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Professional Competence as Ways of Being: An Existential Ontological Perspective

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  • Jörgen Sandberg
  • Ashly H. Pinnington

Abstract

Current theories propose that professional competence is primarily constituted by scientific and tacit knowledge, knowing‐in‐action, understanding of work or practice. While providing valuable insights we contend that they present a fragmented understanding of professional competence. In particular, they do not adequately explain how central aspects of practice such as knowledge and understanding are integrated into a specific professional competence in work performance. An existential ontological perspective is proposed as offering a more comprehensive and integrative analysis of professional competence. It is explored through an empirical study of corporate lawyers and the findings suggest that professional competence should be understood as ways of being. The results show that different ways of practising corporate law distinguish and integrate a specific understanding of work, a particular self‐understanding, other people, and tools into distinct forms of competence in corporate law.

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  • Jörgen Sandberg & Ashly H. Pinnington, 2009. "Professional Competence as Ways of Being: An Existential Ontological Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(7), pages 1138-1170, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:46:y:2009:i:7:p:1138-1170
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2009.00845.x
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    3. Eva Gatarik, 2015. "Framing Skilful Performance to Enact Organizational Knowledge: Integrating Data-Driven and User-Driven Practice," Management, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper, vol. 10(3), pages 255-271.
    4. Torunn Kitty Vatnøy & Tor‐Ivar Karlsen & Bjørg Dale, 2019. "Exploring nursing competence to care for older patients in municipal in‐patient acute care: A qualitative study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(17-18), pages 3339-3352, September.
    5. Muhammad Yasir & Abdul Majid & Muhammad Yasir & Hassan Qudratullah & Raza Ullah & Amira Khattak, 2021. "Participation of hotel managers in CSR activities in developing countries: A defining role of CSR orientation, CSR competencies, and CSR commitment," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 239-250, January.
    6. Dan Kärreman, 2010. "The Power of Knowledge: Learning from ‘Learning by Knowledge‐Intensive Firm’," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(7), pages 1405-1416, November.
    7. Agulles, Remei & Prats, Mª Julia, 2011. "Learning in practice: What organizational and management literature can contribute to professional and occupational development," IESE Research Papers D/938, IESE Business School.
    8. Geilinger, Nina & Haefliger, Stefan & von Krogh, Georg & Rechsteiner, Lise, 2016. "What makes a social practice? Being, knowing, doing and leading," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 319-327.
    9. Chi-Cheng Chang, 2014. "Obtaining IT Competencies for Curricular Development using Q-technique," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 4(3), pages 60-74, March.
    10. Will Sutherland & Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi & Michael Dunn & Sarah Beth Nelson, 2020. "Work Precarity and Gig Literacies in Online Freelancing," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(3), pages 457-475, June.
    11. Melissa Mazmanian & Wanda J. Orlikowski & JoAnne Yates, 2013. "The Autonomy Paradox: The Implications of Mobile Email Devices for Knowledge Professionals," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(5), pages 1337-1357, October.
    12. 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.
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    14. Frank Jan Graaf, 2019. "Ethics and Behavioural Theory: How Do Professionals Assess Their Mental Models?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(4), pages 933-947, July.

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