How is the world of professions and professional work changing? This book offers both an overview of current debates surrounding the nature of professional work, and the implications for change brought about by the managerialist agenda. The relationships professionals have with their organizations are variable, indeterminate and uncertain, and there is still debate over the ways in which these should be characterized and theorized. The contributors discuss these implications with topics including hybrid organizations and hybrid professionalism; the changing nature of professional and managerial work; profession and identity; and the emergence of HRM as a new managerial profession. This book will be of interest to academics and postgraduate students seeking a comparative study on contemporary professional work. It will also be of use to a number of practitioners, namely human resource managers, looking for ways in which to approach the changing professional world.

Professionalism, like professional work and learning, is changing and being changed particularly in the organisational contexts in which practitioners currently practice. For a long time, the sociological analysis of professional work has differentiated professionalism as a special means of organizing work and controlling workers and in contrast to the hierarchical, bureaucratic and managerial controls of industrial and commercial organisations. But professional work is changing and being changed as increasingly professionals (such as managers, doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers) now work in employing organisations; lawyers and accountants in large professional service firms and sometimes in international and commercial organisations; pharmacists in national firms; and engineers, journalists, performing artists, the armed forces and police find occupational control of their work and discretionary decision-making increasingly difficult to sustain. The relationships professionals have with their organisations are variable, indeterminate and uncertain, and there is still consideration over the ways in which these should be characterized and theorized. This Book, Perspectives on Contemporary Professional Work, identifies some of the important contributions made by researchers on professional work to public policy developments, assessment and evaluation. The idea of professionalism as an occupational and normative value can be linked with public policy concerns about competences at all levels of occupational work. Perhaps the reclaiming and recreation of professionalism in work and occupations will be one of the most important tasks for policy makers and practitioners over the next few years. The contributors discuss these implications with topics including hybrid organisations and hybrid professionalism; the changing nature of professional and managerial work; profession and identity; and the emergence of HRM as a new managerial profession. In current work and employment contexts it is the increased use of the discourse of professionalism, in a wide range of occupations and work places, which is important and in need of further analysis and understanding. It is important to remember also that the way professionals regard their service work and their working relationships are also being changed and this is an important consequence of redefining the occupational value aspects of professionalism. An emphasis on internal as well as external markets, on enterprise and economic contracting, are changing professionalism. In tendering, accounting and audit management, professionalism requires practitioners to codify their competence for contracts and evaluations. This book will be of interest to researchers and scholars and students seeking a comparative study on contemporary professional work. It will also be of use to a number of practitioners, specifically human resource managers, looking for ways in which to approach the changing professional world.

Challenging Professions is an innovative, interdisciplinary collection of 13 thematically linked yet methodologically diverse essays that explore Canadian women's engagement with professional education and employment in the 20th century. Guided by a co-authored introduction, this collection critically examines how women's entry into and continued participation in the professions not only contested but also challenged a concept of professionalism that was and remains profoundly gendered.

In response to the complexities of social change that have become evident in the 21st century, there is a need for innovation in career theory that takes into account new perspectives and the fluctuating contexts of people's lives. Contemporary Theories of Career Development: International Perspectives brings together the contributions of theorists from around the globe whose work represents current, cutting-edge international approaches to career development theory. Emphasizing the new perspectives that are needed for this field to be relevant in a contemporary era, this book considers the cultural applications of theory in a diverse range of populations. Structured in three parts with chapters written by internationally renowned leaders in the field, this collection features a critical examination of the current history of the field; thirteen theory chapters, each enhanced by a case study; and a final chapter that draws the previous chapters together through key themes, broadening the reader's knowledge of theoretical perspectives and their interrelations. Each theory chapter author comments on and critiques his or her own theory, inviting readers to engage with these theories at both a practical and theoretical level through the case studies. Detailed, with reader-friendly descriptions and supplemented by international research, case examples, and discussion questions, Contemporary Theories of Career Development: International Perspectives is the ideal reference work for students studying the topic as well as a stimulus for researchers and practitioners looking to implement the theories in their work.

This book examines gender and professions in the 21st century. Historically the professions encompassed law, medicine and the church, all of which excluded women from participation. Industry and the 20th century introduced new professions such as engineering and latterly information technology skill and, whilst the increase in credentialism and accreditations open up further avenues for professions to develop, many of the ‘newer’ professions exhibit similar gendered characteristics, still based on a perceived masculine identity of the professional workers and the association of the professional with high level credentials based on university qualifications. In contrast, professions such as teaching and nursing, characterized as women’s professions which reflected women’s socially acceptable role of caring, developed as regulated occupations from the late 19th century. Since the 1970s and the women’s movements, anti-discrimination and equal opportunity legislation and policies have aimed to break down the gendered bastion of the professions and grant women entry. With growing numbers of women employed in a range of professions and the political importance of gender equality gaining prominence globally, Gender and the Professions also considers how women and men are faring in a diverse range of professional occupations. Aimed at researchers, academics and policy makers in the fields of Professions, Gender Studies, Organizational Studies and related disciplines. Gender and the Professions provides new insights of women’s experiences in the professions in both developed and less developed countries and in professions less often explored.

Social Work Practices is a critical review of contemporary social work theory and its relevance for professional practice. The author explains debates on postmodernism and poststructuralism and applies them to social work practice.