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Exploring the Concept of "Profession" for Organizational Communication Research

Institutional Influences in a Veterinary Organization

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Mattea A. Garcia

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Recent scholarship has argued that the concept of profession is undertheorized and accepted uncritically. The authors address this issue by summarizing the characteristics of professions and articulating professions as institutionalized occupations. Their study of a veterinary call center suggests that profession influences the workplace through (a) knowledge providing, seeking, and sharing; (b) self-management of behavior, emotions, and productivity; (c) internal sources of motivation; (d) a service orientation; (e) the invocation of field standards; and (f) participation in a knowledge community beyond the workplace. Although these features may be distinguishable analytically, they are unified in the experience of work. Moreover, the close match in this case between the service orientations of the profession and of the organization strengthened the workers' commitment and thus the legitimacy of the organization.

Key Words: institutional theory • organizational theory • professions

Management Communication Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 3, 357-384 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0893318908327007


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