Instead, we are keeping the same values for centuries. We keep thinking about work as a product, as a way to gain money or the way that companies have to exploit us, having more and more profits.

On the other hand, it’s been a while since we already can understand work from a perspective of human activity. In such a view, we look to the micro reality, putting the focus on the way we are engaged with work, investing our knowledge to achieve any task. And keep in mind, nowadays we are aware of receiving tasks from others, but also from ourselves. This perspective advance because it helps us to realize that performing a task involves our body, including our organic constitution, our history, our fears, wishes and beliefs. But ask yourself: do you see people encouraging this kind of understanding when they are talking about work?

To illustrate the kinds of work representations that are running around, we’re proposing a series of texts and put the topic to discussion. What is the concept of work that you believe has been spread and maintained by different narratives? Let’s find out together! Our first stop will be the book “Human + Machine”, from Daugherty and Wilson and published in 2018 by Harvard Business.

The book’s authors are also executives in Accenture. This global company provides services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. We already suggested this book in our Newsletter (monthly sent, but in Portuguese). We also warned you should consider some aspects when reading the book because, of course, they intend to persuade your view of their purpose. But the way they argue on technological advancement is a bit naïve, let’s say so. We already know that our uses of the Technologies define their development, so some critical efforts are more than welcomed. Once we consider the context, we may read the book and realize how many uses are being done as well as how many types of technological tools are available. Those are facts, and we can’t deny them; otherwise, we should ground our dialogue from them.

Well, in this book, the authors reinforce two main ideas. The first: we, humans, need to learn how to collaborate with machines. Using the exact term, they have said: symbiosis. The second idea refers to the missing middle. According to them, reimagine all organisational processes demand activities which are devoted to being made in partnership between human and machine. Holding that thought, we shouldn’t look to the competition that defines human as well prepared for some tasks and machine to others, but see them as interdependent, from the sum of the skills.       

According to the authors, three are the main contributions that humans might bring to the work made by machines: train, explain and sustain. Let’s take some examples to understand what they mean.

The dimension of training is already applied by the division Amazon Mechanical Turk. And there’s already a lot of accusations on the way this work has been taking. The work consists of the training of algorithms to recognise patterns in images, texts, etc. Once the financial revenue is incredibly low, the workers have to spend many hours in a hard competition to take them – literally – less bad job. There are papers and books which discuss the new wave of human exploitation. However, I won’t dive in this topic today, but it will come back soon. (And once the opportunity came, let’s seize it: October 28 we will interview Rafael Grohmann from Unisinos and understand better this concept of work in platforms – in Portuguese).

The human supervision is related to the dimension of explaining in the missing middle. The purpose is to verify the results produced by the machines. We already see some uses of artificial intelligence, for example, generating reports in banks and ranking people by their profile and indicating who should or not get a loan. To guarantee that the process is clean, not reproducing any prejudice, a human must analyse the results and confirm them. At last, sustaining implies especially ethical questions. Which are the limits of technology? How should the machines take decisions?  

On the other hand, the authors also approach how technologies are making us “superhumans”, or “superpower humans”. Our capabilities and physical restrictions are surpassed by the possibility of wearing very sophisticated glasses, exoskeletons and many others. Our organic limits are not a problem, at least if we are healthy in general. Also, other changes in our biological constitution are being evolved.

But, and about the work? It remains as a background, as a result of a relationship between humans and technologies. But what is the difference between the current situation we live and that one experienced by the beings who created the first tools? We don’t see a change in the definition of work, but we are boosting that exploratory roots. The process of work is erased because we incapable of turning our view from the results. And we want them faster, or it’s not enough. However, how are we dealing with the insertion of those so sophisticated techs? How are we participating in the transformation of our professions? How are we realizing and organizing the world that surrounds us? How are we learning? How are we Reading The prescriptions and living from the bunch of rules we must do? What are the emotions getting along?

Work is a very important dimension of our educational development. Even if we are putting all efforts in the functional and visible dimension, there’s a hard and invisible dimension of work that defines us as human beings. We can’t stick and leave our sensitivity behind; we must evolve it. Therefore, as we may see from this first narrative, sustain the future of work on the crystallized values from a reproductive view goes against the so-aimed innovation. Let’s be innovative in creating our future.    

In our next texts, we will gather other narratives to think about work. Meanwhile, it will be exciting to listen to some of your thoughts on this subject. What work means to you? Let us know in the comments below! Let’s talk!

See you soon!