Professionals Making Judgments ― The Professional Skill of Valuing and Assessing

Professionals Making Judgments examines the role of judgment in professional work and as a constitutive principle of professionalism more broadly. The book reviews the professionalism and makes the argument that too many studies of professionalism put emphasis on rational decision-making at the expense of intuition, experiences, and acquired skills that enables professionals to operate effectively. In addition, the volume discusses the concept of heterarchy as an organizational form that not only tolerates but actively encourages alternative views and therefore promotes professional judgment as a key skill. The more theoretical parts of the book are complemented by empirical studies of three distinct domains of professional practice in reproductive medicine, in a faith-based organization (the Church of Sweden), and a regional government agency. The volume thus contributes to the literature on professionalism by making a connection between analytical skills, decision-making capacities, and performance in professional work without reducing professional work to one-dimensional forms of rationality.

Alexander Styhre is Chair of Organization Theory and Management, School of Business, Economics, and Law, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Styhre has published extensively in organization and management studies and is the author of several research monographs and textbooks including Visual Culture in Organizations (Routledge, 2010), Venturing into the Bioeconomy (co-authored with Mats Sundgren, Palgrave 2011), and Organizations and the Bioeconomy (Routledge, 2012).