Problem‐solutions in the Management of Information Systems Expertise

Abstract

This article uses evidence on the management of Information Systems (IS) expertise to critique conventional understandings of the management of expert groups. These tend to focus on problems of 'integration' or 'control' at the point of production. But this neglects the interplay between organizations and the wider structure of IS expertise; the latter being shaped by the evolving computer technology regime and the IS occupation's ability to colonize technological knowledge. In this context, the management of expertise is better viewed as an evolving series of 'problem-solutions'. 'Hybrid managers' and 'strategic information systems' are cited as instances of such problem-solu tions.

Human resource management in the knowledge age

“…Scarbrough, 1993), and the literature review by Sumanth et al (1990) suggests that efforts to do so date from the early-or mid-1980s. More recently, a number of authors have jettisoned existing job-classification schemes in an attempt to describe wholly new employment phenomena.…”

Institutionalization and Structuration: Studying the Links between Action and Institution

“…of organizations, but have paid relatively little attention to the process by which such assumptions arise and are maintained (Zucker 1977(Zucker , 1986(Zucker , 1991Tolbert andZucker 1983, 1996;Tolbert 1985;Zucker et al 1995 (1976,1979,1984) ( 1976,1979,1984) Barley's (1986) structure with action (Archer 1982(Archer , 1989Layder 1987;Callinicos 1985 Riley 1983;Willmott 1987), to fully understand the processes by which institutions and actions are reciprocally related requires diachronic analysis (Archer 1982 Noble ( 1984), Shaiken (1984) and other students of technology (Scarbrough 1993) (Pettigrew 1987 Barley's ( 1984Barley's ( , 1986Barley's ( , 1988Barley's ( , 1990 (Birr 1957;Kline 1987 ( 1984,1986,1990) (Friedson 1970 …”

The Role of Intermediary Groups in Shaping Management Fashion: The Case of Knowledge Management

“…However, the translation of KM into management practices seems to have taken place primarily under the professional aegis of IS functions. Given their colonization of KM, IS professionals within organizations were able to recruit the new fashion into their ongoing attempts to legitimize their role within business organizations (Scarbrough 1993), and to advance their own agenda for investment in new IT tools and strategies. Indeed, the evidence suggests that KM was used extensively by IS specialists to legitimate and mobilize management support for organizational change programs that centered on using IT to capture and codify knowledge (Alavi and Leidner 1997;Cohen 1998).…”