The Future of Work Beyond Technology: Tackling Four Fundamental Human Challenges

Abstract

This symposium aims to call attention to the fundamentally human challenges that lie ahead in the future of work and thus expand the focus of management research on the future of work beyond technology. Four papers bring together diverse perspectives from management on the human side of work in the future. The papers move beyond understanding technology as a key driver of changes at work to put people at the center, examining four fundamental human aspects that are critical to address to create a better future of work, namely: leadership in a global crisis, work-family conflict, work mattering, and belonging. The four speakers illustrate why solving these human challenges is as critical to the future of work as harnessing the promise of technology. First, Lauren Howe, Laura Giurge, Alexander Wagner, and Jochen Menges document the performance benefits of leaders who pay attention to the human costs of a global crisis such as employee health and well-being. Second, Jamie Gloor, Susanne Braun, and Jenny Hoobler document how leaders, especially male leaders, can positively shape their followers’ perceptions and behaviors by being open about their experience with work-life conflict. Third, Hilary Hoyt Hendricks, Nathan Meikle, Julia Lee Cunningham, and Alaina Segura show how employees can rely on each other to harness a sense of mattering at work in a context where technology might make it difficult to do so. Finally, Felix Danbold draws attention to the challenge of creating a sense of belonging at work and documents when and why members of non-dominant groups claim belonging in organizations. By presenting these four human challenges in the future of work, this symposium illustrates how ignoring the human aspects of the future of work can be costly for organizational leaders who want to maintain a competitive advantage as well as for management scholars who care about expanding our understanding of the future of work so that humans, and not just machines, are in the spotlight. The Human Cost of COVID-19 Presenter: Lauren Christine Howe; U. of Zurich Presenter: Laura Maria Giurge; London School of Economics and Political Science Presenter: Alexander F. Wagner; U. of Zurich Presenter: Jochen I. Menges; U. of Zurich Help When Leaders Need Somebody? Positive Reactions to Leader Work-Family Conflict Presenter: Jamie L. Gloor; U. of St.Gallen Presenter: Susanne Helena Braun; Durham U. Presenter: Jenny M. Hoobler; NOVA School of Business and Economics “I See You as a Person First”: Co-creating Mattering for the New World of Work Presenter: Hilary Hoyt Hendricks; U. of Michigan Presenter: Nathan Meikle; U. of Kansas Presenter: Julia Lee Cunningham; U. of Michigan Presenter: Alaina Segura; U. of Michigan Claiming the Right to Belong at Work Presenter: Felix Danbold; UCL School of Management