Mirko Noordegraaf

From “Pure” to “Hybrid” Professionalism Present-Day Professionalism in Ambiguous Public Domains

Public sectors struggle with professionalism. Classic professions are weakened, welfare state occupations professionalize, and public managers try to become professionals. This raises questions. What is professionalism? What is professional control in ambiguous occupational domains? What happens when different types of occupational control get mixed up? The first question is answered by portraying classic professionalism as “controlled content.” The second question is answered by tracing a transition from “pure” to “hybrid” professionalism in domains such as health care and social work. The third question is answered by portraying present-day professionalism as “content of control” instead of controlled content.

Working for policy

Though democratic government calls for well-designed and implemented policy, there is surprisingly little expert guidance available for policy makers and politicians. Working for Policy fills that gap, addressing the nature of policy work and offering necessary guidance. The contributors bring together academic and experiential knowledge in their analysis and evaluation of what modern policy makers do in given situations and of how such actions contribute to the policy process. This unique book demonstrates how scholars can help to ensure that policy makers can acquire the skills and knowledge required in governing complex modern societies.

Remaking professionals? How associations and professional education connect professionalism and organizations

This article highlights connections between professional and organizational logics that might arise outside organizations, especially during professional education. Traditionally, many professionals were educated and prepared for rendering services and securing quality, irrespective of organizational surroundings. Contemporary service surroundings force professional associations to ‘remake’ rank and file professionals, so that professional behaviours become more ‘organizational’. Associations might change educational programmes, for instance, so that their members learn about organizational issues like efficiency, planning and leadership, working conditions, financing systems and risks. Whether and how this really happens, is unclear, however. This article analyses whether professional education connects professionals to organizational logics, and if so, how? Conceptually, various associational mechanisms for connecting professional and organizational logics are explored. Empirically, professional education is studied by focusing on the education of British and Dutch medical doctors. By analysing their education at three levels of analysis — educational guidelines, curricula and educational practices — the article studies whether and how doctors are tied to organizational issues. At each of these levels, it is concluded, changes occur, although most changes are mainly concerned with didactic and competency-based educational philosophies. To some extent, new connections between professionalism and organizations are established, but primarily at the level of general guidelines. Although medical education is reorganized, medical students are hardly equipped for organizational matters. Cet article souligne les liens qui peuvent se créer en dehors des organisations, en particulier lors de la formation des professionnels, entre les logiques des professions et celles des organisations. Traditionnellement, les professionnels étaient formés et préparés à rendre des services et à assurer une qualité quel que soit l’environnement organisationnel. Les environnements de service contemporains poussent les associations professionnelles à ‘redéfinir’ les classements de professionnels afin que leurs comportements soient plus ‘organisationnels’. Des questions organisationnelles comme l’efficacité, la planification, la direction, les conditions de travail, les systèmes de financement et les risques sont devenus pertinents et les associations peuvent modifier les programmes de formation afin que les professionnels maîtrisent ces questions. La réalité de ceci, ni la façon dont ceci se passe ne sont cependant avérées. Cet article analyse si la formation aux professions crée des liens entre les logiques des professions et celles des organisations, et si tel est le cas la façon dont ces liens sont créés. Au niveau conceptuel, les mécanismes d’association relatifs aux liens entre les professions et les organisations sont explorés. Au niveau empirique, la formation des professions et sa relation avec les questions organisationnelles est étudiée en mettant l’accent sur la formation des médecins britanniques et néerlandais. Trois niveaux d’analyse sont abordés: directives de formation, contenus des formations et pratiques didactiques. Pour chacun de ces niveaux, la conclusion est que des changements ont lieu même si la plupart d’entre eux concernent la sphère didactique et les conceptions de transmission des compétences. Dans une certaine mesure, de nouveaux liens entre le professionnalisme et des organisations sont établis, mais principalement au niveau des directives générales. Bien que la formation médicale soit réorganisée, les étudiants en médecine ne sont que peu préparés aux questions organisationnelles. Este artículo resalta las conexiones entre la lógica profesional y la lógica organizacional que pueden surgir fuera de las organizaciones, especialmente durante la educación profesional. De forma tradicional, se educa y se prepara a los profesionales para prestar un servicio y garantizar la calidad del mismo, independientemente de sus entornos organizacionales. Los entornos de servicio contemporáneo fuerzan a las asociaciones profesionales a ‘transformar’ a los profesionales de bajo rango, de manera que las conductas profesionales se vuelvan más ‘organizacionales’. Los temas organizacionales, tales como la eficiencia, planificación, liderazgo, condiciones laborales, sistemas de financiamiento y riesgos, se han vuelto más relevantes, y las asociaciones podrían cambiar los programas educativos para que los profesionales aprendan sobre estos temas. No obstante, no está claro si se producirá este cambio y cómo. Este artículo analiza si la educación profesional conecta a los profesionales con la lógica organizacional, y de ser así, cómo lo hace. Desde un punto de vista conceptual, se explora los mecanismos de las asociaciones con respecto a la conexión entre la lógica profesional y la lógica organizacional. De modo práctico, se estudia la educación profesional y su conexión con los temas organizacionales enfocándose en la educación de doctores médicos británicos y holandeses, y considerando tres niveles de análisis: directrices educativas, currícula y prácticas educativas. La conclusión en cada uno de estos niveles es que efectivamente se producen cambios, aunque la mayoría de los cambios están relacionados principalmente con las filosofías educacionales didácticas y en base a la competencia, pero principalmente en el nivel de directrices generales. Aunque la educación médica es sometida a reorganizaciones, los estudiantes médicos están apenas preparados para temas de índole organizacional.

Professionalism as Symbolic Capital. Materials for a Bourdieusian Theory of Professionalism.

Pierre Bourdieu has given a brief but fierce critique of the concept of “profession” that calls for a more reflexive analysis of the professions and in fact suggests not using the concept at all. In this contribution, we explicate the gist of that critique and argue it is possible to analyze it in a Bourdieusian fashion. We regard professionalism as a form of symbolic capital, the substance of which is constantly at stake in power-driven contexts, both internally and externally. Professional fields are embedded in objective relations with other fields in what Bourdieu describes as a general field of power. Within each professional field, the legitimate substance of what it means to act in a “professional way” is constantly at stake. In turn, across various professional fields, within what Bourdieu describes as a larger field of power, the very idea or “formal content” of “professionalism” is subject to struggle and (re)negotiation. This power-centered view emphasizes professionalism is a scarce symbolic resource, an object of a process of consecration and a source of legitimate forms of acting and interpreting. It thereby de-essentializes talk of professions and professionalization.

Professional capital contested: A bourdieusian analysis of conflicts between professionals and managers

Although Bourdieu paid scant attention to (and in fact discredited) the notion of professionalism, his social theory is well-equipped to understand the evolution of professional work. Professionalism can be conceived as a set of symbolic resources that (re)produce an occupational order, favoring expertise and craftsmanship. In neo-liberal economies this order is contested and professional powers are distrusted; professional work is seen as closed-off and conservative. Managers have become important vehicles for rationalizing and innovating production, and improving “value for money.” In fact, managerial “fields” are created, and conflicts between managerial and professional fields are well documented. These conflicts are ironic, as new classes of managers seek classic strategies of professionalization as well as classic forms of professional capital for securing managerial positions. They form professional associations, for instance, and invest in schooling, credentials and work codes. This paper explores conflicts between professionals and managers as “contests over symbolic capital.” We argue that professional capital is appropriated by managers in order to distinguish “new” from “old” professional work in larger economized fields of power.

Public Managers Amidst Ambiguity Towards a Typology of Evaluative Practices in Public Management

Contemporary public management is characterized by a strong tendency to introduce performance measurement in order to reduce complexity. Public managers face two challenges when performing their work: uncertainty and ambiguity. Ambiguity is understood as the absence of or contradictory interpretations about what needs to, can and should be done, when and where. In this article we argue that the intensity and nature of ambiguity vary, depending on the public management setting. This has serious implications for the type of evaluation chosen. Performance measurement may be appropriate when ambiguity is relatively low, but it is difficult and potentially damaging in settings marked by a high degree of ambiguity. In these latter cases, evaluation approaches that acknowledge ambiguity through dialogue are more suitable. To structure this line of reasoning, we distinguish four public management settings (industrial, enforcing, professional and strategic) and relate this to different evaluation approaches.

Reconfiguring Professional Work: Changing Forms of Professionalism in Public Services

Many public services are produced by professional workers who deal with cases and clients on the basis of professional knowledge and skills. As groups of workers, they acquired autonomies to structure professional knowledge and skills and to regulate case treatment. During the previous years, professional work has changed. Most often, the “new public management” is seen as the main driver: Service provision is said to be managerialized to make services more efficient and effective. This article rejects this simple explanation and argues that public professional work is affected by much more than managerial reform. It presents an analytical framework for tracing broader societal forces that reconfigure professional work. Professionals are not merely managed and measured; professional work in public services might be (a) reorganized, (b) restratified, and (c) relocated. Increasingly fragmented and dependent professional fields might have to seek new forms of control and new understandings of public professionalism are required.

Identifying identities: performance‐driven, but professional public managers

Purpose – This paper examines the effects of performance driven public services on managerial behaviour and the values that influence individual actions.Design/methodology/approach – The approach is historical/institutional within a constructed theoretical frameworkFindings – Fuelled by the “new public management” movement, public managers are forced to act in performance‐driven ways and instruments like “performance contracts” and “performance‐related pay” are being used to improve managerial behaviour and the professionalism of public officials. Consequently, public managers have acquired personal stakes in public organizations because when they meet organizational targets, they reap financial rewards. More efficiency, lower costs, and less waste, more responsiveness to customers, and increased flexibility are perceived to be good for society. These changes, however, are more than instrumental. They are about changing identities and changing the meaning of acting as a public official. Traditional Weberi...

Pushed organizational pulls

This article presents empirical data on organizational reform in Dutch health care, and explores managerial work and behaviour. Two main questions will be answered. First, what organizational reforms are taking place, and how widespread are these reforms? Second, what do reforms mean for the real-life workings of health care organizations, most specifically for managerial behaviour? As far as reforms are concerned, it will be concluded that organizational changes are widespread, especially strategic apex reform and mergers. To a lesser extent, organizational structures are adapted and new relations between management and professionals are developed. Organizational and managerial contexts count albeit in unexpected ways. The professional context counts: management uses organizational reform to provide counterweight vis-à-vis and control of professionals. In addition, managerial background counts, but in a limited way: executives with limited managerial careers opt for organizational reform. Finally, organizational size counts, exerting a strong influence on organizational reform. As far as behavioural consequences are concerned, it will be concluded that organizational reform goes hand-in-hand with behavioural confusion. An ‘organizational pull’ appears to be strong. Executives are forced to be ‘down to earth’ managers, while they express ‘exotic’ desires to be strategists and entrepreneurs. Paradoxically, most organizational reforms strengthen this pull.

Confused Professionals?: Capacities to cope with pressures on professional work

Abstract Public professionalism is increasingly subject to organizational and societal pressures, which has led to ambiguity concerning its nature. Professionals face conflicting situations due to potential clashes between multifaceted professional, organizational, and societal factors. This raises questions about how these factors affect professional work, how professionals experience conflicts and how they cope. We investigate such conflicts, confusion, and coping strategies in a group of veterinary inspectors. Using semi-structured interviews, we analyse their work and link the resulting insights to different perspectives on professionalism. We show that workers experience conflicts as less stressful when they accept organizational factors, or when they are able to enact a more integrated set of professional/organizational work principles. We call this organizing professionalism. We trace factors that hinder and favour such organizing coping strategies.