Middle managers aren’t being replaced, their job is

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For years, the work of a typical middle manager was relatively easy to recognize. They collected status updates, produced reports, monitored whether tasks were completed and supervised the people responsible for getting them done.

Artificial intelligence is starting to chip away at that job description.

“AI is really transforming middle managers from being coordinators of work and hierarchy into leaders of outcomes and human AI collaboration,” says Hadi Skalli, the managing director of data and AI at global professional services company Accenture.

According to Mr. Skalli, instead of producing reports, managers may increasingly be responsible for interpreting the signals AI produces and making judgments about what to do next. Monitoring individual tasks could give way to managing outcomes, exceptions and risks. And supervising employees could evolve into leading blended teams of people and AI agents – and coaching both along the way.

That shift is already creating a significant skills challenge.

Accenture’s latest Pulse of Change report found 36 per cent of both C-suite leaders and employees see mid-level management as the area with the most significant AI skills gap.

Mr. Skalli says that part of the challenge is where managers sit within an organization.

The report shows that companies are preparing to create new AI-focused jobs for early-career workers, with 73 per cent of leaders expecting their organizations to create new entry-level roles over the next two years. Senior leaders, meanwhile, can focus on setting strategy.

Middle managers are caught between the two, translating strategy into outcomes while the coordination work that once defined their jobs is increasingly automated.

Employees are also becoming less dependent on the people around them for everyday problem-solving. Sixty-one per cent now turn to AI before a colleague, according to the report. “They’re problem solving independently; they’re less reliant on their manager and colleagues,” Mr Skalli says.

Yet, that doesn’t make managers irrelevant. Mr. Skalli says organizations still need to protect the “human mechanisms” through which workers develop judgment, culture and tacit knowledge, including mentorship, feedback, collaboration and learning through observation.

That could become particularly important as companies bring in more entry-level talent. Those workers may arrive in AI-native roles but they still need apprenticeship and mentorship from experienced people.

Looking ahead, Mr. Skalli expects managerial jobs to become broader, more fluid and skills-based.

“The future of management is not necessarily about managing more technology. I think the key is about orchestrating people and technology to create value, but always keeping the human in the lead,” he says.

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