Laura Empson
Biographic Data
| ID | 381289 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Laura Empson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Laura |
| FAMILY NAME | Empson |
| SIGNATURE | EMPSON L |
| AFFILIATIONS | City University, UK |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8715-287X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 148 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 6 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 4 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Ambiguous authority and hidden hierarchy: Collective leadership in an elite professional service firm
This study represents a detailed analysis of collective leadership in an elite professional service firm, examining the distinctive power dynamics revealed among professional peers as they attempt to act decisively in response to an acute organizational crisis. It identifies how professional peers deliberately construct and amplify ambiguity in both the composition and authority of their collective leadership group, and examines how that ambiguit…
When the past comes back to haunt you: The enduring influence of upbringing on the work–family decisions of professional parents
Prior research generally presents work–family decisions as an individual’s rational choice between alternatives, downplaying the crucial role that upbringing plays in shaping work and parenting decisions. This article emphasizes how habitus – historically constituted and embodied dispositions – structures perceptions about what is ‘right’ and ‘normal’ for working mothers and fathers. This relational approach explores how the entrenched dispositio…
Understanding social exclusion in elite professional service firms: Field Level Dynamics and the 'Professional Project
This article explores social exclusion in elite professional service firms (PSFs) through a qualitative study of six legal, accounting, investment banking and consulting firms. Employing a Bourdieusian perspective we find that all six firms privilege candidates with the same narrow forms of cultural capital, while acknowledging that this contradicts their professed commitment to social inclusion and recruiting the best 'talent'. We find that this…
The Oxford Handbook of Professional Service Firms
Over the past three decades the Professional Service Firm (PSF) sector has emerged as one of the most rapidly growing, profitable, and significant in the global economy. In 2013 the accountancy, management consulting, legal, and architectural sectors alone generated revenues of US$1.6 trillion and employed 14 million people. PSFs play an important role in developing human capital, creating innovative business services, reshaping government instit…
Governance in Professional Service Firms
This chapter synthesizes and extends the literature on governance in Professional Service Firms (PSFs). It discusses four foundational theoretical perspectives on governance in PSFs: the agency, the partnership/partnership ethos, the stakeholder, and the trustee perspective. The authors argue these perspectives speak to structural or cultural views of governance, but they leave unanswered critical issues. Given the state of the literature, they a…
Researching Professional Service Firms
The chapter begins by examining the significance of Professional Service Firms (PSFs) in terms of their scale and significance from an economic and societal perspective, and the insights they offer for academic theory. The authors examine how PSFs have remained “in the shadows,” in terms of their visibility within the economy and within scholarly research, and how and why that situation is changing. The chapter discusses “what exactly is a Profes…
Sources of Homogeneity and Heterogeneity across Professional Services
Research on Professional Service Firms (PSFs) has tended to treat them as homogeneous and to assume there are similarities in how they are organized and managed. This assumption has been challenged recently as scholars have drawn attention to organizational differences stemming from sources of heterogeneity. The authors argue that rigorous theorizing about the organization and management of PSFs requires an understanding of sources of both homoge…
Differentiation and discrimination: Understanding social class and social exclusion in leading law firms
For leading law firms in the City of London, diversity and inclusion has become an important human resources strategy over the past 15 years. A recent focus on social class within the sector has been encouraged by increasing governmental concerns relating to social mobility, which acknowledge that elite professions, particularly the law, have become more socially exclusive over the past 30 years. Based on a detailed qualitative study of six leadi…
Fear of Exploitation and Fear of Contamination: Impediments to Knowledge Transfer in Mergers between Professional Service Firms
Previous studies of knowledge transfer have identified a variety of impediments that derive from the knowledge base and the organizational context. However such explanations do not take account of the central role that individuals play in the knowledge transfer process, specifically in articulating and legitimizing the knowledge base and in shaping and interpreting the organizational context. This article examines the merger process as experience…
Introduction: Knowledge Management in Professional Service Firms
Knowledge represents a highly valuable organizational resource. Organizations should pay careful attention to how they manage knowledge. Professional service firms (PSFs) have much to teach other organizations about knowledge management. In the course of the 1990s these assertions progressed from being novel ideas to becoming well-worn cliches. Learned academic journals and airport bookshelves are now crowded with works which seek to define the n…
Understanding social exclusion in elite professional service firms: Field Level Dynamics and the 'Professional Project
This article explores social exclusion in elite professional service firms (PSFs) through a qualitative study of six legal, accounting, investment banking and consulting firms. Employing a Bourdieusian perspective we find that all six firms privilege candidates with the same narrow forms of cultural capital, while acknowledging that this contradicts their professed commitment to social inclusion and recruiting the best 'talent'. We find that this…
Differentiation and discrimination: Understanding social class and social exclusion in leading law firms
For leading law firms in the City of London, diversity and inclusion has become an important human resources strategy over the past 15 years. A recent focus on social class within the sector has been encouraged by increasing governmental concerns relating to social mobility, which acknowledge that elite professions, particularly the law, have become more socially exclusive over the past 30 years. Based on a detailed qualitative study of six leadi…
Fear of Exploitation and Fear of Contamination: Impediments to Knowledge Transfer in Mergers between Professional Service Firms
Previous studies of knowledge transfer have identified a variety of impediments that derive from the knowledge base and the organizational context. However such explanations do not take account of the central role that individuals play in the knowledge transfer process, specifically in articulating and legitimizing the knowledge base and in shaping and interpreting the organizational context. This article examines the merger process as experience…
When the past comes back to haunt you: The enduring influence of upbringing on the work–family decisions of professional parents
Prior research generally presents work–family decisions as an individual’s rational choice between alternatives, downplaying the crucial role that upbringing plays in shaping work and parenting decisions. This article emphasizes how habitus – historically constituted and embodied dispositions – structures perceptions about what is ‘right’ and ‘normal’ for working mothers and fathers. This relational approach explores how the entrenched dispositio…
Introduction: Knowledge Management in Professional Service Firms
Knowledge represents a highly valuable organizational resource. Organizations should pay careful attention to how they manage knowledge. Professional service firms (PSFs) have much to teach other organizations about knowledge management. In the course of the 1990s these assertions progressed from being novel ideas to becoming well-worn cliches. Learned academic journals and airport bookshelves are now crowded with works which seek to define the n…
Ambiguous authority and hidden hierarchy: Collective leadership in an elite professional service firm
This study represents a detailed analysis of collective leadership in an elite professional service firm, examining the distinctive power dynamics revealed among professional peers as they attempt to act decisively in response to an acute organizational crisis. It identifies how professional peers deliberately construct and amplify ambiguity in both the composition and authority of their collective leadership group, and examines how that ambiguit…
Fear of Exploitation and Fear of Contamination: Impediments to Knowledge Transfer in Mergers between Professional Service Firms
Previous studies of knowledge transfer have identified a variety of impediments that derive from the knowledge base and the organizational context. However such explanations do not take account of the central role that individuals play in the knowledge transfer process, specifically in articulating and legitimizing the knowledge base and in shaping and interpreting the organizational context. This article examines the merger process as experience…
Introduction: Knowledge Management in Professional Service Firms
Knowledge represents a highly valuable organizational resource. Organizations should pay careful attention to how they manage knowledge. Professional service firms (PSFs) have much to teach other organizations about knowledge management. In the course of the 1990s these assertions progressed from being novel ideas to becoming well-worn cliches. Learned academic journals and airport bookshelves are now crowded with works which seek to define the n…
Differentiation and discrimination: Understanding social class and social exclusion in leading law firms
For leading law firms in the City of London, diversity and inclusion has become an important human resources strategy over the past 15 years. A recent focus on social class within the sector has been encouraged by increasing governmental concerns relating to social mobility, which acknowledge that elite professions, particularly the law, have become more socially exclusive over the past 30 years. Based on a detailed qualitative study of six leadi…
The Oxford Handbook of Professional Service Firms
Over the past three decades the Professional Service Firm (PSF) sector has emerged as one of the most rapidly growing, profitable, and significant in the global economy. In 2013 the accountancy, management consulting, legal, and architectural sectors alone generated revenues of US$1.6 trillion and employed 14 million people. PSFs play an important role in developing human capital, creating innovative business services, reshaping government instit…
Governance in Professional Service Firms
This chapter synthesizes and extends the literature on governance in Professional Service Firms (PSFs). It discusses four foundational theoretical perspectives on governance in PSFs: the agency, the partnership/partnership ethos, the stakeholder, and the trustee perspective. The authors argue these perspectives speak to structural or cultural views of governance, but they leave unanswered critical issues. Given the state of the literature, they a…
Researching Professional Service Firms
The chapter begins by examining the significance of Professional Service Firms (PSFs) in terms of their scale and significance from an economic and societal perspective, and the insights they offer for academic theory. The authors examine how PSFs have remained “in the shadows,” in terms of their visibility within the economy and within scholarly research, and how and why that situation is changing. The chapter discusses “what exactly is a Profes…
Sources of Homogeneity and Heterogeneity across Professional Services
Research on Professional Service Firms (PSFs) has tended to treat them as homogeneous and to assume there are similarities in how they are organized and managed. This assumption has been challenged recently as scholars have drawn attention to organizational differences stemming from sources of heterogeneity. The authors argue that rigorous theorizing about the organization and management of PSFs requires an understanding of sources of both homoge…
Understanding social exclusion in elite professional service firms: Field Level Dynamics and the 'Professional Project
This article explores social exclusion in elite professional service firms (PSFs) through a qualitative study of six legal, accounting, investment banking and consulting firms. Employing a Bourdieusian perspective we find that all six firms privilege candidates with the same narrow forms of cultural capital, while acknowledging that this contradicts their professed commitment to social inclusion and recruiting the best 'talent'. We find that this…
When the past comes back to haunt you: The enduring influence of upbringing on the work–family decisions of professional parents
Prior research generally presents work–family decisions as an individual’s rational choice between alternatives, downplaying the crucial role that upbringing plays in shaping work and parenting decisions. This article emphasizes how habitus – historically constituted and embodied dispositions – structures perceptions about what is ‘right’ and ‘normal’ for working mothers and fathers. This relational approach explores how the entrenched dispositio…
Ambiguous authority and hidden hierarchy: Collective leadership in an elite professional service firm
This study represents a detailed analysis of collective leadership in an elite professional service firm, examining the distinctive power dynamics revealed among professional peers as they attempt to act decisively in response to an acute organizational crisis. It identifies how professional peers deliberately construct and amplify ambiguity in both the composition and authority of their collective leadership group, and examines how that ambiguit…
Political science (8 works) · Public relations (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Business (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Economics (4 works) · Management and Organizational Studies (4 works) · Marketing (4 works) · Psychology (4 works)