PRODUCTIVITY, TECHNOLOGY AND THE DECLINE OF THE AUTONOMOUS PROFESSIONAL

Abstract

The discussion of professional productivity has foundered on the problem of measurement. But we believe that professional productivity is only one dimension of a wider problem and process — how and through what mechanisms professionals will become more accountable to the organizations in which they work. As a result of this pilot research project with legal services programs, we identified three key processes which are integrating professionals more closely into the work and priorities of organizations: the amplification and rationalization of decision‐making, vertical and horizontal integration of jobs, and investments in the organizational boundaries. These three processes create five developmental parameters which, in varying combinations, produce different scenarios of professional work. We outlined three scenarios: the scenario of degradation, the scenario of the Research and Developmental settings, and the mixed scenario in which professionals lose some autonomy but gain in effectiveness and become more responsive. Such a framework can help assess the ongoing impacts of the new technologies and enable us to make more informed decisions about their use.