Breakout Session #2: Industry

The construct of second-era contemporary businesses (S-ECB) arose with re-engineered fourth generation management (R4thGM) in 2022 to describe the new generation of companies oriented toward sustainability and customers. This generation features Industry 4.0 technologies and high awareness of the circular economy, competitiveness, and diverse stakeholders and is managed as a more contemporary (more sustainable and open) system in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous landscape (VUCA landscape) (Hallioui et al., 2023; Hallioui et al., 2022). From a systemic viewpoint, change management mechanisms evolve according to the organization's context. Leadership is a cornerstone of business management. Industry 4.0 digitalization technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can enhance leadership to address resistance to change and support managers in leading the digital transition. Indeed, AI is a catalyst for S-ECB from a leadership and change management perspective. However, there remains a scarcity of literature discussing the power of AI-leveraged leadership in strengthening change management. This paper suggests that AI-leveraged leadership is best suited to bridge the gap between AI adoption, leadership, and organizational change management and one of the ways toward S-ECB. The expected outcomes of this initial framework proposal relate to the crucial role of AI in assisting business managers in the change management process, such as enabling real-data-driven decision-making through sentiment analysis and predictive analytics, providing personalized training and development for employees through adaptive learning systems (ALS) and virtual/augmented reality (V/AR), offering chatbots and natural language processing-based customized communication strategies, monitoring the implementation of change initiatives and ensuring real-time stakeholder’s feedback, supporting AI-powered platforms-driven virtual collaboration among work teams, and assessing change readiness through AI-enabled diagnostic tools.

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) play a critical role in addressing social issues and fostering community development. However, these organizations often face challenges such as limited resources, donor retention, and impact measurement. Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers innovative solutions to these challenges, enabling NPOs to enhance efficiency, optimize operations, and amplify their social impact. This paper explores the various ways AI can aid nonprofit organizations, from fundraising and donor management to volunteer coordination and program evaluation. Through case studies and practical examples, we illustrate how AI technologies can be integrated into nonprofit operations, ultimately driving greater effectiveness and sustainability.

The Center for Business Analytics and Community Research (CBACR) has been actively exploring data related to trends in talent demand for AI professionals. The initial focus has been on demand for AI talent in the 10-County Upstate region. Comparative data is being explored at the South Carolina and national level. The following key aspects of AI talent demand and supply will be covered in the presentation:

• Overview of major global trends based on surveys (e.g., McKinsey, PWC, etc.) related to AI adoption in the workplace.
• Analysis of historical and current trends in the number of job postings that include distinctive phrases related to AI talent.
• Discussion of the industry sectors where demand for AI talent is developing.
• Review of the most frequently occurring hard and soft skills that are listed in AI job postings.
• Educational requirements present in job postings.
• Expectations for ongoing Upstate adoption and value creation from AI applications.

One interesting observation is that demand for AI skills is increasing rapidly in a labor market where current overall job postings are declining. Recent data extracted from the JobsEQ database indicate that job postings with distinctive AI phrases have increased by 114% nationwide from June 1, 2023, to June 1, 2024. Over this same period, South Carolina and the 10-County Upstate region had increases of 64% and 114%, respectively. Job postings also provide an up-to-date barometer on the skills that are deemed important to employers. Understanding trends in job postings for AI related positions allows higher education to plan programming in an effective manner.