Worxogo: Nudging for High Employee Performance

Based on their extensive consulting and advisory experience in large-scale consulting transformations for various large enterprises, Ramesh Srinivas and his colleagues at Worxogo Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Worxogo) in Bengaluru, India, had launched an artificial intelligence (AI)–based nudge platform called Nudge Coach in 2017 to change employees’ behaviour positively and voluntarily so as to bolster team performance. The platform’s self-learning AI engine had been designed based on insights from behavioural sciences and popular motivation theories. It featured deep-learning algorithms that understood individual motivations and provided personalized coaching tips, appropriate challenges, and rewards. The platform was presented as a coach that could help employees manage their performance.<br><br>By 2023, Worxogo had garnered numerous clients and accolades for its platform’s novelty and efficacy in improving employee performance and organizational outcomes. However, Worxogo had implemented its platform predominantly for a limited set of functions, such as sales and data-centre operations, characterized by well-defined lead and lag performance metrics. Clients, buoyed by the platform’s success, began encouraging the Worxogo team to extend the nudge-based performance-improvement system to other functions and domains.<br><br>Thus, Srinivas, Worxogo’s chief executive officer, faced a dilemma in August 2023of whether to continue to focus on Nudge Coach’s limited existing functions or to explore appropriate nudge-based outcomes for tasks without clear lead and lag performance indicators. His other challenge was to determine how organizations and individuals could measure the effectiveness of nudges in improving performance without clear short-term outcomes. Which approach would Srinivas take to respond to these challenges?

This case is intended for use in both undergraduate- and graduate-level courses of core micro-organizational behaviour and human-resources management (HRM) courses and elective courses on strategic HRM, talent management, and performance management. Organizations continue to face major challenges in identifying gaps between individual capability, intent, and performance outcomes. Additionally, owing to the changes in organizations due to the COVID-19 pandemic and changing workplace environments, assessing and improving employee productivity and performance are critical. Therefore, this case primarily aims to impart a conceptual understanding of the applications of algorithm-based nudging techniques in developing personalized strategies for influencing employees’ behaviours and decisions and thereby improving team performance. By working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:<br><br><ul><li>Based on the goal-setting theory, which states that employees are motivated by clear, well-defined goals and feedback, examine the applications of algorithm-based nudging techniques to provide dynamic performance feedback and to influence employees’ behaviours and decisions so as to improve overall performance.</li><li>Gauge the effectiveness of nudges across various functions, domains, and job roles.</li><li>Identify the advantages and disadvantages of using nudges as a performance-management mechanism.</li><li>Assess the unintended consequences of sharing employee- and team-level AI platform-engagement data.</li></ul>

• Algorithmic Nudging