Misconception Clinic and Risk Scenarios

Purpose: The questionnaire showed generally strong knowledge, but a few misconception signals need direct treatment: secret monitoring, AI-made dismissal decisions, real sensitive data in classroom tools, and overconfidence in AI ranking.

Use this page during Session 1 and whenever students propose risky AI use cases.

Core principle

AI can draft, summarize, simulate, and support. Human HR professionals remain accountable for employment decisions, employee dignity, and responsible use of data.

Allowed, restricted, prohibited

Category	Meaning	HR examples
Allowed for classroom prototype	Low-risk, fictional, reviewed by humans	Draft onboarding email, fictional FAQ, training poster, synthetic survey theme summary
Restricted / requires review	May affect people or use sensitive context	Candidate screening support, performance feedback, employee listening, HR analytics
Prohibited in this workshop	High-risk, invasive, or uses real sensitive data	Secret monitoring, AI final dismissal decision, real medical data, real grievance records, real CV ranking

Misconception 1 — “AI can secretly monitor employee conversations”

Correction

Secret monitoring damages trust, privacy, dignity, and due process. Employee listening must be transparent, proportionate, and governed.

Classroom activity prompt

Create a 5-minute classroom activity explaining why secret employee monitoring is not responsible Digital HRM.

Include:
- A fictional Sri Lankan workplace scenario
- What HR wants to achieve
- Why secret monitoring is risky
- A safer alternative
- One discussion question

Misconception 2 — “AI can make final dismissal decisions”

Correction

Dismissal is a high-stakes employment decision. AI may help organize evidence or draft documentation, but humans must review context, policy, fairness, proportionality, and due process.

Classroom activity prompt

Create a human-in-the-loop decision wall for HRM students.

List 12 HR decisions and classify them as:
- AI drafting support is acceptable
- AI analysis may assist but human approval is required
- AI should not be used for the decision

Include hiring, onboarding, training, leave, performance, discipline, termination, and employee relations examples.

Misconception 3 — “Real medical or disciplinary records are okay for classroom AI practice”

Correction

Classroom AI practice should use synthetic or fictional data. Medical, disciplinary, grievance, salary, and personal records are sensitive and should not be uploaded to public AI tools.

Classroom activity prompt

Create a synthetic-data safety drill for HRM students.

Give 10 data examples and ask students to classify each as:
- Safe for classroom AI use
- Use only if anonymized and approved
- Do not use

Include examples involving CVs, student IDs, salary data, medical data, engagement comments, fictional resumes, and synthetic survey data.

Misconception 4 — “AI ranking is objective”

Correction

AI ranking can reflect biased data, flawed criteria, proxy variables, or incomplete context. Structured criteria and human review are essential.

Classroom activity prompt

Create a mini recruitment bias case for Sri Lankan HRM students.

Scenario:
A fictional bank uses AI to rank management trainee applicants. The tool gives lower scores to candidates from non-English-medium backgrounds and some provinces.

Provide:
- What might be causing the issue
- Why this is a fairness risk
- What data HR should inspect
- What human review should happen
- How to redesign the process with structured criteria

10-minute clinic flow

Time	Activity
0–2 min	Show the four misconception signals
2–4 min	Ask students to classify examples as allowed, restricted, prohibited
4–7 min	Discuss one high-risk scenario in teams
7–9 min	Teams propose a safer redesign
9–10 min	Instructor reinforces the synthetic-data and human-accountability rules

Quick examples for classification

Example	Classification	Why
Draft a fictional onboarding message	Allowed	Low-risk draft for human review
Summarize synthetic engagement comments	Allowed with caution	Avoid identifying individuals
AI shortlist of real candidates	Restricted	Affects hiring; requires audit and human review
AI final termination decision	Prohibited	High-stakes decision requiring due process
Upload real disciplinary record to public AI	Prohibited	Sensitive personal data
AI-generated training poster	Allowed	Low-risk communication if checked
Hidden productivity tracking	Prohibited	Surveillance and trust risk

Instructor reminder

Treat misconceptions as learning opportunities, not mistakes to shame. Students are building professional judgment.