Two PhD-positions for project “Managing Generative AI in the workplace”

at  Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

YOUR FUNCTION

GenAI is rapidly changing work, and predictions about job losses have reached newspaper headlines. Current debates on GenAI and work are typically framed around its consequences for jobs, though without empirically grounded research into both GenAI’s development and its implications for organizations and professionals. GenAI systems that are currently being developed and rolled out in organizations are crucially different from prior AI systems, bringing about novel risks for organizations, knowledge work, interactions and collaboration.
Through ethnographic studies we will reveal how GenAI reconfigures professionals’ work practices, interactions and relationships as well as how GenAI reshapes organizational structures. The project will contribute to theories of technology’s role in knowledge, professional and organizational change.

REQUIREMENTS

• motivated to do high quality research with the aim of publishing top level articles for both an organizational science and practitioner audience
• communication skills required to collaborate with industry partner(s)
• academic writing skills
• high proficiency English language; Dutch proficiency (or willingness to learn)
• preferred research master or MSc in business administration, sociology, anthropology, or equivalent
• proven expertise in qualitative research methods e.g. ethnography, interviews, and observations

The PhD student will conduct theoretical and empirical research on the (un)intended consequences of GenAI on group and organizational level, including studying themes such as GenAI’s impact on work practices, professionals’ interactions and relationships within the organization, management and organizational responsibilities and organizational structures.
The PhD student will give a modest contribution to the Department’s teaching programme, with the opportunity to obtain a basic qualification teaching certificate (shortened BKO).