Reimagining business schools as managers' roles change in the AI age

I feel shaken each time I read a news headline about a major United States (US)-based company, usually a high-tech one, letting go of tens of thousands of staffers. And when I see names like Microsoft and Intel in these headlines, as well as a hint that many of those let go are “senior managers”, I start wondering whether these are mischievous headlines from websites specialising in clickbait. But when I see reputed news sites like The New York Times carrying these headlines, I start wondering whether the world we know is being reinvented. 

Just as I was recovering from the shock of all this, I came across another startling headline: A Microsoft Research paper listed 40 professions it believes are most at risk from the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). Seeing roles like sales representatives, customer-service representatives, ticket agents, and travel clerks on the list did not surprise me. What left me in shock and awe was this: Management analysts and market-research analysts topped the list. Hey! I thought MBA-holders from Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and other business schools typically filled those roles. All of this unpredictability, according to such reports, is driven by our modern-day villain, AI. 

Ever since the internet made its mark at the start of this century, we have seen a great degree of change in society. For example, we have seen giant department stores, which were supposed to be taking work over from small shopkeepers, giving way to shopping platforms like Amazon; travel agents giving way to travel portals like MakeMyTrip; and stockbrokers conceding their domain to the likes of Zerodha, to name just a few phenomena. 

But just as we are getting used to (and perhaps, as consumers, enjoying) great prices and a 30-minute delivery time, a new spectre is appearing on the horizon, and that is the impending disappearance of middle managers — that group of people who stand between the hands-on sales, services and production workers, and the software code writers, the chief executive officers (CEOs) and function heads of organisations. This is the role most business school graduates step into. 

I suppose the pyramid structure of an organisation is something we have all taken for granted; originating, I believe, at the British East India Company’s offices at Leadenhall Street in London in the 18th century. Since then, middle managers have occupied the “in-between” parts of this pyramid. By the 1990s and the arrival of the “information age”, we had probably taken as given that in the middle layer of large organisations, there were many “managers” — many in their late 30s and 40s, who did no hands-on work themselves but sat in their offices and supervised others who actually did the job.

 

Evidence has started trickling in that the traditional middle-management layer is becoming thinner. Reports say that companies are not replacing departing managers. Additionally, they indicate that the number of employees reporting to a single manager has nearly doubled in the past five years. This suggests that companies are consolidating management responsibilities among fewer people. Further, reports from high-profile tech companies like Meta/Facebook state that their goal is to flatten their organisational structure by removing layers of “managers managing managers” to increase efficiency and speed.

 

What’s driving this, I am told, is that a massive portion of a traditional manager’s job is being done by AI now. Compiling performance data, tracking project progress, creating reports, and acting as an information conduit between senior leadership and frontline teams are now all outsourced to AI.

 

In India, and perhaps in the world, we see another challenge that middle managers bring to organisations — which is that once people enter their 40s, they spend their time going through the rituals of management work (holding review meetings, writing minutes, discussing the minutes, etc) but not doing any real work.

 

Quora, for example, is flooded with questions such as: “How is the life of software engineers/managers in India after 50 years of age?”, followed by responses like: “Short answer is that it is very tough being in such roles in India at that age… The demand to keep studying and upgrading is ever-present”.

 

I can’t help but wonder how business schools can help organisations deal with these challenges. Should they focus more on reskilling programmes to help middle managers stay acquainted with new techniques? Should they strongly emphasise the value of a hands-on work culture? Should they add courses that tutor students on skills needed to be a hands-on line manager, and tutor them on the right metrics for this?

 

Here are some of the things that may help create a shift in business schools from producing staff-oriented graduates to action-oriented leaders. Shift from producing graduates proficient in analysis and strategy to producing graduates capable of initiating, executing, and scaling impactful actions in real-world environments. Focus on case studies with execution-based assignments. Make experiential learning the core by partnering with startups, companies, and social enterprises for three-four months. Ensure that project reports have implementation recommendations. Create platforms on which students run simulated companies, making real-time decisions with dynamic consequences. Cultivate a fail-fast, learn-fast culture. Spotlight alumni who have built, led, or turned around businesses and invite them as mentors for student action projects.

 

To summarise: Business schools must swear that their goal is no longer the training of analysts for the back office, but that of preparing hands-on decision-makers who deliver results in unpredictable environments. 

 

The author (ajitb@rediffmail.com) is devoting his life to unravelling the connections between technology and society