Some algorithms have even begun cracking the whip as people go about their work, much like the Taylorism stopwatch-holders in 20th Century factories. The writer Mac McClelland, for example, recently described her time spent working in an online retailer’s warehouse. Each worker was given a handset that told them where to go in the warehouse to pick up an item to prepare it for delivery. McClelland told how the handset would count down how many seconds she had to reach her destination, as well as tracking her underperformance if she overran its timing. While a human boss was ultimately responsible for her line management, for most of the day, it was the machine that was in charge.

So could algorithmic bosses eventually make their way into the office, where humans still rule? There are some signs that we might be headed that way, at least in terms of the outsourcing of many management decisions. Many companies are beginning to use “people analytics” – historic information on an individual’s online behaviour – to analyse prospective job candidates. Analytics teams in human-resources departments of large corporations such as Google and General Motors, for example, use algorithms to comb through the vast amounts of data collected on online interactions. In goes every forum comment, tweet, or public Facebook status, and out pops a number representing a candidate’s suitability for a position.

Unbending rigidity?

Could software designed to sift through an individual’s data trail not just hire employees, but also evaluate them, and possibly even fire them as well? It’s unclear, but it does raise serious questions about how much autonomy we might want to give algorithms in workplaces.

Some are bullish about the idea of algorithmic managers, however. “Honestly, it is actually better for workers having computerised bosses,” says Daniel Barowy, who created Automan, software to delegate tricky tasks to human workers via platforms such as Mechanical Turk. Machines are unbiased and unaffected by office politics and daily mood swings – unless of course they are programmed to be.

While Teresa Amabile, professor and director of research at Harvard Business School, isn’t quite so emphatic, she believes that automated systems may have the edge on human bosses in some instances. Amabile coauthored a book, The Progress Principle, which was based on a multi-year analysis of more than 200 workers’ diaries. For happier and more productive employees, she says, clear-cut directions, an atmosphere where it is OK to make mistakes, and autonomy proved essential.