Question

Suggest principles that could be used within each attribute to improve management professionalism:

1. The professional, as distinct from the amateur, is engaged in a full-time occupation that comprises his principal source of income.

2. The professional is assumed to have a strong motivation or calling as a basis for his choice of a professional career and is assumed to have a stable lifetime commitment to that career.

3. The professional possesses a specialized body of knowledge and skills that are acquired during a prolonged period of education and training.

4. The professional makes his decisions on behalf of a client in terms of general principles, theories or propositions, which he applies to the particular case under consideration (i.e., by “universalistic” standards…)

5. At the same time, the professional is assumed to have a service orientation, which means that he uses his expertise on behalf of the particular needs of his client. This service implies diagnostic skill, competent application of general knowledge to the special needs of the client, and an absence of self-interest.

6. The professional’s service to the client is assumed to be based on the objective needs of the client and independent of the particular sentiments that the professional may have about the client. The professional promises a “detached” diagnosis. The client is expected to be frank in revealing potentially unlikeable [sic] things about himself; the professional as his part of the contract is expected to withhold moral judgment, no matter how he may feel personally about the client’s revelation. Thus, the professional relationship rests on a kind of mutual trust between the professional and the client.

7. The professional is assumed to know better what is good for the client than the client himself. In other words, the professional demands autonomy of judgment in his own performance. Even if the client is not satisfied, the professional will, in principle, permit only his colleagues to judge his performance. Because of this demand for professional autonomy, the client is in a potentially vulnerable position. How does he know whether he has been cheated or harmed? The profession deals with this potential vulnerability by developing strong ethical and professional standards for its members. Such standards may be expressed as codes of conduct and are usually enforced by colleagues through professional associations or through licensing examinations designed and administered by fellow professionals.

8. Professionals form professional associations which define criteria of administration, education standards, licensing or other formal entry examinations, career lines within the profession, and areas of jurisdiction for the profession. Ultimately, the professional association’s function is to protect the autonomy of the profession; it develops reasonably strong forms of self-government by setting rules or standards for the profession.

9. Professionals have great power and status in the area of their expertise, but their knowledge is assumed to be specific. A professional does not have license to be a “wise man” outside the area defined by his training.

10. Professionals make their service available to all but ordinarily are not allowed to advertise or seek out clients. Clients are expected to initiate the contact and then accept the advice and service recommended, without appeal to outside authority.

Answer 1

Answering the first 4 questions as HOMEWORKLIB Guidelines:

1. The professional, as distinct from the amateur, is engaged in a full-time occupation that comprises his principal source of income.

• The full time occupation will require him to be a multitasker. He must be able to manage his time well. He must maintain a daily planner to keep a tab of all the work that he needs to address in a day. This way, he will be able to give justice to all the roles that he needs to manage at the workplace.

2. The professional is assumed to have a strong motivation or calling as a basis for his choice of a professional career and is assumed to have a stable lifetime commitment to that career.

• Though the professional is motivated to stay with the company, he must be ready to face any kind of change. Workplace can be quite volatile and the conditions keep on changing. If the professional is adaptable to change, he will be able to face any kind of situation at the workplace and remain focused at the work. This competency will help him remain motivated at all times in the company.

3. The professional possesses a specialized body of knowledge and skills that are acquired during a prolonged period of education and training.

• The professional must be a quick learner. He must be flexible to learn new technologies and implement them at the workplace. This will keep his skills and competencies updated and help him perform his best at the workplace.

4. The professional makes his decisions on behalf of a client in terms of general principles, theories or propositions, which he applies to the particular case under consideration (i.e., by “universalistic” standards…)

• As the decisions and principles of the professional depends on the client, he must be able to analyze the requirements of the customer quite well. The customer responsiveness of the professional must be quite high. This will help him in analyzing any customer and make changes to suit his or her requirements.