Professionals Making Judgments: The Professional Skill of Valuing and Assessing, by Alexander Styhre, addresses the ways in which individuals and organisations make judgements to influence practical performances. The ways in which perceived professionalism can be affected by utilising varied forms of judgement is also explored. Judgements are defined as practical and measured utilisations of knowledge used to discern certain decisions such as: standpoints on issues, opinions of relevant events, and proposed courses of action. The book takes a fresh perspective in conceptualising these judgements, shifting away from traditional theories which limit judgements to an end product of a series of rational decision making processes. The result is a much more comprehensive and holistic argument which includes elements of intuition, acquired learning, and relevant real world experiences.
Styhre’s book is organised into three main sections. The first section covers the theoretical foundations of studying judgements within both academic and professional capacities. This first section is in turn broken down into three smaller sub-sections, outlining three distinct types of judgements that can be made. Alongside this grounding in theory Styhre puts forward his argument for the adoption of heterarchical organisational practices, moving away from hierarchical structures and towards a more dynamic unranked system of operation. This alternative to more traditional bureaucratic styles of organisational practice is argued to assist the process of making professional judgements by promoting a diversity of views and experiences.
The second section of Professionals Making Judgements builds upon these theoretical ideas by outlining in depth analyses using case studies of real life organisations. Each of the three case studies included in the text focus on very different organisational domains drawing on professional practice in reproductive medicine, in the faith-based organisation of the Church of Sweden, and a regional government agency. Each case study is well structured with clear introductions and conclusions, and includes a highly detailed exploration of the ways in which real life organisational practices can be perceived as serial judgement-based processes.
The final chapter analyses the arguments laid out in previous sections, and draws on issues that can arise when examining judgements. By including a critique of his own arguments, Styrhe demonstrates his strength as a researcher whilst also enabling the reader a greater insight into the thought processes that have shaped Professionals Making Judgments. Future research opportunities are also outlined, demonstrating the evolving nature of this area of study and highlighting limitations within the field.
The book is certainly a very academic text. The level of detail utilised in conveying ideas is high, but manages to stay on track without devolving into drawling reiteration over its 232 pages. A comprehensive bibliography demonstrates just how well placed Professionals Making Judgments is within the academic literature, whilst the scope of academic references details the diversity of consideration that has fed the outlined ideas. The layout is simple, with the three distinct sections being well portioned into manageable sub-sections. The presentation of ideas follows this pattern of well-considered structure, pacing itself well enough that readers will rarely feel out of depth or stilted.
The quality of the text should come as no surprise considering the previous works of this author. Alexander Styhre is a well-established academic researcher in the area of organisational theory and management, holding a chair in operations management at Chalmers University of Technology. Professionals Making Judgments is one of the latest in a long list of publications by Styhre, a prolific writer in this field. His experience editing book chapters has certainly contributed to the balanced structuring of this text.
The real strengths of Professionals Making Judgments lie in the detailed and robust nature of the proposed theoretical arguments. The level of comprehension within Styhre’s writing is palpable, well demonstrating the author’s level of expertise within this academic area. The detailed nature of the books content summarily introduces complicated concepts and opposing ideas in an easily accessible manner. Distinctions between types of judgements are expertly outlined to maximise clarity, whilst real world examples are adeptly administered to assist reader’s conceptualisations of heavily theoretical concepts. By devoting a significant section of the text to examining the integrity of his own arguments, Styhre manages to both enable a greater comprehension of organisational theory and analyse his own work in a scientifically valid way.
Professionals Making Judgments regrettably does have a small number of minor issues. The text is very academic, to the degree where non-academics may have difficulty accessing the contents of the book. Whilst this ensures a quality and depth to the exploration of the subject matter, it also markedly limits the book’s target audience. This contributes to another small issue, where the book can come across as somewhat dry in places. This is most prevalent earlier in the text, in the first section dedicated to theories where compound explanations risk tiring the reader and numbing them to the informative content. In line with the target demographic Styhre’s work errs on the side of a theoretical and academic understanding, and mostly ignores the more practical applications that might benefit an individual or organisation attempting to better utilise judgements in their practice.
Bearing these minor imperfections in mind, Professionals Making Judgments is still a remarkably valuable resource. The depth of detail used by Styhre in introducing, outlining, and analysing the very concept of judgement works to produce an educative experience of some significant quality. Alexander Styhre’s text will likely be well adopted in academic circles, and be renown as a seminal work in the field of judgements in organisational practice. Recommended for academics interested in the field of decision making and the alternative style of heterarchy as an organisational practice, the book is less suited to more casual readers who might lack the scientific background to make benefit of this comprehensive text.
