LET THE SYSTEM DECIDE
Automate the decision until no individual can explain it.
Use software to allocate shifts, tasks, ratings or performance consequences. When challenged, direct employees to the system. Preserve human override for exceptional cases, then make exceptions sufficiently inconvenient that consistency is rarely disturbed.
Reconstructed Handbook series.
Unfortunately, the research…
Claim
Algorithmic management can increase information asymmetry and managerial control when consequential decisions are difficult for workers to inspect, contest or override.
Evidence
Research on algorithmic management shows that automated systems can direct, evaluate and discipline work while redistributing information and authority. Systematic reviews also find mixed configurations: algorithms can constrain or enable autonomy depending on design, transparency, dependence and human override. The Directive targets the opaque-control configuration, not automation generally.
Strength: Strong
Sources
- Kellogg, Valentine & Christin (2020) — Algorithms at work
- Noponen et al. (2024) — Systematic review of algorithmic management
The Directive is satire. The research summary is not. Evidence is stated separately and qualified to the underlying literature rather than treated as proof of the joke.