Professional Work, Managing

Abstract

Abstract The management of health care work remains a prominent topic of inquiry within medical sociology, and more broadly the sociology of the professions, organizational studies, management science, and public policy. This interdisciplinary field shows a significant shift in the organization of expert work since the 1970s, where the logic of professionalism has been replaced by the logics of the market and bureaucracy. The managerialization of health care work has been one of the most significant global trends in health policy since this time, with managers acquiring an increasingly influential role in the organization of professional work, especially the allocation of resources, formulation and implementation of strategy, work planning and coordination, and performance management. For many health professions, it has opened up new career pathways, arenas for decision‐making, and opportunities for service improvement. At the same time, management is often interpreted as fundamentally changing the social organizational of care work. In most cases, the medical profession has been the primary unit of analysis, but other health care professions, especially nursing, are often more subject to the influence of management, revealing important variations in how health professions experience management change.