Redirections in the Study of Expert Labour: Established Professions and New Expert Occupations - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1403998701 ISBN 13: 9781403998705

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007

Synopsis

Why are expert occupations interesting to study? This book reveals a great deal that is of interest about the current state of three key occupations: lawyers, doctors and management consultants. The conclusions are not always what you might expect. It reveals important differences of fortune between the occupations. While business consultancy is a growth area, there are significant differences within the industry between firms. Lawyers have been under ideological attack for many years but studies show that law firms have responded effectively in adverse circumstances. For other traditionally trained occupations, such as doctors, however, it is less clear what the future may demand in terms of their profession. There is a paradoxical quality to the current pattern of demand for expert labour: demand not only varies a good deal between occupations, but it seems to bear little relationship to whether the skills are found in traditional or new occupations.

About this title

About the Author:

DANIEL MUZIO is Lecturer in Organization, Work and Technology Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University, UK. His research interests include the sociology of the professions, gender and the professions, professional and knowledge-based organizations and the historical and contemporary development of the legal profession. His current research is focused on the exploration of professionalization patterns in the context of new knowledge-based occupations and on the specific case of management consultancy.

STEPHEN ACKROYD is Professor of Organizational Analysis in Lancaster University Management School, UK, where he is Head of the Department of Organization, Work and Technology. He has conducted various research projects in the NHS over the last twenty years (both alone and with doctoral students). Most of this research in the NHS has shared a focus on the organisation of professional groups within hospitals. This is only one of his research interests, however, and his recent books include: Organizational Misbehaviour (with P. Thompson), Realist Perspectives on Management and Organizations (edited with Steve Fleetwood), The Organization of Business and New Managerialism and Public Service Professions (edited with Ian Kirkpatrick and Richard Walker).

JEAN-FRANÇOIS CHANLAT Professor, Universite Paris, Dauphine, France.

Synopsis:

This book explores recent theoretical and empirical advances in the understanding of how professional occupations are organized. Focusing in particular on the differences between established and emerging forms of expert work, the authors provide unique theoretical perspectives on this rapidly developing field.

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1403998701
• ISBN 13: 9781403998705
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 286
• Editor: Muzio D., Ackroyd S., Chanlat J.