Public Participation and Environmental Evaluation Managers: New Professional Jurisdictions at the Edge of Professional Groups

Public and private organizations are increasingly solicited by external stakeholders on issues related to the preservation of the environment and the preservation of the interests and well-being of different groups. These pressures of the environment on the organization can take the form of political mobilizations or even institutional mechanisms organizing the relationship between the organization and its environment: environmental assessment procedures, regulatory procedure for public participation, external control of compliance with corporate social and environmental responsibility standards. These new pressures, and in particular those that are becoming institutionalized, call for new forms of professionalism. Based on a four year participatory observation of teams within a large industrial group engaged in public participation and environmental assessment procedure, we will explore the boundaries of these new professions. These are characterized in part by the defence of new professional jurisdictions but also by the redefinition of certain existing jurisdictions. The emergence of new professional groups is however thwarted by these previous attachments. However, another important factor in professionalization can be identified: the desire to create organizational learning experiences and to transmit it to peers within the organization. Paradoxically, this also involves calling on specialists from outside the organization more frequently. Professionalism is embodied here by the search for a new balance between internalized skills and the reasoned call for ad hoc support, which in turn raises questions about the forms of professionalism within large organizations.