From Rhythms to Stop, Drop and Roll: The Impact of Algorithmic Management on Discretion in Hotel Housekeeping Work

The spread of algorithmic management (AM) technologies in traditional organizational settings suggests that the automation of managerial processes will extend far beyond gig or platform work. A key concern in this new landscape is the extent to which AM, which is more opaque, interactive, and instantaneous than previous technologies, will reshape workers’ autonomy and discretion, the latter of which is defined as latitude to make decisions that control different aspects of the work process. We develop a grounded model of AM’s impact on discretion with extensive qualitative data collected from hotel housekeeping, showing that AM’s impact on discretion hinges on three dimensions: the point at which AM intersects with the labor process, the varying degrees of uncertainty in task bundles, and the salience or frequency of tasks. We link these changes to changes in job satisfaction and performance by tracing the effects of AM on these task bundles to changes in cognitive and physical workload of GRAs, and discuss moderating factors that influence the relationship between AM and discretion. Our model underscores the importance of paying close attention to characteristics of the labor process in settings where AM is integrated into preexisting organizational practices and social relationships, and where AM augments, rather than substitutes, for managerial decision-making.