Staffing, Expertise, and Learning

For a terrific case study of the issues entailed with re-thinking staffing of any project, enterprise, or lab, see At Work Expertise is Falling Out of Favor in the July 2019 issue of The Atlantic. The story focuses on the crew of a Navy littoral combat ship, a crew that is dramatically smaller than typical. The smaller crew is made possible by the replacement of specialists with generalists who have the capacity to learn quickly and play multiple roles. The crew members report being incredibly engaged with the prospects of learning something new at every turn.

This case considers both the benefits and the problems of moving from a staffing model based on larger numbers of specialists, each performing a single well defined role for which they were carefully trained and developed high levels of expertise to one based on a small number of generalists selected for their ability to learn new things quickly. While a team of fast learning generalists might not be best in all circumstances, it does seem to have some advantages for organizations that must respond to rapidly changing environments. Of course, there are major implications for conceptions of expertise and careers as well as the personnel selection and for the educational system.

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