ABSTRACT
Professionals rely on their mastery of a defined body of knowledge in a particular field and require extensive formal education and/or training in that field. The issues related to role definition, career management, performance management and rewards management for professional personnel are discussed in this chapter, since they present the greatest challenges. The career management strategy should incorporate principles relating to movement between the technical and managerial branches of the ladder, to ensure that choices are not irrevocable. People change their aspirations over time and sometimes discover they are limiting themselves by sticking to an earlier choice. The metrics that are appropriate to use to define performance may be qualitative in nature, and evaluating performance often requires a subjective judgment by another technical person. Organizations providing variable compensation opportunity for professionals increasingly define, measure and reward performance at a group level.
