Intelligence in Industry: The Uses and Abuses of Experts

Abstract

In their vision of the managerial revolution, Max Weber and Thorstein Veblen pictured experts coming to power by virtue of their indispensability. The reality, not so dramatic, is nevertheless critical for an understanding of the main drift of modern society. Coalitions of top managers and experts, each acquiring some of the skills of the other, now make increasing use of systematic technical and ideological intelligence. The structural roots of intelligence failures—hierarchy, specialization and rivalry, and centralization—become more prominent. The new technology produces a surfeit of information, poorly digested or lost in the system. Big policy decisions are often made in an atmosphere of urgency and uncertainty, the effects of which can be both good and bad. Alert executives, therefore, reshape administrative structures to smooth the flow of intelligence; more important, they bypass the machinery and seek firsthand exposure to unofficial intelligence sources both inside and outside the organization. These responses are evident in the structure and strategy of modern corporations. Although preconceptions remain discouragingly powerful, top executives are increasingly exposed to social science perspectives in college and on the job. It is possible that social science at its best sometimes breaks through executives' stereotypes, enhances their understanding of themselves and their organizations, alerts them to the range of relevant variables, and increases their skill in using experts.