Open Postdoctoral position, faculty mentor Arvind Karunakaran

HAI Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Center for Work, Technology & Organization, Department of Management Science & Engineering

The research project on “Examining Human/AI Augmentation in the Workplace: Challenges and Consequences” is a multi-sited ethnographic study that examines the organizational structures, processes, and practices that could enable (or constrain) Human-AI augmentation in the workplace, and its consequences for workers, occupational groups, and organizations.
While there is an increasing emphasis placed on the need to augment both human and machine intelligence to be effective and successful in the workplace, the organizational politics of augmentation are likely to be more complex than expected. This has the potential to unequally impact certain worker demographics and roles than others, and produce stratifying outcomes with respect to their career attainment and mobility within the organization. Therefore, we need to better understand how human-AI augmentation happens in practice in organizations, and its consequences for workplace equity, diversity, and career attainment.
The postdoctoral fellow would be involved in this ethnographic study in organizational settings where human-AI augmentation is prominent but also has the potential to impact the work and careers of certain demographics and occupational roles in adverse ways. Understanding the processes and consequences of Human-AI augmentation in the workplace, therefore, will become all the more important in order to avoid reinforcing existing workplace inequalities and/or create new forms of inequalities within and beyond organizations.
The postdoctoral fellow will be joining this project and will be part of the “AI and Orgs” lab led by Arvind Karunakaran and housed within the Center for Work, Technology, and Organization (WTO) in the Department of Management Science & Engineering.
Consistent with the norms in the fields of management and sociology, mentorship structure would involve regular (weekly) meetings with the PI to discuss progress on the project as well as other career objectives. Professor Karunakaran would mentor and support the postdoctoral fellow and provide opportunities in multiple ways, including collaboration on journal articles, sponsorship of conference travel, and invitations to participate in Center meetings. The postdoctoral scholar will also be involved in WTO lab meetings, co-organize a monthly brown bag on “AI in the Workplace,” and will contribute to the intellectual culture of the Center for Work, Technology, and Organization and Stanford HAI.
Stanford HAI is also committed to creating a diverse community of scholars who are engaged in contributing to the understanding and advancement of Human-Centered AI. Postdoctoral fellows will have the opportunity to engage with one another and with the broader Stanford HAI research community. They are also expected to participate in professional development, cohort-building, and other programmatic activities organized by HAI.
Evaluation Criteria

• Prior experience conducting qualitative/ethnographic research
• Knowledge and expertise on research related to technology and work, sociology of occupations and organizations.
• Quality of research papers (1-2 sample papers) – either published or working papers
• Expertise in ethnographic data collection and analysis
• Strong writing skills