Eroding ‘Respectability’: Deprofessionalization Through Organizational Spaces

Abstract

This article addresses the question-can a deterioration in organizational spaces erode a profession's status? It draws on organizational spaces literature to analyse the relationship between design of the physical work setting and senior doctors' experiences of deprofessionalization. Analysis of qualitative data from a study of senior hospital doctors identifies two main themes that link the experience of spaces with perceptions of the erosion of professional status and reduced knowledge sharing. These two themes are: emplacement, which is the application of coercive power both in and through spatial arrangements, and isolation, which refers to physical alienation in the workplace leading to disconnection and a perceived loss of power. Observing the changes in the physical environment over time and mapping them against these processes of deprofessionalization may offer interesting new insights into the sociology of professions.

A New Professional Landscape: Entangled Institutional Logics in Two Swedish Welfare Professions

“…Our reading demonstrates that changes in the welfare professions appear mainly in the form of three trends, hailing the advent of a new professional landscape. First, it supports the claim of an overarching trend toward organizational professionalism (Evetts 2011), in which professional ideals become subsumed under bureaucratic logic (Siebert et al 2018) and professionals actively seek support and legitimacy from bureaucracy (Kirkpatrick & Noordegraaf 2015). Second, there is growing stratification within the professions and development of elite segments in the professions (Currie et al 2009).…”

The dark side of office designs: towards de‐humanization

“…Therefore, office redesigns have the potential to profoundly reconfigure the relationship and meaning of work, affecting the identity dimension-an issue which is at the heart of emerging contemporary critical studies drawing on notions such as socio-materiality and embodiment (see Beyes and Steyaert, 2011;Stang-Våland and Georg, 2018). This led Costas (2013) to point out alienation when studying mobility patterns and the use of 'non-places', while Siebert et al (2018) describe how emplacement and isolation, that are specific to the re-organization of the organizational space they investigate in a hospital, produce deprofessionalization. This recent dissonance led us to consider the feeling of de-humanization as a potential key to understand the dark side of office redesigns.…”

“…This led Costas () to point out alienation when studying mobility patterns and the use of ‘non‐places’, while Siebert et al . () describe how emplacement and isolation, that are specific to the re‐organization of the organizational space they investigate in a hospital, produce deprofessionalization. This recent dissonance led us to consider the feeling of de‐humanization as a potential key to understand the dark side of office redesigns.…”

Making Space for Art: A Spatial Perspective of Disruptive and Defensive Institutional Work in Venezuela’s Art World

“…Firstly, representations of space relate to how space is conceived by planners and these conceptions will subsequently impact the materialization of space and help reinforce power relations (Taylor & Spicer, 2007). Materialization of space in the form of physical structures, distance and boundaries acts as a signifier to the wider public, communicating hierarchies, and appropriate behavior (Siebert et al, 2018). Secondly, perceived space is understood as how people imagine and experience space through discourse and symbolism (Lefebvre, 1991;Schmid, 2008).…”