Take McDonald’s, which is introducing a cooperative and technology services on top of their offerings, element by giving employees more control over their adding immense value to the customer experience. workplace experience. The company is rolling out However, this has increasingly committed companies digital ordering kiosks in its drive-thrus across the US, to the same limited path: inadvertently taking control featuring personalized menus and recommendations away from people in the name of greater curation. based on weather, time of day, trending menu items Now, enterprises are dealing with a major side and customers’ past purchases.8,9,10 But rather than effect. While customization can create powerful prescribe the menu based on centralized data, and beneficial experiences, it can also frustrate employees are given the freedom to change menu people with unintended results. displays based on local circumstances. They can use live traffic data and observational insights to identify For instance, researchers at Harvard’s Berkman Klein peak times, and switch the menu recommendations Center found that the personalized recommendation to promote simpler items, easing the burden on system of a popular video streaming platform was employees and restaurant operations. leading viewers to increasingly radical content, contributing to the rise of conspiracy theories 11 This might seem like typical customization at first and spread of misinformation. In response to this glance. But what McDonald’s does differently is unintended consequence, the platform added make the individual—in this case the employee—an new features explaining why viewers see certain active and necessary contributor to the experience. recommendations and giving them more 12 It’s a powerful shift from the norm. Throughout the control over the experience. digital age, companies have built customization