Emerging Technologies, Work Relationships, and the New Role of Middle Managers

Abstract

This symposium showcases recent research projects on how organizations are implementing emerging technologies and how these technologies are changing relationships at work as well as the role of middle managers. Emerging technologies are enabling organizations to measure employee performance in more finite ways, assign employees to work projects that match their skill sets, and observe interactions via digital communications and by tracking calendar entries. Employers’ use of these tools is shifting how individuals interact with their peers and managers. We will present new insights into how employees and middle managers respond to emerging technologies, how work relationships are impacted by these technologies, and the organizational consequences that emerge. This symposium will have three primary goals: (1) explore how top managers, middle managers, and employees in various settings use or resist emerging technologies; (2) highlight new findings and theory around how emerging technologies are changing the role of middle managers; and (3) discuss how emerging technologies are changing work relationships. Beyond Instrumental Efficiency: An Inductive Study of How Knowledge Workers Utilize Technology Presenter: Rohin Borpujari; London Business School Presenter: Herminia Ibarra; London Business School Meeting Networks and Emergent Team States: How Network Density Relates to Psychological Safety Presenter: Jeffrey T Polzer; Harvard U. Presenter: Evan DeFilippis; Harvard Business School Orchestrating Friendship in the Firm: Softening the Edges of Algorithmic Evaluation Presenter: Raquel Renee Kessinger; Massachusetts Institute of Technology Presenter: Katherine C. Kellogg; MIT Work Digitization, Behavioral Visibility, and the Changing Role of Middle Managers Presenter: Paul Leonardi; UC Santa Barbara