The Idea of Professionalism

TO: Terry Linkletter

Written By:

Charlie NguyenNathan HolversonLana Holverson

March 12th, 2015

Professionalism is difficult to uniquely define

What is professionalism? Can there really be only one definition of Professionalism? Let us

start by looking at two definitions from completely different sources. Merriam-Webster states

that professionalism is, “The skill, good judgment, and polite behavior that is expected from a

person who is trained to do a job well” (Merriam-Webster). And Google states, “The competence

or skill expected of a professional” (Google, 2015). As we can see these two definitions focus on

different aspects of professionalism. One focuses on the polite behavior and

judgement, and the other focuses on the competence of an individual. So,

how can we define a topic that has a myriad of definitions according to whom you ask? In

reality, it is an individual idea or concept that is hard to put rules and definitions around;

however, we can breakdown this concept into categories which will allow us to examine each

one a little closer. To begin; professionalism can dwell within’ these areas:

● Generation Gaps

○ Each generation will have their own definition and standards

● Culturally and Geographically

○ Each culture and country will have their own definition of professionalism

● Person to Person

○ Each person will have their own definition and standards

The areas listed above can be broken down into smaller sub-categories which give us a deeper

insight into the myriad of definitions of professionalism. This paper will touch on the different

ideas of professionalism from the point of company to company; culture to culture; and person to

person. So sit back and enjoy this interesting paper on the idea of professionalism.

Difficulties in cross-generational business professionalism

As business and technology rapidly grow and merge together we are faced with the

unique challenges within the employee structure of a company; a company can have drastically

different age groups within its walls. So the big question is this: How can we find a balance on

the idea of professionalism when each employee is coming from a different

generation; different background; and different levels of experience? Each

generation is going to have their distinctive ideas of what constitutes professionalism. With that

said, this section of the report will discuss the issues of, and the solutions to, merging a

commonality between the Baby Boomers’, the Generation Xers’, and the Millennials’ idea of

professionalism. Let’s briefly take a look at each of these generations in regards to the associated

career path, as this plays a big role in understanding how the position held by an individual in

these different generations can plays a role in defining professionalism individually.

BABY BOOMERS (1946 - 1964)

● These individuals:

o Hold senior or executives positions

o Mentors or teachers to younger generations

o On their way to retirement; if not already

o Have to integrate new technologies into their career

GENERATION X (1965 – 1980)

● These individuals:

o Hold management or senior positions

o Are teachers and mentors

o Own their own businesses

o Have to integrate the newest technologies into their careers

MILLENNIALS (1981 – 2000)

● These individuals

o Use newest technologies in their workplace and careers

o Are working their way up to management

o Are set in their careers; or working up to it

This information listed above is pulled from an article in the Huffington Post, The Value

of Multi-General Workplaces, (Pitt-Catsouphes, 2015). As we can see, people from these

categories are in a different stage in their careers—some are getting ready to retire and some are

just getting off the bench. For example, let’s say that a Baby Boomer, who is about to retire, is

given the director role over a project with employees that consist of mostly Generation Xers. The

Baby Boomer is going to have a different set of standards on how they interact professionally

versus the Generation X crowd. The Baby Boomer might use older business lingo that is not

commonly used as of late; and the Generation X might refer to technology tools that the Baby

Boomer is unfamiliar with. This is one example where the Baby Boomer could be construed as

having a lack of professionalism for not being up to date on the current business lingo trends.

And the Generation X who is referring to the newest technology could be considered

unprofessional as well because they were not keeping in mind the generation differences. So

what can we do to really come to a common understanding of what professionalism is in our

interactions with others?

In the article, How to Bridge the Workplace Generation Gap, it

mentions that companies should create mentoring opportunities from

both sides where the article states, “Partnering younger workers with

older workers can have a positive impact on larger teams; and that the

biggest challenge is getting each generation to see past their biases

and learn to work toward a common goal” (Miller, 2014). If CEO of the company created time

for employees to pair off with others that are outside their generation, then it would give them

both times to work together and to start to understand their professionalism differences. This

would naturally lend itself to a mutual understanding. As we start to work more with each other

to understand the differences and the ways of going about business inside a particular company

we will start to see different work styles like this:

● Communication

o Who prefers emails over the phone, and who prefers face to face

o Who uses what business lingo – Old or New

● Technology

o Who doesn’t use technology; and who is open to learning

o Who is competent and in what technology

In the Business Journal article, Engagement Policies, the author discusses the intense results

of a 3,500 person survey he conducted about employee engagement policies. He states, “If

corporations wish to motivate and engage their workforce, a one-size fits all approach will not

work” (Gilbert, 2011). With the amount of employees companies have now that are coming from

a different stage in life, different backgrounds, and different ideas of professionalism is will be

important for them to create a system where employees can be themselves. However, most

important is understanding the nature of professionalism which is needed to work in that

particular environment. Some of the other responses from the survey were:

● Managers should be empowered to engage employees

● Baby Boomers with greater than 30 years of experience realize they have

to be flexible with the new changes—especially in technology

● Recognize the struggle to get everyone on board

There are many more results we could examine, but these were the ones that

stuck out the most because they allow us to see that there is opportunity to really engage the

employees in the effort to be flexible and not adverse to change—this is especially true during

this current era in business. We as a society are moving extremely fast in our technological and

social growth. Because of this, we are incorporating many different people from many

backgrounds, along with new technology, at a very rapid pace into our business architectures.

This means that it will take time to have a working method of cross-generational business

professional etiquette.

Let’s take a quick recap: The issue discussed was the different ideas of what

professionalism is, and the possible solutions that companies can take to be

successful with such a dynamic, cross-generational group of people. Now that we’ve

briefly discussed professionalism within the generational gaps in a company, now

we will discuss some ideas of professionalism across a much larger scale. Let’s move beyond the

office and talk about professionalism across cultures.

Difficulties in cross-cultural business professionalism

When moving into the realm of cross-cultural professionalism, the actual word

professionalism, an already ambiguous and multi-faceted word, becomes even more difficult to

define. This is because, between cultures, the difference in opinion on what professionalism

actually means is compounded exponentially. There still exists the difference in ideas about

professionalism between the age groups of a society, but on top of those differences, there are

fundamental assumptions about how life should be lived which differ from

culture to culture. A quick example of this is the Indian custom to take off

one’s shoes before entering any building. Not to do so is not only an insult to the

owner, but also to the building itself. It is also considered to be an unclean act. In certain other

countries, especially countries on the western hemisphere, it might be considered rude or

improper to take off one’s shoes when entering a building, because that action could suggest a

too relaxed and unprofessional attitude. If this situation was taking place within a business

environment, it could definitely cause one or more parties to feel uncomfortable, and thus make

the communication between the different business representatives strained and difficult. That is

just one small example of a potential cross-cultural business situation where a clearer and agreed

upon definition of what professionalism is would be helpful in avoiding conflict—and in the

present, supremely connected world of today, there are almost infinite opportunities to avoid

conflict in business communications.

So why is there all the confusion? Isn’t there some unified way of communication and

protocol which different cultures could agree to adopt in order to facilitate harmony in cross-

cultural business communications? Possibly—but for the present moment, let us examine more

closely some of the major aspects of this issue of cross-cultural communication in business

professionalism. Without diving too deeply, we can surmise the major issues in cross-cultural

business professionalism to loosely fit into two categories: Ethical and cultural. The ethical

issues are those in which a totally different interpretation of a complicated societal problem is

possessed by two different businesses or enterprises. These fundamentally different views on

what is normal and acceptable can not only be extremely disconcerting between business

partners, but can and are frequently in violation of the laws of one or more parties in the

partnership. One example which comes to mind immediately is the issue of bribing in cross-

cultural business. There is an ethical issue here which cannot be avoided, as

Irina Budrina states in her article Intercultural: Cultural ethical dilemmas

in business, “…in some countries there is no other way of getting any

business done other than offering bribes” (Budrina, 2012). While at first this issues seems to be

unrelated to professionalism, upon closer examination, we can see that professional conduct here

is being violated from at least one point of view—which is a primary problem with enforcing or

even agreeing on standards for professionalism, because what is accepted in one place may very

well be illegal somewhere else. If bribery in one business partner’s country is totally acceptable

and even anticipated, but in the other business partner’s country it is illegal, it becomes difficult

for at least one of the partners to know how to act properly.

This brings us to the crux of the issue in cross-cultural business professionalism: That the

line between what is merely unprofessional and what is illegal or ethically questionable can be

frequently blurred or non-existent, and so it can be difficult if not impossible to make business

decisions which are aligned with professional and ethical ideals. Another ethical professional

problem faced by international business transactions is that of waste disposal, and particularly e-

waste disposal. First world countries frequently ship their e-waste to developing nations, because

it is a cheap way of offloading the waste from the host country. Greenpeace states from a 2009

analytical survey, “E-waste is routinely exported by developed countries to developing ones,

often in violation of the international law. Inspections of 18 European seaports in 2005 found as

much as 47 percent of waste destined for export, including e-waste, was illegal” (Where does e-

waste end up?, 2009). This is an ethical issue, and a professional issue as well,

since any company seeking to ship their waste overseas must think about how

their professional image will be affected by dealing with an overseas waste disposal company—

even if the company they are shipping their waste to claims that they follow ethical disposal

standards. This remains an issue because there is not really any way to be sure the company is

doing what they say they are doing.

But are these ethical conundrums the only obstacle in maintaining a standard

understanding of what business professionalism is? Absolutely not—there are many more issues

which arise in international business operations, and not all of them are on the same level as

ethical violations. From dressing norms, to gender equality across cultures, even to the speed of

life in business being drastically different between cultures, there isn’t any shortage of issues

which arise when different cultures conduct business with one another. One example of this

professionalism issue that comes up would be dress norms for women in different countries and

situations. In North America, business casual is the term which is frequently used. This can

mean anything from suit pants and a blouse to a skirt with heels and an expensive suit coat; the

point is that what is considered acceptable dress for women in business in North America is

ambiguous. Now, to look at a few other countries, Forbes magazine said, “Modest dressing in

China, Japan, India, Russia and the Middle East includes keeping knees

and elbows covered and buttoning shirts up right to the collar...On the

opposite end of the spectrum is Argentina, where brightly colored outfits

are the norm for women” (Tulshyan, 2010). We can see here that something as simple as

professional dress is not actually that simple to deal with. If a woman showed up to any of the

aforementioned businesses dressed in American business casual style, the attire may be

considered unprofessional, and possibly even insulting.

Time is also an issue in cross-cultural business professionalism—different cultures view

time differently. Since different cultures view time differently, cultures who view time as a

commodity, such as the North American culture, may find that doing business with a culture

where it is normal to show up an hour or more late to a meeting is unprofessional to them. This

might not be such a big deal, except that international business transactions are typically very

high-dollar, and any breach in professional etiquette, actual or imagined, may jeopardize such a

deal. It may be necessary to think about creating a sort of standard set of protocols which

businesses could choose to adopt when conducting

international transactions. While it may seem far-fetched to

create such a set of protocols and standards, measures like this

might be needed if respect is to be maintained between

different international business entities. In order for all parties

to agree that they are working professionally, they must simultaneously maintain respect for each

other. Now the question is: How can we be sure that respect is maintained, while still adhering to

the professionalism protocols all business partners expect? The answer may not be so difficult.

Professionalism defined differs from person to person

How can we have professionalism in the workplace and maintain respect? It is simple:

Professionalism and respect both go hand in hand. According to Merriam Webster Dictionary,

the definition of professionalism is, “the skill, good judgment, and polite behavior that is

expected from a person who is trained to do a job well” and respect is defined as, “a feeling of

admiring someone or something that is good, valuable, important, etc.” (Merriam-Webster,

Merriam-Webster, 2015).

The reason they go hand in hand so well is because of how professionalism is mainly an

expected behavior, and respect is a feeling. “Feelings play a crucial role in determining human

behavior and our behavior toward other persons are determined by our feelings

toward them” (Craig, Sidney D., Ph.D). Based on this statement it deducts that

professionalism does go hand in hand with respect. This being said, how does

this all play at a work environment? Within every profession, an individual will

work with another individual, either through customer, partnerships, other workers, etc. From

this an individual will need to be professional in order to maintain appearance and to represent

themselves and the company they are associated with. One of many examples of this is from the

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The values they have established are Integrity,

Professionalism and Respect for Diversity, which is still respect. According to their website, they

define Professionalism:

“As international civil servants, staff need to be mindful of their duties to serve the

international community. In order to achieve high standards of professionalism, members

of staff should be motivated by professional objectives rather than personal concerns.”

Their definition of professionalism is very work oriented because they mention that the

high standards should be motivated by professional objectives instead of

personal ones. This means that to them, professionalism is not only a behavior,

but also an action. In a work environment professionalism is demonstrated

through one’s actions by being patient, respectful, polite, etc. This will show others that there is a

sense of professionalism in the individual which then is associated with appearance. The same

can also be said for respect.

Heathfield says,, “You can demonstrate respect with simple, yet powerful actions”

(Heathfield, Susan M). The way she goes about this is through simple small actions like treating

with people with courtesy, politeness, kindness, encouraging co-workers, listening to what others

have to say, never insulting people, etc. All these actions she provides will help an individual

avoid conflict within the workplace and boost their appearance to others. Heathfield is not the

only person that thinks this. There is an article where author Darcy Jacobsen also writes about

“The Secret to Respect in the Workplace” (Jacobsen, Darcy). She mentions in her article that

respect has gotten a lot of attention in the work environment lately

because it relates to equality, fairness, and getting along. Respect is the

most potent ingredient for workplace civility. This is true because in order

to have peace and civility, individuals who work together need to be

professional and be able to control and take ownership of their actions. Respect does not also

mean just keeping your head down and doing your work but it is more of being recognized and

respected for the contributions you have provided. Since respect can be an action that is

recognized by peers and others at the workplace, there are ways where the others can show their

respect back by either recognizing them, empowering them, providing them supportive feedback,

partnering with them, setting expectations, showing them consideration, and trusting them. This

is what will make a civil work environment, because people give and provide respect to one

another while maintaining their appearance of professionalism.

Final Thoughts

So what does this all mean? Yes it is possible to have respect without having

professionalism and vice versa, however society has basically associated the two together

because they go hand in hand so well. If one is tried without the other, then it may fail or it will

be very hard to do because they are very similar and can be mistaken for one another. There are

many other ways to demonstrate professionalism and respect, but then that

is where the real question lies. What is professionalism? Is it an idea,

action, behavior, or feeling? The answer is all the above. There is no clear

definition of what professionalism is because some companies believe it to

be an action, others believe it to be an idea, and some think it is a behavior or feeling. The main

thing is to realize that professionalism is recognized throughout the world and it is very

distinguishable throughout companies. Everyone has their own sense and idea of what

professionalism and respect is. Someday in the future there may be a universal understanding of

what it is, but for now, professionalism has its own continuous molding definition, which makes

it unique all on its own.

APPENDIX:

Budrina, I. (2012, October 12). Intercultural: Cultural ethical dilemmas in business- from bribes paying to political affairs. Retrieved from Romania-Insider.com: http://www.romania-insider.com/intercultural-cultural-ethical-dilemmas-in-business-from-bribes-paying-to-political-affairs/66629/

Craig, Sidney D., Ph.D. "The Relationship Between Feelings and Behavior - The Natural Child Project." The Relationship Between Feelings and Behavior - The Natural Child Project. The Natural Child Project, Web. 12 Mar. 2015.

Gilbert, J. (2011, September/October). Retrieved from The Millennials: A new generation of employees, a new set of engagement policies: http://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/the-millennials-a-new-generation-of-employees-a-new-set-of-engagement-policies/

Heathfield, Susan M. "How to Demonstrate Respect at Work." Develop Positive Interpersonal Relationships. About Money, Web. 13 Mar. 2015.

"IAEA Values." IAEA Values. International Atomic Energy Agency, Web. 13 Mar. 2015.

Jacobsen, Darcy. "The Secret to Respect in the Workplace | Globoforce Blog." Employee Engagement Recognition and Reward Commentary Globoforce Blog RSS. Globoforce, 23 July 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.

Mayhew, Ruth. "Why Is Respect Important in a Diverse Workplace?" Small Business. Chron, Web. 12 Mar. 2015.

Miller, B. (2014, May 30). How to Bridge the workplace Generation Gap. Retrieved from Entrepreneur: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234314

Pitt-Catsouphes, M. (2015, March 12). The value of Multi-Generational Workplaces. Retrieved from Huff Post Business: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcie-pittcatsouphes-phd/innovating-together-the-v_b_805744.html

"Professionalism." Information Professional 2.6 (2005): 13. Skills to Pay the Bills. DOL.GOV. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.

"Professionalism." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, Web. 10 Mar. 2015.

"Respect." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, Web. 11 Mar. 2015.

Richman, Barbara. "Ten Tips for Creating Respect and Civility in Your Workplace." Ten Tips for Creating Respect and Civility in Your Workplace. Lorman, 28 May 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.

Tulshyan, R. (2010, March 18). Quirkiest Cultural Practices From Around The World. Retrieved from forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/18/business-travel-etiquette-forbes-woman-leadership-global.html

"What Is Medical Professionalism?" What Is Medical Professionalism? ABIM Foundation, Web. 12 Mar. 2015.

Where does e-waste end up? (2009, February 24). Retrieved from Greenpeace.org: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/detox/electronics/the-e-waste-problem/where-does-e-waste-end-up/

”What worries me is the professionalism of everything.” – Irvin Welsh