Advances in the Technology of Managing People

Contemporary Issues in Business

Pamela Ann Gordon, Julie A. Overbey, Pamela Ann Gordon, Julie A. Overbey

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781789730760, 9781789730746
• eBook ISBN: 9781789730753
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

Advances in the Technology of Managing People: Contemporary Issues in Business presents a wide ranging examination of emerging technological trends in the workplace. Using a combination of research study results, case studies, literature reviews, and conceptual papers, the book examines contemporary issues and emerging trends within management technology. 

Each chapter focuses on a different technological issue or trend within business management from a variety of perspectives, including management, HR, ethical, and organizational behavior viewpoints.  

Issues explored in the book include:

• Workplace Productivity with Balanced Scorecard Actions 
• Managing Emerging Technology and Organization with Agility 
• Freelance Economy 
• E-Mentoring 2.0 
• Virtual Team Success with the Power of Technology Advancements 
• Advanced Analytics, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace 
• Ambient Intelligence Changes the Office Environment 
• Disruptive Innovations and Blockchain 
• Quantum Leadership. 

Pamela Ann Gordon and Julie A Overbey curate an excellent reference for research scholars, practitioners, and organizational leaders seeking to understand the impact of technology on contemporary organizations.

Chapter 1

Technology and Globalization: The Evolution of Human Interactions, Values, and Management Practices

Irina A. Weisblat

Introduction

Abundant are writings on globalization. Some claim that the world is flat (Friedman, 2007) – an exaggeration meant to amplify the impact of the new, equalizing, flattening forces that empower people around the world to “connect, compete, and collaborate” (p. x). Friedman (2007) presents a novel view on globalization that goes beyond the emergence of international institutions institutions, such as General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Trade Organization (WTO), private organizations, and regional agreements. Others define globalization simply as an economic phenomenon, a “trend away from distinct national economic units and toward one huge global market” (Hill & Hult, 2018, p. 6). They present globalization as a fascinating belle époque and a renaissance that began in the 1950s, after World War II, and climaxed with the economic convergence among nations by the start of a new millennium (Lindert &Williamson, 2003). Their view is only a minor detour from the World Bank’s (2002) two-cycle approach to globalization that divides economic globalization into two periods – from the early nineteenth century to 1913 and from 1950 to the present. All these texts have two flaws in common – they are missing a historical perspective and the core reason that caused the radical change called globalization.

Firstly, the Western historians traditionally believe that the early stages of globalization “began only some five hundred years ago, in 1492” (Smil, 2010, p. 5), when the great European voyages were piloted and helped to secure long-lasting influx of capital from the newly discovered foreign lands. Further, Smil (2010) underscores arguments by Frank and Gills (1993), who showed that globalization was as old as the recorded history itself – at least, 5,000 years old. The archeological and historical evidence presented in Cunliffe’s (2008) study of European pre-history supports these views. It would appear that globalization is as old as history itself and it is impossible to determine a date when it began.

Secondly, regardless of the various methods of periodization and “the measurement of flows of people, goods and money over time” (McKeown, 2007, p. 220), a fresh approach to understanding the phenomenon of globalization seems to be missing. The globalization process has been continually evolving from one transformative age to a new one. While outlining the specific periods may be of value, the real focus must be on technologies that made globalization possible.

Technology as a Main Driver of Globalization

What exactly prompted this global process of social and cultural conversions, economic exchanges, and interdependencies? Throughout the history, above all other motives and drivers of globalization, the impact of technology has been largely ignored. There were massive investments in technology made throughout history.

Technology played a significant role in the shift toward integrated and interdependent world economy. One such momentous impact on human progress was the sail. From Columbus’s journey in 1492 that opened trade between the Old World and the New World until the early 1800s, “wind and sails continued to propel many merchant ships” (Smil, 2010, p. 12). They used the same basic principle as the ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman sailors did, with one significant innovation – a square-rigged ship that became the most effective on a long-distance journey. The square rig sails transformed the kinetic energy of wind into forward motion of a boat. As such, they went into history as the prime movers of globalization.

The next radical step in technology was the invention of a steam engine in the late 1700s. By the end of nineteenth century, the world had the steam engine that was 30 times more powerful than their early prototypes, which brought new, unprecedented opportunities to a commercial stage of globalization. Steamships connected the five continents with regularly scheduled traffic, including freight and passenger ships. This stage was revolutionary in the globalization process, because intercontinental migration and leisure travel started to develop on a relatively large scale. Transporting people had a superior impact than moving goods. Steamships carried 60 million of the first wave of immigrants to foreign lands, including North America, between 1815 and 1930 (Baines, 1991, as quoted in Smil, 2010).

In the period between the late 1890s and 1930s, internal-combustion engines and gas turbines became the technological forces behind the third wave of globalization. After 1945, separate national economies recovering after World War II started to gain strength and integrate into a global economy, as we know it today. Not only have developments in technology nudged human progress, but they also initiated the commercialization of these inventions. Further, advances in transportation technologies (containerization and utilization of commercial jet aircrafts and super freighters) as well as the invention of microprocessors, computers, and the Internet in the late twentieth century are perfect examples of the rapid commercialization of technology. In turn, this trend intensified the rise of globalization, with all its benefits, costs, and other overheads, such as environmental consequences.

Still, all technological advances combined – sails, engines, smart machines, and the artificial intelligence (AI) – are hardly the primary causes of globalization. Instead, they are the tools people have created and used in their propensities for extra profits, higher standards of living, and economic power. Indeed, international trade agreements and efforts of national governments to lower trade barriers laid out theoretical foundations for the global economy. But ground-breaking changes in technology made globalization possible and turned it into a tangible reality that we live in today.

Technology as a Competitive Weapon

Innovation and technology are reshaping all industries and spheres of life. New technology is revolutionizing the way we live and work. These changes create benefits for both individuals and businesses. From car displays and robotic pets, as advertised on the streaming TV, to “smart” cities and driverless cars – these are just a few examples of how people take advantage of technological progress. Humans seem to have totally surrendered to high-tech dependence.

The innovators have been incorporating real-time data, the AI, robotics, and block-chain technology in their organizational routines and processes. Technology has been advancing so rapidly and affecting our lives so dramatically that the modern society seems to reject the past theories about competitive advantage. The classic economists explain the wealth of nations from the viewpoint that land, labor, and capital are the three factors of production that drive competition.

Later, the classic group of production factors absorbed new elements, which shattered the consensus of old theories. First, it was management, and then – entrepreneurship that referred to a distinctive talent of risk-takers to organize those resources of land, labor, and capital. Their goal was to pursue new opportunities, develop new ways of doing business, and produce new goods and services that other people will be willing to buy. The last, fourth added factor does not appear to be entirely true any longer. In the new millennium, technological know-how became a new factor of production because of its significant contributions to organizations. Technology is a primary factor, alongside the land, labor, capital, management, and energy that allow companies and national economies compete more effectively in the age of globalization.

The Nobel Prize-winning New Trade theory by Krugman (1980) and the Porter’s (1998) theory of national competitive advantage significantly extend the teachings of Adam Smith and David Ricardo in that they reject the notion of competitiveness and prosperity as a zero-sum game. They stress the idea that a national competitive advantage stems from the superior performance of firms and workers in the countries where the environment is supportive of such productivity. According to Porter (1998), “In the modern global economy, prosperity is a nation’s choice” (p. vii). He focuses his new theory of competitiveness on the causes of productivity with which companies compete. Technology has become a weapon of such strategic importance that the United States supports it with grit and vigor – to ensure the nation’s economic dominance in the post-World War II world. This support allowed America to become the preeminent world competitor in aerospace, telecommunications, personal computers, software, and other technologies.

Technology Commercialization

Using technology more effectively is an integral part of business strategies for many successful organizations. The most advanced companies show commitment to exploiting technology not only in business applications and future plans of their own, but also in their support and sponsorship of the most innovative and futuristic projects attempted by other entrepreneurs. For example, Cargolux, a leading European airline company that operates all-cargo flights in 50 countries and a global network of trucks, is profoundly invested in the Solar Arctic project and the World Tour project by providing transportation for it. For the company, support of this solar-powered transportation project is “an effort to explore new and innovative paths in the transportation industry” (Cargolux, 2018, para 3), as the head of corporate communications explains. This pioneering project is in line with the company’s lean and green philosophy and its efforts to promote sustainable business. The goal of the Solar Arctic project is to bring awareness of environmental and climate issues. To publicize their efforts in the summer of 2018, Anne Quéméré embarked on a solo journey of 3,500 km in a boat propelled by the solar energy, across the mythical Northwest Passage that links the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The World Tour is another ambitious project in which Cargolux is participating. The Across America tour involved two missions in 2013 and 2015 from California to the East Coast of the United States. Next, Cargolux will transport the solar airplane intended to fly from Switzerland to Abu Dhabi. The solar aircraft and the solar-powered boat used for the Arctic Solar project were both conceived and designed by Swiss visionary Bertrand Picard.

More innovative projects – from reusable spaceships and 3D-printed rockets to asteroid mining, satellite internet transceivers, and spacecraft for cargo and humans – are examples of current attempts to commercialize space by companies such as Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Kymeta, Planetary Resources, and Sierra Nevada Corporation. The world’s most prominent companies and wealthiest people are taking enormous risks investing in the ground-breaking projects of the future – just like they once did with their earlier ventures that have become the staples of today’s ingenuity and innovation (Forbes, 2018). As technology is getting ahead of society, many companies are desperate to figure out how to remain relevant in this highly competitive world, in which the pressures of globalization push the limits of creativity beyond national borders.

Globalization and Collaborative Intelligence

As globalization absorbs isolated nations into one interdependent world economy, more organizations are becoming global. They offer more products and services to meet the increasing demands of customers worldwide and, accordingly, require that their employees communicate and collaborate in more sophisticated ways, both with their internal colleagues and external customers. Technology transformed the workplace itself in such a way that the smart machines now have become the human workers’ team members and collaborators.

Globalization does not just mean that we are competing with workers around the world. Modern technology inspires collaborative intelligence, in which humans and the AI are joining forces. If computers and the Internet at the end of the twentieth century radically changed the way people trade and communicate, the AI in the twenty-first century is transforming the business itself. The initial fears that the AI will replace the human workers are gradually dismissed with the realization that the AI actually “augments human workers instead of replacing them” (Wilson & Daugherty, 2018, p. 116). There is no need for workers to perform low-level, labor-intensive, and repetitive tasks. Instead, the AI can assist human workers and thus enhance their cognitive skills and creativity. For instance, at their plant in Stuttgart, Germany, Mercedes-Benz replaced some of the assembly robots with the AI-enabled cobot arms guided by human workers. Repeatedly picking up and placing heavy auto parts, this cobot acts as an extension of the worker’s body. By introducing greater flexibility in their business processes, the German company was able to achieve the top level of customization of cars that customers expect. As a result, the Mercedes-Benz employees can now put their skills and core competencies into creating more innovation and producing more profits.

Since the American Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and into the early nineteenth century, the principal objective of technology utilization in manufacturing and various industries was to increase productivity and maximize business results. Today, companies reinvent the very nature of a business and redesign their organizational structures and decision-making processes, such as the AI and robotic automation change who does the work and how they do it. They redefine the conc...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Chapter 1. Technology and Globalization: The Evolution of Human Interactions, Values, and Management Practices
• Chapter 2. Advances in Information Technology Integrated with Strategic Direction
• Chapter 3. Advancing Technologies in Human Resource Development (HRD)
• Chapter 4. Employee Engagement in 3D Virtual Learning Environments: A Digitized HRD Framework Model for Leadership and Learning
• Chapter 5. Advanced Information Technology: Improve Workplace Productivity with Balanced Scorecard Actions
• Chapter 6. Managing Emerging Technology and Organizations with Agility
• Chapter 7. The Long Tail of Generation Z and the Future of a Freelance Economy
• Chapter 8. E-Mentoring 2.0: Changing the Workplace Through Technology
• Chapter 9. Virtual Team Success with the Power of Technology Advancements
• Chapter 10. Managing Technology Implementation Change in a Caribbean Organization
• Chapter 11. Technological Work Environments: Issues in the Government Sector
• Chapter 12. Issues and Advantages of Advanced Analytics, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace
• Chapter 13. Ambient Intelligence Changes the Office Environment
• Chapter 14. Disruptive Innovations: Blockchain and Spinoffs
• Chapter 15. Quantum Leadership: Transmuting Technology
• Chapter 16. The Impact of Quantum Teleportation on Business Ethics
• Index