Previous research into professional identity has argued that training institutions shape professional formation. This research focuses on professionals who have undertaken a work based approach and explores the interrelationship between practitioners’ own narrative of professional identity and that encoded within the narrative of the standards of a professional HR/HRD body. The findings begin to question the traditional understanding of the inter-relationship between the narrative of the professional body and individual HR/HRD practitioner narratives of identity suggesting that neither the professional body nor the mainstream educational institution are the major players in the development of professional identity

Nichol, Lynn

Williams, S.

University of Worcester Research and Publications

Constructing professional identity – the experience of work based learning candidates   Lynn Nichol University of Worcester Sue Williams University of Gloucestershire   Previous research into professional identity has argued that training institutions shape professional formation. This research focuses on professionals who have undertaken a work based approach and explores the interrelationship between practitioners’ own narrative of professional identity and that encoded within the narrative of the standards of a professional HR/HRD body. The findings begin to question the traditional understanding of the inter-relationship between the narrative of the professional body and individual HR/HRD practitioner narratives of identity suggesting that neither the professional body nor the mainstream educational institution are the major players in the development of professional identity.   PROBLEM STATEMENT  Previous research into professional identity has argued that training institutions shape professional formation by providing the knowledge base, the certification of technical competence and the official credentials for entry to professions (Muzio, Kirkpatrick & Kipping, 2011). Training for the profession in this scenario is completed prior to entry and is part of the socialisation process for the profession. This research investigates an alternative training and development process that of exploring the professional identity of senior HR/HRD practitioners who engage in a work based learning approach to gain their professional qualification in the middle of their career. The central objective of the research is:  To explore the interrelationship between practitioners’ own narrative of professional identity and that encoded within the narrative of the standards of a professional HR/HRD body.  WORK BASED LEARNING PROGRAMME  This paper reports the interim findings from phase one of an on-going study.  The participants in the study are former candidates from a Professional Assessment Centre Programme (PAC) at one British university.  PAC is a route to Chartered Membership of the professional HR/HRD body; The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). It is a work based learning route that employs the candidate’s work experience to provide an evidential context for assessment against the professional standards of CIPD. Attendance at formal classes is not part of the programme, an adviser meets regularly with the candidate throughout the process to discuss their evidence and facilitate reflection on the candidate’s work based experience and the HR/HRD knowledge base. Students are assessed by a face-to-face professional discussion.  PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY  Traditionally research exploring professional identity in the US and UK has focused on redefining professional boundaries, particularly with the advent of new public service management (Bolton, 2005; Swailes, 2003). There has also been documentation of the emergence of the new commercialised professional and the tensions between the liberal and the managerially focused professions, (Noordegraaf, 2011). In criticising the dominance of these approaches, authors have begun to develop an alternative strand of work that explores the influence of the organisational context on identify (Faulconbridge and Muzio, 2008). It has been suggested that because of the changeability of the work environment it is no longer appropriate to define professional identity as a tripartite relationship between state, users and training institutions (Muzio, Kirkpatrick and Kipping, 2011). Baumann (2004) writes of current organisational times as creating the phenomenon of ‘liquid identity’, uncertain, fluid, out of which individual practitioners need to develop a sense of self, a personal view of what it means to be a professional. Pritchard and Symon (2011) describe the normative view of professionals as ‘out of place in a more dynamic model of work’. They argue that the identity of a professional is not a label awarded after education and certification (Watson, 2002) but is ‘an emergent, unpredictable and localized process’ (p 96). Identity is constructed within and is contingent upon the local workplace. The work based learning route to professional qualification is embedded in the uncertain work place.  Candidates are already experienced HR/HRD practitioners, who, in contrast to the traditional routes to professions, some years after entry to HR/HRD engage with the body of knowledge espoused by the gatekeeper to the profession, the professional body.  METHODOLOGY  The research is located in the interpretivist tradition using one-to-one semi-structured interviews.   To-date, seven interviews have been conducted. The participants were all working in HR/HRD. The interviews explored their own HR/HRD identity, the perception of the characteristics of an HR/HRD professional and their engagement with the work based learning programme. The researchers are currently both academic HRD tutors but both with a practitioner background prior to an academic career. Therefore the influence of a post experience professional qualification on an individual’s professional persona is germane to our own teaching practises and important to the wider understanding of the role of HRD.  DISCUSSION  We are reluctant to draw any firm conclusions from this research to date as we are unable to compare those who have undertaken work based and traditional routes to professional qualification without the completion of the next phases. However the interviews identify a number of experiences that provide insight into how individuals view their own identity, the contribution of work based learning and the influence of the professional body standards.    A common theme amongst the participants seems to be in seeing the qualification as a way of confirming expertise and building confidence. This confidence boost theme resonates strongly throughout the interviews. The participants identified that through undertaking work based learning  they evaluated their professional practice formed in the organisational context, against the theoretical models of HR and the professional body’s standards thereby self-validating their own practice.   Often the participants wanted to demonstrate that their expertise was comparable with their colleagues who had studied through the conventional pre-work experience route. Given the criticism and concern about the appropriateness of the traditional model of training for professionals by many authors, including Baumann (2004), Pritchard and Symons (2011) and Watson (2002) it is interesting to note that the participants perceived that the standards of the professional body were a valuable benchmark for their professional practice. Many of the participants had become involved in HR/HRD from very different career starting points and none had entered HR/HRD as a first choice career. Their formation mirrored the localised, fluid process suggested by Watson (2002) only seeking qualification once they were senior and experienced HR/HRD professionals. However local formation is not sufficient validation for the participants, who required external legitimisation of their experience through certification and self-legitismisation through reviewing their own practice and undergoing assessment. It was an opportunity to validate their experience by gaining membership of a professional body. One participant suggested that it was a way of gaining confidence that her experiences were legitimate, another described gaining her work based learning qualification as being given ‘a seal of approval from the world’. It appears that although experienced HR/HRD practitioners the participants did not feel complete as a professional without the ‘badge’ of membership of a professional body.  It is less clear whether the narrative of the professional body is more powerful than just granting a ‘badge’ that is valuable in difficult economic circumstances, or is strongly influential in joining with the organisational narrative to develop each practitioner’s unique professional identity. Despite developing their HR/HRD expertise in the workplace the participants had some common understandings of the characteristics essential for HR/HRD citing fairness and integrity as key attributes.  Traditional models of professional formation would suggest that such shared understandings would be developed through prework education. None of the participants had taken part in formal HR/HRD education however all the participants identified specific colleagues in HR/HRD who had acted as mentors providing an alternative approach to developing professional characteristics than pre-work education.   Although sharing a common view on the ethical standpoint required in HR/HRD the participants described their role in many ways suggesting different perceptions of identity. One participant described herself as ‘Queen Bee’; a sole HR practitioner in her organisation pursuing a role that is totally different from ‘the role described in HR magazines’. She perceives her roles as ‘paid to advise and point out the consequences if you continue down this path’. Working alone is both a structural feature of this participant’s work and a way of working. She believes that the HR/HRD role should be ‘slightly apart from everyone else’. She doesn’t want to be ‘drinking with someone one night and then having to sack them the next day’. Other participants describe their roles in different ways including change agent, strategic leader and a ‘sign-post’ enabling others to find solutions. In contrast to the participant who sees herself as slightly apart they emphasise the centrality of the HR/HRD role to others in the organisation.  These different ideas appear to emerge from organisation context echoing Watson’s (2002) view that professional identity is contingent on situation rather than educational experience. This is further supported by the role of reflection in the PAC process. PAC candidates are required to reflect and evaluate the linkages between their own practice and the CIPD standards. The participants see reflection as central to confirming confidence in their own identity and role. For work based learning candidates consideration of the evaluation of their own practice against the standards of the professional body is a personal activity and confirmation that they have reached a professional standard. There is evidence in this research that the participants have differing roles and understandings of self, echoing Baumann’s (2004) view that identity is liquid with each practitioner forming their own view of self. Participants sometimes found it difficult to locate themselves across the diverse range of standards expected by the professional body, supporting the notion that work based learning provided the opportunity for each practitioner to explore their own identity and then through the assessment make their individual and unique identity explicit to themselves.   IMPACT OF HRD ON PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY  Jorgenson and Henrikson (2011, p.138) argue that HRD has a role in ‘bridging the gap’ or sustaining ‘the bonds between individuals, organisations and the contexts in which these organisations occur’; a role, therefore, in understanding the construction of professional identity. They argue that individuals experience their world through “the narrative forces by which individuals construct themselves as meaningful individuals in the world” (p131). They emphasise that individuals integrate their past, present and future through the process of narration. PAC could be described as an example of a process of narration, constructing the participants’ reality but against a series of ordered, focused professionally developed narratives i.e. that of the CIPD standards. In terms of gaining the qualification, the evidence provided was but one selection of material to tell their story of competence; there could have been many others. However in studying the ways in which these professionals now relate to their organisations or situations as a result of gaining the qualification provides HRD practitioners with insights into how such programmes are or are not integrated into their organisational narratives and how the narrative of the professional body interrelates with the personal and organisational narrative of each practitioner. At a future stage the research might seek to explore the latent narrative of the development of their careers and satisfaction with their profession over time. The findings from the research begin to question the traditional understanding of the inter- relationship between the narrative of the professional body and individual HR/HRD practitioner narratives of identity suggesting that neither the professional body nor the mainstream educational institution are the major players in the development of professional identity. It is not the academic that is central stage here but the interactions in the workplace and the HR/HRD mentors chosen by each individual practitioner.    REFERENCES Baumann. Z. (2004) cited in Jorgenson K. Henrikson L. (2011) op. cit.  Bolton, S.C. (2005).  ‘Making up’ managers: the case of NHS nurses.  Work, Employment &  Society.  19:5, 5-23. Evetts, J. (2003).  The sociological analysis of professionalism: Occupational change in the   modern world.  International Sociology.  18:2, 395-415. Evetts, J. (2006).  Short note: The sociology of professional groups: New Directions.  Current  Sociology.   54:1, 133-143.   Faulconbridge, J., & Muzio, D. (2008). Organizational professionalism in globalising law firms.   Work, Employment and Society.  22:7, 7-25. Jorgenson, K., & Henrikson, L. (2011) Chapter 11, Identity and HRD in McGuire D., &   Jorgenson, K. (2011) Human Resource Development: theory and practice. London:   Sage.  Muzio, D., Kirkpatrick, I., & Kipping, M. (2011).  Professions, organizations and the state:   Applying the sociology of the professions to the case of management consultancy.    Current Sociology. 59:6, 805-824. Pritchard, K., & Symon, G (2011).  Identity on the line: constructing professional identity in a HR call centre. Work, Employment and Society.  25:3, 434-450. Swailes, S. (2003).  Professionalism: Evolution and measurement. The Service Industries Journal.  23:2. Watson T. (2002).  Professions and professionalism: Should we jump off the bandwagon, better to study where it is going?  International Studies of Management and Organization. 32:2,  94-106.    Dr Lynn Nichol University of Worcester City Campus Castle Street Worcester WR1 3AS United Kingdom l.nichol@worc.ac.uk +44 (0) 1905 542642     

Constructing Professional Identity - the Experience of

Work Based Learning Candidates

Previous research into professional identity has argued that training institutions shape professional 

formation. This research focuses on professionals who have undertaken a work based approach and 

explores the interrelationship between practitioners’ own narrative of professional identity and that 

encoded within the narrative of the standards of a professional HR/HRD body. The findings begin to 

question the traditional understanding of the inter-relationship between the narrative of the professional 

body and individual HR/HRD practitioner narratives of identity suggesting that neither the professional 

body nor the mainstream educational institution are the major players in the development of professional 

identity

Williams, Sue C

University of Gloucestershire Research Repository 

This is a peer-reviewed, final published version of the following document and is licensed under All Rights Reserved license:Nichol, Lynn and Williams, Sue C (2014) Constructing professional identity-the experience of work based learning candidates. American Journal of Management, 14 (1/2). pp. 43-46. ISSN 2165-7998 Official URL: http://www.na-businesspress.com/ajmopen.htmlEPrint URI: http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/1681Disclaimer The University of Gloucestershire has obtained warranties from all depositors as to their title in the material deposited and as to their right to deposit such material.  The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation or warranties of commercial utility, title, or fitness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, express or implied in respect of any material deposited.  The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation that the use of the materials will not infringe any patent, copyright, trademark or other property or proprietary rights.  The University of Gloucestershire accepts no liability for any infringement of intellectual property rights in any material deposited but will remove such material from public view pending investigation in the event of an allegation of any such infringement. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR TEXT.   This is the final published version of the following published document: Nichol, Lynn and Williams, Sue C (2014). Constructing professional identity-the experience of work based learning candidates. American Journal of Management, 14 (1/2), 43-46. Published in American Journal of Management, and available online at: http://www.na-businesspress.com/ajmopen.html  We recommend you cite the published (post-print) version. The URL for the published version is http://www.na-businesspress.com/ajmopen.html  Disclaimer The University of Gloucestershire has obtained warranties from all depositors as to their title in the material deposited and as to their right to deposit such material. The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation or warranties of commercial utility, title, or fitness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, express or implied in respect of any material deposited. The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation that the use of the materials will not infringe any patent, copyright, trademark or other property or proprietary rights. The University of Gloucestershire accepts no liability for any infringement of intellectual property rights in any material deposited but will remove such material from public view pending investigation in the event of an allegation of any such infringement.  PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR TEXT         Constructing Professional Identity – The Experience of Work Based  Learning Candidates  Lynn Nichol University of Worcester  Sue Williams University of Gloucestershire    Previous research into professional identity has argued that training institutions shape professional formation. This research focuses on professionals who have undertaken a work based approach and explores the interrelationship between practitioners’ own narrative of professional identity and that encoded within the narrative of the standards of a professional HR/HRD body. The findings begin to question the traditional understanding of the inter-relationship between the narrative of the professional body and individual HR/HRD practitioner narratives of identity suggesting that neither the professional body nor the mainstream educational institution are the major players in the development of professional identity.  PROBLEM STATEMENT  Previous research into professional identity has argued that training institutions shape professional formation by providing the knowledge base, the certification of technical competence and the official credentials for entry to professions (Muzio, Kirkpatrick & Kipping, 2011). Training for the profession in this scenario is completed prior to entry and is part of the socialisation process for the profession. This research investigates an alternative training and development process that of exploring the professional identity of senior HR/HRD practitioners who engage in a work based learning approach to gain their professional qualification in the middle of their career. The central objective of the research is:   To explore the interrelationship between practitioners’ own narrative of professional identity and that encoded within the narrative of the standards of a professional HR/HRD body.  WORK BASED LEARNING PROGRAMME  This paper reports the interim findings from phase one of an on-going study. The participants in the study are former candidates from a Professional Assessment Centre Programme (PAC) at one British university.  PAC is a route to Chartered Membership of the professional HR/HRD body; The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). It is a work based learning route that employs the candidate’s work experience to provide an evidential context for assessment against the professional American Journal of Management vol. 14(1-2) 2014     43  standards of CIPD. Attendance at formal classes is not part of the programme, an adviser meets regularly with the candidate throughout the process to discuss their evidence and facilitate reflection on the candidate’s work based experience and the HR/HRD knowledge base. Students are assessed by a face-to-face professional discussion.  PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY  Traditionally research exploring professional identity in the US and UK has focused on redefining professional boundaries, particularly with the advent of new public service management (Bolton, 2005; Swailes, 2003). There has also been documentation of the emergence of the new commercialised professional and the tensions between the liberal and the managerially focused professions, (Noordegraaf, 2011). In criticising the dominance of these approaches, authors have begun to develop an alternative strand of work that explores the influence of the organisational context on identify (Faulconbridge and Muzio, 2008). It has been suggested that because of the changeability of the work environment it is no longer appropriate to define professional identity as a tripartite relationship between state, users and training institutions (Muzio, Kirkpatrick and Kipping, 2011). Baumann (2004) writes of current organisational times as creating the phenomenon of ‘liquid identity’, uncertain, fluid, out of which individual practitioners need to develop a sense of self, a personal view of what it means to be a professional. Pritchard and Symon (2011) describe the normative view of professionals as ‘out of place in a more dynamic model of work’. They argue that the identity of a professional is not a label awarded after education and certification (Watson, 2002) but is ‘an emergent, unpredictable and localized process’ (p 96). Identity is constructed within and is contingent upon the local workplace. The work based learning route to professional qualification is embedded in the uncertain work place. Candidates are already experienced HR/HRD practitioners, who, in contrast to the traditional routes to professions, some years after entry to HR/HRD engage with the body of knowledge espoused by the gatekeeper to the profession, the professional body.  METHODOLOGY  The research is located in the interpretivist tradition using one-to-one semi-structured interviews. To-date, seven interviews have been conducted. The participants were all working in HR/HRD. The interviews explored their own HR/HRD identity, the perception of the characteristics of an HR/HRD professional and their engagement with the work based learning programme. The researchers are currently both academic HRD tutors but both with a practitioner background prior to an academic career. Therefore the influence of a post experience professional qualification on an individual’s professional persona is germane to our own teaching practises and important to the wider understanding of the role of HRD.  DISCUSSION  We are reluctant to draw any firm conclusions from this research to date as we are unable to compare those who have undertaken work based and traditional routes to professional qualification without the completion of the next phases. However the interviews identify a number of experiences that provide insight into how individuals view their own identity, the contribution of work based learning and the influence of the professional body standards.    A common theme amongst the participants seems to be in seeing the qualification as a way of confirming expertise and building confidence. This confidence boost theme resonates strongly throughout the interviews. The participants identified that through undertaking work based learning they evaluated their professional practice formed in the organisational context, against the theoretical models of HR and the professional body’s standards thereby self-validating their own practice.   44     American Journal of Management vol. 14(1-2) 2014Often the participants wanted to demonstrate that their expertise was comparable with their colleagues who had studied through the conventional pre-work experience route. Given the criticism and concern about the appropriateness of the traditional model of training for professionals by many authors, including Baumann (2004), Pritchard and Symons (2011) and Watson (2002) it is interesting to note that the participants perceived that the standards of the professional body were a valuable benchmark for their professional practice. Many of the participants had become involved in HR/HRD from very different career starting points and none had entered HR/HRD as a first choice career. Their formation mirrored the localised, fluid process suggested by Watson (2002) only seeking qualification once they were senior and experienced HR/HRD professionals. However local formation is not sufficient validation for the participants, who required external legitimisation of their experience through certification and self-legitismisation through reviewing their own practice and undergoing assessment. It was an opportunity to validate their experience by gaining membership of a professional body. One participant suggested that it was a way of gaining confidence that her experiences were legitimate, another described gaining her work based learning qualification as being given ‘a seal of approval from the world’. It appears that although experienced HR/HRD practitioners the participants did not feel complete as a professional without the ‘badge’ of membership of a professional body.  It is less clear whether the narrative of the professional body is more powerful than just granting a ‘badge’ that is valuable in difficult economic circumstances, or is strongly influential in joining with the organisational narrative to develop each practitioner’s unique professional identity. Despite developing their HR/HRD expertise in the workplace the participants had some common understandings of the characteristics essential for HR/HRD citing fairness and integrity as key attributes.  Traditional models of professional formation would suggest that such shared understandings would be developed through prework education. None of the participants had taken part in formal HR/HRD education however all the participants identified specific colleagues in HR/HRD who had acted as mentors providing an alternative approach to developing professional characteristics than pre-work education.   Although sharing a common view on the ethical standpoint required in HR/HRD the participants described their role in many ways suggesting different perceptions of identity. One participant described herself as ‘Queen Bee’; a sole HR practitioner in her organisation pursuing a role that is totally different from ‘the role described in HR magazines’. She perceives her roles as ‘paid to advise and point out the consequences if you continue down this path’. Working alone is both a structural feature of this participant’s work and a way of working. She believes that the HR/HRD role should be ‘slightly apart from everyone else’. She doesn’t want to be ‘drinking with someone one night and then having to sack them the next day’. Other participants describe their roles in different ways including change agent, strategic leader and a ‘sign-post’ enabling others to find solutions. In contrast to the participant who sees herself as slightly apart they emphasise the centrality of the HR/HRD role to others in the organisation.  These different ideas appear to emerge from organisation context echoing Watson’s (2002) view that professional identity is contingent on situation rather than educational experience. This is further supported by the role of reflection in the PAC process. PAC candidates are required to reflect and evaluate the linkages between their own practice and the CIPD standards. The participants see reflection as central to confirming confidence in their own identity and role. For work based learning candidates consideration of the evaluation of their own practice against the standards of the professional body is a personal activity and confirmation that they have reached a professional standard. There is evidence in this research that the participants have differing roles and understandings of self, echoing Baumann’s (2004) view that identity is liquid with each practitioner forming their own view of self. Participants sometimes found it difficult to locate themselves across the diverse range of standards expected by the professional body, supporting the notion that work based learning provided the opportunity for each practitioner to explore their own identity and then through the assessment make their individual and unique identity explicit to themselves.    American Journal of Management vol. 14(1-2) 2014     45  IMPACT OF HRD ON PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY  Jorgenson and Henrikson (2011, p.138) argue that HRD has a role in ‘bridging the gap’ or sustaining ‘the bonds between individuals, organisations and the contexts in which these organisations occur’; a role, therefore, in understanding the construction of professional identity. They argue that individuals experience their world through “the narrative forces by which individuals construct themselves as meaningful individuals in the world” (p131). They emphasise that individuals integrate their past, present and future through the process of narration. PAC could be described as an example of a process of narration, constructing the participants’ reality but against a series of ordered, focused professionally developed narratives i.e. that of the CIPD standards. In terms of gaining the qualification, the evidence provided was but one selection of material to tell their story of competence; there could have been many others. However in studying the ways in which these professionals now relate to their organisations or situations as a result of gaining the qualification provides HRD practitioners with insights into how such programmes are or are not integrated into their organisational narratives and how the narrative of the professional body interrelates with the personal and organisational narrative of each practitioner. At a future stage the research might seek to explore the latent narrative of the development of their careers and satisfaction with their profession over time. The findings from the research begin to question the traditional understanding of the inter- relationship between the narrative of the professional body and individual HR/HRD practitioner narratives of identity suggesting that neither the professional body nor the mainstream educational institution are the major players in the development of professional identity. It is not the academic that is central stage here but the interactions in the workplace and the HR/HRD mentors chosen by each individual practitioner.  REFERENCES  Baumann. Z. (2004) cited in Jorgenson K. Henrikson L. (2011) op. cit.  Bolton, S.C. (2005). ‘Making up’ managers: the case of NHS nurses. Work, Employment & Society.  19:5, 5-23. Evetts, J. (2003). The sociological analysis of professionalism: Occupational change in the modern world. International Sociology. 18:2, 395-415. Evetts, J. (2006). Short note: The sociology of professional groups: New Directions. Current Sociology. 54:1, 133-143.   Faulconbridge, J., & Muzio, D. (2008). Organizational professionalism in globalising law firms. Work, Employment and Society. 22:7, 7-25. Jorgenson, K., & Henrikson, L. (2011) Chapter 11, Identity and HRD in McGuire D., & Jorgenson, K. (2011) Human Resource Development: theory and practice. London: Sage.  Muzio, D., Kirkpatrick, I., & Kipping, M. (2011).  Professions, organizations and the state: Applying the sociology of the professions to the case of management consultancy. Current Sociology. 59:6, 805-824. Pritchard, K., & Symon, G (2011). Identity on the line: constructing professional identity in a HR call centre. Work, Employment and Society.  25:3, 434-450. Swailes, S. (2003). Professionalism: Evolution and measurement. The Service Industries Journal. 23:2. Watson T. (2002). Professions and professionalism: Should we jump off the bandwagon, better to study where it is going? International Studies of Management and Organization. 32:2, 94-106.      46     American Journal of Management vol. 14(1-2) 2014Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited withoutpermission.

Constructing professional identity-the experience of work based learning candidates

Previous research into professional identity has argued that training institutions shape professional \ud
formation. This research focuses on professionals who have undertaken a work based approach and \ud
explores the interrelationship between practitioners’ own narrative of professional identity and that \ud
encoded within the narrative of the standards of a professional HR/HRD body. The findings begin to \ud
question the traditional understanding of the inter-relationship between the narrative of the professional \ud
body and individual HR/HRD practitioner narratives of identity suggesting that neither the professional \ud
body nor the mainstream educational institution are the major players in the development of professional \ud
identity

Name not available

This is a peer-reviewed, final published version of the following document and is licensed under All Rights 
Reserved license:
Nichol, Lynn and Williams, Sue C (2014) Constructing professional 
identity-the experience of work based learning candidates. American 
Journal of Management, 14 (1/2). pp. 43-46. ISSN 2165-7998 
Official URL: http://www.na-businesspress.com/ajmopen.html
EPrint URI: http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/1681
Disclaimer 
The University of Gloucestershire has obtained warranties from all depositors as to their title in the material 
deposited and as to their right to deposit such material.  
The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation or warranties of commercial utility, title, or fitness 
for a particular purpose or any other warranty, express or implied in respect of any material deposited.  
The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation that the use of the materials will not infringe any 
patent, copyright, trademark or other property or proprietary rights.  
The University of Gloucestershire accepts no liability for any infringement of intellectual property rights in any 
material deposited but will remove such material from public view pending investigation in the event of an 
allegation of any such infringement. 
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR TEXT.
  
 
This is the final published version of the following published document: 
Nichol, Lynn and Williams, Sue C (2014). 
Constructing professional identity-the experience of 
work based learning candidates. American Journal 
of Management, 14 (1/2), 43-46. 
Published in American Journal of Management, and available online at: 
http://www.na-businesspress.com/ajmopen.html 
 
We recommend you cite the published (post-print) version. 
The URL for the published version is http://www.na-businesspress.com/ajmopen.html 
 
Disclaimer 
The University of Gloucestershire has obtained warranties from all depositors as to their title 
in the material deposited and as to their right to deposit such material. 
The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation or warranties of commercial 
utility, title, or fitness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, express or implied in 
respect of any material deposited. 
The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation that the use of the materials will 
not infringe any patent, copyright, trademark or other property or proprietary rights. 
The University of Gloucestershire accepts no liability for any infringement of intellectual 
property rights in any material deposited but will remove such material from public view 
pending investigation in the event of an allegation of any such infringement. 
 
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR TEXT 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Constructing Professional Identity – The Experience of Work Based  
Learning Candidates 
 
Lynn Nichol 
University of Worcester 
 
Sue Williams 
University of Gloucestershire 
 
 
 
Previous research into professional identity has argued that training institutions shape professional 
formation. This research focuses on professionals who have undertaken a work based approach and 
explores the interrelationship between practitioners’ own narrative of professional identity and that 
encoded within the narrative of the standards of a professional HR/HRD body. The findings begin to 
question the traditional understanding of the inter-relationship between the narrative of the professional 
body and individual HR/HRD practitioner narratives of identity suggesting that neither the professional 
body nor the mainstream educational institution are the major players in the development of professional 
identity. 
 
PROBLEM STATEMENT 
 
Previous research into professional identity has argued that training institutions shape professional 
formation by providing the knowledge base, the certification of technical competence and the official 
credentials for entry to professions (Muzio, Kirkpatrick & Kipping, 2011). Training for the profession in 
this scenario is completed prior to entry and is part of the socialisation process for the profession. This 
research investigates an alternative training and development process that of exploring the professional 
identity of senior HR/HRD practitioners who engage in a work based learning approach to gain their 
professional qualification in the middle of their career. The central objective of the research is:  
 
To explore the interrelationship between practitioners’ own narrative of professional 
identity and that encoded within the narrative of the standards of a professional HR/HRD 
body. 
 
WORK BASED LEARNING PROGRAMME 
 
This paper reports the interim findings from phase one of an on-going study. The participants in the 
study are former candidates from a Professional Assessment Centre Programme (PAC) at one British 
university.  PAC is a route to Chartered Membership of the professional HR/HRD body; The Chartered 
Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). It is a work based learning route that employs the 
candidate’s work experience to provide an evidential context for assessment against the professional 
American Journal of Management vol. 14(1-2) 2014     43
  
standards of CIPD. Attendance at formal classes is not part of the programme, an adviser meets regularly 
with the candidate throughout the process to discuss their evidence and facilitate reflection on the 
candidate’s work based experience and the HR/HRD knowledge base. Students are assessed by a face-to-
face professional discussion. 
 
PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY 
 
Traditionally research exploring professional identity in the US and UK has focused on redefining 
professional boundaries, particularly with the advent of new public service management (Bolton, 2005; 
Swailes, 2003). There has also been documentation of the emergence of the new commercialised 
professional and the tensions between the liberal and the managerially focused professions, (Noordegraaf, 
2011). In criticising the dominance of these approaches, authors have begun to develop an alternative 
strand of work that explores the influence of the organisational context on identify (Faulconbridge and 
Muzio, 2008). It has been suggested that because of the changeability of the work environment it is no 
longer appropriate to define professional identity as a tripartite relationship between state, users and 
training institutions (Muzio, Kirkpatrick and Kipping, 2011). Baumann (2004) writes of current 
organisational times as creating the phenomenon of ‘liquid identity’, uncertain, fluid, out of which 
individual practitioners need to develop a sense of self, a personal view of what it means to be a 
professional. Pritchard and Symon (2011) describe the normative view of professionals as ‘out of place in 
a more dynamic model of work’. They argue that the identity of a professional is not a label awarded after 
education and certification (Watson, 2002) but is ‘an emergent, unpredictable and localized process’ (p 
96). Identity is constructed within and is contingent upon the local workplace. The work based learning 
route to professional qualification is embedded in the uncertain work place. Candidates are already 
experienced HR/HRD practitioners, who, in contrast to the traditional routes to professions, some years 
after entry to HR/HRD engage with the body of knowledge espoused by the gatekeeper to the profession, 
the professional body. 
 
METHODOLOGY 
 
The research is located in the interpretivist tradition using one-to-one semi-structured interviews. To-
date, seven interviews have been conducted. The participants were all working in HR/HRD. The 
interviews explored their own HR/HRD identity, the perception of the characteristics of an HR/HRD 
professional and their engagement with the work based learning programme. The researchers are 
currently both academic HRD tutors but both with a practitioner background prior to an academic career. 
Therefore the influence of a post experience professional qualification on an individual’s professional 
persona is germane to our own teaching practises and important to the wider understanding of the role of 
HRD. 
 
DISCUSSION 
 
We are reluctant to draw any firm conclusions from this research to date as we are unable to compare 
those who have undertaken work based and traditional routes to professional qualification without the 
completion of the next phases. However the interviews identify a number of experiences that provide 
insight into how individuals view their own identity, the contribution of work based learning and the 
influence of the professional body standards.    
A common theme amongst the participants seems to be in seeing the qualification as a way of 
confirming expertise and building confidence. This confidence boost theme resonates strongly throughout 
the interviews. The participants identified that through undertaking work based learning they evaluated 
their professional practice formed in the organisational context, against the theoretical models of HR and 
the professional body’s standards thereby self-validating their own practice.   
44     American Journal of Management vol. 14(1-2) 2014
Often the participants wanted to demonstrate that their expertise was comparable with their 
colleagues who had studied through the conventional pre-work experience route. Given the criticism and 
concern about the appropriateness of the traditional model of training for professionals by many authors, 
including Baumann (2004), Pritchard and Symons (2011) and Watson (2002) it is interesting to note that 
the participants perceived that the standards of the professional body were a valuable benchmark for their 
professional practice. Many of the participants had become involved in HR/HRD from very different 
career starting points and none had entered HR/HRD as a first choice career. Their formation mirrored the 
localised, fluid process suggested by Watson (2002) only seeking qualification once they were senior and 
experienced HR/HRD professionals. However local formation is not sufficient validation for the 
participants, who required external legitimisation of their experience through certification and self-
legitismisation through reviewing their own practice and undergoing assessment. It was an opportunity to 
validate their experience by gaining membership of a professional body. One participant suggested that it 
was a way of gaining confidence that her experiences were legitimate, another described gaining her work 
based learning qualification as being given ‘a seal of approval from the world’. It appears that although 
experienced HR/HRD practitioners the participants did not feel complete as a professional without the 
‘badge’ of membership of a professional body.  It is less clear whether the narrative of the professional 
body is more powerful than just granting a ‘badge’ that is valuable in difficult economic circumstances, or 
is strongly influential in joining with the organisational narrative to develop each practitioner’s unique 
professional identity. 
Despite developing their HR/HRD expertise in the workplace the participants had some common 
understandings of the characteristics essential for HR/HRD citing fairness and integrity as key attributes.  
Traditional models of professional formation would suggest that such shared understandings would be 
developed through prework education. None of the participants had taken part in formal HR/HRD 
education however all the participants identified specific colleagues in HR/HRD who had acted as 
mentors providing an alternative approach to developing professional characteristics than pre-work 
education.   
Although sharing a common view on the ethical standpoint required in HR/HRD the participants 
described their role in many ways suggesting different perceptions of identity. One participant described 
herself as ‘Queen Bee’; a sole HR practitioner in her organisation pursuing a role that is totally different 
from ‘the role described in HR magazines’. She perceives her roles as ‘paid to advise and point out the 
consequences if you continue down this path’. Working alone is both a structural feature of this 
participant’s work and a way of working. She believes that the HR/HRD role should be ‘slightly apart 
from everyone else’. She doesn’t want to be ‘drinking with someone one night and then having to sack 
them the next day’. Other participants describe their roles in different ways including change agent, 
strategic leader and a ‘sign-post’ enabling others to find solutions. In contrast to the participant who sees 
herself as slightly apart they emphasise the centrality of the HR/HRD role to others in the organisation.  
These different ideas appear to emerge from organisation context echoing Watson’s (2002) view that 
professional identity is contingent on situation rather than educational experience. 
This is further supported by the role of reflection in the PAC process. PAC candidates are required to 
reflect and evaluate the linkages between their own practice and the CIPD standards. The participants see 
reflection as central to confirming confidence in their own identity and role. For work based learning 
candidates consideration of the evaluation of their own practice against the standards of the professional 
body is a personal activity and confirmation that they have reached a professional standard. There is 
evidence in this research that the participants have differing roles and understandings of self, echoing 
Baumann’s (2004) view that identity is liquid with each practitioner forming their own view of self. 
Participants sometimes found it difficult to locate themselves across the diverse range of standards 
expected by the professional body, supporting the notion that work based learning provided the 
opportunity for each practitioner to explore their own identity and then through the assessment make their 
individual and unique identity explicit to themselves.  
 
 
American Journal of Management vol. 14(1-2) 2014     45
  
IMPACT OF HRD ON PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY 
 
Jorgenson and Henrikson (2011, p.138) argue that HRD has a role in ‘bridging the gap’ or sustaining 
‘the bonds between individuals, organisations and the contexts in which these organisations occur’; a role, 
therefore, in understanding the construction of professional identity. They argue that individuals 
experience their world through “the narrative forces by which individuals construct themselves as 
meaningful individuals in the world” (p131). They emphasise that individuals integrate their past, present 
and future through the process of narration. PAC could be described as an example of a process of 
narration, constructing the participants’ reality but against a series of ordered, focused professionally 
developed narratives i.e. that of the CIPD standards. In terms of gaining the qualification, the evidence 
provided was but one selection of material to tell their story of competence; there could have been many 
others. However in studying the ways in which these professionals now relate to their organisations or 
situations as a result of gaining the qualification provides HRD practitioners with insights into how such 
programmes are or are not integrated into their organisational narratives and how the narrative of the 
professional body interrelates with the personal and organisational narrative of each practitioner. At a 
future stage the research might seek to explore the latent narrative of the development of their careers and 
satisfaction with their profession over time. 
The findings from the research begin to question the traditional understanding of the inter- 
relationship between the narrative of the professional body and individual HR/HRD practitioner 
narratives of identity suggesting that neither the professional body nor the mainstream educational 
institution are the major players in the development of professional identity. It is not the academic that is 
central stage here but the interactions in the workplace and the HR/HRD mentors chosen by each 
individual practitioner. 
 
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Evetts, J. (2003). The sociological analysis of professionalism: Occupational change in the modern world. 
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Evetts, J. (2006). Short note: The sociology of professional groups: New Directions. Current Sociology. 
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Faulconbridge, J., & Muzio, D. (2008). Organizational professionalism in globalising law firms. Work, 
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Jorgenson, K., & Henrikson, L. (2011) Chapter 11, Identity and HRD in McGuire D., & Jorgenson, K. 
(2011) Human Resource Development: theory and practice. London: Sage.  
Muzio, D., Kirkpatrick, I., & Kipping, M. (2011).  Professions, organizations and the state: Applying the 
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