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New Book Calls for a Fundamental Rethink of Management in the Age of AI
PARIS, France — Artificial intelligence is transforming organizations, but many companies are using it to make existing ways of working faster rather than fundamentally better. That was the central message presented by Jasmijn C. Bol of Tulane University and Dennis Campbell of Harvard Business School at the Work in the Age of AI conference at ESSEC Business School in Paris.
Their presentation introduced the core ideas behind their forthcoming book, Empowered by Design: How AI Is Rewriting the Logic of Management, which argues that AI’s greatest opportunity is not automating work, but redesigning how organizations operate.
Bol and Campbell argue that many organizations have seen only modest gains from AI because they layer the technology onto existing workflows while leaving hierarchy, decision rights, and management systems largely unchanged. This approach often produces faster execution of the same system rather than a fundamentally better organization.
The authors propose a different model: using AI to move expertise, coordination, feedback, and context closer to the people doing the work. In doing so, organizations can become more responsive, more innovative, and more human-centered—expanding human authority rather than replacing it.
“Most organizations are asking how AI can improve the existing management system,” said Bol. “We believe leaders should instead ask how AI allows them to redesign that system altogether.”
The presentation was met with strong enthusiasm from leading scholars in the field. Attendees responded to the argument as a timely and important shift in the AI conversation—from tool adoption and automation toward organizational redesign, human authority, and the future logic of management.
The positive reception reinforced the authors’ conviction that organizations need a new model for AI-enabled empowerment. As companies continue to invest heavily in AI, Bol and Campbell argue that meaningful returns will come not from layering AI onto old systems, but from redesigning work around more capable and empowered people.
About the Authors
About the Authors
Jasmijn C. Bol, PhD, is the PwC Professor in Accounting and Francis Martin Chair in Business at Tulane University’s A. B. Freeman School of Business. Her research focuses on incentives, motivation, performance evaluation, and how AI is reshaping work and management.
Dennis Campbell, PhD, is the Dwight P. Robinson Jr. Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His work focuses on organizational performance, management systems, and AI integration.
Together, Bol and Campbell combine leading academic expertise with extensive engagement with executives and organizations navigating AI transformation.
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