Chapter Three - Professions And

Professionalism
Profession

Profession means a job or an occupation, that helps a person earn his living. The main criteria of a

profession involve the following.

• Advanced expertise − The criteria of a profession is to have sound knowledge in both technical aspects

and liberal arts as well. In general, continuing education and updating knowledge are also important.
• Self-regulation − An organization that provides a profession, plays a
major role in setting standards for the admission to the profession,
drafting codes of ethics, enforcing the standards of conduct and
representing the profession before the public and the government.

• Public good − Any occupation serves some public good by maintaining

high ethical standards throughout a profession. This is a part of
professional ethics where each occupation is intended to serve for the
welfare of the public, directly or indirectly to a certain extent.
PROFESSIONALS
A person who is paid for getting on volved in a particular profession in order
to earn a living as well as to satisfy the laws of that profession can be
understood as a professional. The definition of a professional is given
differently by different experts in the field. Let us see the following

definitions −
• “only consulting engineers who are basically independent and have
freedom from coercion can be called as professionals.” − Robert L. Whitelaw
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• “Professionals have to meet the expectations of clients and employers.
Professional restrains are to be imposed by only laws and government
regulations and not by personal conscience.” − Samuel Florman
• “Engineers are professionals when they attain standards of
achievement in education, job performance or creativity in engineering
and accept the most basic moral responsibilities to the public as well as
employers, clients, colleagues and subordinates.” - Mike martin and
Ronald Schinzinger
 Models of Professional Engineers
An engineer who is a professional, has some tasks to perform by which
he acts as any of the following, which can be termed as Models of
Professional Engineers.
• Savior − A person who saves someone or something from any danger
is called a Savior. An engineer who saves a group of people or a
company from a technical danger can also be called a Savior. The Y2K
problem that created problems for computers and computer networks
around the world was solved by engineers who were the saviors.
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• Guardian − A person who knows the direction towards a better future is known to
be the guardian for the same. An engineer who knows the direction in which there is
scope for the technology to develop can also be called a guardian. This engineer
provides the organization with innovative ideas for technological development.
• Bureaucratic servant − a person who is loyal and can solve problems when they
occur using his own skills, is a bureaucratic servant. An engineer who can be a loyal
person to the organization and also the one who solves the technical problems the
company encounters, using his special skills can be termed as a bureaucratic servant.
The company relies on his decision-making capability for the future growth.
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• Social Servant − A person who works for the benefit of the society without any
selfish interest and does not work on any business grounds, is called a Social servant. An
engineer who receives a task as part of the government’s concern for the society
considering the directives laid by the society and accomplishes the assigned tasks can be
termed as a Social Servant. He knows what the society needs.
• Social Enabler or Catalyst − A person who makes the society understand its welfare
and works towards the benefits of the people in it, is a Social Enabler. An engineer who
plays a vital role in a company and helps company along with society to understand their
needs and supports their decisions in work can be termed as a Social Enabler or Catalyst.
This person quickens the procedure and helps maintain good environment in the
company.
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• Game Player − A person who plays a game according to the rules

given is a Game player in general. An engineer who acts as neither a
servant nor a master, but provides his services and plans his works
according to the economic game rules in a given time, can be termed as a
Game player. He is smart enough to handle the economic conditions of
the company.
 PROFESSIONALISM
Professionalism covers comprehensively all areas of practice of a particular
profession. It requires skills and responsibilities involved in engineering
profession. Professionalism implies a certain set of attitudes.
The art of Professionalism can be understood as the practice of doing the right
thing, not because how one feels but regardless of how one feels. Professionals
make a profession of the specific kind of activity and conduct to which they
commit themselves and to which they can be expected to conform. Moral ideals
specify virtue, i.e., desirable feature of character. Virtues are desirable ways of
relating to other individuals, groups and organizations. Virtues involve motives,
attitudes and emotions
 PROFESSIONAL IDEALS AND VIRTUES
The qualities represent excellence in central moral behavior. The fundamentals for
any professional to outclass in the profession are behavior, skills and knowledge.
The behavior shows the moral belief of the professional.
The moral principles specify the quality, i.e., the desirable character personalities
that talk a lot about the motives, attitude and emotions of an individual.
• Public spirited virtues
• Proficiency virtues
• Team work virtues
• Self-governance virtues
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The virtues mentioned above show the professional responsibility of an

individual. Hence, the professionalism that comes in with these virtues is
called Responsible Professionalism. Let us now understand each virtue
in detail.
 1. PUBLIC-SPIRITED VIRTUES
An engineer should focus on the good of the clients and the public at large,
which means no harm should be done intentionally. The code of professional
conduct in the field of engineering includes avoiding harm and protecting, as
well promoting the public safety, health and welfare.
Maintaining a sense of community with faith and hope within the society and
being generous by extending time, talent and money to professional societies
and communities, an engineer can maintain the public-spirited virtue. Finally,
justice within corporations, government and economic practices becomes an
essential virtue that an engineer should always possess.
 2. PROFICIENCY VIRTUES
These refer to the virtues followed in the profession according to the
talent and intellect of an engineer. The moral values that include this
virtue are competence and diligence. The competence is being successful
in the job being done and the diligence is taking care and having
alertness to dangers in the job. Creativity should also be present in
accomplishing the assigned task.
 3. TEAMWORK VIRTUES
These virtues represent the coordination among team members which
means working successfully with other professionals. These include
cooperative nature along with loyalty and respect towards their
organization, which makes the engineers motivate the team professionals
to work towards their valuable goals.
 4. SELF-GOVERNANCE VIRTUES
These virtues are concerned with moral responsibilities which represent
integrity and self-respect of the person. The integrity actually means the
moral reliability which refers to the actions, attitude and emotions of the
person concerned during his professional period.
The self-governance virtues center on commitment, courage, self-
discipline, perseverance, self-respect and integrity. The truthfulness and
trustworthiness which represent his honesty are the crucial moral values
to be kept up by a professional.
 PROFESSIONAL CODES OF ETHICS
A code of ethics is from time to time called a code of practice, and is implemented
by a profession or by a governmental or non-governmental organization to control
that profession. It prescribes the mission and values of a professional organization,
and the ethical principles based on the organization's core values and the standards
to which the professional is held.
Many architectures, engineering and land surveying organizations have adopted
codes of ethics that their members must follow. Generally, these codes are quite
similar and are based on a few fundamental principles. For example, the National
Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) has the following fundamental canons
in their Code of Ethics for Engineers:
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Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall:
1. Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.
2. Perform services only in areas of their competence.
3. Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner.
4. Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees.
5. Avoid deceptive acts.
6. Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully so as to enhance the honor,
reputation, and usefulness of the profession.
Some codes of ethics expand their ethical guidelines into detailed rules of practice which can be
several pages long while others, such as the one adopted by the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE):
 PROFESSIONAL OBLIGATIONS (DUTIES)
As licensed professionals, architects, engineers, geologists and land surveyors
have many professional obligations to society. In their Code of Ethics, the
National Society of Professional Engineers proclaims the following obligations
for their members:
• Engineers shall be guided in all their relations by the highest standards of
honesty and integrity.
• Engineers shall acknowledge their errors and shall not distort or alter the facts.
• Engineers shall advise their clients or employers when they believe a project
will not be successful.
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• Engineers shall not accept outside employment to the detriment of
their regular work or interest. Before accepting any outside
engineering employment, they will notify their employers.
• Engineers shall not attempt to attract an engineer from another
employer by false or misleading pretenses.
• Engineers shall not promote their own interest at the expense of the
dignity and integrity of the profession.
 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Conflicts of Interest (COI) are situations that have the potential to undermine the impartiality of a person
because of the possibility of a clash between the person's self-interest and professional interest or public
interest. There are three types of COI:
1. Actual Conflict of Interest
2. Apparent Conflict of Interest
3. Potential Conflict of Interest
An actual conflict of interest is one where the person making the decision or someone close to him, like
a spouse, child, etc., would benefit from his decision. Suppose, for example, that a professional engineer
is a school board member and his sister-in-law is applying for an administrative job in that school
system. He votes to hire her for this lucrative position. That's an actual or real conflict of interest, since
he might be voting for her not because she is the best one for the job, but because he wants his brother to
benefit from her income.
 PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT
Knowing what you cannot do is more important than knowing what you can do.
The following list contains detailed descriptions and discussion of types of professional
misconduct prohibited by all state licensing boards:
1. Failing to comply with laws and regulations. An example of this could be a violation
of a building code provisions in the design of a hospital.
2. Exercising undue influence on a client for improper financial gain.
3. Offering or receiving a kickback from a third party. Kickbacks include money, goods,
and services.
4. Fee-splitting with an unqualified third party. For example, a licensee should not share
his fee with a city official who helped him secure the project