THE CALCULATED AND THE AVOWED - TECHNIQUES OF DISCIPLINE AND STRUGGLES OVER IDENTITY IN BIG-6 PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRMS

An ethnographic field study in Big Six public accounting firms, where management by objectives and mentoring are used as techniques of contr ol, examines how organizations transform professionals into discipline d and selfdisciplining organizational members whose work goals, langua ge, and lifestyle come to reflect the imperatives of the organization. The study shows that the scope and effect of these techniques shaped the identities of organizational participants but that the discourse o f professional autonomy fueled resistance to these pressures toward co nformity. Implications of these results are discussed as they relate t o conflict between professionals and organizations and to the critical study of organizations.