Stuck in defensive professionalism: Undermining organizational change in an intellectual property law firm. Issue 2 (9th May 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Heizmann, Helena; Mastio, Emmanuel A; Ahuja, Sumati
• Is Part Of: Journal of professions and organization. Volume 7:Issue 2(2020)
• Page Start: 117
• Page End: 133
• Publication Date: 2020-05-09
• Subjects: discourse -- professional services firms -- organizational change -- intellectual property law -- professional organizations -- professionals; Professions -- Sociological aspects -- Periodicals; Organizational behavior -- Periodicals; Organizational sociology -- Periodicals; 331.71
• DOI: 10.1093/jpo/joaa009
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2051-8803

Abstract

Abstract: This article examines how professionals employed in professional organizations make sense of the disruption of their work. Based on a qualitative study of an Australian intellectual property (IP) law firm, we shed light on the ways in which the discursive practices of professionals may undermine change in professional organizations. We identify three defensive strategies of IP professionals (denial, regression, and projection) resulting from the inability to resolve conflicts between market-based pressures and their entrenched understandings of professional work. In doing so, we show how professionals can become 'stuck' in defensive responses that may further marginalize the role of professional organizations in society. These findings call into question overly deterministic, radical accounts of organizational change that do not take into account the contextual embeddedness of professional organizations.