This Element engages with fundamental questions concerning the future trajectory of professions as a distinct occupational category and of the formal organizations, which represent, employ or host professionals. It begins with a literature review that identifies a functionalist, power and institutionalist lens for the study of professional occupations and organizations. It then reviews a series of challenges which face the contemporary professions. Finally, the Element explores contemporar...

Over the past three decades the Professional Service Firm (PSF) sector has emerged as one of the most rapidly growing, profitable, and significant in the global economy. In 2013 the accountancy, management consulting, legal, and architectural sectors alone generated revenues of US$ 1.6 trillion and employed 14 million people. PSFs play an important role in developing human capital, creating innovative business services, reshaping government institutions, establishing and interpreting the r...

Professions are increasingly linked with enterprise at a number of interrelated levels. By considering the relationship of professions to the enterprise contexts in which they work, this book reveals the dilemmas posed to professional groups, and the opportunities and constraints that can arise in their organisational frameworks.Addressing both private and public sectors, this collection explores questions including: what are the implications for the culture, practices and identiti...

Business processes in any organization, can be made more efficient, more effective, and adaptable to changing market and/ or economic needs.However, the biggest problem faced by most companies worldwide, is not its competitors, rather the biggest problems are self-inflicted, that is, created in-house by the management. Therefore, a step further in this direction is to build 'quality' and 'profitability' into business processes.What will you learn f...

Launch your business to new heights with out-of-this world innovationFor over half a century, NASA has delivered a continuous stream of innovative accomplishments that have inspired the world. Neil Armstrong walking on the moon, the space shuttle pioneering reusable space planes, Mars rovers exploring the red planet--the list goes on. We read the stories and watch the footage, and as impossible as these achievements seem, NASA makes them look easy.The most innovative orga...

Axiom Business Book Award Silver Medal WinnerDISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES. THE GIG ECONOMY. BREADWINNER MOMS. DATA-DRIVEN RECRUITING. PERSONALIZED LEARNING.In a business landscape rocked by constant change and turmoil, companies like Airbnb, Cisco, GE Digital, Google, IBM, and Microsoft are reinventing the future of work. What is it that makes these companies so different? They’re strategic, they’re agile, and they’re customer-focused. ...

A powerful new model for driving positive change in any businessIn Choosing Change, two renowned leaders in the field of organizational change teach business leaders how to create “change leaders” and change-focused companies—a two-pronged approach that has been proven effective.Part One leverages cutting-edge thinking from psychology, neuroscience, and executive development to provide real, actionable help in the creation of a 21st century change leader. Part Tw...

While executives are keen to harness organizational knowledge and improve business performance, the topic of how academics can produce rigorous and relevant theory in working relationships with practitioners is a much contested topic. Many aspects of this knowledge co-creation can create tensions, and the ways in which research is conducted and published can affect practitioner acceptance, as well as its consequent uptake and use in different contexts.Expertly compiled by Jean Bart...

Management consultants are typically seen as key mediators in the flow of management ideas. And yet little is known about exactly what happens when they work together with clients, behind closed doors in consulting projects. Do they really innovate or simply legitimate existing knowledge? This book presents research from a three year long 'fly-on-the-wall study' of consulting projects and challenges our taken for granted view of consultancy. It draws on and integrates theories of knowledge...

About the book-This book presents a practical way to build and improve business processes, and assists professionals whether they are learning the basics of business process improvement, planning their first improvement project, or evangelizing process oriented thinking throughout their organization.Who should read this book?This book is for Agile entrepreneurs, Leaders, QA (Quality Assurance) managers, Management con...

Organizational Energy presents a powerful and proven method for transforming organizations. Its power comes from a new understanding of organizations as living systems with their own vital energy, rather than simply mechanistic engines striving to meet their financial targets. Using the analogy between the human energy system and the organizational energy system leaders are able to understand and improve business excellence from a different perspective and improve the health and prosperity...

In a global competitive economic environment, resources that are scarce or irreplicable are a source of sustained competitive advantage for companies and organizations. Knowledge-based resources are a major and increasing driver of long term competitive advantage. Most accounting standards however do not allow for knowledge-based resource calculations, including the most important of these, intellectual capital. Intellectual capital is the collective knowledge, documented and otherwise, of...