A Capability Approach to worker dignity under Algorithmic Management

Abstract

This paper proposes a conceptual framework to study and evaluate the impact of ‘Algorithmic Management’ (AM) on worker dignity. While the literature on AM addresses many concerns that relate to the dignity of workers, a shared understanding of what worker dignity means, and a framework to study it, in the context of software algorithms at work is lacking. We advance a conceptual framework based on a Capability Approach (CA) as a route to understanding worker dignity under AM. This paper contributes to the existing AM literature which currently is mainly focused on exploitation and violations of dignity and its protection. By using a CA, we expand this focus and can evaluate the possibility that AM might also enable and promote dignity. We conclude that our CA-based conceptual framework provides a valuable means to study AM and then discuss avenues for future research into the complex relationship between worker dignity and AM systems.

Dynamism and realignment in the HR architecture: Online labor platform ecosystems and the key role of contractors

“…Finally, contractors deserve to be treated with respect and dignity by organizations which implies responsibilities, long left unexamined, for HRM agents of organizations using contract workers (Kuhn et al, 2021;Lamers et al, 2022). The specter of platform-based gig In this way, we contribute to current debates on how HRM theorizing can include contractors, while also contributing to debates about whether contractors are free from directive control, or simply subject to novel forms of control with consequences for HRM beyond platform ecosystems.…”

“…Finally, contractors deserve to be treated with respect and dignity by organizations which implies responsibilities, long left unexamined, for HRM agents of organizations using contract workers (Kuhn et al, 2021; Lamers et al, 2022). The specter of platform‐based gig workers being refused access to toilet facilities 6 by the organizations engaging them to carry out work is a grim and visible manifestation of what can happen when workers are treated as of marginal strategic value and consequently externalized, excluded, and ignored.…”

Algorithmic Management: Its Implications for Information Systems Research

“…The literature also considers potential harm to human rights, among which are the right to work, equality, and discrimination (Yam & Skorburg, 2022). Furthermore, scholars emphasize the topics of autonomy (Meijerink & Bondarouk, 2023), bias (Raghavan et al, 2020), dignity (Bankins et al, 2022;Lamers et al, 2022), discrimination (Sánchez-Monedero et al, 2020, equity and bias (Bogen & Rieke, 2018), and personal integrity (Leicht-Deobald et al, 2019). This list of values is by no means exhaustive but reflects the broad range of ethical implications that algorithmic management brings.…”

“…Specifically, our aim is to study and evaluate the impact of algorithmic management systems on the intrinsic value of worker dignity. Using a framework based on the Capabilities Approach, in an Ethics and Information Technology paper, we conceptualized worker dignity in the context of algorithmic management systems to study automated management practices with a focus on the impact on workers subject to these systems (Lamers et al, 2022). With ethnographic accounts, we aim to study how worker dignity can both be enabled and restrained in working under algorithmic management.…”

“…One common suggestion from the symposium was that future research on algorithmic management should not shy away from posing ethical and normative questions. Algorithmic management, in both the gig economy and traditional organizations raises important ethical questions (Möhlmann 2021) around intrinsic values, such as dignity (Lamers et al, 2022), the social valuation of work (Newlands, 2022), privacy/data protection (Ebert et al, 2021;Gal et al, 2020), transparency (Felzmann et al, 2019, 2020, Möhlmann et al, 2023, fairness and discrimination (Köchling & Wehner, 2020, Benlian et al, 2022, accountability (Jarrahi et al, 2020), and trust (Lee, 2018;Schafheitle et al, 2020). This situation offers a unique chance to reinvigorate normative questions regarding the role of intrinsic values in business and shift the focus from an exclusively efficiency-driven perspective on organizations and create space for normatively justifying the importance of alternative values, such as dignity, fairness, and accountability.…”