Three main sets of questions guide our research:
- what kind of management practices and management ideals characterize different professional groups? Do management practices and ideals in professional organizations vary between the public and the private sector? Do professional workers who become managers experience role conflicts, and if so, in what organizational context is these role conflicts most problematic?
- what kind of qualifications is necessary for managing organizations dominated by professional workers? What characterizes legitimate leadership for different professions? How much professional knowledge must the manager have? When different professions work together, who are seen as the legitimate leaders?
- which professionals are recruited for management positions? As gender, ethnicity and social class will often influence selection to these positions, do the people selected as managers represent their peers on these dimensions?
Empirical analyses addressing these questions draw on existing data sources (such as Studdata) as well as on data from new quantitative and qualitative fieldwork.
