PROMOTION TO PARTNER IN PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FIRMS

A shift away from ''up-or-out,'' the conventional promotion system in professional service firms, has been explained as part of a wider set of changes in internal labor market arrangements and management method s. This is investigated empirically in a sample of large partnerships in one profession. Up-or-out was used by less than one-third of the sa mple of firms but is common among the largest firms. Internal reforms to the professional firm do not fully explain its rarity; up-or-out ap pears to be adaptable to new forms of management and internal labor ma rket policies. This raises a number of questions about the utility of theoretical explanations of how professional service firms work or are changing.