Space and (in)visibility practices in elite architecture firms in Australia

Driven by their desire to contribute to the quality of the built environment and wider society, architectural firms collaborate with other actors in heterogeneous interorganizational projects to provide products and services that solve complex spatial challenges. Due to ongoing developments in society and the construction industry, the professional roles that firms perform within these projects have become increasingly diverse, blurred and contested (Ahuja et al., 2017). While the role of architectural firms historically was clearly defined (Burr and Jones, 2010; Jones and Lichtenstein, 2008), they now cover a broad spectrum of activities and responsibilities, ranging from ‘full-service’ providers to specialist advisors for a certain discipline or phase (Duffy and Rabeneck, 2013; Van Doorn, 2014). The diversity in, and ongoing pressure on, roles often leads to firms experiencing difficulties when co-creating or capturing value in projects. For example, firms are not always able to realize the level of quality that they pursue, or fail to make a decent living out of their service delivery. While attempting to reconcile the demands of the many stakeholders that are involved in projects, architectural firms struggle to realize their professional and commercial goals. Research in the field of management has shown that the simultaneous use of multiple business models helps firms to deal with different demands and opportunities when operating in diverse contexts (Aversa et al., 2015; Kujala et al., 2010; Sabatier et al., 2010). Constant innovation of these business models further contributes to the resilience of organizations (Chesbrough, 2010). Although business model theory has significantly contributed to the understanding of organizations and their collaboration in the value chain, existing theories have been largely developed on the basis of insights from traditional, entrepreneurial firms (Zott et al., 2011). As a result, business model theory primarily addresses how organizations generate financial revenues from the value that they co-create. Considering that organizations’ single-minded pursuit of profits is increasingly constrained by other important goals, such as social responsibility (Thompson and MacMillan, 2010), more insight is needed into how organizations might capture multiple dimensions of value through their business models. Businesses that by nature pursue multiple strategic goals, such as architectural firms or other creative and/or professional service firms, represent an interesting empirical context for such investigations. This research aims to generate insight into the value capture process of architectural firms: 1) to contribute to the understanding of how firms capture multiple dimensions of value in project contexts in order to realize their strategic goals; and 2) to support architectural firms in dealing with the value capture challenges they face in practice. The following two main research questions are used to address the aims of the research: 1 How do architectural firms capture value in construction projects? 2 How can architectural firms be supported in developing strategies for value capture? I chose to focus specifically on firms’ value capture in projects to gain detailed, context-specific insights into the challenges and opportunities that firms encounter when attempting to balance multiple strategic goals. Multiple construction projects were studied to reveal overarching patterns in the value capture strategies of different architectural firms, across different project settings. The research draws on 25 interviews with architects and 15 interviews with clients from 24 recently completed construction projects, as well as observational data from 17 project-oriented strategy meetings to examine architectural firms’ value capture strategies both in retrospect and as they unfold in practice. Based on an engaged scholarship approach (Van de Ven, 2007), I used my own background and continued involvement in architectural practice to conduct my research. The empirical insights gained were further developed into a value capture toolkit that can be used by architectural firms to engage in projects and manage their value capture activities in these projects with greater awareness. The empirical research findings and toolkit were validated on a regular basis in conferences, discussion groups and co-organized workshops with different academic and professional communities. In the remainder of this introduction, I will first present and discuss the theoretical background, which combines a project-oriented perspective on business and a multidimensional perspective on value. The research’s scientific, practical and societal relevance will then be discussed. Subsequently, I will present the research context, paying specific attention to the roles of architectural firms in construction projects, which served as an empirical setting, and the overarching research project, futurA, in which the research is embedded. Following this, the methodological approach is discussed, with a particular focus on why a combination of empirical and design-oriented research is useful to increase our understanding of value capture by architectural firms and other creative and/or professional service firms. The introduction concludes with an overview of the remaining chapters and how they are related.

Information technology (IT) and, in particular, the Internet is dramatically impacting on the services sector. This paper specifically investigates the relative impact of several forms of Internet use on perceived performance for two groups of service organisations – retail service firms and professional health service firms. Using a mailed‐out self‐administered questionnaire, 625 completed questionnaires were obtained, and 43 per cent of respondents reported that they used the Internet. Thus the final usable sample in the study comprised 262 respondents. Results showed that the Internet does significantly influence perceived performance in both types of service firms. However, there are differences in the forms of Internet use between the two service groups and their relative effect on performance. For retail firms, use of transactional function, such as ordering, selling and payment, was found to be positively related to increases in perceived performance. In contrast, for professional health service firms, the ability to search for information on products and/or services was found to be positively associated with perceived performance. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications of the findings of this study are discussed.

This article presents an analysis of institutional influences upon knowledge creation within professional service firms, whose main business is the provision of specialized consultancy. Such firms, we argue, provide an important setting for examining such influences because their survival depends on their ability to mobilize and synthesize professional bodies of knowledge. They, therefore, directly confront the constraints that institutionalized professions pose for processes of knowledge creation. By exploring the influence of the institutional context, the article extends earlier work on professional service and knowledge-intensive firms which has tended to adopt a more micro, organizational-level focus on knowledge creation and to neglect both the heterogeneous nature of knowledge and its embeddedness in institutional contexts. A comparative analysis of two firms located in different institutional contexts (science and the law) establishes some of the major mechanisms through which professional institutions influence knowledge-creation processes. Specifically, the analysis highlights three major arenas, related to the processes of knowledge creation within organizations, in which institutional influences are seen to operate. These are: the relative work autonomy of professional groups; the means of knowledge legitimation; and the social identity formation of professional practitioners. While institutional influences were found in these different arenas across both cases, significant differences in knowledge-creating practices were also observed. These include different emphases on experimentation versus interpretation, different forms of personal networking, and significant differences in the relative importance of codifying knowledge in documentary forms. These differences are explained in terms of institutionally embedded means of legitimating knowledge across scientific and legal contexts. In observing institutional influences on micro work practices, however, our study also highlights the role and influence of management. Specifically, in the arena of social identity, managers sought to accommodate professional norms through firm-specific arrangements, which shaped and mobilized a social identity geared toward corporate ends. Management effort thus focused on developing a collective identity, based on elitism, which was used as a means of leveraging individual creativity and expertise as an organizational resource.

Using social embeddedness arguments, this study examines how the mobility of managers in professional service and client firms affects dissolution among their firms' market ties for that service. My analyses from a sample of agencies and clients in the advertising industry from 1986 to 1998 show that the exit of managers from client firms increases the likelihood that market ties dissolve and that the results are contingent on the size of the firm. In professional service firms, both the exit and promotion of managers affect the number of market tie dissolutions, but these results are contingent on managers' functional roles and the number of market ties maintained by professional service firms. Taken together these findings illustrate how dynamics in managerial labor markets affect market ties for services and how firms' characteristics moderate these effects. The results suggest several refinements to the social embeddedness perspective. *

Open for business

Redressing the Big 4’s male, pale and stale image, through LGBTIQ+ ethical praxis

Purpose – This paper aims to extend the current research on zone of tolerance (ZOT) and its antecedents, to the context of business-to-business (B2B) professional services from both client and service firms’ perspectives, with a modified ZOT framework including five client and service firms attributes as antecedents of desired (DSL) and adequate (ASL) service levels. Prior research on zone of tolerance (ZOT) and its antecedents mostly focuses on business-to-consumer services and customers’ perspective. The authors address these gaps with a modified ZOT framework with five attributes of client and service firms as antecedents of customer expectations, namely, desired service level (DSL) and adequate service level (ASL), for business-to-business (B2B) professional services. Design/methodology/approach – A combination of qualitative (focus groups) and quantitative (online survey) research methods with managers of professional audit firms and their clients, using a reduced AUDITQUAL instrument with 39 items and seven dimensions. Findings – Professional firm size and fee premium have a positive effect on DSL; service tenure positively influences both DSL and ASL; client firm size has a negative effect on DSL; both client and service firm sizes positively moderate each other’s influence on the DSL; and DSL positively influences ASL. Research limitations/implications – The authors study a single B2B professional service (audit) in a single city (Hong Kong) from a single perspective (customers) that may limit the generalizability of the findings. Future research should validate the findings for other B2B professional services in diverse locations and also include service providers’ expectations and perceptions. Practical implications – Managers in professional service firms should understand the factors influencing different levels of expectations for their customers and develop suitable strategies (e.g. customer education and employee training) to manage these expectations more effectively. Originality/value – The authors extend current research on customer expectations and ZOT by identifying five unique attributes of professional service and client firms and testing their roles as antecedents of adequate and DSLs using AUDITQUAL instrument.

Purpose of this paper: This paper aims to provide an insight into the dominant arguments in generic corporate identity literature – and offers evidence of the presence of generic corporate identity in professional services industry. Design/method/approach: Existing literature on generic corporate identity is reviewed leading towards the development of three conceptual perspectives of generic corporate identity, namely active, passive and parenthetic. The weakness of existing theoretical literatures (in relation to their inability to explicate how generic corporate identity develops) is highlighted. Consequently, a new process model grounded on the notion of institutional isomorphism is presented to fill this gap. A semiotic deconstruction of corporate identity statements in annual report and accounts of the big four professional services firms in the United States is presented to provide evidence of the presence and emergence of generic corporate identity in professional services firms. Findings: A number of findings emerged in this study. First are three pedagogical themes of generic corporate identity. Second is a four stage generic identity development process model, which explicates how generic corporate identity emerges. Third, a semiotic deconstruction of some sections of annual report and accounts of the big four professional services firms in the United States supports the presence and emergence of generic corporate identity in professional services firms. Theoretical implication: The introduction of a generic corporate identity process model in this study clarifies how generic corporate identity evolves. This clarification aids the understanding of the development process of generic corporate identity, which until date remains vague, fuzzy and unclear. In addition, the semiotic deconstruction of texts, which gives insight into the presence of generic corporate identity in Professional Services Firms (PSF), takes the argument in marketing literature a step further. Specifically, the outcome of the deconstruction of texts indicates that the problem of generic corporate identity is not a banking problem alone but a professional services issue as well. The study adds to existing knowledge on the theory of generic corporate identity and contributes towards an understanding of corporate identity theory in general. Practical implications: Insights into the elements that influence the development of a generic corporate identity imply that managers can map out plans that enable firms or clients to challenge or avoid the acquisition of generic corporate identities. By circumventing the development of generic corporate identity, firms develop distinct corporate identities, which position them competitively in the business environment. Limitation of study and future research direction: The empirical evidence presented in this study merely supports the presence of generic corporate identity in professional services firms. The study does not address this issue in other service industries such as tourism, hospitality, information technology. The inability to pursue this study in these industries presents an opportunity for future research. Originality and value of paper: The review of literature indicates that existing studies on corporate identity has focused mainly of the factors that trigger the development of a generic corporate identity without a detailed explanation how this concept emerged. This paper makes a departure from extant theory and adds an original contribution to existing literature by providing a theoretical analysis, which gives an insight into the stage by stage processes that trigger the development of a generic corporate identity.

The recruitment practices of professional financial service firms are informed by hegemonic cultural norms embedded in global and national institutions. There is a propensity, particularly in the financial services, to employ ‘people like us’ [Erel, U. (2010). Migrating cultural capital: Bourdieu in migration studies. Sociology, 44(4), 642–660. doi:10.1177/0038038510369363], which, it is argued, has constrained the employment outcomes of skilled migrants. Using the concept of cultural fit, this paper draws on interviews with representatives of accounting firms in Australia to understand the criteria for recruiting in a highly commercialised and globalised professional labour market. The results demonstrate that client-focused firms place an emphasis on cultural fit in the recruitment process. It is concluded that a lack of cultural capital by migrants means that their efforts to infiltrate the professional accounting labour market in Australia are limited. Furthermore, from an education perspective, the skill set taught in the accounting curriculum is increasingly geared to meet the recruitment strategies of professional service firms.

Purpose: Professional service firms' clients often develop stronger attachments to their key contact employee than to the service firm. Since professionals are highly mobile, buyers of professional business services constantly have to decide whether to follow their key contact employee or remain with their incumbent firm, while service firms face the threat of losing customers if the employee leaves. This study examines how the key contact employee's human capital, the social capital between the contact employee and the client, and the service company's structural capital affect the decision whether to follow the key contact employee to another professional service firm. Methodology/approach: The model is tested on a sample of 120 organizational buyers of advertising services by using partial last squares, a structural equation modelling technique. Findings: Professional service firms' investments in company-specific structural capital create a deterrent for clients to follow the contact employee, because remaining with the service firm will increase clients' return on the service providers' structural capital. Furthermore, higher levels of structural capital reduce the value of the contact employee's investments in human capital should the employee leave. Conversely, human capital creates motivation to follow the contact employee, while social capital only provides value in combination with human capital. Research implications: This study employs concepts developed in economics and economic sociology rather than relationship marketing variables to examine attachments to individual professional service providers and to professional service firms. Practical implications: The findings underline the importance of competence, both at the company and individual level, for retaining clients of professional services. These results contrast previous studies emphasizing close interpersonal relationships and service firms' relationship-building activities. Originality/value/contribution: Human, social, and structural capital provide value to clients and therefore apply well to professional services. Hence, these variables provide alternative explanations to service firms' client retention or desertion than traditional relationship marketing variables do. The findings add to our understanding of service provider–client relationships in professional services and knowledge intensive firms.

Entrepreneurial firms such as professional service firms (PSFs) face constant challenges to acquire resources, one of the greatest of which is the challenge to win client engagements. Although rhetoric is at the center of the challenge to win client engagements, scholars have not identified what rhetorical strategies are the most persuasive to potential clients. By exploring one type of PSF, architecture firms, we argue that PSFs can compete for and legitimate themselves with clients by deploying institutional logics that provide symbolic frameworks and meaning. Since multiple institutional logics exist in society, a critical question for a PSF is which logic is most persuasive to clients. We analyze architecture firms’ written pitches to predict which rhetoric strategies win the valuable resource of a client engagement for a multiclient state project. Our results identify that rhetoric deploying a “profession” logic was most effective whereas a “business” logic was counter-productive in obtaining client engagements and securing resources for the firm.

Our research asked the following main questions: how the characteristics of professionals service firms allow them to successfully innovate in exploiting through exploring by combining internal and external factors of innovation and how these ambidextrous organisations perceive these factors; and how do successful innovators in professional service firms use corporate entrepreneurship models in their new service development processes? With a goal to shed light on innovation in professional knowledge intensive business service firms’ (PKIBS), we concluded a qualitative analysis of ten globally acting law firms, providing business legal services. We analyse the internal and factors of innovation that are critical for PKIBS’ innovation. We suggest how these firms become ambidextrous in changing environment. Our findings show that this kind of firms has particular type of ambidexterity due to their specific characteristics. As PKIBS are very dependant on its human capital, governance structure, and the high expectations of their clients, their ambidexterity is structural, but also contextual at the same time. In addition, we suggest 3 types of corporate entrepreneurship models that international PKIBS use to enhance innovation in turbulent environments. We looked at how law firms going through turbulent environments were using corporate entrepreneurship activities as a part of their strategies to be more innovative. Using visual mapping methodology, we developed three types of innovation patterns in the law firms. We suggest that corporate entrepreneurship models depend on successful application of mainly three elements: who participates in corporate entrepreneurship initiatives; what are the formal processes that enhances these initiatives; and what are the policies applied to this type of behaviour.

PurposeThis paper presents an exploratory study to understand the distinctive quality dimensions of high-contact Professional Service Firms (PSFs) and develop a conceptual model for Quality Management (QM). The paper is based on empirical evidences from multiple cases in leading Indian law firms.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopted an exploratory, multiple, embedded and comparative case study design. The empirical evidence from multiple case studies in 10 law firms (data includes 42 individual interviews, archival records, field notes) was used to explore the QM dimensions for PSFs.FindingsThe results showed that QM in PSFs is a multifaceted and continuous process rather than a straightforward and episodic one. The findings reveal three distinctive dimensions of QM for PSFs: managing the firm's image; managing the client-firm interaction and support processes and; managing the perceived value of service outcome. Further, the results showed a significant variation in the design of QM practices in a relatively homogenous group of PSFs (law firms). This reflected the influence of personnel and organizational characteristics on the QM.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is based on evidences collected from 10 Indian law firms and the research design is exploratory in nature. The future research is suggested in terms of extending the scope and research design.Practical implicationsThe insights obtained from the paper have implications for managers working on the design of service operations and particularly service quality in high-contact PSFs similar to law firms. While the study does not prescribe a standard design of QM systems for PSFs, it seeks to foster the thinking of managers by helping them conceptualize the broad quality-control checkpoints and quality attributes specific to PSF settingsOriginality/valueThe academic research in the management of professional service quality is dominated by conceptual/theoretical models for customer evaluation of service provider's performance and the issue of operationalization of QM in PSFs is still needs further investigation. This paper contributes to the theory of service operations management (SOM) by focusing on the structure of QM systems in PSFs.

Professional services firms (PSFs) are an increasingly important component of the global economy. Yet research on PSFs is rarely published and the inner workings of PSFs are poorly understood. Recent events highlight some of the problems facing PSFs, many of which emanate from their management and governance structures. We describe the characteristics of these structures, PSF officer incentives, and the management and control systems of PSFs that differentiate them from more traditional organisational forms. These observations suggest that historical conceptions of management and governance need to be revised so as to be relevant to PSFs. We argue that several core concepts in governance research, if properly respecified, can lend insight into the challenging conditions facing PSFs and provide the basis for identifying solutions to these challenges.

Silence research has increased over the last decades, still, until today, almost no efforts to scrutinize one of the allegedly most exposed industries – professional service firms – have been undertaken. In this paper, we examine the phenomenon of silence in the organizational context of these firms. We derive connections between antecedents for a climate of silence and the constituent characteristics of professional service firms from theory. After conducting 29 expert interviews in a consulting, and an auditing firm, we can demonstrate that various antecedents for silence are prevalent in professional service firms and that withholding information, problems, or concerns is widespread within the organization. Furthermore, we find that employee motives not to speak up differ in their expression from previous studies in the research area of silence. Quiescent and especially opportunistic intentions play a meaningful role and are driven by the desire for advancement in the competitive up-or-out career model, which is distinctive to professional service firms. We are the first to show that professional service firms are susceptible to silence due to their culture and organizational circumstances. Furthermore, we contribute to the research on silence by demonstrating that the underlying motives that lead to different types of silence vary according to organizational characteristics.