Work in Professional Service Organizations

Abstract

This chapter tries to address question such as: How can professionals perform so badly when they are supposed to be so good, so professional? It explores the practices that maintain and uphold what is often called the logic of professionalism. The chapter seeks to analyse, in detail, the way in which the logic of professionalism is maintained in professional service organizations. It then shifts to focus on professional service work, and the work of managing professional service work. The chapter introduces the idea of professionalism in the context of what is commonly referred to as the knowledge society. It expands on the concept of professional service work, opening up for a problematization of the four different topics: work and ambiguity, control, leadership, and hybridity.