Contingency and Institutional Perspectives within the Liberal Professional Organisation

This developmental paper will argue the necessity of drawing on both the contingency and institutional theories when researching the professional organisation. It is based on a doctoral thesis that addresses the barriers to acceptance and application of marketing within accountancy and law firms. The paper briefly presents the relevant definitions of the professions and the role of the marketing function within the organisation. The Contingency approach and its relevance to theory building and research in marketing have been identified. Conversely, the Institutional approach has been identified as relevant to the professions. The two approaches are separately outlined and their theoretical foundations traced. Finally, two theoretical models are proposed for discussion. The theoretical model that has been further developed for the thesis explains the barriers to marketing as a result of organisational conflict between the need for response to contingency pressures and the internal and external institutional isomorphic pressures of maintaining professional legitimacy with the implications of forfeiting organisational efficiency

Misunderstood or lacking legitimacy?

In spite of the rising interest in marketing within professional service firms in the last twenty years, past research has identified a reluctant acceptance and application of marketing within these organisations. The present paper will debate whether this is due to lack of understanding of the role of marketing, lack of acceptance as a valid management discipline suitable for professional services or lack of legitimacy as a profession in its own right. A brief overview of the role of marketing will be followed by a discussion on the professions, professional legitimacy and the professional organisation. Qualitative research was done in the form of in-depth interviews with marketing executives and accountancy and law professionals in fourteen firms across the UK. The research has revealed generational differences, misconceptions and outright conflict leading to resistance in the introduction and application of marketing, although the professionals have individually practiced a wide variety of marketing activities in their pursuit of gaining and maintaining clients. There has been a conspicuous resistance to the acceptance of marketing as a management tool within certain firms. The findings have opened up the spectre of inter-professional competition on legitimacy grounds

Note on Two Theorems in Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics

An attempt is made to clarify the difference between a theorem derived by Evans and Searles in 1994 on the statistics of trajectories in phase space and a theorem proved by the authors in 1995 on the statistics of fluctuations on phase space trajectory segments in a nonequilibrium stationary state.Comment: 3 pages, Revte