Scope and method of study. This study inquired as to what controls the work activity of semi-professionals, specifically teachers and nurses. The inquiry probed into the complexities of large organizations which employ specialized semi-professionals. The dimensions of the research included professionalism, bureaucracy, and loose coupling with most of the review of literature concerned with the concept of loosely coupled activity and organizations. The researcher utilized interviews, field study and observation, policy analysis, and questionnaires to reveal the work control of the semi-professional. The population of the study consisted of a large regional hospital and a large urban school district. The subjects were drawn from the population for the purposes of field study, observations, and interviews. Additionally, the subjects for the questionnaire were also drawn from the populations of the previously mentioned organizations.

Findings and conclusions. Nurses and teachers appear to be directed in their work activity by their professional attitudes about their work. Both nurses and teachers see themselves as professionals, and the fact that the organization is loosely coupled at the actual work level enables them to have professional discretion over their work because of the stream of problems and possible solutions that confront them within their constantly changing day. Examination of the findings also revealed that the schools were truly loosely coupled organizations because the structure did not provide adequate supervision, nor did it possess a body of knowledge at a sufficient level about teaching and learning. The teacher is left to his/her own initiatives to diagnose, prescribe, and evaluate the needs of each client. The nurse, on the other hand, works in a professional bureaucracy that realizes the benefit of scientific practice for the client's benefit. The body of knowledge for medicine is indeed powerful. Even though the nurse works under direction of the doctor's orders and under the constraints of hospital liability, the actual work activity of delivering nursing services is loosely coupled as well. The nurses are "procedurally intensive" in the performance of their work activities. The teachers are more "client intensive.".