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The arena of the professional body: Sport, autonomy and ambition in professional service firms

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  • Costas, Jana
  • Blagoev, Blagoy
  • Kärreman, Dan

Abstract

This paper explores the interplay of sport, the professional body and the self in professional service firms. We draw on qualitative data collected at two large international management consulting firms to show how individuals use sport to construct and enact themselves as autonomous and ambitious professionals, as well as to escape from frustrations arising in their everyday work life. We develop how this turn to sport can be viewed as an attempt to deal with the conflicting discourses of autonomy and ambition prevalent in professional service firms. In so doing, the paper seeks to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the significance of the professional body for understanding the management and control regimes of professional service firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Costas, Jana & Blagoev, Blagoy & Kärreman, Dan, 2016. "The arena of the professional body: Sport, autonomy and ambition in professional service firms," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 10-19.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:scaman:v:32:y:2016:i:1:p:10-19
    DOI: 10.1016/j.scaman.2015.10.003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Mats Alvesson & Dan Kärreman, 2007. "Unraveling HRM: Identity, Ceremony, and Control in a Management Consulting Firm," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(4), pages 711-723, August.
    5. Anderson-Gough, Fiona & Grey, Christopher & Robson, Keith, 2001. "Tests of time: organizational time-reckoning and the making of accountants in two multi-national accounting firms," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 99-122, March.
    6. Karen Locke & Karen Golden-Biddle & Martha S. Feldman, 2008. "Perspective---Making Doubt Generative: Rethinking the Role of Doubt in the Research Process," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(6), pages 907-918, December.
    7. Bergström, Ola & Hasselbladh, Hans & Kärreman, Dan, 2009. "Organizing disciplinary power in a knowledge organization," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 178-190, June.
    8. Mats Alvesson & Hugh Willmott, 2002. "Identity Regulation as Organizational Control: Producing the Appropriate Individual," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 619-644, July.
    9. Susanne Ekman, 2012. "Authority and Autonomy," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-27288-1, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rebecca Scott & Julien Cayla & Bernard Cova, 2017. "Selling Pain to the Saturated Self," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(1), pages 22-43.

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