Managing the Professional Practice

The emphasis here is to explore the key issues influencing the culture, strategies and management operations of professional practices. The focus is upon established practices from growing ones to large international firms in the built environment. A key aim of the book is to promote aspects of management by function and activities, with discipline acting as context rather than the primary focus.

The book is structured into sections around 3 main themes: managing the organisation; and managing specific issues that affect operations, and a third section reflects upon management from practitioner experience.

Section I: 'Managing the organisation' looks at how the history of the firm creates both opportunities and rigidities for developing the practice, in terms of culture and market position, strategies and implementation, financial, marketing and HR management.

Section II: 'Managing specific strategic and tactical issues' looks at how these affect approaches a discipline and operational processes in practices. These issues compliment those covered in Section I.

Section III: 'Reflecting on practice' covers experience of those in practice and top practitioners detail how they are addressing key issues in their practice and for their discipline. Each chapter by a practitioner has a postscript from academic authors to make links back to research on theory and application.

• Addresses the key issues facing practice managers
• Collects latest research from leading academics
• Offers comment on current practice from top practitioners

Preface.

About the authors.

Introduction (Hedley Smyth).

Section I Overview in Scope and Context of Managing the Professional Practice.

Chapter 1 Structures, management and markets (Hedley Smyth).

Chapter 2 Strategic management of professional practice: The case of architecture (Graham Winch).

Chapter 3 Cross-functional coordination: Conceptual model and its application in professional design practice (Antti Ainamo).

Chapter 4 Challenges of growth in a medium-sized engineering design consultancy (Andrew Edkins, James Barrett and Hedley Smyth).

Chapter 5 Sustainability into practice: How the sustainable development agenda has impacted on the surveying profession (David Shiers, Tim Dixon and Miles Keeping).

Section II Managing Specific Issues in the Professional Practice.

Chapter 6 Equipping project teams for competitions: Architecture practices in the Italian market (Beatrice Manzoni).

Chapter 7 Client management and identification (Hedley Smyth and Sofia Kioussi).

Chapter 8 How thin to win: FM service provision issues (Kathy Roper).

Chapter 9 Innovation in professional service providers: UK quantity surveying practices (Stephen Pryke).

Section III Reflections upon Practice.

Chapter 10 The make experience (Ken Shuttleworth).

Chapter 11 Squaring the circle: Delivering international services locally (Larry Malcic).

Chapter 12 Innovation in the construction sector (Jeremy Watson).

Chapter 13 Managing a project management division (Andrew McSmythurs).

Chapter 14 Developing capacity in an emergent market (Robert McIntosh).

Chapter 15 Branding professional services: Making the intangible tangible (Kate McGhee).

Chapter 16 The first 20 years (Mike Nightingale).

Chapter 17 Reflection on the redevelopment of the University of Tokyo Hospital: The last 26 years (Shinichi Okada and Makoto Nanbuya (translated by Junko Iwaya).

Chapter 18 Beyond the first generation (David Stanford).

Chapter 19 Changes in UK construction professional services firms in the late 20th century (Jim Meikle).

Conclusion (Hedley Smyth).

Acronyms.

Index.

Hedley Smyth, Senior Lecturer, School of Construction and Project Management, The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, UCL. Topics central to the growth and development of professional practices in the built environment are addressed here. They range from how to manage resources in times of growth, downturn and into the upturn; developing capacity and capabilities; structuring the practice and the management span of control; to managing innovation, succession and mergers, marketing, client identification and brand development.

Managing the Professional Practice in the built environment explores these key challenges facing today’s practice managers under three main themes: Section I: Overview in Scope and Context of Managing the Professional Practice looks at how the history of the firm creates both opportunities and rigidities for developing the practice, in terms of culture and market position, strategies and implementation, finance, marketing and HR management. Section II: Managing Specific Issues in the Professional Practice explores how these affect approaches to discipline and operational processes in practices. Section III: Reflections upon Practice covers experiences of those in practice, with top practitioners detailing how they are addressing key issues in their practice and for their discipline.

Each chapter, by a practitioner, has a postscript from academic authors to make links back to research on theory and application. The emphasis throughout is to examine issues influencing the culture, strategies and management operations of professional practices. The book draws upon concepts and experiences in practice from smaller growing practices to large international firms in the built environment.