The ambiguities of ‘managed professionalism’: working in and with IT

Russell, Bob; Trusson, Clive; De, Sangita

doi:10.4337/9781783475582.00018

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…This increased workers' propensity to voice. Providing insights into professional labour (KPO) in the global outsourcing industry, the findings of this study make a significant contribution to existing understandings of outsourcing work that has examined mainly non-professional clerical-type labour that is subjected to considerable control by external agents such as managers (Russell et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In stark contrast to these findings, professional employees in the Sri Lankan outsourcing sector engaged in argumentative resistance, challenging expectations through rational argument. Although respondents were early career workers lacking positional power (Behtoui et al, ), possession of knowledge seen as instrumental to solve complex problems (Russell et al, ) empowered them to voice. Those who identified themselves as exceptional performers felt entitled to significant autonomy over their work.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Following Friedson, professionals are defined as individuals who have the ability to do their work as they see fit, on the basis of their own sense of knowing how to do it (: 73). In other words, professionals have autonomy to determine how they do their jobs because they possess specialised knowledge to solve complex problems (Russell et al, ). This article addresses how professional workers challenge ideal worker expectations through informal voice.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Advancing interests through informal voice: a study of professional workers in Sri Lanka's knowledge outsourcing sector

Fernando

2017

Human Res Mgmt Journal

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Drawing on a rhetorical approach, this article examines how early career professional workers challenge ‘ideal worker expectations’ through informal voice. Informal ‘voice’ is shown as a powerful way of advancing workers' interests, leading to incremental changes that improve their conditions of work. Striking are the power dynamics underpinning informal voice. Highlighting how ideal worker expectations are continuously legitimised and de‐legitimised as employees and their managers rhetorically engage with each other, ideal worker expectations are theorised as a process while illuminating a pluralistic, contextualised view of organisational culture shaped by the past, present and anticipated future.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Advancing interests through informal voice: a study of professional workers in Sri Lanka's knowledge outsourcing sector

Fernando

2017

Human Res Mgmt Journal

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“…The IT professional working in the servitised IT function is likely to be working within imposed ITIL processes (notably: Incident Management; Change Management and Problem Management) on a succession of queued tasks (Russell et al, 2016). As with other workers who work in such a way (i.e.…”

Section: The Servitisation Of It Professional Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of ICTs in the servitisation and degradation of IT professional work

Trusson¹,

Hislop²,

Doherty³

2018

New Technol Work Employ

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Recently IT work has been subjected to management approaches that apply production methods to service work. Specialised information and communication technologies (ICTs) used by IT professionals have played an important role in this ‘service turn’, but this has not been adequately explored in the literature. Via a qualitative study of IT professionals situated across the servitised IT functions of five UK‐based organisations, this article considers how these ICTs are inscribed with managerial logics that afford control benefits to managers while undermining professional autonomy and job quality. The article makes two main contributions to the literature. Firstly, it sheds light on how ICTs introduced into organisational IT functions support managerial control objectives and impact the job quality of IT professionals. Secondly, it suggests that ICTs may infect the logic of professionalism that takes pride in the quality of the work performance with a dominant managerial logic that places an emphasis on meeting management objectives.

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“…Indeed ITSM 'best practice' barely acknowledges the importance of people management, sometimes equating it with technology management (Russell et al, 2016). By institutionalized convention, managers are expected to assert control over the system and all its component parts, including 'human resources' and 'knowledge assets', by technocratic methods that aggrandize commodification (Sigala and Chalkiti, 2014) and quantitative measurement (Brooks et al, 2006).…”

Section: Knowledge Hoarding In the Itsm Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

The rhetoric of “knowledge hoarding”: a research-based critique

Trusson

Hislop

Doherty

2017

JKM

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Article accepted for publication in Journal of Knowledge Management, 03/08/17. AbstractPurpose -Via a study of IT service professionals, this article responds to a recent trend towards reifying 'knowledge hoarding' for purposes of quantitative/deductive research. A 'rhetorical theory' lens is applied to reconsider 'knowledge hoarding' as a value-laden rhetoric that directs managers towards addressing assumed worker dysfunctionality.Design/methodology/approach -A qualitative study of practicing IT service professionals (assumed within IT service management 'best practice' to be inclined to hoard knowledge) was conducted over a 34 day period. 20 workers were closely observed processing IT service incidents and 26 workers were interviewed about knowledge sharing practices. Findings -The study found that the character of IT service practice is more one of pro-social collegiality in sharing knowledge/know-how than one of self-interested strategic knowledge concealment. Research limitations/implications -The study concerns a single occupational context. The study indicates that deductive research that reifies 'knowledge hoarding' as a naturallyoccurring phenomenon is flawed, with clear implications for future research.Practical implications -The study suggests that management concern for productivity might be redirected away from addressing assumed knowledge hoarding behaviour and towards encouraging knowledge sharing via social interaction in the workplace. Originality/value -Previous studies have not directly examined the concept of knowledge hoarding using qualitative methods, nor have they considered it as a rhetorical device.

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The ambiguities of ‘managed professionalism’: working in and with IT

Cited by 4 publications

References 19 publications

Advancing interests through informal voice: a study of professional workers in Sri Lanka's knowledge outsourcing sector

Advancing interests through informal voice: a study of professional workers in Sri Lanka's knowledge outsourcing sector

The role of ICTs in the servitisation and degradation of IT professional work

The rhetoric of “knowledge hoarding”: a research-based critique

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