Experts In Organizations

"Organizational learning" is currently a subject of intense debate in the study of corporate dynamics. But how can such a concept be used effectively without a thorough understanding of the way in which organizations produce and distribute knowledge? An in-depth analysis of expert system projects afforded a choice opportunity for studying such questions. Drawing on four case studies, the authors identify and explore the dynamics of three basic types of expertise. They simultaneously reveal the crisis in expertise experienced by firms facing the demands of product variety and innovation. In such industrial contexts, organizational and managerial theories clearly have to include new approaches, presented here, which focus on the dynamics of expertise.

It is often claimed that we live in an expert society, a society where more and more individuals take expert roles in increasingly narrow fields. In contrast to more traditional experts most of these new experts lack generally accepted mechanisms for the certification and legitimation of their expertise. This book focuses on these new as well as established experts and the efforts undertaken to secure and legitimate their expertise. We view these efforts as organizing attempts and study them on four different levels – the society, the market, the organization and the individual. Based on empirical studies on these four levels of analysis, The Organization of the Expert Society makes the argument that current organizing initiatives in the expert society are based in an objectifying view of expertise that risks concealing and downplaying key aspects of expertise. Well-intended organizing initiatives in the expert society thus run the risk of promoting ignorance rather than securing expertise. Focusing on a current, general and global phenomenon, the rise and organization of an expert society. The Organization of the Expert Society will be key reading for scholars, academics and policy makers in the management fields of Organizational Theory, Management Consulting, Organizations & Society, Critical Management Studies as well as the disciplines of Sociology, Political Science and Social Anthropology.

This edited volume advances existing research on the production and use of expert knowledge by international bureaucracies. Given the complexity, technicality and apparent apolitical character of the issues dealt with in global governance arenas, ‘evidence-based’ policy-making has imposed itself as the best way to evaluate the risks and consequences of political action in global arenas. In the absence of alternative, democratic modes of legitimation, international organizations have adopted this approach to policy-making. By treating international bureaucracies as strategic actors, this volume address novel questions: why and how do international bureaucrats deploy knowledge in policy-making? Where does the knowledge they use come from, and how can we retrace pathways between the origins of certain ideas and their adoption by international administrations? What kind of evidence do international bureaucrats resort to, and with what implications? Which types of knowledge are seen as authoritative, and why? This volume makes a crucial contribution to our understanding of the way global policy agendas are shaped and propagated. It will be of great interest to scholars, policy-makers and practitioners in the fields of public policy, international relations, global governance and international organizations.

Expertise is an intriguing construct. Though it is highly desired, it is commonly characterized by exclusivity or being something esoteric making it both seemingly difficult to acquire and understand. This opaqueness surrounding the nature of expertise in organizational contexts is coupled with greater demands for specialized work and employees' increased reliance on communication technologies to complete tasks - trends that further complicate the evaluation of workers' knowledge and abilities. This volume draws upon original works, from scholars of diverse backgrounds, to explore how recent changes in the structure of organizational life have altered the nature of expertise. Specifically, this book aims to challenge the perspective that organizational expertise exists to be recognized and utilized, and offers an alternative lens that views expertise as emergent and constituted in communication among organizing actors. Examining the intersection of communication and expertise, within and across different contexts of organizing, offers new insights into the discursive, material, and structural influences that contribute to an understanding of expertise. This book offers a comprehensive view of organizational expertise by presenting theoretical frameworks for the study of expertise, providing reviews of how the study of expertise has evolved, applying perspectives on expertise to different domains of organizational practice, and presenting new directions for the study of the intersection of expertise, communication, and organizing. The result is a treatment that considers expertise in diverse forms and across a variety of contexts of organizing, and in doing so provides valuable content to researchers from multiple disciplinary backgrounds.

The fully revised and updated version of this successful Handbook is welcomed by management scholars world-wide. By bringing together the latest approaches from the leading experts in organizational learning & knowledge management the volume provides a unique and valuable overview of current thinking about how organizations accumulate 'knowledge' and learn from experience. Key areas of update in the new edition are: Resource based view of the firm Capability management Global management Organizational culture Mergers & acquisitions Strategic management Leadership

The guide for all leaders and senior managers, offering the answers to critical questions on organizational design and management. Every year, over 10,000 business books are published-and that's before you add in the hundreds of thousands of articles, blogs, and video lectures that are produced. Leaders can't possibly hope to digest it all, and writers increasingly sensationalize and spin their ideas in order to be noticed. The result? Put quite simply, the field of management thinking is in danger of losing the plot. In this new book, Scott Keller and Mary Meaney-Senior Partners at McKinsey & Company, the world's preeminent management consultancy-cut to the chase by answering the 10 most important and timeless questions that every leader needs to answer in order to maximize the performance and health of their organization. What's more, the authors recognize that great leaders may not have time for long-winded business books. In Leading Organizations, answers are kept to the essentials-hard facts, counter-intuitive insights, and practical steps-all presented in an accessible and highly visual format. If there's one essential business book you should read-ever-it's this one.

Organizations capture and deploy what they have learned in four ways: Culture, Old Pros, Archives, and Processes. This book describes the four approaches, their strength and shortcomings, and their interactions.

First released in the Spring of 1999, How People Learn has been expanded to show how the theories and insights from the original book can translate into actions and practice, now making a real connection between classroom activities and learning behavior. This edition includes far-reaching suggestions for research that could increase the impact that classroom teaching has on actual learning. Like the original edition, this book offers exciting new research about the mind and the brain that provides answers to a number of compelling questions. When do infants begin to learn? How do experts learn and how is this different from non-experts? What can teachers and schools do-with curricula, classroom settings, and teaching methodsâ€"to help children learn most effectively? New evidence from many branches of science has significantly added to our understanding of what it means to know, from the neural processes that occur during learning to the influence of culture on what people see and absorb. How People Learn examines these findings and their implications for what we teach, how we teach it, and how we assess what our children learn. The book uses exemplary teaching to illustrate how approaches based on what we now know result in in-depth learning. This new knowledge calls into question concepts and practices firmly entrenched in our current education system. Topics include: How learning actually changes the physical structure of the brain. How existing knowledge affects what people notice and how they learn. What the thought processes of experts tell us about how to teach. The amazing learning potential of infants. The relationship of classroom learning and everyday settings of community and workplace. Learning needs and opportunities for teachers. A realistic look at the role of technology in education.