Professions

Ideas and expectations about professions and about the process of becoming a professional are changing. Once defined largely by licenses or certificates, many fields of work are looking for more decentralized ways to determine what is a profession, and who is a professional. Many are turning to more decentralized ideas about professions and self-directed processes for lifelong professional learning. An increasing number of fields are using competency frameworks as one mechanism to guide professionalization without standardizing the preparation of those who work in the field. Research is needed to assess the viability and the impact of these frameworks on the individuals, institutions, the field, and ultimately on the public audiences they serve. The field of Informal STEM Learning (ISL) is uniquely poised to benefit from and contribute to the conversations and practices that are moving professional learning towards more self-directed paths.

Historical research has shown that, at its inception, research ethics was conceived as distinct from existing discourses of professional ethics. Subsequently, this distinction has been maintained and, as a result, the discourse of research ethics appears to be an external to and independent of the practices it normatively analyses and comments upon. This chapter challenges these founding preconceptions and considers if research ethics can be understood as a professional ethics. Therefore, this chapter examines the criteria sociological research identifies as constitutive of a profession, and while one might conclude that research is obviously not formally instantiated as a profession, some of the sociological criteria have significant relevance. In this light it is argued that we might rethink the notion of research ethics in terms of a professional ethics. To do so would be to more clearly embed ethical discourse in the practice(s) of research, something that is consistent with the current turn to integrity.

The Italian system of professions is characterized by strong disparities between professionals recognized by the state and non-regulated professions, dividing professionals in terms of protection from market and personal risks. As a consequence, the absence/presence of public regulation is not neutral, but has a direct impact on three factors: education and training, acknowledgement, and welfare integration.This article address this issue explaining the divergences between self-employed representatives of two professions (architects and management consultants), considered as idealtypical examples of those disparities. The investigation has confirmed strong cleavages in terms of education and welfare system access, but not in terms of acknowledgement, that still represents an issue for both the professionals considered. Furthermore, our analysis demonstrates that this fragility is partially balanced by a growing interest in self-organization, which acts as a convergent strategy for both regulated and non-regulated professionals in order to deal with increasing instability in the market and social vulnerability.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate and discuss potential reasons why the internal auditing (IA) profession has been marginalized in the governance debate on solutions after the financial crisis that started in 2007, also noting recent studies questioning the value of IA’s work. The key aim of this paper is to make readers aware of ambiguities concerning the ultimate customer of IA and its core business, and to stimulate critical reflection thereon.

Design/methodology/approach – The conceptual discussion of this paper is based on an objective review of relevant literature, both practitioner and academic.

Findings – Positioning IA as agent to the board/audit committee and, at the same time, as partner to management is challenging in practice. The IA function should clarify the customer dimension in ist organizational context. Furthermore, this paper argues for a consolidation of internal audit around ist core function of providing assurance when seeking to establish IA as a profession.
Practical implications – Practitioners will benefit as this paper demands fundamental questions to be addressed in the organizational context, about the ultimate customer and the core business of the IA service rendered. The Institute of Internal Auditors will benefit from this paper and subsequent discussions in academia and practice, supporting its pursuit to gain universal recognition for IA as a profession.

Originality/value – This paper may open a new research area in IA that addresses a more critical way of evaluating IA practices.
Keywords Internal auditing, Corporate governance, Professions

Paper type Conceptual paper

Roman Catholic women's congregations are an enigma of nineteenth-century social history. Over ten thousand women involved in these congregations have been rendered invisible in history. Despite their exclusion from historical texts, these women featured prominently in negotiating the boundaries of religious life, sometimes to their collective benefit, sometimes not. Prescriptive literature gave one model of womanhood, married life, with a second model, single life, clearly an inauspicious alternative. Women religious provided a different model and created a religious, occupational and professional identity that varied from the prescriptive literature of the day. Their religious identity had as its goal their own ‘perfection’ and the salvation of others. Their occupational identity as ‘nun’ often encompassed a wide variety of tasks, but by the end of the century, the professional identity of nun as teacher or nurse was firmly in place.

Scientology’s greatest battle. Scientology emerged from Dianetics, which Hubbard hoped would replace the psychiatric profession. In this article, we discuss how Scientology attempted to position itself as a rival profession to psychiatry and the consequences of those attempts. Scientology’s battle with psychiatry gained some success from the social conditions during which it emerged, but it continues in a time that has seen increasing success with various psychiatric treatments. As such, Scientology’s direct influence on the psychiatric profession may be difficult to measure, but its actions have coincided with substantial challenges to psychiatry.

Eje temático: Pertinencia social del saber científico educativo Resumen En la complejidad de pensamiento -diría Morin-que implica poner en interrelación o en juego conceptos tan complejos en sí mismos como pertinencia, saber y ciencia, las reflexiones o análisis pueden resultar de igual manera y perderse por tanto, en el juego de las relatividades. Por ello, a la luz de un trabajo de investigación en marcha con fines de titulación doctoral, el eje temático en que se inscribe el presente trabajo generó la necesidad de intentar abonar a la claridad o a la toma de acuerdos iniciales sobre el papel que juegan hoy en día la pertinencia social, los saberes y la ciencia en las universidades públicas, incluidas en la denominación genérica de Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES), máxime cuando tales instituciones son el blanco permanente de una multiplicidad de demandas o expectativas sociales (la OCDE, 2008, las denomina y reconoce como una "mixture of many demands"). ¿Cómo entender pertinencia social en zonas de demandas sociales localizadas frente a un orden que se impone global? ¿Cómo se vinculan pertinencia social y saber científico? ¿En cuáles casos es posible vincularlos y para qué? Pero sobre todo, ¿cuáles son las prácticas específicas que se requieren para abandonar el campo teórico de estos temas e incidir en la transformación del entorno? Lo que aquí se expone intenta indicar los caminos a probables respuestas.

This article examines the role of institutional factors in shaping the integration paths of migrant health professionals. For this purpose, it draws on two studies focusing on Filipino and Indian nurses working in the UK which rely on quantitative and qualitative methods, including a web survey and semi-structured interviews. The analysis shows that inequalities have arisen from differentiation processes induced by changes in the institutional settings. Furthermore, inequalities are often reflected in poor working conditions. The authors have identified restrictive rules on immigration and access to the profession as a source of uncertainty, and reveal the differentiation of entry paths, with those arriving through an international recruitment agency more frequently disappointed with their working conditions.

Professional bodies face a variety of challenges. This article explores a more-cost effective way of undertaking many of the core activities of professional bodies and providing communities of professionals with 24/7 support.  Evidence from early adoptions of performance support set out in three recent reports (Transforming Knowledge Management, Talent Management 2, Transforming Public Services) suggests that professional bodies could be revitalized to such an extent that the heyday of many of those institutions that originated in the nineteenth century may be yet to come. They could be instrumental in creating a better future for their members, business and the wider public.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine what the notion of a call can bring to our understanding of professional practice and practical knowledge. I begin with a brief consideration of why the notion of a call fell out of favour. I argue that far from being a trivial change in the way we make sense of work, the absence of the call makes it more difficult to integrate subjective and objective senses of the justification of work. Drawing on the ethical phenomenology of Emmanuel Lévinas, I go on to argue that both subjective identity as well as social practices and institutions are held together by the experience of a call to responsibility which unites subjective and objective moments of justification in the personal/ethical. In the final part of the paper, I show how the notion of the call is not just concerned with the original entry into a practice, but is a structure in everyday practice which helps to make sense of the motivation of students of practical knowledge to make their practice as a whole an object of reflection.

This article examines the role of institutional factors in shaping the integration paths of migrant health professionals. For this purpose, it draws on two studies focusing on Filipino and Indian nurses working in the UK which rely on quantitative and qualitative methods, including a web survey and semi-structured interviews. The analysis shows that inequalities have arisen from differentiation processes induced by changes in the institutional settings. Furthermore, inequalities are often reflected in poor working conditions. The authors have identified restrictive rules on immigration and access to the profession as a source of uncertainty, and reveal the differentiation of entry paths, with those arriving through an international recruitment agency more frequently disappointed with their working conditions.

This article is an analysis of conditions enabling the rise of the professional field of medicine in Sweden. The analysis is based mainly on secondary data, while the use of primary data is restricted to official statistics. Primarily, it aims to study the conditions promoting professionalization in medicine. Important exogenous conditions were derived from early emerging nation state administration structures concerning policy and governance of public health, as well as a delegated supervision of professional health activities to the medical profession and the organization of a public national health care system. Professionalization strategies such as social organization of the medical profession and their use of a variety of legitimizing resources as tools for jurisdictional claims are considered as endogenous conditions. Broadly, the analysis shows a close relationship between the growth of professionalization in the field of medicine and the development of state prosperity in the Swedish welfare state.

This article engages with the trends affecting professional work, in the context of changing labour markets and societies. Our argument is straightforward: critical processes of change have triggered multiple differentiationprocesses, resulting in an increasing heterogeneity among professions and professional; as such, heterogeneity can be better understood in the context of a coherent multi-dimensional analytical framework. These changes, both driven by and impacting on the labour market, call for a deeper understanding of the world of professions, as it is situated in new circumstances. Not only are there more professionals than ever, but they also are more diverse (and unequal), in one word: professions are now characterized by increasing heterogeneity.

An ongoing issue of the membership of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society concerns efforts to educate audiences about human factors and ergonomics (HF/E). One important group to consider is students taking a beginning or introductory psychology course. The initial course in psychology usually reviews the scope of psychology and is taken by large numbers of individuals. In the present research, introductory psychology textbooks (n=123) published between 1969 and 2006 were consulted to identify the nature and extent of the coverage of HF/E. A clear increase in coverage was evidenced beginning in 1995. Although HF/E is now being mentioned significantly more often in newer texts, it is frequently limited in both amount and scope. The potential growth of graduate HF/E programs may be affected by the extent to which potential applicants are exposed to the discipline. Implications for HF/E are discussed and opportunities for increasing student exposure are identified.

More and more reforms in public administrations are being conducted that are based on the principles and instruments of "new public management". They have set off protest and collective actions by several professional groups in various sectors (health, education, justice, social work, research. . .), whence questions about the future of professional groups in public services, in particular about their autonomy, which these reforms threaten. The opposition between this new public management and certain professional groups, is not the final explanation to draw from an analysis of this situation. Should these changes be seen as the decline of professional groups and of their autonomy, as a mutation of professional models, an overhaul of professionalism, etc.? These questions, which current events in France and Europe have raised, are a matter for ongoing sociological thought. They are approached empirically, from the field, using varied scales of analysis and research. Forms of tension between this new public management and professional groups are explored.

Understanding boundary-spanning activities such as interorganizational alliances and professional/organizational integration requires clarity about what boundaries are being spanned and how they were constructed. We approach this goal by drawing on social identity theory and institutional theory to develop a process model, whereby inward- and outward-directed networking activities combine to build the social boundaries marking exclusive membership and proprietary domain. Four stages in the process are demonstrated, using two longitudinal case studies of emerging professions: the Jewish legal profession in Israel and physician executives in the USA. Despite the cases' contextual differences, analysis of networking activities supports propositions based on the model.

Women composers are an understudied population within the creative workforce. The authors report on an international survey of 225 women composers. They use a human capital lens to shed light on the nature of women composers’ careers and career trajectories, focusing on how they work, how they enter the industry, how they build a reputation, and how they support and sustain their careers. The survey consisted of mostly open-ended questions alongside selected closed questions. Content analysis was the method used. The findings highlight the composers’ relationships with performers, the importance of networks and social capital, the role of social media and the online presence, family support, external funding and the prevalence of multiple roles due to changing career aspirations. The findings reveal the need to better prepare women for a career in music composition, the need for more grant and funding options, the need for composers to effectively use the online space to enhance visibility and find support, and the need for a collaborative effort to reduce gender inequity in the industry

This paper takes up the self-construction of the social roles of Polish IT professionals. We conducted an ethnographic study and observed that many of our interviewees defined their roles by negation and by invoking the internal and often hermetic aspects of their profession. Labeling this practice “holding up the shield,” we trace its archetypical roots. The recurrent use of this practice makes a change in agency in the process of constructing the role possible, to the benefit of the IT professionals.

Il contributo riporta i risultati di un'analisi web condotta nel 2018 per comprendere bisogni e aspettative delle aziende in relazione ai professionisti della comunicazione.
L'analisi è stata condotta sugli annunci di lavoro postati sul web nel 2018 per le aree di Business Communication, Culture and Publishing, Creative Industry e Culture and Audiovisual.
I dati utilizzati per le analisi provengono da WollyBI, l’osservatorio del Web Labour Market sviluppato da Tabulaex in collaborazione con il Centro di Ricerca CRISP (Centro di Ricerca Interuniversitario per i Servizi di Pubblica Utilità) dell’Università di Milano-Bicocca.

Greece proceeded from 2010 onwards to an extensive reform of the legislative framework regulating professions/activities of the country's service sector. Prior to this reform, access to and practice of many of these professions/activities were subject to extensive restrictive regulations on market entry and conduct. The main legislative act of the reform was Law 3919/2011. The process of implementation of this law proved lengthy and complex. The largest part of the process has now been completed, bringing about the abolition or drastic reduction of restrictions in a wide range of service sector professions/activities.

The concept of 'professionalization' is commonly used to describe how occupations become recognized as 'professions', and how they go about consolidating this status and improving their services. Contemporary debate often glosses over the historical development of the professions. Indeed, professionalism is often discussed and debated in a way that treats professionalization as a recent and uniform phenomenon. Taking a comparative historical perspective this paper identifies the stages through which occupations in the UK and Germany developed into the recognized professions of today. In doing so, it demonstrates that the process of professionalization has been radically different in the two countries, in particular with regard to the role of the state in initiating and administering professional bodies. Overall the study demonstrates that the process of professionalization in the UK has been 'bottom up', in that professional bodies have resulted from spontaneous activities at the occupational level to secure professional status. By contrast, professionalization in Germany has been 'top down' in that the state has played an active interventionist role in the initiation and administration of the professions. In detailing these different patterns this paper aims to provide an empirical resource for researchers in the field, and to contribute to the understanding of the differences in the organization and administration of professional services in the UK and in Germany. Finally, the emerging role of the EU in the administration, training, and licensing of professionals is discussed. The point is made that while particular EU directives have changed the relationship between the professions and the state in both countries, large-scale intervention by the EU has resulted in a new form of Euro-professionalization, typified by the establishment of the new profession of 'eco-auditors'.

Poland is undergoing a major systemic shift: from centrally planned toward a market economy. All dimensions of societal life are involved in the change. The paper discusses the social role of the Polish managers currently against the background of what it used to be like under communism from a social constructivist perspective. The role is considered from the point of view of the actors: how they construct their role.

This paper takes up the self-construction of the social roles of Polish IT professionals. We conducted an ethnographic study and observed that many of our interviewees defined their roles by negation and by invoking the internal and often hermetic aspects of their profession. Labeling this practice “holding up the shield,” we trace its archetypical roots. The recurrent use of this practice makes a change in agency in the process of constructing the role possible, to the benefit of the IT professionals.