Negotiating Managerial Legitimacy in smaller Organizations: Management Education, Technical Skill, and Situated Competence

Abstract

This article explores the negotiation of managerial legitimacy in smaller organizations, considering managerial competence as a situated process. The central issue addressed is how employees and line managers use formal education, management development, and experiential or cultural competence as resources in defining the managerial role. The authors suggest that managerial legitimacy and authority are negotiated along two axes: local, technical expertise and nonlocal, abstract knowledge. The material effects of the negotiation of manager-managed relations are analyzed in relation to determining employee payment levels based on judgments of skill. The authors explore the implications of this for understanding the social construction of competence in smaller organizations.