A Dutch sociology professor says a computer can be a better manager than a human, and you know, just from personal experience we gotta agree.
Chris Snijders of the Eindhoven University of Technology has spent the past two years studying the decisions made by purchasing managers at 300 organizations. He compared the managers’ performance against computer models and says the hardware fared better in timeliness of delivery, adherence to the budget and accuracy of specifications.
Notes The New York Times: “As long as you have some history and some quantifiable data from past experiences,” Snijders says a simple formula will soon outperform a professional’s decision-making skills. “It’s not just pie in the sky,” he said. “I have the data to support this.”
Snijders is so confident of his theory he’s issued a challenge to any company willing to pit its humans against his algorithms.
