"Prologue: The Dilemma of Autonomy vs. Control in the Management of Organizational Professionals"

What is it about?

Since the early work of Gouldner (1957,1958), Kornhauser (1962), and other organizational sociologists, the subject of autonomy has certainly intrigued researchers of professionals in organizations. What has made this subject a potential “problem” is that assuming professionals not only deserve but want autonomy in their organizational lives, autonomy may conflict with the expectations of management regarding the proper role of the employee. Managers need employees to conform to the basic goals and procedures of the enterprise although they will vary greatly in the amount of participation they encourage from their professional employees regarding organizational goals and procedures. In this special issue of Human Resource Management, we will be talking about organizational professionals rather than professionals in private practice.

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