Market rationality, organisational rationality and professional rationality: experiences from the "Contract State"

Abstract

This paper proposes an analytical framework for studying professional discretion in organisations that provide state-sponsored human services. In general, professional rationality makes claims for more or less autonomous professional discretion shaped by professional knowledge and ethics, and by the licence given to each profession by the state. The scope of this discretion clearly reflects each profession's power. This paper argues that the discretion of professionals working in formal organisations is further constrained and shaped by rationalities arising through the power relations in that organisational context. In particular, the discretion available within any organisation will tend to be shaped by organisational requirements. These include political, resourcing and accountability requirements, but they also include more structural matters, in particular managing or mitigating conflicts and contradictions that come from the mode of organisation.