Revisiting the role of HR in the age of AI: bringing humans and machines closer together in the workplace

Abstract

The functions of human resource management (HRM) have changed radically in the past 20 years due to market and technological forces, becoming more cross-functional and data-driven. In the age of AI, the role of HRM professionals in organizations continues to evolve. Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming many HRM functions and practices throughout organizations creating system and process efficiencies, performing advanced data analysis, and contributing to the value creation process of the organization. A growing body of evidence highlights the benefits AI brings to the field of HRM. Despite the increased interest in AI-HRM scholarship, focus on human-AI interaction at work and AI-based technologies for HRM is limited and fragmented. Moreover, the lack of human considerations in HRM tech design and deployment can hamper AI digital transformation efforts. This paper provides a contemporary and forward-looking perspective to the strategic and human-centric role HRM plays within organizations as AI becomes more integrated in the workplace. Spanning three distinct phases of AI-HRM integration (technocratic, integrated, and fully-embedded), it examines the technical, human, and ethical challenges at each phase and provides suggestions on how to overcome them using a human-centric approach. Our paper highlights the importance of the evolving role of HRM in the AI-driven organization and provides a roadmap on how to bring humans and machines closer together in the workplace.

The Human Resources Management and Artificial Intelligence

“…HRM Professionals could use the algorithms, or robotics features to analyze the HR data to augment human skills and reinvent operating models with relevant patterns, trends, and correlations, enabling data-driven decision-making moreover predictive analytics forecast future workforce needs, attrition rates, and skill gaps, allowing HR to proactively address challenges within the organization and enhance the organizational performance (Fenwick et al, 2024) Employee Engagement HRM Professional AI-enabled surveys are used as analysis tools to gauge employee satisfaction and engagement levels. Several surveys show that employees could utilize AI to help offload the routine work from employees and provide them with a wider range of tools and resources to analyze their work to enhance their performance, organizational performance, and customer experiences and reinvent the products or the business models.…”