A human-centric take on IBM's AI-driven HR overhaul

​IBM's recent decision to lay off approximately 8,000 employees, primarily from its Human Resources (HR) department, in favor of AI automation has sparked significant discussion in the business world. The company's AI platform, AskHR, now handles about 94% of routine HR tasks, such as payroll queries and leave approvals, leading to a reported $3.5 billion boost in productivity across more than 70 job roles globally.

While these efficiency gains are noteworthy, they prompt a deeper examination of the human-centric aspects of organizational excellence. The remaining 6% of HR tasks- those requiring empathy, nuanced judgment, and human interaction- could not be effectively managed by AI, leading IBM to quietly rehire personnel (as has been reported) to fill these gaps.

This scenario highlights a critical lesson… while AI can streamline operations, it cannot replace the intrinsic human elements that foster a thriving organizational culture. The human-centric approach to organizational excellence emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence, ethical considerations, and personal engagement, all qualities that AI currently cannot replicate.

Traditional HR has too often been reduced to compliance, recruitment, and transactional management. It's no surprise then that in some organizations, HR is viewed as expendable. But true organizational excellence is not achieved by eliminating people- it is nurtured through deep awareness of human needs, emotions, motivations, and interconnectedness within systems.

IBM's experience illustrates the need for a balanced integration of AI, where technology augments human capabilities without eroding the human essence of organizational operations. By reinvesting savings from automation into roles that require human creativity and strategic thinking, IBM acknowledges the irreplaceable value of human contributions in areas like software development, sales, and marketing. These are invisible dynamics- yet they determine whether an organization truly thrives.

Managing the People-Process-Technology dynamics is still needed, possibly even more so, in today's fast evolving and AI included workforce.
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The pursuit of organizational excellence should not solely focus on efficiency metrics but also prioritize human awareness and a people-first culture. As AI continues to evolve, organizations must ensure that technological advancements enhance rather than diminish the human experience within the workplace. This is the reason- a human-centric approach to Organizational Excellence becomes indispensable.