1,721,300 research outputs found
Holidays are coming: inclusion and exclusion in organisational rituals
No full textUsing interviews with 30 independent consultants and freelance knowledge workers, this paper investigates invite to and attendance at the Christmas party of clients which emerged as a mystery. Following an abductive approach that examines empirical material and existing theory in tandem, analysis shows that whilst organisational rituals include based on social lines of acceptance, this exclusion can also be based on a perceived legal basis of who is in or out of the organisation regardless of the social aspect. This legal aspect is not always codified but based on a perception of the legislation that leads to an unanticipated consequence; non-attendance at a seemingly harmless social event. Excluding can also be seen as an instrument of control and a way of reasserting client power over highly paid consultants who constantly cross organisational borders and who blur the lines between insider and outsider
Independent consultants: A segmentation, definition, review and research agenda
No full textDue to the heterogeneous nature of the self-employed workforce, segmentation has emerged as an urgent need. This paper problematises existing definitions before defining independent consultants by triangulating theory concerning independent contractors in business-business relationships, intellectual and human capital, and research on consultancy and Professional Service Firms (PSFs) where barriers and control of entry are low. Importantly these highlight how independent consultants are different from allied legal and business professionals that they are often categorised alongside. The paper discusses implications for these areas of theory, collaboration and organisational strategy, and managing these workers as part of a blended workforce. Moreover whilst consultants, knowledge workers and self-employed individuals are often portrayed as free and autonomous, issues around freedom and client control remain. The paper consolidates existing theory and provides a firm theoretical grounding for future research. It goes on to offer avenues for future research in the growing field of independent consultants
The (ir)relevance of human resource management in independent work: Challenging assumptions
No full textWe challenge the assumption that independent workers are not relevant to or within the remit of HRM practice and theory. Traditionally, HR focusses on the management of employees within the boundaries of the organisation. Yet, this neglects the wider role that HR can and must have in the management of human work that the organisation needs yet exists beyond these boundaries. We argue for the ‘Human’ in HRM to include independent workers. We first contextualise them, highlight the reasons for neglect, and examine and provoke three key areas. We set out the taken for granted, problematise, and then show how they are relevant, look different, or could be. Through this, we provoke exactly what HR does, where it starts and finishes, and its role in a network or ecosystem rather than purely an organisation. We close by offering ways of making this happen for both theory and practice.<br/
The value of human work in a future automated world
No full textJuani Swart, Professor in Human Capital Management and David Cross, Research Associate at University of Bath School of Management conclude this report with a look towards the future and how changing technology might cause us to re-evaluate what we think about work. They ask the big questions about the future of work – might AI and automation replace human labour for many or most tasks? Will there be any obligation for humans to work at all? Or are there still aspects of human work that are worth valuing and preserving in such a world?<br/
Conflicts of client commitment for independent consultants
No full textAs the world of work changes, individuals are able to form bonds of commitment to a range of increasingly diverse targets (Meyer, 2009). Committing to multiple targets and the interaction of these targets can be seen as conflicting, synergistic or compensatory (Johnson, Groff, & Taing, 2009). There are questions as to how these interactions arise, are experienced and can be resolved (Becker, 2016; Becker, Klein, & Meyer, 2009). Using the conceptualisation of Klein, Molloy, and Brinsfield (2012) we present the findings of a qualitative study of 50 independent consultants and freelance knowledge workers that used critical incidents to investigate interactions in client commitment. These individuals exist outside of an organisational employer-employee relationship and through the lens of liminality we see that the freedom of self-employment can create a conflict between the targets of commitment. We identify 3 main bases for the conflict and offer 4 ways of managing derived from our empirical material. This enables us to contribute to the literature on the dynamic interaction of commitment to multiple targets and extend commitment theory in a nonstandard but increasingly common context where theory on organisational commitment becomes 'muddled' and doesn't quite 'stack up' (Gallagher & McLean Parks, 2001)
Professional liminality: Independent consultants spanning professions
No full textManagement consultancy has received considerable interest as an arena of consultant and client insecurity where the quality of knowledge work is hard to judge. Attempts to address these issues have included investigations of professionalisation in consultancy. Much of this, and indeed most research on consultancy as a whole, has taken place in organisational settings with scant attention paid to self-employed consultants. Drawing on interviews with 50 independent consultants working in the UK and constructing these individuals as liminal, that is 'betwixt and between' and outside of many conventional structures, we contribute to the understanding of professionalisation in consultancy. Contrary to the assumption that these individuals would want further professionalisation as a mark of credibility, we argue that independent consultants adopt a strategy of professional liminality; an ambiguous and vague identity that enables them to win more business, cope with their outsider status and ultimately survive and thrive in their insecure position that is full of both anti-structure and freedom. Reflecting this back to wider debates, we show that away from the influence of employing organisations independent consultants shun many of the practices of professionalisation and derive credibility and legitimacy from clients and collaborators. We discuss independent consultants as pursuing an alternative to the professionalisation strategies in consultancy, an area that is already following a different path to more traditional professions
In a flash of time: knowledge resources that enable professional cross-boundary work
No full textIn this paper, we highlight the networked context of the professions. In particular, we indicate that neo-classical professionals tend to work across organizational boundaries in project teams, often to meet the needs of clients and the wider society. However, little is known about the resources that professionals draw on to meet immediate, fast paced, client demands in project network organizations (PNOs). We pinpoint how knowledge resources, human, social and organizational capital enable professionals to produce outputs at a fast pace/tempo. Temporality emerged as an unexpected but key issue in our empirical research and we explore this further here. First, we put forward how professional work organization(s) has changed by focusing on the boundaries of organizations, and how this is often temporary and project-driven. Second, we use the specific lens of knowledge resources which are drawn upon to enable networked working and ask the question: which knowledge resources enable professionals to work at a fast pace within networks? Third, appreciative of the vast literature on temporary and networked organizations in professional work, our focus is beyond a single profession or organization, and hence, we build upon the prior research on PNOs. We do this by drawing on empirical data of a humanitarian aid project networked organization (HN) that upscales across its network at high speed, often within days, to generate funds for humanitarian disasters in order to save lives
Professional fluidity: reconceptualising the professional status of self-employed neo-professionals
No full textCurrent debates and definitions of professionalism are primarily grounded in organisations, either as employing bureaucracies or service firms, that control and structure expert labour. This is problematic as it neglects the many neo-professionals that are self-employed. We draw on interviews with 50 independent consultants and find that, outside of organisational boundaries, they pursue a strategy of professional fluidity. This is a relational and market-driven approach that requires a multiplicity of roles and chameleon-like tactics. As opposed to notions of collegial, organisational and corporate professionalisation, professional fluidity is a co-constructed and agentic approach where validity and legitimacy are achieved primarily through relations with clients and collaborators rather than institutions or employing organisations. Through professional fluidity we contribute to a more holistic understanding of professionalism that is sensitive to the employment mode rather than knowledge domain and develops existing notions of who is a professional. This is important for wider debates on the current and future state of professions
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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