Who is really in control: the worker or the technology?
How can AI and robots support rather than replace workers? In AUGMENT, Le Blanc studies how organizations can implement digital technologies in a human centered, sustainable way.
A planner looks at a screen while an algorithm automatically reshapes the work schedule. The system is fast and efficient. But why these choices are made, and how to influence them, remains unclear.
Situations like this are becoming more common. Technology does not necessarily take work away, but it does change how decisions are made in the workplace. That raises an important question: who is really in control, the worker or the technology?
That is the space where Pascale Le Blanc works. She is a professor in the Human Performance Management group within the Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences. As part of the AUGMENT consortium, that was awarded a 3 million Euro grant from NWA she explores how digital technologies such as AI and robotics can be implemented in ways that strengthen human expertise rather than put it under pressure or replace it.
The turning point
Across many workplaces, AI and robots are already part of everyday work. They influence how tasks are divided, how work is carried out and monitored, and how much room employees still have to make their own decisions. In practice, that does not always lead to better work. Technology is often introduced without giving employees a meaningful role in how it is implemented and used. This can reduce autonomy, increase stress, and deepen inequalities between groups of workers.
AUGMENT takes a different perspective. Technology does not have a fixed impact. Its effects depend on how organizations introduce it, and on how much space employees are given to learn, adapt, and participate in decisions about its use in their jobs.
Taking control
Within the AUGMENT consortium, Le Blanc leads a work package focused on a central question: when and how should organizations involve employees in the digitalization of their work? Her research looks at the moments when employees want and need to make decisions about how AI and robotics are introduced and used, and at what they need in order to stay motivated and perform their work well.
This leads to concrete action perspectives for organizations. The key question is not only what technology works, but how to organize work with digital technologies in ways that keep employees in control and allow them to benefit from those technologies.
What matters
This approach builds directly on Le Blanc鈥檚 expertise. Within Human Performance Management, she has spent years studying how organizations manage change processes and what that means for employees. Her work focuses on workplace innovation, specifically the redesign of work in a rapidly changing technological environment, and on employee motivation and sustainable employability.
In AUGMENT, she brings those strands together by combining insights from change management with knowledge about technology adoption and the ways digital systems reshape work. A PhD candidate will be appointed within the Human Performance Management group to contribute to this research.
The real question
What makes this research distinctive is its focus not only on what digital technology can do, but also on what people need in order to work with it effectively and with confidence. How much decision making space do employees need? When do they want more control? And how can organizations redesign work around AI and robots in ways that support quality of work, well being, and performance?
These are questions that matter across sectors. In industry, logistics, services, and healthcare, organizations are searching for smarter ways of working, while employees try to hold on to influence over how their work is done.
A different path
AUGMENT aims to show that a different approach is possible. One in which digital technology is implemented and used with people at the center. By involving employees from the beginning, organizations can develop solutions that better fit the realities of work. That makes it more likely that technology will not only be efficient, but also contribute to work that remains manageable, meaningful, and safe.
For organizations, this means that implementing digital technologies is not just a technical decision. It is also a design challenge in which people play a central role.
Moving forward
For Le Blanc, success is clear. Technology should not determine how jobs evolve. People should.
As she puts it: 鈥淚n my work package, workers become the architects, rather than the subjects of technology implementation. Enabling them to co design technology implementation and use in ways that truly help them thrive.鈥�
This speaks to a broader societal challenge. As technology becomes more deeply embedded in work, the key question is not only what AI and robots can do, but how people and organizations together shape the future of work.