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Investigates the role of the professional in a firm offering professional services aiming to answer the questions of: what marketing activities the professional might use; what proportion of his/her time should be divided into what areas; and how marketing sales and costs might be calculated. Looks at current practices in this area, and attempts to find conceptual frameworks to guide professional service firms in the marketplace.

Professionals subscribe to a given set of shared core values which define their profession. In medicine they relate to the saving of life and healing of the sick. Autonomy is concerned with the extent to which the professional body can set its own rules and standards which illustrate the ethos of the profession and define its character. It is the professionals collectively who monitor the profession in terms of procedures, practice, entry requirements and licences. Society′s role is to determine what is appropriate or acceptable behaviour by professionals and it is increasingly asking about medical activities from a standpoint of priorities of need, appropriateness and value for money. There have traditionally been two types of professional group, random and clustered but we are now beginning to see the emergence of a third type, the managed group. The management of clustered professional groups is extremely difficult. Professional and academic freedoms are jealously guarded while organizational goals are relegated in comparison. The task facing managers in health care is daunting but there are signs of progress. We are beginning to see the emergence of a new partnership between clinicians and managers with agreement on collective interpretation of clinical values leading to the development of an enhanced ethos of health care which is better suited to the needs of the patients.

The National Health Service (NHS) has many different kinds of professionals and managers working underneath its large umbrella: non‐clinical managers administer the work of health‐care professionals, who in turn are concerned with the management of patients’ treatments. Delivery of health‐care services involves the managers and professionals working together to achieve a service that is good for, and acceptable to, patients. A change in the philosophy of the NHS is indicated by the growing acceptance, by both managers and professionals, of the necessity to elicit the views of patients (i.e. the expectations and perceptions of service users) and to incorporate these views into the planning and implementation of services. Discusses one such attempt to elicit the perceptions of service users, and reports on the preliminary findings of a patient‐centred audit which has been undertaken in Southend Community Care Services NHS Trust. Discusses the effects that the audit has had on the chiropody services in Southend, for both non‐clinical managers and health‐care professionals, in order to highlight the usefulness of the approach.

This paper aims to explore the role of organisational leaders and leaders within the professions in ensuring that society is well served by its professionals.

This paper draws on the authors own observations over 25 years of educating and developing clinical leaders.

This paper explores the particular challenges of leading professionals in fields such as, law, education or healthcare, where relationships can often be fraught and combative rather than constructive and effective. The paper concludes that if leaders insist on managing professionals as part of a connected hierarchy it will simply continue to provoke resistance.

This paper explores the particular challenges of leading professionals in fields such as, law, education or healthcare, where relationships can often be fraught and combative rather than constructive and effective.

Examines the career goals and career management strategy among information technology (IT) professionals. With regard to career goals, found that IT professionals seek to advance their careers in three ways. The first two involve standard career paths. The third career path, termed technopreneurship, involves IT professionals setting up their own technology‐related business. With regard to career management strategy, the results showed that: career planning is positively related to career strategy; career strategy is positively related to professional enhancement; and professional enhancement is positively related to career satisfaction. One important implication is that it is important for computer professionals to plan and strategize their own career. This would lead to greater career satisfaction.

Little attention has been given in the literature to operating decisions in professional service organisations. A better understanding of the power relationships within a professional service organisation provides insight into the way these decisions are made. A model is proposed which categorises professional service organisations according to the relative power of the major stakeholders: professionals within the organisation; clients; and top management. The major factors which affect each of these are discussed.

The effectiveness of HR programs developed to curb turnover of new professionals has rarely been subject to rigorous examination as to their success and applicability across cultures. To address this issue, we undertook a study in India to examine professional perceptions of the effectiveness of their organization's talent‐management efforts.

A random sample of 9,301 individuals (4,811 responded) from 28 companies involving 32 operating entities in India voluntarily participated in this study. Of the respondents 2,723 were new professionals. Actual turnover data for the participants was obtained a year after the initial survey.

Performance management, professional development, manager support, and socially responsible actions had a positive relationship with pride in and satisfaction with the organization. A lack of pride in and a lack of satisfaction with the organization have a strong relationship with new professionals' intention to leave and subsequent turnover.

Organizations can increase the retention of professional talent through their HR practices and actions which increase the individual's pride in and satisfaction with the organization. Although several steps were taken to achieve a high response rate, and tests on the results provided evidence against a response bias, caution is required. Because this research was conducted exclusively in India we suggest additional research be done in other country settings.

The paper discusses performance‐management, professional development, manager support, and social responsibility actions companies can take to increase retention of professional talent.

This paper discusses a large sample research study in India on four key organizational practices affecting retention of professional talent. The scope of the research using a large sample in India provides unique value on this topic.

Training implies certain dealings in which one has to make a choice among various options. Choosing to solve a certain problem implies formulating a value judgement about the available alternatives. Such choices are generally based on ethical decisions. Hardly any ethical professional code for industrial trainers has been explicitly formulated until now. Investigates the issue of professional code and standards in this profession compared to other professions. At the same time describes a working method that benefits the process of realization necessary in dealing with the ethical issue in training.

There are distinct differences between professional services and other services which affect the way consumers make purchase decisions about them. This paper discusses the differences using the consumer decision process as a framework. Strategy implications for the professional service provider are presented, and specific suggestions are offered to improve the efficiency of the exchange — thereby benefiting both the buyer and the service provider.

The chapter begins with a brief discussion of the ways in which trust and reliance are alike and how they differ. Noting that they are alike in that their raison d’être is an epistemological shortfall, “a knowledge deficit,” attention is directed to the professions, a chief characteristic of which is that a professional possesses knowledge and expertise that her client/patient lacks. It’s that, indeed, that brings them together. It’s also a large part of the explanation of the importance and centrality of trust for the professions and the existence of professional codes of ethics, which serve to nurture and sustain trust. The chapter focuses on the idea that, in the interest of maintaining trust, obligations imposed by a professional code of ethics cannot be overridden (in particular, that ethical considerations from noninstitutional morality cannot be allowed to carry the day against them). It is argued that this idea should be rejected, because a professional’s commitment to a code does not (and morally may not) require abrogation of judgment and conscience and, more specifically, that this commitment must be such that it does not allow the core values of a profession to be sacrificed.