Process Automation Vs Human Resource Dilemmas

I do not believe that automation equals no more human resources.

Usually automation means changing the way things are done and may require different competencies for the human resources.

The key is to evaluate the impact of the automation on the current jobs and plan a training initiative to re-coach the employees who were there to fill in the gaps when automation didn't exist.

This is a continuous debate, most of the time in conjuncture of AI development in the past year. The thing is that everything in today's world moves at a hallucinating speed and we need to adapt. But it does not mean there will not be jobs, it just means that jobs will change and in order to survive, companies will have to train their employees into these new jobs, otherwise they loose. Having the latest technologies without having experts that can maintain, evolve or adapt them will not bring anything to an enterprise.

As many others have pointed out, automation does not need to mean reducing staff, it could mean reskilling. But that aside, automating processes should not create an ethical dilemma for the PM. It is the function of the PM to implement projects that will bring improvement. Improvement to whom? Primarily business. If the automation of a process means that there will be staff cuts it will be more a personal issue for the PM and not a professional ethical issue. Personally, you might feel differently about the impact that your project has on different individuals but that is a matter entirely.

Hi Albert, this is quite a hard nut to crack... I think deploying an automation process shouldn't translate to not filling resources with local content... I think getting a balance is better