مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

 مجله اسکاندیناویایی مدیریت – Scandinavian Journal of Management

Management and organization research has grown increasingly aware of the importance of the body as an area of inquiry (e.g., Ashcraft, Kuhn, & Cooren, 2009; Hancock et al., 2000; Hassard, Holliday, & Willmott, 2000; Hope, 2011; Wolkowitz, 2002, 2006). Studies of gender have particularly emphasized the significance of actors’ bodies for understanding the inner workings of disciplinary power at work (e.g., Brewis & Sinclair, 2000; Broadbridge & Hearn, 2008; Bryant & Jaworski, 2011; Driver, 2008; Kerfoot, 2000; Thanem & Knights, 2012; Trethewey, 2001). Especially in the context of discourses of professionalism, research has highlighted how managerial control often operates not simply by targeting employees’ cognitions and identities, but also and essentially through the professional body (Ashcraft, 2008; Grey, 1998; McDowell & Court, 1994; Michel, 2011; Riach & Cutcher, 2014; Trethewey, 1999; Tyler & Abbott, 1998). Following this literature, the professional body appears to be a key arena in which individuals can construct and enact themselves as professionals along the lines of organizationally promoted discourses.

The present article seeks to contribute to these ongoing efforts to illuminate the arena of the professional body by drawing attention to the significance of sport – as a bodily practice – in professional service firms. This research interest is triggered by two qualitative empirical studies conducted independently at two large internationally operating professional service firms where sport played a surprisingly prominent and visible role. This prompted us to ask the exploratory question: Why and how does sport matter in professional service firms? In particular, how does sport relate to the formation of the professional self in such firms?

By showing how sport can significantly play into the construction and enactment of the professional self, the article seeks to add to extant research on organizational control and the professional body (e.g., Grey, 1998; Michel, 2011; Trethewey, 1999; Waring & Waring, 2009). Specifically, we show that scrutinizing sport adds insights into the understanding of the professional body as it serves to address and deal with the key tension between the discourses of ‘ambition’ and ‘autonomy’ prevalent in professional service firms (see Alvesson, 2000; Kärreman & Alvesson, 2009). We develop our argument by first discussing the extant literature on professional service work and the professional body as well as research on sport that points to its significance in professional service firms. Following a discussion of methods, we introduce the two companies we empirically investigated as typical professional service firms. In the empirical analysis we show in what ways sport gains importance in professionals’ lives both at and beyond work, as well as how sport activities are supported and promoted by the firms themselves. We then analyze the significance of sport as a way for professional service workers to discipline their bodies in line with the discourse of professionalism as well as to escape from the frustrations arising in their high-pressure work environments. The discussion develops how the significance of sport in professional service firms relates to its apparent aptness for dealing with the tensions entailed in the discourses of professional ambition and autonomy. We conclude by pointing out implications for further research on the professional body, sport and the self in professional service work and beyond.