News
| 07.01.2026

Study reveals gap in how people and AI are managed

A woman and a man standing in front of a computer in an office, talking to each other.
Successful use of AI in organisations depends not only on the technology itself but on maintaining human dialogue, critical thinking, and shared understanding. New research at Hanken School of Economics highlights that learning and developing skills for how people and AI work together will be crucial for future business success.

The project “Managing people and AI” examines what happens when people encounter AI in organisations and how that interaction can be managed. 

“In Finland, AI is widely discussed, but the focus is usually on the technology itself rather than on the people who use it”, says Janne Tienari, professor of management and organisation at Hanken.

Janne Tienari i Hankens korridor
Janne Tienari, professor of management and organisation at Hanken School of Economics.

One of the main findings of the project is the growing divide between top management and the rest of the organisation.

“Top management operate within a future-oriented AI discourse, focused on continuous development, navigating disruption, increasing efficiency, and replacing human work with technology. Meanwhile, employees live in a different reality — the here and now — trying to get things done today so that there will actually be a tomorrow. In contrast, managers are already living in that tomorrow”, explains Tienari.

To help managers address this gap, Tienari highlights one key piece of advice.

“I would say that strengthening dialogue within the organisation is becoming increasingly important. It helps ensure that AI tools benefit everyone. Keep people involved, share your strategic ideas openly, and encourage employees to talk about how they are already using AI.”

With emotions ranging from enthusiasm to anxiety and even fear, employees are experimenting with AI-powered tools in their daily work. Yet, as Tienari notes, these experiences rarely reach top management.

“Without proper dialogue, organisations lack the mechanisms to surface what people are actually doing with AI and to turn those insights into something strategic.”

Shared critical thinking is at risk

According to Tienari, the employees need to be managed well so that they can be encouraged to take AI technologies on board in a meaningful way. 

“How to do this is a key strategic question. In some industries it comes more naturally, in others it's much harder.”

Tienari warns that we risk losing shared critical thinking, as current uses of AI do not support the human judgement required for strategic decisions.

“AI might be capable of some of that, but contextual understanding and the connections between decisions are still human strengths. To preserve it, organisations must make time and space for reflection and bring people together regularly, otherwise it’s easily pushed aside and eventually lost.”

Text: Jessica Gustafsson

The Managing People and AI project has been carried out by Janne Tienari (PI), Violetta Khoreva and Robert Ciuchita from Hanken School of Economics, together with Katja Einola from Stockholm School of Economics and Martina Čaić and Dina Myllymäki from Aalto University. The project has been funded by the Marcus Wallenberg Foundation.