305004 Experts in Organizations (BS) (WiSe 2023/2024)

Experts are essential to modern organizations. The variety of labels we use to describe them – professionals, specialists, consultants – reflects the wide array of expert work that is performed in organizations. Some experts care for the safety and well-being of people in organizations. Other experts produce convincing ideas that allow firms to compete in knowledge-centered markets. Government institutions also draw on experts to legitimize decisions with wide-ranging social consequences. Organizations provide an important context in which all these forms of expertise thrive and interact. At the same time, being embedded in an organization – its rules, roles, and routines – can pose a challenge to the autonomy and identity of experts. The goal of this seminar is to explore the puzzling relationship between experts and organizations.
To achieve this goal, we will discuss questions such as: What makes an expert? What distinguishes expertise from other forms of authority in organizations? How do experts establish and defend the boundaries of their jurisdiction? How do experts engage with other actors within and beyond the organization? When do experts move to the front in organizations and when do they remain in the shadows? To develop answers to these intricate questions, we will study a broad range of experts and organizations. For example, we will engage with mental health professionals in the military, compliance officers in a university, management consultants at a client firm, and self-employed financial bloggers on the Internet.
This seminar is divided in one virtual kick-off session and two in person blocks. There are no mandatory readings for the kickoff session. However, there is a fair number of mandatory readings in preparation for each of the two in person blocks. There is plenty of time between the sessions to read, but I recommend that you plan ahead your reading. The readings as well as additional readings (optional) will be made available via Lernraum.