AI at work: Managing organisational culture in an AI-enabled transformation

This teaching case examines the organisational culture challenges associated with artificial intelligence (AI) adoption during an AI-enabled digital transformation at Jiband Retail Services Ltd, a UK-based fashion retailer. To improve efficiency, decision-making, and competitiveness, Jiband introduced Microsoft Copilot, AI-supported recruitment systems, productivity monitoring tools, customer service technologies, and decision-support dashboards. While these initiatives generated operational benefits, they also created organisational tensions relating to employee resistance, trust, transparency, communication, collaboration, human oversight, and ethical governance. The case enables students to analyse AI-enabled organisational change using established organisational culture theories, including Schein’s Levels of Culture, Handy’s Cultural Types, Hofstede’s Organisational Culture Dimensions, and the McKinsey 7S Framework. It highlights the strengths and limitations of these theories in explaining AI-related organisational challenges. To address this gap, the case introduces the AI-Enabled Organisational Culture Framework (AIOCF), which integrates traditional organisational culture dimensions with AI-specific dimensions, including AI literacy, human oversight, trust in AI, AI transparency, and ethical AI governance, providing a practical framework for analysing AI-enabled organisational culture. The case concludes with a leadership dilemma requiring students to evaluate strategic options and recommend how Jiband can develop a responsible AI-enabled organisational culture while maintaining organisational effectiveness, employee trust, and competitive advantage.