Professionalism is more usefully regarded as a set of dispositions that result in doing the best job or seeking the best outcomes in performing your job. As a teacher, I could just work from 9 to 3 and do the minimum preparation so that I can enjoy my free time, but i would not be a professional. To be a professional means to make decisions about my time use such that I achieve the best outcomes. I may use time beyond that which I am paid for some weeks to get better results, while in other weeks, I may allocate less time because I have personal needs that may conflict with my well being while working. Being a professional means taking ownership of the outcomes of one's work. It means being responsible for outcomes, actively seeking improvements in those outcomes and possibly in the outcomes of colleagues. It means putting outcomes at least on a par with one's own aspirations.

Professionalism is a state of mind not a set of actions.

Professionalism has no meaning for subsidised researchers. In a company, it is the way that maximizes profit, with the buck as the universal metric. Professional merely means done to earn a living, which entails doing a given job in the least time possible.

Professionalism may be living or performing according to the standards, requirements and expectations of one's profession, which could be decided by those set by the professionals who formally grouped themselves for the purpose or by the regulations commission usually coming from the government. And in doing so, a professional is given a fee commensurate the service rendered. In line with this definition, we in the academic workplace can only "profess" if we request for and are given official permit by our university president to exercise our profession. This "service-for-fee" scheme, to some, may be noble, but to some it reduces "nobility" because to them, nobility is greater when service does not expect anything in return.

We can only "profess" if in return we get enough to buy a living. People may do the same academic activity as a hobby, there is nothing intrinsically "professional."

The hobbyist doesn't count her/his time, since s(he) works for the pleasure. The profi do, because (s)he has a money constraint. That's the essential difference. A hobbyist may be more skilled than a profi, if that skill isn't profitable enough.

Good question Nelson. I like the notion of professionalism as 'nobility' and service - alongside personal 'striving'. As much as i am able, I try to incorporate these attributes into my professional role. Call me a cynic but, on the other hand, a common theme of my academic experience throughout a number of universities, is that policy and contracts dictate professional outcomes. My yearly reviews, workload analysis and policy for promotion dictate that 'personal goals or aspirations' are often at odds with what my employers want. Teaching may trump research etc. There is a romantic notion that universities want to encourage and embrace intellectual and productive mavericks (if they can also be professional) - but the reality is often quite distant from that.

From my perspective, truly professional academics resist administrative pressures to crank out half-baked textual "products" and play the elitist journal / impact factor game, dedicating as much time, energy and passion as possible to forming the next generation of professionals as critically engaged world citizens, and making a genuine contribution to the advancement of knowledge. Lately it has been getting harder to do that, but it is important to keep trying.

Edit: I wrote this before reading the previous answers. Looking back over the thread, I can see that several of us are on more or less the same wavelength.

Being 100% respectful to one's IDEAs. This includes copyright rules, and more ...

@Tolga: Only if the ideas are not totally crazy. There is a lot of those.

Ideas are the starting point ... What follows is the publications ... Professionalism extends to that ... If someone is not respectful to the ideas, chances are that, it will not extend to publications either ... Am I off base ?

Perfection in teaching, research, training, service, team-work, knowledge and intellectual expertise-- to mention only a few things.

I thought I would be "professional" for a change and not indulge my bad habit of intervening too much in question threads of my own invention. But I can´t help telling Dean that he Is an idealist through and through, and as little a cynic as I can imagine. To Gloria: why can´t you share some of your heat-wave with me in frigid northeastern USA? To Tolga and Hanno: neither of you is off base. There are excesses in the practice of every virtue, professionalism included. To Mark, Claude, Eddie: why am I not surprised that this is a better question string than I ever anticipated, thanks to you?

To Marwan, I would say perfection seems to me an unattainable goal, so I wonder if he would mind if I perceived professionalism as merely the habit of straining toward those goals, in another words, professionalism equals perfectionism? And if by chance we achieve certain concrete goals in teaching, research, teamwork, then the professional attitude is to set the bar even higher, to strive for more?

An awesome answer, exemplary for its range and impartiality!

I see most of the answers are something like: making one's job well. I don't grasp why that is specific to "professionalism." It applies as well to hobbyism, political involvement, social activism, art, sport including amateur, you name it.

Claude, I am not sure that realizing one´s "vocation" or calling is equivalent to professionalism. I always applied professionalism to the framework of one´s established profession, whereas vocation seems broader, more flexible. The same person can have a calling, say, for teaching, cooking, and stamp collecting. I may be wrong.

Not wrong with you last response Nelson - and many thanks for realising the idealist over the cynical in me earlier on. A very good thread here from a very good question Nelson. When i first saw it, as has happened a number of times on RG for me, I thought the responses might be a little 'cut-and-dried' - but the variety of interpretation (none inappropriate or inaccurate as far as I can see) is enlightening. Isn't it ironic that something so important as 'professionalism' has so many spins to it - and isn't that well researched?

P.S. Gloria - I'm just 'over the ditch' in New Zealand. It's warm enough here - but nothing like South Australia at the moment. You're only a few hours away from 'calmer weather'. I'll strike up the BBQ for you now!! Nelson, you're obviously feeling the chill - so you are more than welcome to pop along as well. See you all soon.

Dean

Well, with the hard and continuous work of academics - I believe that their occuptation has more to do with VOCATION than PROFESSIONALISM - or a combination of both, because my feeling that if you do not have vocation, you will not cope with the pressure of the work in academia.

Dean - are we all invited!

Regards

Theodora Issa

I agree with Marwan and also supported the points made by Theodora. In addition to those, as perceived by many, professionalism is always related to skill, ability to communicate effectively and also the person have a good behaviour. Therefore, professionalism for the world of academician is something that should be realised and stressed, so that they will become more respected by the other clusters of citizens. Thanks.

Nelson, modulo that one can choose a profession according to one's calling, it certainly isn't equivalent. What I mean is that it doesn't show up in the answers. Perhaps the question should be reframed as: what distinguishes professionalism in academics from others involvements? I think the answer would sum up as external constraints rather than internal ones. For example, skill is also paramount in every type of activity, but the choice of a skill to acquire, as well as its level since a too high one may be unecessary, is determined by external constraints.

Claude, I have followed your suggestion and modified the question with your wording. One must distinguish academic professionalism from everything else we do, and I appreciate your Cartesian predilection for precision.

Professionalism in academics is represented in working very hard and trying your best to get highest producyion in a less time with a very good qualitative and quantitative value making yourself very satisfied with what you got and trying to increase this quality as possible as you can.

So professionalism means self-consciously high productivity! That puts it all in a nutshell, Hatem. Thanks.

I agree with you Nelson.

Theodora - only a select few are welcome - but you are one of them - so feel free!!

Dean

I would add the expression 'working smart' to the definition provided by Hatem above... and the inclusion of self-consciously by Nelson is a welcome addition...

Thanks Dean - packing! -:)

I´m on my way there too, Dean! After Theodora´s welcome addition, I think we´ve put a fine cork in the bottle of academic professionalism, definable as self-consciously high productivity through working smart.

Remains to define what productivity in academics is. Productivity is the ratio output / input. While input is easy to evaluate, in research it is not the same for output. Its value is unpredictable. There are various metric: number of publications, impact etc. but none of them is even close to be faithful. That's because the only factor is time, and in the administration or business realm, everything is short term.

Claude - a slightly cynical view - but aspects do resonate. Academics are generally under pressure to perform in a productive manner. Some, more than others, do have more of an artistic license to decide 'how much and when'. However, I'm not fully convinced that productivity and professionalism automatically go hand-in-hand - although i like Nelsons thoughtful spin on where productivity fits into the equation i.e. 'working smart'.

That´s Theodora´s spin. She deserves the credit!

So, following and deriving from all the above discussions - a definition of professionalism might be:

Professionalism is serving others responsibily, by being able to carry tasks in a smart fashion, always self-conscious, and aware of how to measure your productivity that at the end needs to make a difference in the world around us...

Your thoughts!

Regards

Theodora Issa

Possibly Theodora - and many thanks Nelson for the selfless update. Theodora gets an up-vote from me for the working smart analogy. My only reservation Theodora is that professionalism equates to difference in the world around us. I know plenty that have are professional - it have not made much difference - unless you mean by difference on a more personal level.

Thanks Dean for the upvote - well, I think that the PROFESSIONALS and PROFESSIONALISM has to make a difference - yet, I agree not much difference can be noticed despite the increase in the number of professionals... but, this might need to be changed.

Regards

Theodora Issa

The research to date has not resolved the issue of how to conceptualise professionalism. Indeed, Evans (2008, p. 21-22) in an educational setting raises this very concern: "still the very substance of professionalism – what, precisely professionalism is and how it is constituted – remains under-examined in the broad sociological field, and particularly in the context of education. This is problematic because without understanding its substance it is difficult to appreciate how professionalism functions and, therefore, how it may be influenced"

May I add that professionalism entails a ‘hunger’ for growth (Van der Heijden, 2002). Van der Heijden (2002, p. 60) articulated how this hunger might be demonstrated through: “a professional drive for vocational training, an eagerness to participate in mobility programmes and participation in social networks”. Recognising that knowledge and skills need to be updated on an ongoing basis, as manifested in the dedication to continuous improvement dimension, promises a more holistic understanding of professionalism for modern times. My interest lies in tourism professionalism rather than academic professionalism as a concept but may I recommend a few alternative viewpoints:

Nixon, J. (2001). 'Not without dust and heat’: the moral bases of the ‘new’ academic professionalism. British Journal of Educational Studies, 49(2), 173-186.

Moynihan, J. (2011). In Covert Conversations: Academic Professionalism and Postgraduate Supervision. Paper presented at the Irish Academy of Management, NCI, Dublin.

Warrior, B. (2002). Reflections of an Education Professional. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education, 1(2), 57-63.

Hampton, G.M., Wolf, M., Albinsson, P.A., & McQuitty, S. (2009). Market Orientation and Professionalism in Higher Education. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 13(1), 87-102.

Vogel, M.P. (2009). The professionalism of professors at German Fachhochschulen. Studies in Higher Education, 34(8), 873-888.

Evans, L. (2008). Professionalism, professionality and the development of education professionals. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 56(1), 20-38.

Van Der Heijden, B.I.J.M. (2002). Individual career initiatives and their influence upon professional expertise development throughout the career. International Journal of Training and Development, 6(2), 54-79.

May I add to your pillars, the idea of continually innovating in your field, trying new methods, new areas, not sitting on your laurels rather aiming for bigger and better for the academic community & wider community, and inspiring others . I particularly like Stan Lester's idea of being a Map-maker rather than a map-reader - see

http://books.google.ie/books?hl=en&lr=&id=daSclpmpXdcC&oi=fnd&pg=PA45&dq=From+Map-Reader+to+Map-Maker:+Approaches+to+Moving+Beyond+Knowledge+and+Competence%22+%28Stan+Lester%29&ots=lp66j4Au-i&sig=5DBw375v_untkOnLNH2LXMM9wl4&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=From%20Map-Reader%20to%20Map-Maker%3A%20Approaches%20to%20Moving%20Beyond%20Knowledge%20and%20Competence%22%20%28Stan%20Lester%29&f=false

Being professional does not mean that you are not noble. In short i will say that being professional means being serious and loyal to your job.

The term could be understood either as a generic or specific one, synonymous to an expert or being knowledgeable in a field. My first association is the generic one - that professionalism refers to a person who is trying to perform his/her duties (teaching, researching, etc) in a professional way (stick to rules, ethics, adopt a behaviour adequate in relation to the place, situation, etc.) but does not imply that this person is good at what he/she is doing (the very job of being a professor or researcher), i.e. it is just one possibility. In other words, a teacher might be a professional (abiding by the rules, teaching according to a method, etc) but not necessarily a good teacher (students might not be engaged).

If we take professionalism in the meaning of an expert, this is a question hard to answer - it depends on the mentality/ethics of a society/country, the requirements of the given institution and one's self-expectations. Normally, professionals should be quite experienced (over 15 years of practice), patient, calm and positive if they are teaching, inquisitive if they are mainly researchers, etc. In this specific sense, I think that an expert should be more knowledgeable than his/her institution and job require, i.e. there is no over-education from economics point of view.

Hello all,

Thank you for the discussion - well, I believe ACADEMICS need to have their own professional code of conduct - similar to that of the medical staff and lawyers!? As they have great responsibility in impacting the leaders of tomorrow's minds and ways of thinking.

Thanks and regards

Theodora Issa

Hello, Theodora.

A sage contribution as always. There needs to be some legislative governing body over Academia to formulate that code of conduct. Yet I can envision myriads of members of our profession alleging abridgement of academic freedom the instant such an august body was formed.

Thank you Nelson... I agree with the points raised in your contribution... indeed!

Thanks and regards

Theodora Issa

Legislation is efficient and effective only in case a society's moral or mentality is such that rules and laws are relatively respected (relatively b/se a person invested in power - e.g. a dean/rector is less susceptible to be punished by the law than lower orders, respectively students are most vulnerable).

What is needed in academia - and what should fall into professionalism - is more idealism in terms of positive energy, good intentions and faith. How would a research yield results if you lose your faith that you're doing something meaningful? How would students learn something if they are told they are never going to learn something instead of being encouraged?

Good rhetorical questions, Hristina. I totally agree that faith is needed.

The answer needs a little background of Sociology of Professions. Being a professional academician is to : be answerable, useful and indispensable to society, be highly knowledgeable and resourceful, be service minded, be organized and be known by all and respected by society.

Missed to mention an important point : i.e., be governed by a code of conduct.

Excellent contributions, Rajashekhar! You are right: this string needed a sociologist´s touch.

Morning, Patrick (evening there in Singapore?). It´s good to see a professional here like you!

Nelson, one more excellent topics of yours... What is "professionalism" in academics? Well. in mu modest opinion it is certainly not participating in as many professional societies and conventions as possible... If, say, you, have a 15 min presentation and you are not able to manage well the time (present consistently, leave some time for discussion, etc.), I would consider it a lack of "professionalism" - it´s as simple as that... :-)...

Svetlozar, one more outstanding answer of yours. How many of us, asked to serve as moderators on panels of papers, have not had our warnings to panelists ignored while some inconsiderate speaker rattled on and on past the allotted time? The height of unprofessionalism as well as the height of rudeness!