Open AccessAgency and AI in Consulting: Pathways to Prioritize Agency‐Enhancing Automations
Author(s) -
CEMALOGLU CENGIZ,
CHIA JASMINE,
TAM JOSHUA
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
ethnographic praxis in industry conference proceedings
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1559-8918
pISSN - 1559-890X
DOI - 10.1111/1559-8918.2019.01306
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , vetting , workflow , automation , knowledge management , work (physics) , ethnography , business , public relations , sociology , process management , computer science , management , political science , engineering , economics , computer security , social science , anthropology , mechanical engineering
Amidst the advances of AI and automation, this paper provides a framework for ethnographic methods and insights to enhance human agency at work. Through analyzing data collected from ethnographic immersions in three different consulting firms (a professional services firm, a management consultancy, and a boutique insights agency), human‐agent decisions are isolated in case studies and the pathways of unlocking the potential of automation to enhance the agency of individuals rather than constraining it are highlighted. Through drawing a distinction between thinking agency and executional agency present in the work of a consultant, this paper argues that automations that preserve thinking agency while maximizing productivity and accuracy are the solutions that should be adopted. Through vetting workflows sourced from ethnographic immersions with the established criteria, a framework for consultancies – and more broadly businesses – to better employ AI and automation is laid out and substantiated by an account of how anthropological approaches can be brought in to assist the process of prioritization among contextual automation processes.