Post a substantive reply to the thread of at least 2 classmates. A substantive reply analyzes the thread as well as adding to the research and concepts put forth in that thread. The goal is to create meaningful discussion. To simply restate the idea already put forth or to concur with the first reply is not adding substantial discussion. That is why it is good to do additional outside research. 

Automation

Definition: Automation is termed as “machinery that has sensing and control devices that enable it to operate automatically” (Stevenson, 2021).

Summary: The article chosen is written by Robert Wright who is a news reporter for the Financial Times. In this article, he discusses automation and how it has a growing impact in the business world. Wright gives us an example of automation in the workplace which is “the system — which has been trained to recognize residents’ questions by using machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence — presents Mr Radwell and other customer support officers with a series of potential, pre-written responses. Each is labelled with an estimated probability of its being the correct choice. If one is appropriate, Mr Radwell clicks on it, satisfying the resident far more quickly and easily than before” (2019). After giving this example, the author discusses throughout the article how automation can reduce menial tasks, but can also cost people their jobs. He ends this article by warning his readers that there will be a great percentage of jobs lost due to automation within the next ten years.

Discussion: This article and the textbook relate to each other as they both agree that automation can help in certain areas of business. Our textbook states that “both manufacturing and service organizations are increasing their use of automation as a way to reduce costs, increase productivity, and improve quality and consistency” (Stevenson, 2021). The use of automation is growing as it allows many businesses to save time and money, while improving quality. The article goes right along with the textbook as it states “new, intelligent systems will vastly improve the productivity of a range of office jobs from clerical to professional roles” (Wright, 2019). While human labor is still needed right now, automation allows for company’s to benefit as it can reduce human work and speed up tasks in certain aspects of business.

References:

Acemoglu, D., & Restrepo, P. (2019). Automation and New Tasks: How Technology Displaces and Reinstates Labor. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 33(2), 3–30. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26621237This scholarly article discusses how automation can help improve productivity for a company, while stating that technology can allow for human labor to be focused elsewhere in their daily jobs.

Loten, A. (2021). Workplace automation bots gain clout amid covid-19 pandemic. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/workplace-automation-bots-gain-clout-amid-covid-19-pandemic-11632327480

Angus Loten talks about how automation was a crucial factor when the pandemic hit, but warns his readers that automation has the potential to take several jobs.

Stevenson, W. (2021). Operations Management(14th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education

Wright, R. (2019, September 29). Financial Times Workplace Automation: How ai is Coming for your job. The Financial Times. Retrieved May 16, 2022, from https://www.ft.com/content/c4bf787a-d4a0-11e9-a0bd-ab8ec6435630

This author gives examples of automation and states how it can be beneficial for a company. However, he discusses some of the downsides that may come with the use of automation.