Expertise and Power in Professional Organizations

A study of architects in private firms examines the influence of various factors on individuals' decision power. Although formal position is the most important factor (as might be expected) other factors affect power also, and they do so differentially within each of three positions. Whereas general knowledge of the professional core increases managers' power, it is knowledge of peripheral areas, such as fields in engineering, that increases the power of salaried professionals (designers and staff architects). This indicates that the source of power of "lower participants" in the professional firm rests largely on their ability to control areas that are highly ambiguous or uncertain for most architects. Using several dimensions of expertness, the results show quite consistently that general, rather than specialized, knowledge promotes the power of individual professionals, and this is true for managers as well as for the two categories of staff.