Innovation and the Organisation of Technical Expertise and Work

This paper reviews a selection of the comparative research on the organisation of skills and work in different countries. It argues that despite differences in institutional means, such as keiretsu and structured apprenticeship, the ends, in terms of a capacity to organise skills, is similar. It is suggested that the British institution of craft control of skills should be understood as the default state of organisation of skills and work. This state may be likely to develop anywhere where there is an absence of coercive control over the free rider effect. It is argued that the free rider effect is likely to have worse effect than is usually assumed in the case of the diffusion of innovative new technologies. The benefits of coercive arrangements to suppress free rider effects on skills should include the prevention of the development of craft control of work. The paper ends with a discussion of what makes an effective technology manager. The conclusion is that in the most effective cases, whatever the institutional means that allows training, the object is the integration of formal academic knowledge with a structured and broad base of work experience.