The Ten Commandments of Working Robots in Organisations: From History to the Future of Robot Ethics, Legislation, and Management

Abstract

Unlike the historical robots, the contemporary and futuristic ‘working’ robots within organisations are capable of taking decisions without human intervention. This chapter reviews the technical evolution of robots across history with the necessary evolution of operational procedures regarding laws and ethical standards. The objective of this review is to have a futuristic holistic insight into the new generation of robots that are invading our working environment within organisations. Out of the very wide perspective of robotics research field, this chapter only discusses the ‘working’ robots (excluding domestic, social, and warfare robots) in organisations along with its ethical and legal associated issues. To achieve this objective, the recent ‘working robot’ definition and associated expected ethics and laws, termed in this chapter as ‘Ten Commandments’ would be necessary for the utilisation of robotics before releasing ‘intelligent’ robots in the workplace environment. The proposed ‘Ten Commandments’ can be utilised by robot manufacturer to embed ‘machine testimony’ to their products. Providing that such ‘robot ethics’ built as part of the algorithmic structure of robots, a useful innovation like robot–manager is also identified in the organisational environment which can have multiple benefits as discussed in this chapter.

Citation

(2020), "The Ten Commandments of Working Robots in Organisations: From History to the Future of Robot Ethics, Legislation, and Management", Kouatli, I., Kouatly, R., Zaarour, A., Schwartz, M. and Harris, H. (Ed.) War, Peace and Organizational Ethics (Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations, Vol. 23), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 27-47. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-209620200000023003