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Uncertainties, Reflexivity and Rigidities in Professional Work
Uncertainties, Reflexivity and Rigidities in Professional Work
Tuesday, 12 July 2016: 10:45-12:15
Location: Hörsaal 4C G (Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG))
RC52 Sociology of Professional Groups (host committee) Language: English
Professionals often make decisions under uncertainty. Future brings uncertainty, as in medical prognosis for instance. Yet it is not the only source. Medical diagnoses may also remain uncertain despite meticulous examinations. In judicial activities, the circumstances of an offence are not always known for sure. Consequently, no automaticity provides an unquestionable solution. However professionals must act.
In-depth analysis, deliberations and experience-based judgments are required to face uncertainties, adapt work to the uniqueness of situations and seek to avoid mistakes. This explains the historic importance of case work in professional cultures and trainings. Collective processes are implemented, for instance multidisciplinary meetings, notably in medicine, and rules of deliberations, as in courts.
At the same time work is more and more framed by devices such as quantitative indicators, protocols, and formalized rules, which may be elaborated by professionals or imposed by managers or both. These devices can be helpful when they are based on collective experience. Yet they are also simplifications and abstractions, as they are designed to be used in various situations. Thus they may prevent professionals from taking proper account of cases’ uniqueness. Consequently, the degree of pressure put on work by rigid devices is a crucial issue.
In this session we invite researchers to submit papers on professional practices to face uncertainties and adapt work to the uniqueness of cases, on the difficulties met to do so or on the constraints and rigidities coming from within or without the profession. Papers dealing with both deliberations and rigidities would be much appreciated.
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