Knowledge Sharing in Professions

Knowledge collation, management and development have been part of the founding purpose of professional groups. In recent years, these processes have been transformed by the revolution in communications technology; an increasing blurring of the lines between different professional organizations and the growing need to for these bodies to reinvent themselves as market-based organizations; changing the professional identify of their members from one of 'social trustee' to 'expert'.Alexander Styhre explores these processes of 'Knowledge Sharing in Professions' from the perspective of life sciences, management consultancy and architecture to explain: how professionals share and manage knowledge in complex and, often ambiguous, situations; the relationship between knowledge and identity and the requirement to switch between different roles as an expert; along with the role that collaboration plays in developing and transforming design concepts.Professor Styhre argues that in reality, professional work is a form of specialized work based on the capacity to collectively determine what is credible knowledge and on the sharing of such knowledge within as well as between professional communities.This book represents a valuable contribution both to the sociological literature on professions and the business orientated literature on knowledge management. It will appeal, therefore, to graduate students, researchers in the field of organization theory and management studies and in the social sciences more broadly, as well as to management consultants and interested practitioners.