Beyond Competence: Communicating Expertise Under Uncertainty

Tammy Levin

doi:10.2478/mcj-2026-0013

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Beyond Competence: Communicating Expertise Under Uncertainty

Management Consulting Journal

Volume 9 (2026): Issue 2 (June 2026)

By: Tammy Levin

Open Access

|Aug 2026

Abstract

This essay explores the ethical challenges of communicating expertise under uncertainty in consulting. Based on a semi-structured interview about a $1.2 million NASA project, it examines a decision in which internal uncertainty was presented with amplified confidence. Drawing on literature on the rhetorical construction of expertise, structural pressures in consulting, and moral disengagement theory, the case shows how certainty becomes strategically constructed in high-stakes contexts. The findings highlight a structural grey zone where professional codes provide limited guidance for communicating uncertainty.

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