Managing knowledge : experts, agencies, and organizations / Steven Albert and Keith Bradley.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-208) and index.

Print version record.

Introduction: the supply-side in context -- pt. 1. Expert employees and their new organization. 1. Trends in the labour market. 2. Adaptations in the labour market and the expert employee. 3. From the firm to the agency. 4. Expert agency employment as a facilitator of intellectual capital. 5. The temporal advantages of agency work for the expert employee. 6. Taking stock -- pt. 2. The labour market and the expert employee. 7. AT & T's special employment policies for expert employees. 8. An external temporary agency and expert employees. 9. The Hollywood agency system. 10. The Internet as an agent. 11. Labour market segments re-examined. 12. Agents and intellectual capital -- App. A. Formal exposition of Winston model -- App. B. Agency employment and search costs.

Managing Knowledge reverses the status quo argument that organisational change is driven by the specific demands of large companies. Instead of viewing firms as the catalysts for gradual change, Albert and Bradley argue that expert professionals have fuelled a break away from the traditional organisational structure to an organisational structure at the heart of which is an agent and/or an agency system. The authors draw our attention to the growing phenomenon of atypical work manifested in workforce flexibility, mobility, the feminisation of professional employment, and technological changes. They focus upon a group of knowledge-based employees - experts - who increasingly have influence over work and wealth creation. Case studies are developed from companies including AT and T, the Hollywood film industry, London accounting firms, and specialised agencies such as Labforce and Knowledge Net.

eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - Worldwide