tools for identifying the pivotal performance value of tasks within jobs and how these tasks should be reconstructed into new, more optimal combinations.

With numerous examples and practical advice for applying the four-step process, Reinventing Jobs gives leaders a more precise, planful, and actionable way to decide how, when, and where to apply and optimize work automation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633694071
Publisher:	Harvard Business Review Press
Publication date:	10/09/2018
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Ravin Jesuthasan is Managing Director at Willis Towers Watson and a recognized global thought leader on the future of work. He is a member of the World Economic Forum's Steering Committee on Work and Employment and has been recognized as one of the 25 most influential consultants in the world. Jesuthasan has been featured extensively by leading business media including CNN, the BBC, the Financial Times, The Nikkei (Japan), Les Echos (France), Valor Economico (Brazil), and the South China Morning Post. He is coauthor of Transformative HR and Lead the Work and author of more than 70 articles about work, automation, and human capital.

John Boudreau is Professor of Management Organization at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business and Research Director at the university's Center for Effective Organizations. For over 30 years, he has been recognized worldwide for award-winning breakthrough research on the bridge between superior human capital, talent, and sustainable success. He has over 200 publications, including the books Beyond HR, Retooling HR, and Lead the Work, and is frequently featured in Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Fast Company, BusinessWeek, Talent Management, CFO.com, and NPR, among others.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: AI and Robotics Are Here. Now What? 1

Part 1 Optimizing Work Automation: A Four-Step Framework

1 Deconstruct the Job 19

Which Job Tasks Are Best Suited to Automation?

2 Assess the Relationship between Job Performance and Strategic Value 41

What Is the Automation Payoff?

3 Identify Options 57

What Automation Is Possible?

4 Optimize Work 87

What Does the Right Human-Automation Combination Look Like?

Part 2 Redefining the Organization, Leadership, and Workers: Automation implications beyond Reinventing Jobs

5 The New Organization 123

Digital, Agile, Boundaryless, and Work-Centric

6 The New Leadership 141

Democratic, Social, and Perpetually Upgraded

7 Deconstruct and Reconfigure Your Work 167

Using the Work-Automation Framework to Navigate Your Personal Work Evolution

Appendix 187

Notes 193

Index 201

About the Authors 211

Editorial Reviews

Advance Praise for Reinventing Jobs:

Daniel H. Pink, author, Drive and When—
"Reinventing Jobs cuts through the hype and hysteria and shows leaders how to apply automation and artificial intelligence in their organizations. Jesuthasan and Boudreau are the clear-eyed guides every organization needs."

Zhang Ruimin, Chairman and CEO, Haier Group—
"In the age of the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI . . . Reinventing Jobs is a book ahead of its time and points the way to the 'humanization' of the enterprise."

Jim Whitehurst, President and CEO, Red Hat—
"Jesuthasan and Boudreau help us ask the right questions when we're considering where and when to automate. They recognize that automation is not a simple 'rip and replace' of certain jobs and tasks, but rather something that requires a layered approach."

Ralph W. Brown, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President, Research & Development, CableLabs—
"This book provides an excellent, much-needed framework to guide the collaboration necessary among CIOs, CHROs, and other functional leaders to optimize work and the application of automation in today's rapidly changing environment."

Anthony G. Petrello, Chairman, President, and CEO, Nabors Industries—
"A must-read for every CEO. A most thoughtful approach with examples from numerous industries that illustrate that automation and workflow optimization are critical to competing effectively."

Diana McKenzie, Senior Vice President and CIO, Workday—
"Reinventing Jobs is a book that CIOs, CHROs, and all C-suite leaders should read together. This four-step framework takes the guesswork out of building your digital strategy and a future-ready, engaged, and agile workforce."

Saadia Zahidi, Head of Education, Gender and Work and member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum—
"Jesuthasan and Boudreau bring an insightful and practical approach to dealing with one of the most significant challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution."

Alan May, Chief People Officer, Hewlett Packard Enterprise—
"Jesuthasan and Boudreau offer a comprehensive approach to transforming work while enabling organizations—and individuals—to adapt and thrive."

From the Publisher