Towards corporate professionalization: The case of project management, management consultancy and executive search

Abstract

This article explores patterns of professionalization in a number of 'new' knowledge-based occupations: management consultancy, project management and executive headhunters. Against a general assumption in the literature that such occupations are unwilling and/ or incapable to professionalize, this article suggests how a professionalization project has indeed been in play within these occupational domains. Perhaps most interestingly, these occupations are developing a new pattern of 'corporate' professionalization which Current Sociology 59(4) 443-464 Downloaded from 444 Current Sociology Monograph 2 59 (4) departs in significant ways from established paths and which is more appropriate for the specific knowledge-bases, occupational characteristics and historical circumstances of these occupations. Using semi-structured interviews with key institutional protagonists, the analysis identifies some new features of corporate professionalization, which despite differences in occupational structure and history, are common to the three professions under review and which may be relevant to a broader range of knowledge-based occupations. These include: organizational membership, client engagement, competencebased closure and internationalization. The article then proceeds to compare and contrast these new professionalization strategies and tactics with the more traditional processes followed by the established professions. Corporate professionalization, it is then argued, may present the basis for a new pattern of collective mobility and for a new understanding of professionalism in the 21st century.

On the making and faking of knowledge value in higher education curricula

“…In many of the 'corporate professions' such as recruitment or management consultancy, it is clear that how knowledge is valued is closely aligned with market concerns (Muzio et al 2011). Thus disciplinary forms of knowledge, derived most frequently from economics, psychology or sociology, or indeed from extant recontextualisations of these disciplines in management studies, become increasingly redundant if they do not prove themselves as assets in a search for greater profitability and efficiency.…”

Erosion and Renewal of Professional Powers in Public Sector Employment: The Role of Occupational Community

“…They own their intellectual capital and may work independently but increasingly are found in conditions of dependency and subordination working in large organizations (Leicht and Fennell, 1997). Concurrently, knowledge workers more broadly speaking are riding the wave of credentialism in a wide variety of fields from high-tech work to management consulting and project management (Muzio, Ackroyd and Chalat, 2008;Muzio et al, 2011). The ownership of intellectual capital contributes to a strong professional identity, yet the position of dependency through employment contributes to an urge to unite and oppose the power of the employer.…”

La professionnalisation de la gestion de projets et son effet d’exclusion

“…Or, comme de nombreux titulaires d'occupations nouvelles ou en expansion dans l'économie du savoir (Alvesson 2001), les gestionnaires de projets revendiquent présentement un statut professionnel (Hodgson 2007;Hodgson et Muzio 2010;Muzio, Hodgson et Faulconbridge 2011). Dans le présent article, nous cherchons à mesurer si le projet de professionnalisation de la gestion de projets a pour effet de soutenir ou, au contraire, de contrer cet effet d'exclusion des femmes chez les CL-ESTE.…”

“…Au contraire, le projet d'encadrement normatif de la pratique s'élabore en étroite collaboration avec les directions des organisations qui requièrent les services professionnels en cause. Le marché exerce une influence déterminante sur le statut et la valeur des emplois, la désignation et la reconnaissance des compétences (Hanlon 1998(Hanlon , 1999Hodgson 2007;Hodgson et Muzio 2010;Muzio, Hodgson et Faulconbridge 2011).…”