---
id: "quote-process-difficulty"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ How AI Might Take Jobs—and How It Probably Won't"]
tags: ["process-engineering", "complexity"]
related: ["concept-individual-vs-process-productivity", "claim-translation-difficulty"]
speaker: "Thomas H. Davenport and Laks Srinivasan"
speakers: ["Thomas H. Davenport", "Laks Srinivasan"]
sources: ["execution"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-execution"
originDay: 8
articleStem: "hbr-foci-62-layoffs-ai-potential-not-performance"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/01/companies-are-laying-off-workers-because-of-ais-potential-not-its-performance"
sourceTitle: "Companies Are Laying Off Workers Because of AI’s Potential—Not Its Performance"
---
# Difficulty of Optimally Structuring AI Processes

> For a large organization to accurately determine how many people and what AI capabilities are needed to perform jobs in an optimally structured process is difficult to say the least.

— [[entity-thomas-h-davenport]] and [[entity-laks-srinivasan]]

Captures the crux of why individual gains do not convert to headcount decisions. Anchors [[concept-individual-vs-process-productivity]] and [[claim-translation-difficulty]]; motivates [[action-redesign-business-processes]].