Gen AI Makes Your Job Architecture Obsolete. Here Is How to Redesign It.
Job architectures were designed for a world where tasks were bundled into roles because it was efficient. Gen AI unbundles tasks. The architecture needs to follow.
Three Takeaways
- 1
Job architecture reflects the economics of work at the time it was designed. Those economics have changed.
- 2
Unbundling tasks from roles is the precondition for workforce reconstruction.
- 3
Organizations that redesign job architecture before Gen AI deployment will capture the most value.
Job architecture, the system of job titles, levels, and role definitions that organizations use to structure work, was designed for a world that no longer exists. Gen AI is not the cause of this misalignment. It is the forcing function that makes it impossible to ignore.
Why Job Architecture Exists
Job architecture exists because organizations needed to manage work at scale before technology could handle complexity. Bundling tasks into roles made coordination tractable. Job titles created accountability shorthand. Pay grades simplified compensation.
These were practical solutions to real organizational challenges. They still are, for some purposes.
What Gen AI Changes
Gen AI changes the economics of task execution. Tasks that previously required hours of human effort can be completed in minutes. Tasks that required specialized expertise can be supported by AI assistance available to generalists.
When task economics change, the logic of bundling tasks into roles changes with them.
A job that existed because five tasks needed to be done together, and a full-time human was the most efficient way to do them, may no longer require a full-time human when Gen AI handles three of the five tasks.
This does not mean three-fifths of the role disappears. It means the role should be redesigned.
The Redesign Process
Effective job architecture redesign for Gen AI follows three steps:
First, deconstruct existing roles into their constituent tasks. Resist the urge to start with the org chart. Start with the work.
Second, assess each task against Gen AI capability. Which tasks can Gen AI perform? Which require human judgment? Which are enhanced when human and AI work together?
Third, reconstruct roles around the remaining human work. This may produce fewer roles or different roles. It will almost certainly produce roles with different capability requirements.
The Precondition for Everything Else
Organizations cannot redesign workflows, reskill the workforce, or build appropriate Gen AI governance without first understanding what work humans are doing and what work Gen AI can do. Job architecture redesign is the precondition.
Most organizations are skipping it. They will pay for it later.
*Informed by KPMG, "HR holds the keys to creating value from generative AI," 2024*
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About GeneralArc
GeneralArc is operating model architecture for the AI transition. Its methodology was built across more than two decades inside the operating models of JPMorgan Chase, McKinsey & Company, Nomura, and Deutsche Bank — leading change across 100,000+ employees.
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