Transference of power: shifting expertise to expert system developers

As expert system developers transfer expert knowledge into a system, the potential exists for the surrogate system to disrupt the prior balance of power between experts and developers in the organization. Although there has been extensive research in expert systems, there is a lack of investigations into both the organizational impacts of expert system development and more specifically, the potential power shifts within the organization. In the field of management, there have been numerous studies of how participants within an organization vie for and deal with power. This paper uses the organizational power model proposed by Pfeffer (1981) as the theoretical foundation for the discussion of transference of expertise, and thus power, in expert systems development. This paper contributes to the current literature by proposing a new theoretical base for expert system research in organizations