Professional employees and professional managers: conflicting logics, hybridity, and restratification

Abstract

A plethora of studies have documented the changing nature of professional work and the organizations in which it takes place. Among the most documented trends are the emergence of managerial–professional hybrid workers and professional (re)stratification. Although the links between these two trends have been noted, their interconnections have not been fully explored. This article analyzes data from a mixed-methods study of professional engineers in Ontario, Canada, to explore the extent to which they experience conflicting logics, hybridity, resistance, and restratification. Findings indicate that many engineers could be classified as hybrid, as they see managerial roles as an extension of engineering. At the same time, many others see managers as oppositional to engineers, with different priorities. On the whole, there is evidence of restratification as the work experiences, professional attitudes, and responses to conflicting logics (hybridity or resistance) vary between managers and employees. This restratification has the potential to undermine professional unity.