Managers Under Pressure: The Adoption of AI in Business

Intermediate Managers and AI Adoption

In many companies, intermediate managers play a crucial role in encouraging their teams to adopt artificial intelligence (AI). According to information from Business Insider, these managers are responsible for ensuring that employees are effectively using AI. They report low usage, create dashboards, and propose practical ideas to integrate this technology into the daily routines of their teams. As the number of intermediate managers decreases, their scope of action expands with this new mission: to promote AI adoption.

Companies are feeling increasing pressure to demonstrate that AI improves efficiency. During recent layoffs, CEOs highlighted the role of AI in streamlining workforces. For example, Coinbase recently announced a 14% reduction in its staff, citing AI and the need to reduce management levels as primary reasons.

Strategies to Encourage AI Usage

In recent weeks, Business Insider revealed how companies like Disney and JPMorgan track and encourage AI usage among their employees. These companies illustrate how managers work to foster daily AI adoption. This shows that the pressure to demonstrate tangible results from AI investments is shifting from broad directives to individual oversight by managers, and ultimately to performance evaluations.

For managers, already under pressure to do more with less, this task adds to their responsibilities. A software engineer at JPMorgan shared that he has a good relationship with his manager, but their recent discussions have focused on AI. During daily and weekly meetings, the manager reminds the team that it is crucial to "show better results" using the available AI tools. "It has become more urgent," said the engineer, adding that his manager does not want their team to be "the last in AI usage."

Challenges of AI Adoption

Companies have spent the last few years deploying AI tools, encouraging employees to experiment and, at times, mandating their use. However, many face a familiar problem: access to AI does not guarantee its usage, nor does it ensure usage that improves productivity. The consulting firm McKinsey reported in April that, although companies are investing more in AI, "the lasting impact on performance remains elusive." This is where managers step in to bridge the gap.

"Managers play a really critical role," said Julie Bedard, managing director at Boston Consulting Group, specializing in talent strategy and AI. A year ago, many companies' approaches to AI boiled down to "Let's do something," explained Kathy Gersch, CEO of the change management firm Kotter. After deploying AI to everyone, some leaders concluded: "Well, nothing is happening," or "Not enough is happening." "Now, this is being pushed further down the organization."

Active Monitoring of AI Usage

One method employed by managers to encourage AI usage is to make it clear that they are monitoring this usage. At Disney, the company allows certain members of its technical team to view an "AI Adoption Dashboard" that shows the usage of the AI tools Cursor and Claude. This is not the only way the company examines who is fully engaging with AI. A Disney manager wrote to a software engineer that he had reviewed the technology usage by a team to see "how people are using the AI tools we have invested in." According to a message reviewed by Business Insider, the manager noted that the individual had used the AI tool only once in the past 30 days and asked the engineer to explain, by a certain date, why the employee had not used AI more frequently.

The manager requested details about the AI tools the person had access to, how they had been used, what made it "difficult to get started," and what would facilitate "more regular usage." "Your honest feedback will help me understand where to focus — whether it's better training, clearer guidance, or simply removing obstacles," the manager wrote.

Another engineer at the company described a bottom-up approach where engineers generate ideas. Yet, the directive from above is clear: "No handwritten code," this person told Business Insider. It seems to be working. "I haven't written code in months," said the engineer.

Reducing Management Levels and the Role of Managers

The push towards AI comes as companies rethink the role of managers. The Great Flattening has led to the elimination of layers of management primarily focused on supervision — what Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly referred to as "managers managing managers." As leaders envision a future where managers oversee AI, the immediate future involves managers managing people who manage AI. Initially, many organizations relied on simplistic tracking measures, such as whether employees logged into a tool. However, these metrics did not necessarily translate into significant productivity gains, Bedard from BCG stated.

Managers face questions such as "How do we deploy this tool to accomplish work even better, faster, and more efficiently?" said Kotter. At JPMorgan, the engineer stated that this push has changed his way of working. He now delegates lower-level tasks to AI tools.