ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book discusses issues about the nature of professional work and some practical and theoretical implications. It presents three cases such as scientists, management consultants and architects are compared in terms of their implications for the understanding of knowledge sharing in professional work. The chapter then discusses professionalism as being embedded in relationality, the social relations being forged between individuals or groups of individuals. Professionals and professionalism are key terms in the sociology and organization theory lexicon. Knowledge is shared through various means, including mathematical formulae and statistics, graphs and diagrams, storytelling, and embodied communication including the gestures and body language of social actors. The management consultants were in need of establishing shared arenas for sharing know-how and insights, ultimately supporting their professional identities and the knowledge claims they were advancing when collaborating with clients.
