Conflicting logics? The role of HRM in a professional service firm

• Author: Johan Alvehus
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12159
• Published date: 01 January 2018
• Date: 01 January 2018

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Conflicting logics? The role of HRM in a

professional service firm

Johan Alvehus

Department of Service Management and

Service Studies, Lund University, Helsingborg,

Sweden

Correspondence

Johan Alvehus, Department of Service

Management and Service Studies, Lund

University, S‐251 08 Helsingborg, Sweden.

Email: johan.alvehus@ism.lu.se

Abstract

HRM is considered of vital strategic importance in professional ser-

vice firms, but professionals generally resist these managerial initia-

tives. In this article, I report on an in‐depth case study of a tax

consultancy department in a major accounting firm by exploring

the way professionals reconcile the logics of professionalism and

HRM. Results indicate that the logics are reconciled in several ways

as they are simultaneously replicated,revised, and rejected. Whereas

current theories argue that the different logics balance each other,

this study indicates that the professionals strengthen professional

logic by acknowledging HRM and its procedures, simultaneously

circumventing them through inverted appropriation. Results suggest

that hybridity between conflicting logics may appear on an

organisational level, whereas a single logic dominates in everyday

work. The study contributes to in‐depth studies of institutional

logics and to a detailed understanding of the workings of HRM in

professional contexts.

KEYWORDS

hybridisation,institutional theory, knowledgework, performance

management, professional service firm,training and development

1|INTRODUCTION

Management of professional service firms (PSFs) has recently undergone profound change. Whereas professional

concerns such as autonomy and meritocracy have traditionally dominated, such interests as financial performance

and managerial control have become increasingly prominent (Adler, Kwon, & Heckscher, 2008; Alvehus & Spicer,

2012; Cooper, Hinings, Greenwood, & Brown, 1996; Evetts, 2011; Faulconbridge & Muzio, 2008; Kirkpatrick &

Noordegraaf, 2015; von Nordenflycht, 2010). HRM has assumed a prominent role in these changes. PSFs depend

on the skills and relational capacities of their employees, and human resources are arguably key resources (Løwendahl,

2005): “human capital plays a central role in determining the performance of the PSF”(Swart, Hansen, & Kinnie, 2015,

p. 477), and HRM is “at the heart of prominent strategic debates on the creation of sustainable competitive advantage

in professional service organisations”(Kinnie & Swart, 2012, p. 35).

Received: 4 June 2015 Revised: 15 April 2017 Accepted: 21 April 2017

DOI: 10.1111/1748-8583.12159

Hum Resour Manag J. 2018;28:31–44. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltdwileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrmj 31