Negotiating the Meaning of Team Expertise: A Firefighter Team’s Epistemic Denial

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dc.contributor.authorElizabeth Minei
dc.contributor.authorRyan Bisel
dc.date.accessioned2016-01-14T19:53:21Z
dc.date.accessioned2016-03-30T15:32:44Z
dc.date.available2016-01-14T19:53:21Z
dc.date.available2016-03-30T15:32:44Z
dc.date.issued2013-02-01
dc.description.abstractIn this case study, we report how a team of firefighters critiqued one of its member’s decisions to facilitate learning and process improvement. The study is supported by 500+ hr of ethnographic observations, documents, and 11 retrospective interviews, which captured how the team’s talk about the member’s decision shaped their interpretations of their own and others’ expertise—interpretations that ironically undermined learning. Constant comparative analysis revealed that these firefighters positioned themselves as experts by crediting either personal experience or technical knowledge and then discrediting the alternative way of knowing. We labeled this process epistemic denial. The process of epistemic denial was rooted in identity concern; specifically, veteran team members relied on personal experience and newer members relied on technical information gained from training to assert their expertise, and to devalue others’ expertise. The article concludes with recommendations for avoiding problems associated with epistemic denial in high-reliability teams.en_US
dc.description.peerreviewYesen_US
dc.description.peerreviewnoteshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guidelinesen_US
dc.identifier.citationMinei, E., & Bisel, R. (2013). Negotiating the Meaning of Team Expertise: A Firefighter Team’s Epistemic Denial. Small Group Research, 44(1), 7-32. doi: 10.1177/1046496412467830en_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1177/1046496412467830en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11244/25208
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherSmall Group Research
dc.rights.requestablefalseen_US
dc.subjectteam learningen_US
dc.subjectexpertiseen_US
dc.subjectdecision makingen_US
dc.subjecthigh-reliability teams (HRTs)en_US
dc.subjectafter action review (AAR)en_US
dc.subjecthigh-reliability organization (HRO)en_US
dc.titleNegotiating the Meaning of Team Expertise: A Firefighter Team’s Epistemic Denialen_US
dc.typeResearch Articleen_US

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