PROFESSIONALIZING MANAGEMENT AND MANAGING PROFESSIONALIZATION: BRITISH MANAGEMENT IN THE 1980s

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to analyse the strategy of managerial professionalizatin through educational reform as it has been attempted in Britain during the course of the 1980s. This strategy‐whatever its internal contradictions and inherent weaknesses‐ is located within the longer‐term historical context in which British management has developed. In turn, this brief historical analysis is complemented by an assessment of the feasibility of the strategy of professionalization in relatin to some of the most recent work carried out on the sociology of the professions/expert knowledge. Finally, we discuss the broader implications of this analysis for current debates concerning the reality of managerial work and management culture, as well as the pedagogical principles and practices thought most appropriate to the latter‐that is, how managers ought to be educated and developed.