The Institutional Notion of Management as a Profession and its Influence on Management Practice and on Manager's Training (2018-2022)

Nature

Scientific research project (Notice Universal Call MCTI/CNPq 28/2018)

Status:

Completed

Funding:

National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – CNPq

Description and Purpose:

Sociologically speaking, professions are social roles established in society, responsible both for producing fields of action and for reproducing logics and practices inherent to them, functioning as influential institutional agents. Through the actions of these agents, it is possible to understand the conditions of production and reproduction of the spheres that make up their institutional dimension, in terms of how they are reinforced, transformed or innovated, according to the actions of practitioners organized in professional classes and/or professionalized organizations. There is evidence – empirical and scientific – that Management as a profession, still demands more substantive occupational closure, both internationally and in Brazil. Thus, it is important to institutionally discuss the professional field of Management to understand not only how the Management profession can be understood based on the pre-existing conditions that shape the behavior and profile of agents who deal with managerial issues, but also, how individuals and social actors (such as organizations) strategically positioned in the field of Management institutionalize practices in the societal sphere, and/or operate direct changes in the institutional arrangements that configure them, professionalizing the very field – which is composed of the subfields of (i) training/education, (ii) management practitioners (in a broad sense), (iii) consultancies, and (iv) the media. The project analyzed how the institutional notion of Management as a profession operates individual, organizational and societal processes that influence the practice of management and manager's training.

Findings/Results:

Research findings encompassed the following:

- Regarding the media: (i) there is a material and symbolic recursive influence between institutional factors and business media active in the professional field of Management;

- Regarding the consultancies: (i) management consultants acquire the necessary skills for their performance in higher education processes and/or in professional experiences that put them in contact with management vocabularies, as well as symbols and "ways of doing" of the Management profession, which provide them with the ability to translate the acquired knowledge, using rhetoric as a strategic tool to build shared meanings with their clients, in order to obtain and maintain their legitimacy; (ii) the existence of the professional logic of Management ruling management consultants, which makes them replicate practices in various organizations, contributing to the professionalization of the field, by circulating management ideas;

- Regarding the professional field of Management: (i) several factors that affect the legitimacy of the Management profession in Brazil were discussed, such as the perception of low recognition and appreciation for the manager (which compromise these professionals' insertion), the inadequacy of its legislation (which reproduces assumptions of professions quite different from Management), the low effectiveness of the actions developed by the representative class entities, and the very configuration of the managerial activity, which presents significant differences compared to traditional professions, such as the lack of direct contact with the client/user, in addition to its contingency and contextual nature; (ii) there is a legal-type rational myth in Brazilian professional Management that guides its institutionalization process by mimetizing the model of professions of greater historical tradition (such as Medicine, Engineering and Law), based on the belief that such a structure (reproduced in the Manager's law) will grant greater social recognition, better prospects for action, greater possibilities for social advancement, hence, a more substantive occupational closure; (iii) there are management ideas whose circulation, consumption and co-production/editing influence the legitimation – discursive, rhetoric and narrative – of management professionals' actions and practices; (iv) there is gap between the scientific knowledge of the field and its application by professional practitioners, in which language can be the gear for understanding and articulating the intersectional spaces of action in the professional field of Management; (v) challenges to the professionalization model of Management in Brazil were pointed, such as the lack of greater articulation between its different actors, the fragmentation of the field, the emergence of new professional activities that can incorporate typical managerial activities, political and economic changes – majorly driven by the market logic – which press for deregulation, and the flexibilization of regulated professions model;

- Regarding the Management profession: (i) it became evident that, despite common-sensical knowledge, and its already secular historical trajectory, Management (either nationally or internationally) cannot be considered a profession – at least in the scientific meaning of "profession" according to the 'Sociology of Professions' – being more appropriate to evaluate it as an 'emerging profession' or as a 'semi-profession' which contains, in itself, versatile, dynamic and interdisciplinary conditions capable of propelling it to a 'super-profession' transversally relevant to several others already established professions; and (ii) there is evidence of a 'Management language', proper and constitutive of this professional field as well as something distinctive of this particular professional group.

Keywords:

Professions; Institutions; Management Practice; Management Training; Organization Studies.

Members:

Samir Adamoglu de Oliveira (coordinator), Edson Ronaldo Guarido Filho (associate coordinator), Diego Maganhotto Coraiola (associate coordinator), Anielson Barbosa da Silva (collaborative researcher), Marcelo de Souza Bispo (collaborative researcher), João Moraes Sobrinho (researcher), Luciene Alencar Firmo Abrantes (researcher), Maria de Lourdes de Melo Salmito Mendes (researcher), Carolina Wünsch Marcelino (researcher), Douglas Oliveira Bezerra (researcher), Jéssica Monteiro Valverde (researcher), Mariene Cavalcante Borba de Albuquerque (researcher), Vivianne Freire Felix (researcher).

Associated Publications:

Articles published in scientific journals:

Valverde, J. M., & Adamoglu de Oliveira, S. (2023). Translating Management Ideas: Consultants as Language Artificers. Cadernos EBAPE.BR (FGV), 21(2), e2022-0167, 1-14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1679-395120220167x

Articles/Abstracts published in event proceedings:

Valverde, J. M., Bezerra, D. O., Abrantes, L. A. F., & Adamoglu de Oliveira, S. (2020). Trabalho institucional profissional estratégico em vazios institucionais: o caso da harmonização orofacial na Odontologia. Annals of Encontro de Estudos em Estratégia da ANPAD (3ES), online event, Brazil, 9.

Master's theses:

Valverde, Jéssica Monteiro (2021). Translating Management Ideas: The Influence of Consulting on the Professionalization of the Field of Administration (Master's dissertation). Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil. https://repositorio.ufpb.br/jspui/handle/123456789/20967
Managerial Summary: Portuguese | English

Bezerra, Douglas Oliveira (2021). Mediatization and Profession: A Study of Social Media and News Materials in the Professional Field of Management (Master's dissertation). Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil. https://repositorio.ufpb.br/jspui/handle/123456789/20758

Doctoral dissertations:

Sobrinho, João Moraes (2021). The Institutionalization Process of the Manager Profession and the Challenges for its Legitimation in the Brazilian Context (Doctoral dissertation). Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil. https://repositorio.ufpb.br/jspui/handle/123456789/22626
Managerial Summary: Portuguese | English