Human Dignity in Algorithmic Workplaces: Autonomy, Recognition, and Justice in AIMediated Management

Creative Commons License

Zahoor H.

The 15th InTraders International Conference On Multidisciplinary Studies, Bucuresti, Romanya, 18 - 19 Mayıs 2026, ss.91-104, (Tam Metin Bildiri)

Özet

The rapid diffusion of algorithmic management systems is transforming how work is organized, monitored, and evaluated. While these systems promise efficiency, objectivity, and scalability, their implications for human dignity remain insufficiently theorized. This article develops a dignity-centered framework explaining how AI-mediated management shapes worker experiences through three interrelated dimensions: autonomy, recognition, and justice. Drawing on research on dignity at work, organizational justice, autonomy, and algorithmic control, the paper identifies three mechanisms through which dignity may be undermined: algorithmic opacity, intensified surveillance, and depersonalized evaluation. Opaque decision processes can weaken procedural justice, continuous monitoring may constrain self-determination, and metric-driven evaluations can diminish social recognition by reducing workers to performance scores. The framework further proposes that transparency and participatory design processes can mitigate these risks by strengthening trust, enhancing fairness perceptions, and supporting meaningful worker voice. By integrating fragmented literatures into a unified model, the article reframes algorithmic management as a moral and social governance system rather than solely a technological tool. It contributes to management research by specifying mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions that enable empirical testing and by advancing a multilevel perspective linking individual dignity experiences to organizational legitimacy and broader societal concerns about responsible technological governance. The framework offers a foundation for future empirical research and informs the design of algorithmic systems that support dignity while maintaining operational efficiency. Keywords: human dignity; algorithmic management; workplace autonomy; organizational justice; AImediated work