What is professionalism?

DuBay, W.H. (1996). What is professionalism? Intercom, 43 (8), 2.

Mr. DuBay is the principal technical writer at Phoenix Technologies, Ltd., in Irvine, California. He answers the question "why don't professionals get any respect" and comes up with some guidelines to increase professional status. He combines professionalism with power and authority, in a way I haven't seen done before.

It is not a name or title that determine status, but power and authority. For example, teachers do not gain status by abandoning the name "teacher"; they achieve gains through organization and collective action.

What is professionalism? It is not just competencies, skills, the ability to work as a team member, the ability to satisfy a client, or the ability to demand fair compensation. Professionalism is about power and authority over what one does. Consider doctors in the consulting room. One may or may not like what they do, but they exercise final authority over what goes on there.

The way to get power and authority is by exercising it. The first principle of any profession is to take responsibility for everything that affects the quality of the product. That means to take control of the resources (including pay, working conditions, hours, and tools) required to produce quality products.

How do we enforce this control? It is not easy and always involves taking risks. But the key to taking control is making it known that there are certain things we do not do. We do not work under certain conditions. We do not produce inferior work, and we do not work for less than fair compensation. That means refusing to work under less than acceptable conditions, and refusing to produce inferior work. The two go together.

If you want to be professional, then start acting professionally. People will recognize that you have a special relationship to your work and will respect you for it. The revolution starts with each one of us.

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