Julia Evetts

A new professionalism? Challenges and opportunities

Sociologists interested in professional work and occupations have differentiated professionalism as a distinctive and special way of controlling and organizing work and workers, with real advantages for both practitioners and clients. In this interpretation the analysis of professionalism is as an ‘occupational value’. But professionalism is changing and being changed as professionals now increasingly work in large-scale organizational workplaces and sometimes in international firms. This article explains professionalism as an occupational value and indicates both the changes to and continuities in professionalism in these organizational contexts. Then some of the possible consequences of the redefinition of professionalism are examined for practitioner-workers and their clients in public sector service work such as health, welfare and education. These consequences include changes in the work itself, in practitioner—employer and practitioner—client relations, and in the control of work priorities and processes. The final section considers if there might also be some advantages in the combination of professional and organizational logics for controlling work and workers and whether there are opportunities associated with these changes which might improve both the conduct and practice of professional service work, while being of benefit to practitioners and clients. Les sociologues qui s’intéressent au travail des professions ont caractérisé le professionnalisme comme une façon distincte et particulière de contrôler et d’organiser le travail et les travailleurs, avec de réels avantages pour les professionnels et les clients. Dans cette acception, l’analyse du professionnalisme est celle d’une ‘valeur professionnelle’. Mais le professionnalisme évolue car les professionnels travaillent de plus en plus pour de grandes organisations et parfois pour des sociétés internationales. L’article explique le professionnalisme en tant que valeur professionnelle et précise à la fois les évolutions et les constantes de ce concept dans ces contextes organisationnels. Certaines des conséquences possibles de la redéfinition du professionnalisme pour les praticiens et leurs clients, dans les services publics comme la santé, les services sociaux et l’éducation, sont examinées. Ces conséquences incluent les changements dans le travail lui-même, les évolutions des relations praticien/employeur et praticien/ client et les changements dans le contrôle des priorités et processus dans le cadre du travail. La dernière partie étudie l’éventualité de certains avantages dans la combinaison des logiques de professions et celles d’organisations dans le contrôle du travail et des travailleurs et celle d’opportunités associées à ces changements qui pourraient améliorer à la fois le comportement et la pratique de services professionnels tout en bénéficiant aux praticiens et aux clients. Los sociólogos interesados en el trabajo y ocupaciones profesionales han diferenciado al profesionalismo como una manera especial y distintiva de controlar y organizar el trabajo y los trabajadores, trayendo consigo una serie de ventajas intrínsecas tanto para los profesionales como para los clientes. En esta interpretación, el análisis del profesionalismo es un ‘valor ocupacional’. No obstante, el profesionalismo está cambiando y está siendo cambiado a medida que los profesionales trabajan cada vez más en lugares organizacionales de gran escala y a veces en empresas internacionales. El artículo define al profesionalismo como un valor ocupacional y resalta la continuidad y los cambios dados en el profesionalismo dentro de estos contextos organizacionales. A continuación, se examina algunas de las posibles consecuencias de la redefinición del profesionalismo tanto para trabajadores-profesionales como para sus clientes en trabajos del sector público, tales como salud, asistencia social y educación. Estas consecuencias incluyen cambios en el trabajo mismo, en la relación entre profesional/ empleado y profesional/cliente, y en el control de los procesos y prioridades laborales. La sección final considera si también pudieran haber algunas ventajas en la combinación de la lógica profesional y organizacional para el control de trabajo y trabajadores y si hay oportunidades relacionadas con estos cambios que pueden mejorar tanto la conducta como la práctica del trabajo de servicio profesional que a la vez sean de beneficio para los profesionales y clientes.

Short Note: The Sociology of Professional Groups New Directions

This article is not a critique of the Sciulli article (2005) but, instead, indicates some current and contemporary research questions about professionalism considered to be important to researchers in the field from North America, Europe and worldwide. The article begins by offering an alternative, more pragmatic, view of the definitional question and argues that most researchers have accepted definitional uncertainty and moved on. Current research questions include a reappraisal and reassessment of professionalism as a normative value – and a move away from market closure as the dominant paradigm. In addition, there are new directions in the analysis that focus on the discourse of professionalism as a mechanism for the control of work and workers.

New Professionalism and New Public Management: Changes, Continuities and Consequences

The links between New Public Management (NPM) and the possible emergence of a new and different form of professionalism raise interesting and challenging questions for sociologists of professional groups. In this paper, an ideal-type (organizational/occupational professionalism) is used to examine the links between NPM and professionalism in the contexts of the public services of western post-industrial societies. Then the changes to and the continuities in professionalism in these organizational contexts and with NPM are indicated. The discussion section examines some of the consequences of the changes in professionalism for practitioner workers and their clients in public service sector work.

Professionalism: Value and ideology

Professionalism is a key concept in the sociologies of work, occupations, professions and organizations. But professionalism is changing and being changed. The article considers the different ways in which professionalism has been and is currently being interpreted. Beginning with a section on defining the field and clarifying concepts, the second section examines the concept of professionalism, its history and current developments. The third section considers the consequences of changes in work contexts and employment conditions for aspects of professionalism both as an occupational value and as an ideology in the global world.

Introduction: Trust and Professionalism: Challenges and Occupational Changes

This introductory article provides the background and clarifies the concepts and questions to be addressed in the articles that follow. It begins with a section examining how trust and professionalism have been linked in the sociological literature on the professions. The second section outlines a different interpretation of profession and professionalism, which explains how these concepts are increasingly used as discourses of occupational change and social control. The article concludes by examining the consequences of a focus on the discourse of professionalism for the intellectual field of sociology of professional groups and of the claim that there has been a decline of trust, competence and discretion in professional work.This introductory article provides the background and clarifies the concepts and questions to be addressed in the articles that follow. It begins with a section examining how trust and professionalism have been linked in the sociological literature on the professions. The second section outlines a different interpretation of profession and professionalism, which explains how these concepts are increasingly used as discourses of occupational change and social control. The article concludes by examining the consequences of a focus on the discourse of professionalism for the intellectual field of sociology of professional groups and of the claim that there has been a decline of trust, competence and discretion in professional work.

Analysing Change in Women's Careers: Culture, Structure and Action Dimensions

This article addresses a number of related issues. It outlines and illustrates three dimensions of explanations about womens careers: cultural, structural and action dimensions. The three dimensions are considered as aspects of determinism and choice in womens careers and are illustrated with regard to different professional sectors. The article argues that change needs to be a prominent feature in the analysis of womens careers but that change is differently perceived and interpreted in analyses in the three different dimensions.

The construction of professionalism in new and existing occupational contexts: promoting and facilitating occupational change

Professions, as a special (privileged) category of service‐sector occupations, are nowadays perceived as under threat from organizational, economic and political changes. Many of these threats concern the medical profession (and sometimes the legal profession). The use of the discourse of professionalism in other occupational contexts is seldom addressed, however, yet it is this, which is providing a much more interesting challenge to social scientists. In this paper the increased deployment of the concept “professional” is critically discussed and the power of the discourse of professionalism is explored more closely. The increased use of “professionalism” in new and existing occupational contexts is considered as a mechanism for facilitating and promoting social and occupational change. Many of these occupations provide services and often women constitute the bulk of the practitioners in these occupational groups. It is time to look again then at professionalism as a set of persuasive ideas or an ideology and to examine the power of these ideas and this discourse in terms of social order and control of occupational groups and individual “professionalised” practitioners.

Managing the technology but not the organization: women and career in engineering

This paper focuses on gender and technology in the organization. It considers some of the difficulties experienced by women building careers as professional engineers in a high technology industrial organization in England. Using career history data from 15 women engineers, the paper examines the experience of gender in the organization and the attempts by the women to manage gender relations. The paper argues that the difficulties were not associated with the culture of engineering work itself: the women could manage the technology. The problems lay rather in the organization itself. The gendered expectations and processes within the organization constituted the real dilemma for women’s careers.

Sociological Analysis of Professionalism: Past, Present and Future

For a long time, sociological analysis of professional work has differentiated professionalism as a special means of organizing work and controlling workers and in contrast to the hierarchical, bureaucratic and managerial controls of industrial and commercial organizations. But professional work is changing and being changed as increasingly professionals (such as doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers) now work in employing organizations; lawyers and accountants in large professional service firms (PSFs) and sometimes in international and commercial organizations; pharmacists in national (retailing) companies; and engineers, journalists, performing artists, the armed forces and police find occupational control of their work and discretionary decision-making increasingly difficult to sustain. This paper begins with a section on defining the field and clarifying concepts. This is followed by a second section on the concept of professionalism, its history and current developments. The third section discusses convergences between Anglo-American and Continental European systems of professions and the general, wider applicability of particular explanatory theories and analytical concepts in the field. Section four examines internationalizing processes affecting professions. Markets for professional services are increasingly international and professional regulation is now a matter for international professional federations as well as national and regional states. The final section provides summary and considers consequences for aspects of professionalism as an occupational value in the global world.

Professionalisation and professionalism: issues for interprofessional care

This paper attempts to develop a general framework for the papers in this issue by examining the concepts of profession, professionalisation and professionalism. The historical developments and debates within these areas are illustrated and discussed. The paper continues with suggestions for how the concept of professionalism might need to be re-interpreted to include issues of current concern to all professions and professionals. It is argued that accountability and continuing professional development are both compatible with, as well as essential for, professionalism.