Restructuring the Professional Organisation: Accounting, Health Care and Law

271 Pages·1999·1.03 MB·English

by  David Brock

Restructuring the Professional
Organization
In recent years, the professional organization has undergone radical transformation.
With the advent of rapidly changing markets, more sophisticated and demanding
clients, deregulation and increased competition, the generalist professional
partnerships have given way to larger, more corporate forms of organization,
comprising increasingly autonomous specialist business units.
This volume critically examines these changes through an analysis of the
archetypes which characterize accounting, health care and law practice. Key topics
covered include:
• a review of the models of professional organization
• drivers of change in professions
• internal dynamics of the changes within these organizations
• new organizational forms and archetypes
With examples drawn from Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA, Restructuring
the Professional Organization will be of interest to all students of organization
studies seeking to understand the issues and problems confronting the professions
as they enter the new millennium.
David Brock is Senior Lecturer in International Organization and Strategy at the
University of Auckland, New Zealand. In addition to his work on professional
organizations he has interests in the areas of technology-driven change; planning
and strategy in universities; and planning, strategy, and human resource
management in multinational subsidiaries. Michael Powell is Professor of Health
Management also at the University of Auckland. His current research interests
include changing governance structures in publicly funded healthcare
organizations, organizational change and the development of integrated care
structures. C. R. (Bob) Hinings is Thornton A. Graham Professor of Business and
Director of the Centre for Professional Service Management at the University of
Alberta, Canada. His work covers areas such as change in professional
organizations, the emergence of organizational forms, and the recomposition of
professional fields.

Restructuring the
Professional Organization
Accounting, health care and law
Edited by
David M. Brock, Michael J. Powell
and C. R. Hinings
London and New York
First published 1999 by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001.
In editorial matter and selection © 1999 David Brock, Michael Powell and
C. R. Hinings; in individual contributions © 1999 the contributors.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Brock, David, 1956–
Restructuring the professional organisation : accounting, health care, and law /
edited by David Brock, Michael Powell, and C.R. Hinings.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Professional corporations—Management. 2. Professional corporations—
Personnel management. 3. Professional corporations—Law and legislation. I. Powell,
Michael (Michael J. II. Hinings, C. R. (Christopher Robin) III. Title.
HD62.65.B76 1999
658—dc21 99–12839
CIP
ISBN 0-415-19216-1 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-19217-X (pbk)
ISBN 0-203-01844-3 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-13418-4 (Glassbook Format)
Contents
List of figures and tables vii
List of contributors viii
Preface and acknowledgements ix
1 The changing professional organization 1
MICHAEL J. POWELL, DAVID M. BROCK AND C. R. HININGS
2 Internationalization of professional services:
implications for accounting firms 20
YAIR AHARONI
3 Global clients’ demands driving change in global
business advisory firms 41
TERESA ROSE AND C. R. HININGS
4 Institutional effects on organizational governance and
conformity: the case of the Kaiser Permanente and the
United States health care field 68
CAROL A. CARONNA AND W. RICHARD SCOTT
5 Restructuring law firms: reflexivity and emerging forms 87
JOHN T. GRAY
6 The struggle to redefine boundaries in health care
systems 105
JEAN-LOUIS DENIS, LISE LAMOTHE, ANN LANGLEY AND
ANNICK VALETTE
7 The dynamics of change in large accounting firms 131
C. R. HININGS, ROYSTON GREENWOOD AND DAVID COOPER
vi Contents
8 Professionals organizing professionals: comparing the
logic of United States and United Kingdom law practice 154
JOHN FLOOD
9 ‘All fur coat and no knickers’: contemporary
organizational change in United Kingdom hospitals 183
MARTIN KITCHENER
10 Continuity and change in professional organizations:
evidence from British law firms 200
TIMOTHY MORRIS AND ASHLY PINNINGTON

11 The restructured professional organization: corporates,
cobwebs and cowboys 215
DAVID M. BROCK, MICHAEL J. POWELL AND C. R. HININGS
References 230
Index 249
Figures and tables
Figures
6.1 Four modes of boundary redefinition in health care systems 114
6.2 The economic logic behind system integration 123
10.1 Dimensions of change and continuity in UK law firms 212
11.1 The changing professional organization 221
11.2 A typology of professional organizations 225
11.3 Location of clusters and archetypes 228
Tables
7.1 Characteristics of the P2 and MPB archetypes 134
8.1 Numbers of clients by top echelon of lawyers 168
8.2 Total and mean numbers of work/task episodes for sample
four-week period for lawyers in management committee and
lawyers in alternate group 170
9.1 Structures and systems of the PB and QM hospital archetypes 184
9.2 Dominant views of the three vectors of the PB interpretive sheme 187
9.3 Continuity and change within the interpretive scheme of UK
hospitals 197
10.1 Frequencies for the variables 204–205
10.2 Correlations for the selected nine variables associated with the
MPB form 209
10.3 Sub-samples 210
Contributors
Yair Aharoni, The College of Management, Israel
Carol A. Caronna, Stanford University, USA
David Cooper, University of Alberta, Canada
Jean-Louis Denis, Université de Montréal, Canada
John Flood, University of Westminster, UK
John T. Gray, University of Western Sydney, Australia
Royston Greenwood, The University of Alberta, Canada
Martin Kitchener, Cardiff University, UK
Lise Lamothe, Université Laval, Canada
Ann Langley, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
Timothy Morris, London Business School, UK
Ashly Pinnington, University of Exeter, UK
Teresa Rose, University of Alberta, Canada
W. Richard Scott, Stanford University, USA
Annick Valette, Université Pierre Mendès-France, France
Preface and
acknowledgements
The germ of this book can be traced back to a graduate organization theory class
David taught in 1994. At the time he was researching aspects of autonomy, and
trying to show students how contemporary organizations can offer operating
autonomy yet still maintain quality of service. The example of the professional
organization (à la Mintzberg) came to mind, the idea being that if autonomous
operators were highly trained then quality control would not be an organizational
problem. At the same time, Michael, also at the University of Auckland, was actively
teaching and researching in the area of professional organizations. Together, David
and Michael developed a symposium on the changing professional organization
for the 1995 Academy of Management Meetings in Vancouver that was the
precursor of the book. Bob was one of the invited participants and subsequently
agreed to join in developing an edited volume.
Over the next few years we met on numerous occasions: in Auckland, Dallas,
Vancouver, Boston, Seattle, San Diego and back in Auckland. Dozens of white
boards, countless e-mails, faxes, conference calls, and couriered manuscripts later
we have produced what we planned: a volume on the changing professional
organization that would be of interest to scholars and practitioners alike. More
broadly, this volume addresses the contemporary complex, global, knowledge-
based, service organization. It is about networks, organizational development,
competition, global integration, franchising, power, and mergers; all applied to the
dynamic organizations of accounting, health care, and law.
We wish to thank the contributors to this volume from across three continents
who have produced original work for this volume. We are grateful for their willing
cooperation and assistance under considerable time pressure.
There are many other people to thank: Nigel Haworth and John Deeks, Heads
of the Departments of International Business and Management and Employment
Relations at the University of Auckland, funded Bob’s first visit to Auckland,
covered additional office-related expenses, and provided the space to work on this
book. Many accountants, lawyers, doctors and medical administrators gave
generously of their time and ideas: Dr Dan Berkowitz, Dr Clive Brock, Richard Case,
Nigel Faigan, Scott Laird, Dr William Nichols, Dr Diane Ossip and Dr David