Human & Technological Resource Management (HTRM)
New Insights into Revolution 4.0
Editors: Payal Kumar, Anirudh Agrawal and Pawan Budhwar
The book Moneyball by Lewis (2003), which led to a film of the same name starring Brad Pitt, graphically conveys how data analysis can be used to promote people for organizational benefits - in this case via sabermetrics, or empirical analysis of baseball. Since the book's publication, the annual budget of analytics-based human resource allocation in sports teams has increased 20-fold. Now companies across industries are heavily deploying higher technologies like AI, the IOT (Internet of Things) and Big Data to hire and allocate human resources for greater competitiveness (Brunet-Thornton & Martinez, 2018).
The Industrial Revolution 4.0 is upon us, with disruptive technology rapidly changing our personal and professional lives. AI-based softwares and bots can today solve complex problems which once needed human intervention. This puts a big question mark on organizational structure and on human resource allocation in organizations that are strongly leveraging new technologies. It is envisaged that AI-based automation will significantly restructure organizations as we know it and their associated brand re-orientation (Agrawal, Schaefer & Funke, 2108; Wilson, Daugherty & Morini-Bianzino, 2017). Apart from structural changes, as per the World Economic Forum study, Towards a Reskilling Revolution: A Future of Jobs for All, it is predicted that a phenomenal amount of reskilling will take place, using a largely data-driven approach (22nd January, 2018).
While monumental changes are envisaged in the work landscape, it is not clear how organization reorganization will take place, how many layoffs there will be, what kind of added training will be required, and there is also haziness over how strategic HRM will pan out in terms of attracting, developing, rewarding and retaining talent in these disruptive times.
The rapidly changing work landscape throws up several questions, including what are the long-term effects of artificial intelligence and block chain technologies on the firm and on human resources? Will HR managers perceive IT as a supporting function or a core operational department? In terms of human resources, will man and machine co-exist, or will artificial intelligence have more ominous implications for humanity as predicted by Stephen Hawking (Hawking, Russell, Tegmark, & Wilczek, 2014)? In other words is HRM 4.0 an opportunity (Stock & Seliger, 2016), a transient phase, or an impending threat?
In this edited volume we aim to explore HRM 4.0 in the context of both core HRM functions and also the impact on the firm. Chapters are invited, but not limited to the following topics:
Staffing (recruitment, selection & retention)
· Strategic HRM: Attracting and retaining talented employees
· Interface of humans and bots as co-workers
· AI and workforce diversity
· Futuristic organizational design and organizational hierarchy
Evaluation and compensation
· How will the compensation structure change?
· How will HRM analytics change the compensation and evaluation procedures?
Training and development
· Harnessing IOT for skilling a 'smart' workforce
· Emerging leadership styles in the face of new technologies
· The role of reverse mentoring in skilling senior management
· How will older employees be trained, motivated and retained?
Employee and labour relations
· Evolving HRM practices with respect to layoffs
· The role and identity of trade unions in 4.0
The firm and the eco-system
· Cross-industry and public-private collaborations
· Government and policy makers' response to emerging technologies and the workforce
· Mergers and acquisition in a changing environment
· Green management, sustainability and organizational learning
· HRM 4.0 and employer branding
Authors are requested to submit proposals of 500 words by 15th March, 2019 to payalk1@gmail.com. Proposals that are accepted are to be followed by articles of 6500 to 7000 words (including references), in APA style (Times New Roman, 12 points) by 5th September (publication expected mid-2020). We invite conceptual and theoretical papers, case studies (single or multiple) and empirical studies. Since the field is nascent and developing, we are open to different thematic and ideological interpretations.
References
Agrawal, A., Schaefer, S., & Funke, T. 2018. Incorporating Industry 4.0 in Corporate Strategy. In R. Brunet-Thornton & F. Martinez (Eds.), Analyzing the Impacts of Industry 4.0 in Modern Business Environments: 161–176. Prague: IGI Global.
Brunet-Thornton, R., & Martinez, F. 2018. Analyzing the Impacts of Industry 4.0 in Modern Business Environments. (R. Brunet-Thornton & F. Martinez, Eds.). Prague: IGI Global.
Hawking, S., Russell, S., Tegmark, M., & Wilczek, F. (2014). Stephen Hawking: 'Transcendence looks at the implications of artificial intelligence-but are we taking AI seriously enough?'. The Independent, 2014(05-01), 9313474.
Lewis, M. 2003. Moneyball. United States: W. W. Norton & Company.
Stock, T., & Seliger, G. (2016). Opportunities of sustainable manufacturing in industry 4.0. Procedia Cirp, 40, 536-541.
Wilson, H. J., Daugherty, P. R., and Morini-Bianzino, N. (2017). When AI becomes the new face of your brand. Harvard Business Review [online]. Available at: https://hbr.org/2017/06/when-aibecomes-the-new-face-of-your-brand [Accessed December 22, 2017].
With regards,
Prof. Payal Kumar
https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalk1/
Professor & Chair (OB/HR), Head of Research & International Collaborations, BML Munjal University
Senior Reviewer, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Wiley
Series editor, Palgrave Studies in Leadership and Followership (2017)
Recent publication: Kumar, P. (2018). Exploring Incongruence in Mentoring Dyads in Indian Firms: The Protégé Perspective. South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management.