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Archetype Change in Professional Organizations: Survey Evidence from Large Law Firms
Author(s) -
Pinnington Ashly,
Morris Timothy
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
british journal of management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.407
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1467-8551
pISSN - 1045-3172
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8551.00267
Subject(s) - archetype , managerialism , corporate governance , business , general partnership , public relations , contest , marketing , law , political science , art , literature , finance
This paper examines the proposition that the traditional archetype of the professional partnership is said to have changed into a more ‘business‐like’ entity, the managed professional business. It broadens the restricted case sample base on which much of the evidence has been adduced, by developing a survey questionnaire through which 197 large British law firms were sampled. Change, consistent with the notion of a more commercially oriented and consciously managed organization, is concentrated in the market‐facing area of the firm but coexists with areas of continuity in the governance of the firm and its strategic management. The findings reveal a more managerial form of organization in which the core elements of the traditional form of professional organization have not been transformed. These results contest the assertion of either transformational or sedimented change found in other, case‐based research and suggest that archetype change needs theoretically to be distinguished from the general phenomenon of greater managerialism within the professional service firm.