The Future of Workplace Fear – Human Instinct & Digital Transition

05/10/2022

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Our guest podcast guest says, “People who discuss digital transformation often focus on new technology with a presumption that the working population will embrace it enthusiastically. But human beings are still instinctively dominated by fear, a single complicating reflex which will always be the default response”. In simple words, humans are hardwired to resist change. Our brain resists change as a threat which releases reactions such as fear, fight, or flight. These are difficult responses to deal with when emerging technologies are constantly tossing us into change, and fear is one of the most prevalent responses. Fear can have enormous repercussions on an organization, including increased vulnerability to ransomware and cyberattack, increased employee turnover, loss of competitiveness, loss of market share, resistance, sabotage, discrimination, and litigation. So how do we deal with this? How do companies deal with fear in the organization as new technologies are introduced, and organization transformation takes place? This podcast explores what kind of fear is prevalent in the workforce, how people react to it and what we can do about it.

Speaker Information:

Steve Prentice, a specialist in organizational psychology, focusing on the junction where people and technology interact. Steve Prentice´s fourth book is entitled The Future of Workplace Fear – How Human Reflex Stands in the Way of Digital Transformation (Apress, May 9, 2022) and it focuses on this one key fact: humans are driven by fear, and its roots are much deeper than they appear — anyone who seeks to deploy digital transformation successfully must understand this. He helps people and organizations understand each other, the technologies they use, and the changes that these present. He is a speaker, writer, journalist, and university lecturer who focuses on human acceptance of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, blockchain and the future of work.