Professions have long provided a dependable body of expertise that organizations have relied upon to fulfil goals. Issues around equality and diversity alongside challenges to expert knowledge in the neoliberal era have created profound challenges for this type of worker, even while creating opportunities for newer varieties of expert labour to establish themselves as professionals. This shortform book provides a critical synthesis of the current state of the field from an international perspective. It highlights the key opportunities and challenges for the professions and professionalism within both the public and private sectors as a field of research, practice and policy. The first half of the book deals with the comparative history, theories and inequalities of the professions. This provides a basis for our understanding of how the professions have had to adapt and how governance, management and leadership has come to shape the emerging and evolving models of professions and professionalism. The book draws on case studies and through its analysis illustrates the organisational and sociological dimensions of the field. This book will be of interest to scholars, academics and students in the fields of business, management and sociology, especially those conducting research and studies around the professions and professionalism.

The book contains a wealth of detailed and fascinating case studies of New Public Management (NPM) in practice in the UK, exploring the enactment of NPM in its specific organizational contexts. A range of public services are covered including local government, education, social work and the police, with particular attention paid to the National Health Service. The editors introduce the case studies through an examination of the 'hydra-headed' nature of NPM, its variability between sectors and its contested character. This provides themes that are developed within the case studies, where, in varying organizational contexts, the meaning of NPM is negotiated and its impact on those working in the organization is explored. The book points to the complex, fluid and negotiated character of NPM, as well as its centrality in reconfiguring occupational identities and relations within public service organizations.

The Routledge Companion to the Professions and Professionalism is a state-of-the-art reference work which maps out the current developments and debates around the sociology of the professions, and how they relate to management and organizations. Supported by an international contributor team specializing in the disciplines of organizational studies and sociology, the collection provides extensive coverage of this field of research. It brings together the core concepts and issues, and has chapters on all the key aspects of professions in both the public and private sectors, including issues of governance and regulation. The volume closes with a set of international case studies which provide valuable practical insights into the subject. This Companion will be an indispensable reference source for students, scholars and educators within the social sciences, especially within management, organizational studies and sociology. It will also be highly relevant for those working and studying in the area of professional education.

Drawing on sociology and social policy, this intriguing volume considers various aspects of gender and professional identity. Contributors explore the inter-relationship between managerialism, professionalism and gender identity in Britain, and examine the processes and impacts of change on those working in public sector organizations in other countries as they come under varying managerial pressures. The subject is viewed from a variety of perspectives, including feminism and post-modernism.

With an international range of contributors, this important book brings together an array of ideas about gender and professionals and provides an important contribution to the growing debates on gender and the workplace. A significant volume for both postgraduates and professionals in the fields of management and business studies, Gender and the Public Sector provides a more sophisticated analysis of international public sector change than is currently available elsewhere.

Series Information:
Routledge Advances in Management and Business Studies

This book addresses the nature of current shifts in professional and managerial knowledge and practice, particularly in relation to power and accountability. Connecting with current debates concerned with work and identity, the book will present a range of theoretical and empirical accounts of the dilemmas and issues facing specialists in various organizational arenas as they seek to adapt to the challenges of organizational and cultural transformation. Contributions offer innovative and sophisticated theoretical engagements which draw upon various perspectives, including those of post-structuralism, feminism, post-marxism and post-modernism.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203467094

The Routledge Companion to the Professions and Professionalism is a state-of-the-art reference work which maps out the current developments and debates around the sociology of the professions, and how they relate to management and organizations. Supported by an international contributor team specializing in the disciplines of organizational studies and sociology, the collection provides extensive coverage of this field of research. It brings together the core concepts and issues, and has chapters on all the key aspects of professions in both the public and private sectors, including issues of governance and regulation. The volume closes with a set of international case studies which provide valuable practical insights into the subject. This Companion will be an indispensable reference source for students, scholars and educators within the social sciences, especially within management, organizational studies and sociology. It will also be highly relevant for those working and studying in the area of professional education.

In view of the approaching age of austerity for the public sector, leadership is likely to continue to become a key theme. This edited volume brings together a host of material from the public sector to analyze the issue internationally.

Teelken, Dent & Ferlie lead a team of contributors in examining three key aspects of this increasingly important theme:

• the meaning of public sector leadership, and how this changes in different contexts
• the implications for leadership style given the growing role of the private sector
• the response to the leadership issue from professionals moving into senior management roles

With contributions from respected academics such as Jean-Louis Denis, Mike Reed and Mirko Nordegraaf, this book will be an invaluable supplementary resource for those undertaking studies across public sector management and administration.

In view of the approaching age of austerity for the public sector, leadership is likely to continue to become a key theme. This edited volume brings together a host of material from the public sector to analyze the issue internationally. Teelken, Dent & Ferlie lead a team of contributors in examining three key aspects of this increasingly important theme: the meaning of public sector leadership, and how this changes in different contexts the implications for leadership style given the growing role of the private sector the response to the leadership issue from professionals moving into senior management roles. With contributions from respected academics such as Jean-Louis Denis, Mike Reed and Mirko Nordegraaf, this book will be an invaluable supplementary resource for those undertaking studies across public sector management and administration.

There are significant variations in how healthcare systems and health professionals are regulated globally. One feature that they increasingly have in common is an emphasis on the value of including members of the public in quality assurance processes. While many argue that this will help better serve the public interest, others question how far the changing regulatory reform agenda is still dominated by medical interests. Bringing together leading academics worldwide, this collection compares and critically examines the ways in which different countries are regulating healthcare in general, and health professions in particular, in the interest of users and the wider public. It is the first book in the Sociology of Health Professions series.

The book contains a wealth of detailed and fascinating case studies of New Public Management (NPM) in practice in the UK, exploring the enactment of NPM in its specific organizational contexts. A range of public services are covered including local government, education, social work and the police, with particular attention paid to the National Health Service. The editors introduce the case studies through an examination of the 'hydra-headed' nature of NPM, its variability between sectors and its contested character. This provides themes that are developed within the case studies, where, in varying organizational contexts, the meaning of NPM is negotiated and its impact on those working in the organization is explored. The book points to the complex, fluid and negotiated character of NPM, as well as its centrality in reconfiguring occupational identities and relations within public service organizations.