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Title: Complex Technologies and Ignorant Expertise: The Communicative Value of Not Knowing but Figuring it Out
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 cultivatingignorant 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.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1926139
PAR ID:
10543248
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
SAGE Publications
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Management Communication Quarterly
Volume:
39
Issue:
3
ISSN:
0893-3189
Format(s):
Medium: X Size: p. 407-434
Size(s):
p. 407-434
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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