Professionals and their work

It is my intention to blog several posts on the subject Professionals and their work. Together these posts hopefully will form a blog book in which the phenomenon ‘professional’ is analysed in all (at least: a lot of) its aspects.

No one can pretend to be complete, so your remarks, suggestions and contributions are welcome. Use the contact form at the contact page, or at the bottom of this page.

Intended content of the blog book

When elements of this content are published, the text will be a link to the blog post.

1.  Introduction
   • Purpose of this blog book
   • Is everyone a professional?
   • Some definitions
   • Overview of what can be expected
2. Some elements of the professional – client relation
   • Types of clients and types of professionals
   • Professional teams
   • The role of ‘third parties’
   • Aspects of the client-professional relation
3. What makes a professional: theoretical perspectives on professionals
   • A set of professional characteristics: trait approach
   • The role of professionals in society: functionalist approach
   • The struggle for power and autonomy: power theory
   • Professionalism as a way of organising work: Freidson’s approach
   • Professionalization and collective power
4. The kernel of professionalism
   • Scientific knowledge and practice
   • Complexity, uncertainty, and discretion
   • Importance, independence and trust
   • Diagnosis, treatment and referral
   • Professional work defined
   • What about values virtues and ethics?
5. The control over and regulation of professional work
   • Professional autonomy and discretion
   • The control over professional work
   • Professional associations
   • Hierarchies among professionals
   • Why regulation? Unprofessional behaviour
   • Regulation of professional services
   • Instruments of regulation
   • Drawbacks of professional regulation
6. Professionals and organisation
   • Different roles of professionals in organisations
   • Mintzberg’s professional bureaucracy
   • P²’s, PSF’s, MPB’s, GPN’s and Collaborative Professionalism
   • Hybrid organisations
   • The management of professionals
7. Professionals in the public sector
   • The public sector as a professional field
   • Different kinds of public sector professionals and their discretion
   • Street-level bureaucrats?
8. Changes in the situation of professionals
   • Action arenas
   • The action arena of professionals
   • Professionals under pressure
   • Loss of autonomy and discretion?
9. De-professionalization or re-professionalization?
   • Do we need a new professionalism?
   • Suggestions in the literature
   • Towards a new professionalism
   • Some interesting developments
   • Modern management of professionals
10. Epilogue and concluding remarks
    • Some remaining problematic issues
    • Themes for the future
    • Did this blog book realise its objectives?

Your remarks, suggestions and contributions are welcomed. Use the form below, or go to the contact page.
There also is a discussion group you can participate in.

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