The Future of Work

Automation increase productivity enhances efficiency, accuracy, and consistency while at the same time minimizing labor costs (Schmidt & Cohen 2013). However, adopting automation encourage deskilling and induces unpredictable costs (Ford 2009). Automation has evolved to conceive the concept of technological unemployment. 1 Wal-Mart Scenario Wal-Mart is one of the largest retailers in the US retail industry that has automated its operations. The company was incorporated on October 31, 1969, and since its debut, it has maintained consistent growth and now offers a wide product portfolio to protect its market share and increase competitive edge. Literature Review on the Concept of Technological Unemployment An increasing number of studies agree that the concept of technological unemployment began way back when humans started to discover the means of economizing the use of labor (Keynes 1933).

Wolff (2015) contends that the fear of losing jobs to machines began since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. In the past 1-2 centuries, the concept of technological unemployment has been regarded as a Luddite fallacy (Mokyr, Vickers &Ziebarth 2015) with many critics dismissing it as inconsequential. According to Ford (2009), the Luddite Fallacy formed the basis for discrediting the irrational fear of technology as a threat to jobs. A significant number of studies, however, maintains that technological unemployment must be addressed because it poses a serious threat to the labor market (Ford 2009; Mokyr, Vickers &Ziebarth 2015). The more recent studies examine the relationship between unemployment and productivity growth. Pissarides (1990) pointed out that faster technological progress increases the present value for profits while reducing the effective discount rates on future profits.

The research implies that while technological development destroys jobs, it creates employment in other sectors assuming that job destruction is constant across all business cycles. However, Schumpeter (1911) and Aghion& Howitt (1994) counter this view and introduces the concept of ‘creative destruction effect’ positively associating technological progress with unemployment. The later studies indicated that job destruction as a result of technological progress cause labor reallocation (Boianovsky & Trautwein 2007). Profession Probability (0 – least likely. 1 – most likely) Human Resources Managers 0. 0055 Marketing Managers 0. 014 Financial Managers 0. 069 Human Resources, Training, and Labour Relations Specialists, All Other 0. The more the professionals in the company continue to rely on utilizing software, the higher their probability of being replaced by the automation. More than 70% of the high-risk jobs in Wal-Mart are likely to be replaced by automation.

With the onslaught of automation in the company, there is a dramatic change with potentially far-reaching impact on the company employees. The company has adopted the most advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, web, improved analytics, and big data. As Frey and Osborne (2016) point out, the technologies facilitate storage capacity and increase the availability of cheap computing power. The most significant change that Wal-Mart will experience as a result of replacing its employees with automated machines is high standards of accuracy and efficiency which translate to increased productivity. Conclusion The advancement of technology has driven the widespread use of automation in various organizations. Many businesses believe that automating their operations increases efficiency, accuracy, and consistency while at the same time minimizing costs.

However, the biggest problem with automation is the structural or technological unemployment which is the major concern in the current digital age. Various literature suggests automation creates destruction effect in the labor market.  The race between machine and man: Implications of technology for growth, factor shares and employment (No. w22252). National Bureau of Economic Research. Aghion, P. , and P. , Mayer, R. and Johnston, K.  Internet marketing: strategy, implementation and practice. Pearson Education. Fishman, C. The future of employment: how susceptible are jobs to computerization? Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 114, pp. Keynes, J. M. Economic possibilities for our grandchildren (1930).  Essays in persuasion, pp. McAfee, Andrew, and Erik Brynjolfsson. The Second Machine Age. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Pissarides, C. Equilibrium Unemployment Theory, Basil Black $ well.