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7 - The upside of bureaucracy: unintended benefits for professional careers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2009

By
Forrest Briscoe
Edited by
Peter Cappelli
Forrest Briscoe
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Labor and Employment Studies and Sociology, Pennsylvania State University
Peter Cappelli
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
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Summary

Introduction

There is a frequent refrain from scholars and practitioners alike that the professions are becoming ever more bureaucratized. If true, what does this trend imply for professional careers? Several volumes have been devoted to the implications of bureaucratization in general, nearly all of which see it negatively from the point of view of professional workers themselves (e.g. Derber, 1982; Leicht and Fennell, 2001; Freidson, 2001). In this chapter I advance another, perhaps less obvious, interpretation: that bureaucracy offers those in professional careers the kind of career flexibility that today is welcomed. I argue that bureaucratization is (largely unintentionally) creating a range of flexible career options that were previously unavailable – and that are increasingly valued by professional workers themselves. I advance this argument using data from a multi-method study of primary care physicians.

A review of the historical and current trends in professional organizations (e.g. law firms, medical practices) in the research literature shows that they are indeed becoming more bureaucratic. This process entails a greater use of formalized rules and procedures (Gerth and Mills, 1946), and more centralized control of professional activities and client relationships (Pugh et al., 1968). Some of the resulting effects on careers are straightforward. For example, bureaucracy tends to increase the demand for professionals to take on managerial roles (see Rothman and Perrucci, 1970, and Raelin, 1985).

Type
Chapter
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Employment Relationships
New Models of White-Collar Work
 , pp. 223 - 256
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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