Innovation and the Organisation of Technical Expertise and Work

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