Collegiality

"Colleagues" redirects here. For the 1962 Soviet drama film, see Colleagues (film). For the political term, see Comrade.

Collegiality is the relationship between colleagues. A colleague is a fellow member of the same profession.

Colleagues are those explicitly united in a common purpose and respect each other's abilities to work toward that purpose. A colleague is an associate in a profession or in a civil or ecclesiastical office. In a narrower sense, members of the faculty of a university or college are each other's colleagues.

Sociologists of organizations use the word 'collegiality' in a technical sense, to create a contrast with the concept of bureaucracy. Classical authors such as Max Weber consider collegiality as an organizational device used by autocrats to prevent experts and professionals from challenging monocratic and sometimes arbitrary powers.[1] More recently, authors such as Eliot Freidson (USA), Malcolm Waters (Australia), and Emmanuel Lazega (France) have said that collegiality can now be understood as a full-fledged organizational form.[2][3]

  1. ^ Waters, Malcolm (1989). "Collegiality, Bureaucratization, and Professionalization: A Weberian Analysis". American Journal of Sociology. 94 (5): 945–972. ISSN 0002-9602.
  2. ^ Freidson, Eliot (1984). "The Changing Nature of Professional Control". Annual Review of Sociology. 10: 1–20. ISSN 0360-0572.
  3. ^ Lazega, Emmanuel (2005), Klatetzki, Thomas; Tacke, Veronika (eds.), "A Theory of Collegiality and its Relevance for Understanding Professions and knowledge-intensive Organizations", Organisation und Profession, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, pp. 221–251, doi:10.1007/978-3-322-80570-6_9, ISBN 978-3-322-80570-6, retrieved 2022-11-01