Abstract

Research typically finds that several new professions are barely institutionalized. Labels such as ‘semi-profession’, ‘emerging profession’, or ‘commercialized profession’ have been developed to capture this notion of professions in the making. Yet there is limited understanding of the factors contributing to such an intermediate status. Employing a relational perspective on professions, we study the case of project managers in Germany to shed light on the underlying reasons for this limited institutionalization. We show how project managers in Germany face a particular field of relations populated by various stakeholders, including neighboring occupations embedded in existing institutional structures, which helps explain their sustained status as a profession in the making. Our study contributes to the literature by revealing the reasons for this limited institutionalization, and by offering a positive mapping of professions in the making, as opposed to seeing them either as failed professionalization projects or merely as a stage in the process toward full professionalization.

中文翻译：

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永远在制作专业吗？德国项目经理的中间地位

摘要

研究通常发现，几个新职业几乎没有制度化。诸如“半专业”，“新兴专业”或“商业化专业”之类的标签已被开发出来，以捕捉这一专业中的这一概念。然而，对于促成这种中间状态的因素的理解仍然有限。我们从职业的关系角度出发，研究了德国项目经理的案例，以阐明这种有限的制度化的根本原因。我们向您展示了德国的项目经理如何面对由不同利益相关者构成的特定关系领域，包括嵌入现有机构结构中的相邻职业，这有助于解释他们在制作中的持续地位。