Work

Complex Technologies and Ignorant Expertise: The Communicative Value of Not Knowing but Figuring it Out

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Workplaces are increasingly full of complex technologies embedded in dynamic infrastructures demanding workers to assess and understand unanticipated problems. In order to comprehensively appraise the role of technological complexity and the uncertainties it affords in a complex, high-stakes setting, we interviewed and observed members of three interdisciplinary STEM laboratories. Findings revealed that organizational members navigated uncertainty by cultivating ignorant expertise (i.e., not knowing but figuring it out ). This form of expertise emerged as a combination of two practices: the practice of emergent troubleshooting and the practice of negotiating new practices. In discussing these findings, we offer three key takeaways. We demonstrate that ignorant expertise: (a) operates as a dialectic of hesitancy and boldness and is mobilized through ignorant yet knowledgeable actions; (b) is communicatively performed through think-out-loud and storytelling techniques, and developing interpersonal rapport with organizational members; and (c) establishes technological complexity as a catalyst for organizing processes.

Source: Management Communication Quarterly

DOI: 10.1177/08933189241286452

Authors: Nandini Sharma, Jeffrey W. Treem, Megan Kenny Feister, William C. Barley

Institutions: The University of Texas at Austin, Northwestern University, California State University, Channel Islands, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Language: English

Topic: Innovative Education and Learning Practices

Subfield: Human Factors and Ergonomics

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,450

Funder: National Science Foundation