Hiding in Plain Sight: Expertise (In)visibilities and (Mis)matches in Modern Organizational Structures

The changing nature of work and organizing makes matching individuals to tasks an increasing challenge. Consequently, there is a growing interest in mapping a workforce’s expertise to manage it more strategically. Yet, systems for mapping and matching are often based on an individualist view of expertise. Drawing on research on knowledge and professional work, this paper foregrounds a social view of expertise, showing how multiple forms, diverse versions, and varying conceptions of expertise coexist as bundles. The paper discusses how mapping systems that overlook the plural, multidimensional, and dynamic properties of knowledge create expertise invisibilities – flattening, eclipsing, and marginalizing it – and can thus generate mismatches between workers and tasks. By showing that invisibility and incompetence are important dimensions in expertise dynamics, this paper contributes to research on expertise development, recognition, and mobilization. Furthermore, it suggests that beyond the debate on a potential crisis of expertise in society, at the workplace level, competent expert work hinges on organizational structures that appropriately make expertise visible and align it with tasks.