10.2 Professionalism

What is professionalism? A profession is an occupation that involves mastery of complex knowledge and skills through prolonged training, education, or practical experience. Becoming a member of a specific profession doesn’t happen overnight. Whether you seek to be a public relations expert, lawyer, doctor, teacher, welder, electrician, and so on, each profession involves that interested parties invest themselves in learning to become a professional or a member of a profession who earns their living through specified expert activity. It’s much easier to define the terms “profession” and “professional” than it is to define the term “professionalism” because each profession will have its take on what it means to be a professional within a given field.

According to the United States Department of Labor (2012) professionalism isn’t one thing; it’s a combination of qualities. A professional employee arrives on time for work and manages time effectively. Professional workers take responsibility for their own behavior and work effectively with others. High quality work standards, honesty, and integrity are also part of the package. Professional employees look clean and neat and dress appropriately for the job. Communicating effectively and appropriately for the workplace is also an essential part of professionalism.

As you can see here, professionalism isn’t a single “thing” that can be labeled. Instead, professionalism involves the aims and behaviors that demonstrate an individual’s level of competence expected by a professional within a given profession. By the word “aims,” we mean that someone who exhibits professionalism is guided by a set of goals in a professional setting. Whether the aim is to complete a project on time or help ensure higher quarterly incomes for their organization, professionalism involves striving to help one’s organization achieve specific goals. By “behaviors,” we mean specific ways of acting and communicating within an organizational environment. Some common behaviors can include acting ethically, respecting others, collaborating effectively, and taking personal/professional responsibility. Let’s look at each of these separately.

Ethics

The word “ethics” actually is derived from the Greek word ethos, which means the nature or disposition of a culture (Oxford English Dictionary, 1963). From this perspective, ethics then involves the moral center of a culture that governs behavior. Without getting too deep, let’s just say that philosophers debate the very nature of ethics, and they have described a wide range of different philosophical perspectives on what constitutes ethics. For our purposes, ethics is the judgmental attachment to whether something is good, right, or just.

Every year there are lapses in ethical judgment by organizations and organizational members. For example, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt, committed many ethical lapses during his tenure with the agency prompting his resignation. Some of the ethical lapses included ordering raises for two aides even when the White House rejected them, spending $3.5 million (twice times as much as his predecessor) on taxpayer-funded security, using that security to pick up his favorite moisturizing lotion and dry-cleaning, renting a room from a lobbyist who had dealings with the EPA for $50 per night, installing a $43,000 private phone booth in his office that allegedly was used once, spending $124,000 on first-class flights, purchasing two season-ticket seats to a University of Kentucky basketball game from a billionaire coal executive, tried to use his position to get his wife a Chick-fil-A franchise, and others. Sadly, these ethical lapses are still frequent in corporate America, and they often come with huge lawsuit settlements and/or jail time.

In the business world, we often talk about business ethics, which involves things like not stealing from a company; not lying to one’s boss, coworkers, or customers/clients; not taking bribes, payoffs, or kickbacks; taking credit for someone else’s work; abusing and belittling someone in the workplace; or simply letting other people get away with unethical behavior. For example, if you know your organization has a zero-tolerance policy for workplace discrimination and you know that one supervisor is purposefully not hiring pregnant women because “they’ll just be leaving on maternity leave soon anyway,” then you are just as responsible as that supervisor. We might also add, that discriminating against someone who is pregnant or can get pregnant is also a violation of Equal Employment Opportunity law, so you can see that often the line between ethics and rules (or laws) can be blurred.

From a communication perspective, there are also ethical issues that you should be aware of. Redding (1996), broke down unethical organizational communication into six specific categories; coercive, destructive, deceptive, intrusive, secretive, manipulative/exploitative.

Respect for Others

Our second category related to professionalism is respecting others. From workplace bullying to sexual harassment, many people simply do not always treat people with dignity and respect in the workplace. So, what do we mean by treating someone with respect? There are a lot of behaviors one can engage in that are respectful if you’re interacting with a coworker or interacting with leaders or followers. Here’s a list we created of respectful behaviors for workplace interactions:

• Be courteous, polite, and kind to everyone.
• Do not criticize or nitpick at little inconsequential things.
• Do not engage in patronizing or demeaning behaviors.
• Don’t engage in physically hostile body language.
• Don’t roll your eyes when your coworkers are talking.
• Don’t use an aggressive tone of voice when talking with coworkers.
• Encourage coworkers to express opinions and ideas.
• Encourage your coworkers to demonstrate respect to each other as well.
• Listen to your coworkers openly without expressing judgment before they’ve finished speaking.
• Listen to your coworkers without cutting them off or speaking over them.
• Make sure you treat all of your coworkers fairly and equally.
• Make sure your facial expressions are appropriate and not aggressive.
• Never engage in verbally aggressive behavior: insults, name-calling, rumor mongering, disparaging, and putting people or their ideas down.
• Praise your coworkers more often than you criticize them. Point out when they’re doing great things, not just when they’re doing “wrong” things.
• Provide an equal opportunity for all coworkers to provide insight and input during meetings.
• Treat people the same regardless of age, gender, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, etc.…
• When expressing judgment, focus on criticizing ideas, and not the person.

Personal Responsibility

Personal responsibility refers to an individual’s willingness to be accountable for what they feel, think, and behave. Whether we’re talking about our attitudes, our thought processes, or physical/communicative behaviors, personal responsibility is simply realizing that we are in the driver’s seat and not blaming others for our current circumstances. Now, this is not to say that there are never external factors that impede our success. Of course, there are. This is not to say that certain people have a leg-up on life because of a privileged background, of course, some people have. However, personal responsibility involves differentiating between those things we can control and those things that are outside of our control. For example, you may not be able to control a coworker who decides to yell at you, but you can control how you feel about that coworker, how you think about that coworker, and how you choose to respond to that coworker. Here are some ways that you can take personal responsibility in your own life (or in the workplace):

• Acknowledge that you are responsible for your choices in the workplace.
• Acknowledge that you are responsible for how you feel at work.
• Acknowledge that you are responsible for your behaviors at work.
• Accept that your choices are yours alone, so you can’t blame someone else for them.
• Accept that your sense of self-efficacy and self-esteem are yours.
• Accept that you can control your stress and feelings of burnout.
• Decide to invest in your self-improvement.
• Decide to take control of your attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors.
• Decide on specific professional goals and make an effort and commitment to accomplish those goals.

Although you may have the ability to take responsibility for your feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, not everyone in the workplace will do the same. Most of us will come in contact with coworkers who do not take personal responsibility. Dealing with coworkers who have a million and one excuses can be frustrating and demoralizing.

Excuse-making occurs any time an individual attempts to shift the blame for an individual’s behavior from reasons more central to the individual to sources outside of their control in the attempt to make themselves look better and more in control (Snyder & Higgins, 1988). For example, an individual may explain their tardiness to work by talking about how horrible the traffic was on the way to work instead of admitting that they slept in late and left the house late. People make excuses because they fear that revealing the truth would make them look bad or out of control. In this example, waking up late and leaving the house late is the fault of the individual, but they blame the traffic to make themself look better and in control even though they were late.

Excuse-making happens in every facet of life, but excuse-making in the corporate world can be highly problematic. For example, research has shown that when front-line service providers engage in excuse-making, they are more likely to lose return customers as a result Hill, Baer, & Kosenko, 1992). In one study, when salespeople attempted to excuse their lack of ethical judgment on their customer’s lack of ethics, supervisors tended to punish more severely those who engaged in excuse-making than those who had not Bellizzi, & Norvell, (1991). Of course, even an individual’s peers can become a little annoyed by a colleague who always has a handy excuse for their behavior. For this reason, Nordam (2014) recommends using the ERROR method when handling a situation where your behavior was problematic: Empathy, Responsibility, Reason, Offer Reassurance. Here is an example Nordam uses to illustrate the ERROR method:

I hate that you [burden placed on person] because of me (Empathy). I should have thought things out better (Responsibility), but I got caught up in [reason for behavior] (Reason). Next time I’ll [preventative action] (Offer Reassurance).

As you can see, the critical parts of this response involve validating the other person, taking responsibility, and providing an explanation for how you’ll behave in the future to avoid similar problems.

General Etiquette for Career Success

Introductions

An introduction to a person is possibly one of the most important aspects to etiquette. This nonverbal behavior can send positive or not-so-positive messages to a person with whom you want to make a good impression. Here are the components to a good handshake and introduction (Lorenz, 2004):

1. Firm handshake. A firm handshake shows self-confidence. Try not to make it too firm or too soft. Do not place your hand on top of the other person’s hand while shaking (Figure 10.6).
2. Web to web. When you shake someone’s hand, put your right hand out and the web of skin between your thumb and pointer finger should touch the web of the other person. Try to avoid grabbing someone’s fingers when shaking hands, as this could send a negative message.
3. Eye contact. As you shake the person’s hand, make direct eye contact. This can be challenging for some people who grew up in a culture where direct eye contact would be considered rude. Make sure to smile.
4. Say your name and repeat the other person’s name. As you are making eye contact and shaking hands, you might say something like, “Hi, my name is Laura Portolese Dias. It is a pleasure to meet you.” When they say their name, make sure to repeat it, which will make it easier to remember.
5. Introducing two people. If you know two people and are introducing them, say both people’s names and try to tell them something they have in common they can discuss. For example, “Casey, meet Ms. Robins. Both of you went to the University of Washington-Bothell campus.” This gives them a starting point to begin their conversation.

Good handshakes and introductions are important, but they also take practice. Often, people are too worried about the impression they are making to focus on their handshake, eye contact, and other aspects. The more comfortable you can get with this, the more second nature it will become and the better your human relations will be.

While a firm hand shake can make a good first impression in most Western Contexts, it is important to remember that culture also plays a role in how to go about making a good first impression. When working with teams, clients, or businesses from international contexts, learning about their customs for introductions can often result in positive working relationships, or at least start them off on the right track (Figure 10.7).

Clothing

Dress is another consideration with etiquette. Dress will vary greatly from region to region. For example, in the Seattle area, it is normal for many people to wear jeans to work, while in other parts of the country, this would be considered inappropriate. When deciding what to wear, it is always best to be a bit overdressed than underdressed. For job interviews, jeans or shorts would rarely, if ever, be acceptable. Normally in job interviews, dressing one “step up” from what people wear at the company is a good rule of thumb.

Showing too much skin or revealing tattoos or facial piercings in some work environments may prevent upward movement in a company, as it sends the wrong message to your boss, or future boss. Fair or not, there are many unspoken rules about what is appropriate and what is not. The best thing to do is to look at what the successful people around you are wearing. For example, if all of the men in the workplace wear suit jackets and rarely take them off, this is an indicator of expected workplace dress. If all of the women in the office wear closed toed shoes and leave the flip flops at home, it might be a good idea for you to do the same as well. Personal style and individuality are important, but in some professions, it makes sense to err on the side of caution when choosing a work wardrobe (Sinberg, 2009).

Technology

Another important thing to mention is the use of technology. Although many people use it, the increased use of technology has actually made people ruder; 9 out of 10 Americans report they’ve seen others misuse technology and 75 percent agree that mobile etiquette is worse than it was a year ago (Bruzzese, 2011). 

Here are some examples of basic etiquette when it comes to technology:

• Don’t look at your phone while talking with someone else.
• Don’t use a phone for calls or texts while at the dinner table.
• Don’t talk loudly on the phone in a public space.
• Avoid letting “text speak” cross over into e-mails (i.e., “IDK” is okay in a text message, but spell it out, “I don’t know,” in e-mails).
• Try to avoid multitasking with your phone in inappropriate places, such as when in the restroom.
• When sending e-mails, avoid clogging up peoples’ e-mail boxes with “reply all” messages.
• Use spell-check for e-mails.
• Try to answer e-mails within twenty-four hours, even if it is to say, “I am not sure about this but I will get back to you.”

Reputation Management

Many companies pay hundreds, even thousands of dollars every month to monitor and clean up their online reputations. The process of monitoring your online reputation is called reputation management. Reputation.com, one of hundreds of firms that specializes in “fixing” online reputations, has become popular for companies looking to enhance their online image. Reputation management isn’t just for companies, individuals are using these services to make unflattering things on the Internet about them disappear (Tozzi, 2008).

Anything posted on the Internet, from a picture on Facebook to a comment on a blog, will be in cyberspace indefinitely. Consider the case of a New York professor. Eight years earlier, he had been charged with receiving grant money wrongfully. If you googled his name, you would find a press release listing this charge as one of his name’s top search results, even though he had paid the $2,000 fine (Bilton, 2011). Not exactly something he would want a potential or current employer to see!

This is exactly why it is important in career development to be aware of the kinds of things you post, whether you are looking for a job or already have a job. For example, thirteen Virgin Airlines employees were fired for a chat they had on Facebook about the plane’s safety, along with negative comments about customers (Bloomberg News, 2008). In yet another example, a job seeker posted the following to Twitter: “Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.” And Cisco, who regularly monitors the Internet for mentions of their name (reputation management), replied, “Who is the hiring manager. I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web.” The job offer to this future employee was rescinded (Popkin, 2009).

Websites that allow for professional networking can be a great tool but can also be detrimental. For example, a human resource executive posted his resume on LinkedIn and searching for new career opportunities. He was forced out of his job and then sued his employer for constructive dismissal (Williams, 2012). 

So how exactly can you monitor your online reputation? Here are some tips:

• Google yourself often and see what the search results return.
• Consider changing your privacy settings in Facebook, so people you are not friends with cannot view your profile.
• Change your Facebook setting so you must approve posts that “tag” you.
• Be aware of your company’s policy on posting resumes on websites like LinkedIn.
• Do not talk about work on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media site.
• Never mention your company name on social media sites.

Managing your online reputation can make sure that when an employer or potential employer sees your online persona, they are seeing the side you want them to see. It will show them that you represent the company in a positive light, which can enhance career success.

Remix/Revisions featured in this section

• Editing revisions to tailor the content to the Psychology of Human Relations course.
• Remix of combining 1 The Requirements of Professionalism (Interpersonal Communication – Milne Library) and 13.3 Career Growth: Impression Management (Human Relations – Saylor).
• Changed formatting for images to provide links to locations of images and CC licenses.
• Added doi links to references to comply with APA 7^th edition formatting reference manual.

Attributions

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Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided by: Stevy Scarbrough. License: CC-BY-NC-SA

CC Licensed Content Shared Previously
Human Relations. Authored by: Saylor Academy. Located at: https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_human-relations/s05-02-human-relations-personality-an.html License: CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0

CC Licensed Content Shared Previously
Interpersonal Communication: A Mindful Approach to Relationships Authored by: Jason S. Wrench; Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter; and Katherine S. Thweatt. Published by: Milne Publishing Located at: https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/interpersonalcommunication/ License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

References

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Nordrum, A. (2014, July 1). What’s your excuse? Shielding yourself from blame can both help and hurt you. Psychology Today. Retrieved November 27, 2022 from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201407/whats-your-excuse

Popkin, H. A. S. (2009, March 23). Twitter gets you fired in 140 characters or less. NBCnews.com. Retrieved November 27, 2022 from https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29796962

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