Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

Robert Levasseur

Abstract

Certain factors can influence the capabilities of a robot–human team by affecting their social and behavioral dynamics in a work environment. But these factors were not known due to the progressive nature of human–robot partnerships and a lack of peer-reviewed literature on the topic. This e-Delphi study aimed to identify and understand these unknown influential factors based on the participants’ insights. The overarching research question asked about the need to determine factors that might influence the effectiveness of managing human-robot teams. The basis for the conceptual framework for this study was the theory of communication used in organizational management. Twelve participants with backgrounds in management, software engineering, robotics, or a combination answered open-ended and closed-ended questions in three data rounds through SurveyMonkey. Excel and Python were used to analyze the data. Eight factors, and 10 subfactors emerged from the analysis and showed a relationship to the influential dynamics in communication, trust, sociostructural entanglement, and decision-making, which are integral to organizational and human–robot workforce management. Human–robot workforce management is a new paradigm in organization management. The results of this study may engender positive social change by augmenting human capabilities, such as assisting vulnerable or challenged individuals who require continuous assistance, performing activities detrimental to human life, and performing lifesaving measures, such as search and rescue.

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