The Dilemma of Professional Partnerships: Production of Producers or Prompt Profit?

A large and growing proportion of the organizations in the contemporary knowledge economy are organized as professional partnerships as is the case of professional service firms. As these firms have grown larger (e.g. Big4: Deloitte, PwC, E&Y, KPMG), the way of organizing is under pressure for change. The internalized 'democratic' ownership, the single- minded focus on delivering professionalism in client relations and the fundamental goal of growing new professionals of the professional partnerships have become challenged. Based on an ethnographic study of Deloitte in Denmark, and data from other sources, the paper analyzes the changing organization of work, the changing partner and manager roles and basic changes in the HR-model. The paper explores the question of where the partnership organization is going and discusses potentials and pitfalls for this particular type of organization.