The management of experts

[Moontanman]

The title "expert" is a very heavy load to carry if you truely are an expert, I have areas of expertise but I shy away from claiming to be an expert...

[swansont]

The title "expert" is a very heavy load to carry if you truely are an expert, I have areas of expertise but I shy away from claiming to be an expert...

 

As do I. It's a very short walk for me to find people who are more knowledgeable on almost any work-related subject.

[EdEarl]

I'm an expert at tripping on my tongue.

[Willie71]

 

Bingo.

 

Managers should provide their people with the tools they need, and try to not get in the way. They also need to communicate well, so that they can deal with people and get what they want, rather than what they ask for.

 

The example of security vs safety is not so much a management issue; if it's a construction project there should be someone in charge of construction who can coordinate all of those things. Or you need someone smart enough to recognize the conflicting requirements and deal with them. I've been there (I helped build a building). You need ventilation plus fire safety, which conflict, you need physical security but also access for data and ventilation, which conflict. And more. What's needed is to make the right people aware of the conflicts, and find what actually works. I think that most example of disasters already given boil down to poor communication.

 

There are jobs where you can't be a manager simply by virtue of the fact that you have an MBA; if you need technical competence, then the manager who hired the MBA without it failed at their job. The "tools that people need" might have to include hiring the right people. Also having people around who know that they shouldn't be making promises when they don't have the technical skill on which to base their decisions. You don't want someone promising to deliver a unicorn. Basically, don't be like the cartoon Dilbert.

 

The worst managers I've experienced were micromanagers who basically turned me into a drone, and the worst management style has been a one-size-fits-all approach, making normal government bureaucracy even worse. IMO one of the worst things management can do is to overly restrict options of the people carrying out the work.

 

Too bad you didn't talk to my last boss. I have over 20 years working with troubled youth, and she had three years experience working with the general population. She would re-write my letters to physicians, changing the meaning significantly, restrict me from using best practice therapies, limit the number of sessions I could have on a particular topic, forced me to close files earlier than they ethically should have been. I tried to work with her supervisors, but in the end, I had to quit from an organization I worked for for 22 years. She could not comprehend that someone could know something that she didn't.

[swansont]

Too bad you didn't talk to my last boss. I have over 20 years working with troubled youth, and she had three years experience working with the general population. She would re-write my letters to physicians, changing the meaning significantly, restrict me from using best practice therapies, limit the number of sessions I could have on a particular topic, forced me to close files earlier than they ethically should have been. I tried to work with her supervisors, but in the end, I had to quit from an organization I worked for for 22 years. She could not comprehend that someone could know something that she didn't.

We were just discussing the "Peter principle" just the other day at work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle

[CharonY]

Also to some extent applicable is the Dunning-Kruger effect. Specifically in expert areas supervisors are likely to be non-experts and will have issue in evaluating their own competence. If they are micro-managers, that it will be an issue.

[imatfaal]

I think I post from the other side of the divide compared to many of the members here - I deal with many experts in their fields and whilst I do not manage them (the managers of each skill group are themselves highly experienced and qualified in that area), I do have to co-ordinate (with) their actions and, in essence exploits their labours to increase our income. I agree with many of the comments above and do try to work by those ideals but I would mention one idiosyncrasy of the expert - the very common assumption by the highly technically qualified that any job/task/skill that does not require qualifications/certification can be grokked by the expert.

[CharonY]

That is certainly true. I guess a faculty position is a bit of a mix (supposed to be expert and supervisory role) but also includes administrative duties. Sure, the latter seem like trivial tasks, way lower in complexity than, say, solving a scientific problem. But I'll be damned if this does not lead me to underestimate the time commitment for these tasks (and as a result I get yelled at by admin on a regular basis....).

Probably being preoccupied with a certain set of problems makes one to smooth over the difficulties (if "only" in time management) that other non-technical tasks require.

Edited March 24, 2015 by CharonY