Management experience and management expertise

Issues associated with the study of management expertise are identified and approaches for further behavioral and technical research in this area are suggested, including a situated learning approach appropriate to formulate and explore the relationships between management experience, expertise and performance.

Abstract

Is there such a thing as management 'expertise'? What are its characteristics? This paper examines four aspects of how management expertise is developed from management experience: the task specificity of experience, multiple types of experience, depth vs. breadth of experience and the impact of experience over time. It identifies issues associated with the study of management expertise and suggests approaches for further behavioral and technical research in this area. In particular, a situated learning approach is appropriate to formulate and explore the relationships between management experience, expertise and performance and a case-based reasoning approach is appropriate as a representation and modeling mechanism.