From our university and corporate practice – both with MBA students and with business partners – we have gained valuable insights into the use of generative AI in management tasks in recent months, which we can present in three scenarios:

Scenario I: Without AI. Without AI, management executives and students spend a relatively large amount of time sourcing content and processing it cognitively.

Scenario II: With AI. Content acquisition is a secondary problem. However, when using AI to solve management tasks, creativity can paradoxically become a “time waster”, as “experimentation” is required when developing prompts.

Scenario III: Optimal use of AI. The ideal scenario, in which AI is used efficiently, leads to real time savings (see red marker). Here, the advantages of using AI outweigh the disadvantages and tasks are completed more quickly.

Our experience shows that the effective use of generative AI has the potential to speed up processes, but requires a clear understanding of the capabilities of generative AI and a conceptual (and iterative) foundation of prompts. This allows managers and teams to focus their cognitive resources on more challenging aspects of the work.

Conclusion: Generative AI is best compared to a sophisticated Swiss army knife: It’s not a magic wand that solves every problem with a snap of the fingers, but when used by a skilled craftsman with understanding and skill, it unleashes an impressive array of functions.

#AI #Generative AI #Time management #Efficiency #Management #University research #Corporate practice #Innovation #MBA