Title: Professional knowledge sharing in aircraft maintenance: a new complexity dynamics

Authors: Ann Svensson

Addresses: Jönköping International Business School, P.O. Box 1026, SE-551 11, Jönköping, Sweden

Abstract: Aircraft maintenance can be described as a complex and interactive technical system. The ever increasing complex system of aircraft maintenance places much greater demands on the professionals carrying out this work including the leadership and management roles. This ethnographical study analyses this complex and intelligent aircraft maintenance work. Sharing of professional knowledge is of vital importance enhancing the innovative and creative work done in this domain. The aim of this paper is to highlight the challenges for the leadership and the management teams to effectively link complexity to the highly collective human intelligence that flourishes in this military domain. The challenges will be based on the empirical findings showing how the intrinsic leadership, collective intelligence and social dimensions such as cooperation, professional knowledge and management skills are played out within the communities of aircraft maintenance.

Keywords: knowledge sharing; professional knowledge; professions; complex work; aircraft maintenance; intrinsic leadership; collective intelligence; complexity management; ethnography; military aircraft; social dimensions; cooperation; management skills.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCLM.2011.046436

International Journal of Complexity in Leadership and Management, 2011 Vol.1 No.4, pp.322 - 338

Published online: 22 Oct 2014 *

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