Profession and professionalism
Monday, 15 September 2008
Dr. Mohammed Hossain
IT has been argued by the elite or members of the civil society that there is absence of professionalism in different professions of the country. Due to the absence of the professionalism in our work, citizens of this country is getting less service, being subjected to more harassment, as well as losing confidence in the activities of any profession. This scribe would like to give more emphasis on the issue of our professionalism in various professions.
Before going into the main theme of professionalism, we need to understand the terms profession, professional and professionalism as this is the important theme for anyone interested in work. As per American College Dictionary, a profession is "a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science." On the other hand, a professional is one who follows "an occupation as a means of livelihood or gain," or one who is "engaged in one of the learned professions." And moreover, professionalism is exhibited by one of the "professional character, spirit or methods" or the "standing, practice, or methods of a professional as distinguished from an amateur." In other words, we could say professionalism means competence and basic familiarity with repertory, technique and trade jargon. It also means attitude: a spirit of courtesy, generosity and cooperation.
Therefore, it is clear to us where we stand now, how we could develop our professionalism in every category of profession such as Medicine, Law, Accountancy, Pharmacy, Engineering, Teaching, Diplomacy, Journalism, etc. There are some elements in any profession, which is its philosophy - any profession must have its own philosophy-and it must be articulated in both written and oral form. It does also have its body of knowledge, which means that a profession must have a body of professional literature of research, study and comment. There should be a guideline for behaviour, meaning, professions have codes, guidelines, creeds, oaths, commitment statements and belief statements, for example, the statements on ethics and professionalism. The last element is very important as it gives emphasis on the code of ethics and/or conduct.
Of all professions, some important characteristics are cross-cutting. Out of them, two are remarkable, e.g., judgment and dedication. Under the judgment criteria, professionals are in a position to use their own judgment in determining the appropriate approach to their clients or customers. On the other hand, professionals are dedicated to services and institutions. More important is that professions imply responsibilities on the part of professionals. Professionals are expected to publicize what the profession "does" and "is". We know that professionals have a high degree of self-control regarding their behaviour and are governed by a code of ethics and the code of ethics is a statement of values.
We observed before that we do have a code of ethics for every category of profession. But the application of the same is quite absent. So, only the code of conduct/ethics cannot be a guarantee for the development of professionalism. So, we need to provide training and have to monitor the activities of the professionals by the authority. We have to develop our cultural, and along with it, religious values. At one stage, the citizens of our country will get professional attitudes from the professionals. It will have a long-term impact on our society leading to growth of the economy. When the person and professionalism act together, the country will go further.
Let us take the example of the physicians and their level of professionalism in Bangladesh. Do we receive professional behaviour from the physicians of our country? This is not to blame all the doctors of the country. What is being emphasised is that doctors, to some extent, do not behave professionally with patients. But it is learned from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (http://meds.queensu.ca/courses/phaseiii/home/professionalism) that the professional role requires that physicians demonstrate a commitment to their patients, profession and society through ethical practice, participation in profession-led regulation and a commitment to physician health and sustainable practice.
So, like many others attributes of humans, professionalism is a passion for personal responsibility and devotion to a life of service and commitment to a mission, as well as openness to new ideas and alternatives.
The writer resides in Qatar. He can be reached at Email: hossain_mohammed@hotmail.com
IT has been argued by the elite or members of the civil society that there is absence of professionalism in different professions of the country. Due to the absence of the professionalism in our work, citizens of this country is getting less service, being subjected to more harassment, as well as losing confidence in the activities of any profession. This scribe would like to give more emphasis on the issue of our professionalism in various professions.
Before going into the main theme of professionalism, we need to understand the terms profession, professional and professionalism as this is the important theme for anyone interested in work. As per American College Dictionary, a profession is "a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science." On the other hand, a professional is one who follows "an occupation as a means of livelihood or gain," or one who is "engaged in one of the learned professions." And moreover, professionalism is exhibited by one of the "professional character, spirit or methods" or the "standing, practice, or methods of a professional as distinguished from an amateur." In other words, we could say professionalism means competence and basic familiarity with repertory, technique and trade jargon. It also means attitude: a spirit of courtesy, generosity and cooperation.
Therefore, it is clear to us where we stand now, how we could develop our professionalism in every category of profession such as Medicine, Law, Accountancy, Pharmacy, Engineering, Teaching, Diplomacy, Journalism, etc. There are some elements in any profession, which is its philosophy - any profession must have its own philosophy-and it must be articulated in both written and oral form. It does also have its body of knowledge, which means that a profession must have a body of professional literature of research, study and comment. There should be a guideline for behaviour, meaning, professions have codes, guidelines, creeds, oaths, commitment statements and belief statements, for example, the statements on ethics and professionalism. The last element is very important as it gives emphasis on the code of ethics and/or conduct.
Of all professions, some important characteristics are cross-cutting. Out of them, two are remarkable, e.g., judgment and dedication. Under the judgment criteria, professionals are in a position to use their own judgment in determining the appropriate approach to their clients or customers. On the other hand, professionals are dedicated to services and institutions. More important is that professions imply responsibilities on the part of professionals. Professionals are expected to publicize what the profession "does" and "is". We know that professionals have a high degree of self-control regarding their behaviour and are governed by a code of ethics and the code of ethics is a statement of values.
We observed before that we do have a code of ethics for every category of profession. But the application of the same is quite absent. So, only the code of conduct/ethics cannot be a guarantee for the development of professionalism. So, we need to provide training and have to monitor the activities of the professionals by the authority. We have to develop our cultural, and along with it, religious values. At one stage, the citizens of our country will get professional attitudes from the professionals. It will have a long-term impact on our society leading to growth of the economy. When the person and professionalism act together, the country will go further.
Let us take the example of the physicians and their level of professionalism in Bangladesh. Do we receive professional behaviour from the physicians of our country? This is not to blame all the doctors of the country. What is being emphasised is that doctors, to some extent, do not behave professionally with patients. But it is learned from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (http://meds.queensu.ca/courses/phaseiii/home/professionalism) that the professional role requires that physicians demonstrate a commitment to their patients, profession and society through ethical practice, participation in profession-led regulation and a commitment to physician health and sustainable practice.
So, like many others attributes of humans, professionalism is a passion for personal responsibility and devotion to a life of service and commitment to a mission, as well as openness to new ideas and alternatives.
The writer resides in Qatar. He can be reached at Email: hossain_mohammed@hotmail.com