Expertise as a ‘capacity for action’: reframing vocational knowledge from the perspective of work

Guile, David; Unwin, Lorna

doi:10.1080/13636820.2020.1858939

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…For example, new processes, systems, resources, and leadership may necessitate or create opportunities for a worker to apply their expertise in novel ways . To put it differently: this may change the way in which workers can materialize their individual expertise , also known as exploiting expertise or expertise in action (Guile & Unwin, 2020). The materialization of expertise entails being able to translate your expertise into multi-level outcomes , e.g., when these are used at both a team and an organizational level or even broader at a societal level .…”

Section: Background Of the Phd Project: New Expertise Needsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From a sociological perspective, being an expert is an outcome of an attribution by the expert's stakeholders (e.g., supervisors, users, and peers). In social constellations, such as boundary-crossing networks and communities of practice, these stakeholders jointly construct and define expertise Guile and Unwin 2020;. Following this perspective, one can become an expert within a certain group by acting in ways that the other group members recognize as appropriate .…”

Section: What Constitutes Expertise and What Makes An Expert?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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From expert to flexpert. How workers meet new expertise needs throughout their careers

Frie

2024

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This PhD dissertation focuses on the need for workers to adapt to evolving expertise requirements in the midst of complex societal and organizational changes. The global labor market is witnessing a surge in the demand for upskilling, reskilling, and multidisciplinary expertise as workers navigate transitions. As such, scholars shifted their perspective from understanding how one becomes an expert to safeguarding a worker's future position in the labor market. This dissertation increased our understanding regarding the concept of ‘flexpertise’, which describes individual workers' adaptive abilities to meet expertise demands in their careers. We captured this adaptive ability into dynamic process models which describe the mechanisms by which workers can deal with ongoing changes in their working environment. This enables them to stay employable and to meet the needs of their surrounding stakeholders at the same time. The dissertation furthermore outlines what the focus on flexpertise development implies for leaders and HR/D functions, advocating for bundles of ‘renewal practices’ alongside expertise development practices. In conclusion, our research underlines the importance of continuous adaptation in the evolving labor market and raises ethical considerations about the feasibility of everyone becoming a flexpert.

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Section: Background Of the Phd Project: New Expertise Needsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What Constitutes Expertise and What Makes An Expert?mentioning

confidence: 99%

From expert to flexpert. How workers meet new expertise needs throughout their careers

Frie

2024

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“…supervisors, users and peers). In social constellations, such as boundary‐crossing networks and communities of practice, these stakeholders jointly construct and define expertise (Eyal, 2013; Guile & Unwin, 2020; Noordegraaf, 2020). Following this perspective, one can become an expert within a certain group by acting in ways that the other group members recognize as appropriate (Collins & Evans, 2018).…”

Section: Conceptualizations Of (Fl)expertisementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A worker's understanding of what changes imply could be the start of an exploitation process where adaptive experts turn an idea into practice (Mylopoulos & Farhat, 2015) or put their ‘expertise into action’ (Guile & Unwin, 2020), also described as implementation or materialization of expertise (Frie et al, 2019). These responses can range from endeavours to make one's practices more efficient (i.e.…”

Section: Integration Of Knowledge Into the Imo Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

How workers meet new expertise needs throughout their careers: An integrative review revealing a dynamic process model of flexpertise

Frie,

Van der Heijden,

Korzilius

et al. 2024

Int J Management Reviews

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In expertise research, the focus is shifting from how one becomes an expert in a specific field towards understanding how workers sustain the value and recognition of their expertise by being flexible. This so‐called flexpertise requires that workers meet new expertise needs within and across the boundaries of their current expertise domains and working contexts. The current study grounds a new theoretical paradigm regarding this individual adaptivity by introducing a ‘dynamic process model of flexpertise’. By deploying a system dynamics lens, it synthesizes the scholarly knowledge from different disciplines about flexible or adaptive forms of expertise. The model incorporates six categories of adaptation processes that involve intra‐individual changes and social interactions over time, and that are interconnected by means of feedback loops without a single start‐ or endpoint. This enables scholars and practitioners to identify leverage points where small interventions can have a large effect on the individual's adaptivity. As such, the dynamic model provides a new paradigm on how to foster workers’ continued possession of expertise that is valuable to organizations’ competitive advantage and enables organizational and societal transitions and innovations, while safeguarding an individual's career sustainability.

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“…This may be accomplished through cross-occupational collaboration. Indeed, Guile and Unwin (2020) recently argued that cross-occupational work contexts, with their specific socio-material and relational encounters, foster the development of expertise as a "capacity for action." Moreover, cross-occupational work enables individuals to maintain a sense of self or personal identity by allowing them to recognize the worth and responsibility of their occupational role in comparison to other occupational groups involved in a particular activity (see Bakker & Akkerman, 2019;Billett, 2011;Edwards, 2007).…”

Section: Cross-occupational Collaboration As a Crucial Form Of Work I...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaborating Across Occupational Boundaries: Towards a Theoretical Model

Striković

Wittmann

2022

Vocations and Learning

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The digital transformation leads to changing work contexts and new work objects that give rise to the necessity of collaboration across occupational boundaries. Yet there is a lack of theoretical models of cross-occupational collaboration, particularly with regard to individuals’ cross-occupational collaboration competency (COCC). In order to close this research gap, this article presents a theoretical model of COCC and associated indicators which can be subject to education and diagnostics in VET. In accordance with activity theory, cross-occupational collaboration is characterized as an activity system. While an activity is collective in nature, its role-constituting elements (e.g., division of labor) point to role-theoretical approaches. This paper reviews role-theoretical frameworks and applies structural symbolic interactionism as a framework for modeling an individual’s COCC. Using its conceptual apparatus, a hierarchical model of an individual’s capacity for cross-occupational collaboration within an activity system is developed. Its elements are (i) knowledge about one’s own occupational role, (ii) knowledge about the roles of the cooperation partners with other occupations, (iii) latent role distance, (iv) role-taking, and (v) object-oriented role coordination/role-making. This model can also be used as a basis for assessments that may lead to empirical investigations of how to promote individuals’ COCC.

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Expertise as a ‘capacity for action’: reframing vocational knowledge from the perspective of work

Cited by 14 publications

References 37 publications

From expert to flexpert. How workers meet new expertise needs throughout their careers

From expert to flexpert. How workers meet new expertise needs throughout their careers

How workers meet new expertise needs throughout their careers: An integrative review revealing a dynamic process model of flexpertise

Collaborating Across Occupational Boundaries: Towards a Theoretical Model

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