It’s not only about individuals – Three levels to consider with automation

Short argument: when talking about automation, it’s important to define what level we mean. There are at least three levels:

• automation within a professional task = this level deals with understanding how automation impacts people’s work, e.g., replacing them or boosting their productivity (both the good and the bad)
• automation within an organization = this level deals with understanding how automation shapes organizations; e.g., what news skills are needed, what is the impact on overall productivity and quality of outputs, new challenges, etc.
• automation within a value chain / network = this level takes a holistic view on automation, inspecting its impact on a cluster or network of organizations and social systems as opposed to micro-level analysis. The questions are similar to the ones in other levels, but they are analyzed for the whole, considering intra-organizational dynamics.

Depending on the level, the implications, recommendations, best practices, and societal impacts differ.