Concept of Professionalism

The criteria for being a professional not only include theoretical knowledge and skills but also good judgment and caution. To work as a professional requires training in humanistic and technical studies. The humanistic approach is that the professionals should work with the main motive of serving the public. There are some special societies or organizations formed for each profession. They set the standards and the code of conduct to be followed by the professionals. These principles guide them to gain trust among the general public (Bayles, 1981). On the other hand, according to Wesley Cragg” nonethical commerce is more likely to be concealed by systemic veils of secrecy, interwoven incorporations and confidentiality claims… in some way, the “ white collared” professions, such as financial institutions, lawyers, and accountancy firms act with the same degree of secrecy. ” The public expects that professionals will do something more than what they practice in their profession.

For example, medicine is for promoting health, the law is for protecting the legal rights of the public and engineering towards improving the public’ s health, safety, and welfare with the help of technological advancements.

On the other hand, professionals are also influenced by the corporates which employ them. Today all professions are interwoven with corporations, including medicine law, journalism, and science. We expect the policemen and fire-fighters to play the roles of savior and guardian. Moreover, we expect medical professionals to act as social servants and we expect business people to act as game players who would practice their profession in order to get profit to their employers within the economic rules of the game. Professionals derive a lot of self-respect and also get to shoulder high senses of responsibility (Freidson, 2001).

Hence, there is a need for changing the way in which professionals are taught. They must be taught to have sufficient social responsibility.