Professional Identity Threats in Interprofessional Collaborations: A Case of Architects in Professional Service Firms

Increased use of multidisciplinary teams to carry out tasks that were previously seen as the domain of one profession has brought the manner in which professions collaborate to the fore of management interests. Drawing on 49 in-depth interviews with senior architects in four multidisciplinary professional service firms (PSFs), this article contributes to better understandings of identity threats in interprofessional collaborations. My findings bring to the fore two threats to architects' identity relating to fragmentation of work and competing professional values. I show how architects manage these threats through the simultaneous use of two responses: highlighting identity distinctions and modifying identity and practices. However, despite these strategies to defend against identity threats, respondents presented themselves as under-recognized and often under-compensated. These findings suggest that the strength of professional identity may not merely mediate threats to professionals' identity but also be constraining by locking professionals in a kind of futile resistance and disrupting identity transformation. Further, responses to professional identity threats may result in a persistent identity struggle that renders professionals vulnerable to deep insecurities regarding their worth in interprofessional collaborations. The article contributes to recent debates on the unintended consequences of interprofessional collaborations thus highlighting the challenges of finding better ways to work together.