The maturity of expert power: Computer information systems within small government organizations

New knowledge may lead to new power. Knowledge is a limited resource, consequently the greater the demand placed on knowledge the greater the power for those with that unique expertise. It is specific, not general, knowledge that leads to power.;Within government organizations there is a formal connection between the position held and the power exercised. Those higher in the hierarchy will have greater power than those that are lower. An exception to this rule is known as the power of lower level participants. In some instances these employees exercise an inordinate amount of power.;This investigation has demonstrated this phenomenon with computer specialists. The ability of these professionals to resolve computer related problems creates a power relationship over the user departments. This is known as expert power, and is limited in scope to the range of their computer expertise.;The use of the strategic contingency theory allowed for measuring the extent and growth of this expert power relationship. Other use of this theory has shown a low power relationship for the Information Systems department. This is because the criterion examined was strategic decisions in other departments.;The power of the Information Systems department is the computer expertise which results in a concentration of expert power in that department. If the computer processing remains on the mainframe computer then the expert power remains in the Information Systems department. If the processing shifts to personal computers then the maturation of expert power demonstrates a bell-shaped curve.;This study has shown that education and training for mainframe processing will tend to shift expert power to the user departments, but not significantly. Only in the case of end user computing where the users have control over their own processing is the shift of expert power significant.