Chapter 2: What is Professional Competence?: A Study of Assessment Criteria in Eight Professional service sectors

The nature of competence in professional services has been heavily debated for some time. The classical professions such as law and accounting as well as newer professions such as management consulting and advertising put strong emphasis on a formal and unique knowledge base in legitimizing their existence. In the established professions, this knowledge base, in combination with a code of ethics/conduct and criteria for certification testing this knowledge and values, are defining characteristics (Abbott, 1988; Alvesson, 2001; Jones, 2003). The well-defined knowledge base, as well as a defined education leading to it, serves as the grounds for protecting the profession, creating a monopolized labor market for professionals. This professional knowledge base is thus regarded as a prime regulator of professional practice. It has also been argued to be a foundation for professionals’ identification, where loyalty to the profession, its mission, knowledge base, and clients are assumed stronger than loyalty to a specific employing organization (L0wendahl, 2005). While management consulting, as one of the more recent professions, lacks several of the protecting characteristics of a formal knowledge base, it mimics the classical professions in legitimating its existence on the basis of specific and unique knowledge and expertise (Alvesson, 2001; McKenna, 2006; Morris & Empson, 1998).