Conference Program

Over time, sociological debate has highlighted the relationship between professions and the State as a key element in the development of Western societies and their institutions.

During the twentieth century, alongside traditional ‘occupational professionalism,’ a new ideal of ‘organizational professionalism’ developed, characterized by rational forms of authority, the standardization of working practices, and the attribution of responsibilities from outside professional groups. More recently the term "hybridity" has been used to relate the coexistence of different combinations of strands of professionalism and organizational principles within public organizations. Hybridization arises when professional and managerial principles converge, requiring professionals to reconcile competing institutional logics and to act as bridges between them.

From an institutional perspective, professions are seen as "vectors of the institutional democratic project" since, when professionalism operates coherently, it contributes to shaping and consolidating the institutional design of democratic society. Professionalization is part of broader processes of institutionalization: professions are themselves institutions and view organizations as the primary vehicles for carrying out institutional work, implementing reforms (which are manifestations of institutional change), and shaping the role identities of professionals (which, in turn, represent institutional stability). Professions can also be understood as the trait d’union between social rights (such as health, defense, information and social assistance) and their effective protection.

Institutional theory also highlights the growing relevance of hybrid professional roles in the public sector, where professional and managerial logics intersect and must be negotiated. Within bureaucracies, professions become crucial when decisions require specialized knowledge and value-based judgment, as well as technical expertise grounded in both abstract knowledge and experiential learning.

In fields such as social work, professionalization has historically been intertwined with organizational development. In Italy, the recent introduction of the LEPS – Livelli Essenziali delle Prestazioni Sociali, has defined essential social services that must be guaranteed nationwide. This reform has also led to the recognition of professional social work and professional supervision for social workers as LEPS. While social work is expected to assume a stronger role in organizational decision-making, professional supervision is assigned a strategic institutional function, aimed not only at supporting practitioners and preventing burnout, but also at enhancing their capacity to influence decision-making and to negotiate with their organization on technical and methodological matters.

An analysis within professional supervision processes involving social workers in Sicilian Local Social Areas in the Sourthen Italy has been carried out, to highlight working practices and organizational dynamics in public social services, which affects institutional change and its development, as well as the transmission of established operational practices from senior social workers’ to younger practitioners.

The results reveal limited awareness of social workers’ organizational role, highly bureaucratized contexts that constrain their perceived influence, and a professional identity experienced as restricted within rigid and resistant systems. These results point to the need for further investigation into the relational dynamics between professionals and organizations in order to strengthen the organizational role of social workers.