Who is true professional.....???

Tremendous use of word "Professional" i have seen here. Great debate!!

A true professional is always honest to his profession/work not to his colleagues, not to his employer, not to his juniors/seniors and even not to his company.

Here, A lot of examples are given by experienced persons but we can't argue on all. Someone discuss about satyam or many unfair scams, but i want to tell you that neither satyam owner was professional nor that audit agency. Because the result you have already seen.

I am giving just an example, A professional man/Employee can change his company, employer, juniors and seniors but not his work. Similarly A professional man/Employer can change his employee rather than work. I hope you understand the simple mean behind this. They have to be honest to his work. Due to error made by some people, we don't change the concept.....

Thanks for the referral Mr.Yogendra Singh Chauhan.

But in my opinion work is worship which involves everything for a good professional.

I think Ms.Devi kalan and others from this side have elaborated well.

 May be on either side. Even may not follow 'choices' made by the question maker. Let me deal the word "Professional " in its crude form :

A professional is a member of a vocation founded upon specialised educational training.

The word professional traditionally means a person who has obtained a degree in a professional field. The term professional is used more generally to denote a white collar working person, or a person who performs commercially in a field typically reserved for hobbyists or amateurs.

In western nations, such as the United States, the term commonly describes highly educated, mostly salaried workers, who enjoy considerable work autonomy, a comfortable salary, and are commonly engaged in creative and intellectually challenging work. Less technically, it may also refer to a person having impressive competence in a particular activity.

Because of the personal and confidential nature of many professional services and thus the necessity to place a great deal of trust in them, most professionals are held up to strict ethical and moral regulations

Main criteria for professional include the following:

1. Academic qualifications - A teaching degree (University doctoral program)theological, medical, or law degree - i.e., university college/institute.
2. Expert and specialized knowledge in field which one is practicing professionally.
3. Excellent manual/practical and literary skills in relation to profession.
4. High quality work in (examples): creations, products, services, presentations, consultancy, primary/other research, administrative, marketing or other work endeavours.
5. A high standard of professional ethics, behaviour and work activities while carrying out one's profession (as an employee, self-employed person, career, enterprise, business, company, or partnership/associate/colleague, etc.). The professional owes a higher duty to a client, often a privilege of confidentiality, as well as a duty not to abandon the client just because he or she may not be able to pay or remunerate the professional. Often the professional is required to put the interest of the client ahead of his own interests.
6. Reasonable work moral and motivation. Having interest and desire to do a job well as holding positive attitude towards the profession are important elements in attaining a high level of professionalism.
7. Participating for gain or livelihood in an activity or field of endeavor often engaged in by amateurs b : having a particular profession as a permanent career c : engaged in by persons receiving financial return

In Britain, India and elsewhere, professionalism is often designated by the Professional Body in the respective field ( from Wikepedia_copy_pasted : highlights are mine )

I would find it difficult for any one claiming to be first honest to their employers. An employer is here today, gone tomorrow, but my profession will be with me as long as I am still alive. Your employer benefits directly from your honesty to your profession. Their is to provide a platform on which to practice your profession with great honesty. It therefore folllows that the focus, in as afar as honesty is concerned, is one's profession.

Well Mr Chauhan, I don't know whether I am a true professional or not,,,but of course every thing can't be fair for me if its said that they are unfair.

My definition of a professional includes,,in depth knowledge, discipline, punctuality & most of the above commitment, values & honesty.

I also believe if one is not a good human being,,,i.e. lack of family/social values, unconcerned for every other aspects of life except the profession one can't be called a good professional though he/she might be a doyen in his/her field.

Thanks for the referral.

An interesting debate, I agree with Devi, an honest professional is one who is honest to his profession, not to the employer. and if he/she is a good employer, he will recognise and appreciate the employee for the very same quality.

Truly top argument, good feedback Devi, it is fully self-explanatory, good content!

I agree with your points Devi. There is so much that can be said about being a true professional. A person has to really take into consideration this question and look inside themselves and be honest with the answer. Being a professional is more than just doing your job.

Professionals are responsive, have ethical/ honest standards & behaviors, proper business etiquette  & knowledgeable: they know their craft or industry very well, the ins and outs, the ups and downs, they are able to take charge in certain situations, they know how to move forward & make things happen & others are able to benefit from their knowledge.

They are people who engage in an activity with great competence, they aren’t cynical or lazy; they are prompt in their business dealings or other ventures. They are organized in their work habits, behavior & have a well groomed appearance. A professional learns every aspect of their job/profession & utilize their knowledge & capabilities to the fullest extent.

Professionals see situations and they handle what they see & not just pass it off to the next person. They take time out to carefully discover what is needed, wanted & work to fulfill those needs. A professional is focused, clear-headed & determined.

Professionals are constantly learning. They seek continuous education to work on or improve their skills & knowledge about their industry/ profession, products or services by attend regular and ongoing professional development activities or study & apply what they learn.

Professionals read the situation and adapt to the personality and needs of the customer/ client or environment that they’re in. They are “doers/ implementers”, they don’t just sit back, they move forward toward progress. Professional behaviors are simple for SOME people to adapt & follow. What's not simple is the consistent application of them.

True professionals stand out from the crowd; giving credit where credit is due, being accurate and taking responsibility for their decisions and actions. Professionals care about what they do. A Professionals behavior in the workplace or with others is a critical ingredient in a business recipe for success.

They develop positive business behavior in the workforce, which is an ongoing task. They make a conscious effort to model work professionalism, they encourage others to do the same and the customers of the world know when one is at work.

Many professionals are seen as a leader or manager, they can be a proactive agent for change and help their employees, associates or partners modify office/ business behavior. They STRIVE for excellence in BEING a professional in a sea of amateurs.

Society does not emphasize the importance of professionalism; some people tend to believe that amateur work is normal. Many businesses accept the attitude of “just getting by"  but that’s the attitude of amateurs. The difference between a true professional & amateur is the extra effort. Like the difference between ordinary and extraordinary; it’s the little extra. 

Enough exposure and expertise in a particular field; makes one a Professional.
I am honest to my profession no matter how unfair it is for others!

Professionalism is not only, good etiquettes, fair display of actions, to the point talks but getting the work done and business targets met at any cost, which means anything, no matter how unfair it is.

Tarang, the question here is not about compromise. The heading is "who is true professional?  I am also supporting " I am honest to my profession and not to the employer".   

I am honest to my profession. It does not matter to me who have to compromise in whatever department. I do not compromise. End of the matter. 

A true professional is one who is true to his profession irrespective of what opinion his employer may have of him. He should act according to the accepted principles of his profession. In other words, he should call a spade a spade at least as far as professional opinion is concerned. Personal emotions and relationships must not get in the way of his professional behavior.

Dear Freinds,

My sincere feeling says and i appreciated all the while , may be following i didnot earn much and made know big mistakes too. Well i do definitely have gained respect , fellowship (one among others) , even saw days of being a leader wishfully by the fellows without a discussion.

In my words, dont get confused by thinking about what we have been through , it can lead to many feelings in person , community and surroundings be it any job!

In my opinion , If a Professional is like Acharya!

Imagine a Bank manager like Chanakya thats what i call Achaarya ! He knows , he sees it , he changes it for good of all , skillful , knows when to speak and when not , what to speak and what not , and think where his work is going to be useful for his fellow living beings in the terms of Humanity!

I feel sometimes , its good in India too , to have our own titles like this , so that we dont be still trying to be what others found and wishpered to us!

Professional in my opinion is a good sounding word! Professional does not mean anything to me as long as we are not sure , if what we really do is a Profession. In India , it was Vruth , and everybody was a professional , may be in that terms to justify professionalism as a simple term is :

who does things , what ever he does , he does it well.

I am honest to my profession and would say the following to support it:

A true professional according to me never hides from anything. If you are assigned a job or a project and you have no idea how to do it, you get help, you don't let it rot in some corner of your desk until someone asks you about it. If you feel something could be done better, you speak up and take the lead on implementing your way, you don't sit around complaining to everyone around you. If you're doing a fantastic job on something but you're going to be behind deadline, you speak up and say so, before your boss and/or manager has to come tracking. A true professional acts.

Take responsibility for your goof-ups, apologize gracefully, and move on. Because everybody makes mistakes from time to time, but trying to cover your tracks or push the blame somewhere else only makes you look cowardly and yes certanly unprofessional. Give credit whenever it is due, and accept kudos modestly when you earn them. Also, the hallmark of being a professional is recognizing and taking responsibility when one has made a mistake.
Don't be afraid to say "I don't know".

It may so happen that you follow "I am honest......to employer" and the employer asks you for "Everything is fair....." approach towards client/stake holders/society.

In such situations professionalism becomes "Career Oriented Opportunism" if you are a employed professional

Devi you may not be aware - an auditor in India has two definitions.

1.  A personal advisor - mostly a chartered accountant - (who knows how to manage tax/documentation matters of a politician, rich person, uneducated person etc.).  

2. A chartered accountant engaged in audit of banks, companies, government departments etc.  

We have here many types of audit also.  

The professional in the first definition has to be a go-getter.  This is where compromise comes in.  For some, compromise is everything and for some others, it is the middle path.  There are of course some people who do not compromise at all.  

You were referring to those in the second definition.  

I have mentioned earlier why Sathyam auditors have to be targeted.  No doubt they thought that they belonged to definition one and had to protect interests of Rajus.  But Sathyam was a very large organisation responsible for many people's lives and they should have acted as those in definition 2.

Most important of all is that price waterhouse had a reputation to maintain.  They should have inculcated in their partners what they should strive for, which they did not.  

Price waterhouse charge heavily their clients in India claiming that clients' interests are protected through audit.  Through Sathyam fiasco, they have betrayed the trust Indians had in them. 

To an extent, for those in definition 1, I advocate the middle path i.e, a little compromise is necessary but within limits of conscience.  

Sham I support your comment.

Imran, my definition of a professional may be similar to the one in the book, oh yes. However, let me advise you I am the Head of Audit in Project Unit that manages 7 international projects and no way will I ever compromise my work or let politics get in the way. I guess this goes for all the auditors in the world. Anyone auditor who do not work independently and do not follow the professional code of ethics ought to be fired. They are definitely in the wrong profession.     

Sujit, I am not sure if you are really saying that Auditors in India do not work independently and compromise their work and also allow politics to get in the way. I personally have a lot of respect for the government auditors in India. Considering the magnitude of the work they have to cover on a yearly basis(probably has to do audits in many parts/volumes), I have to tell you I was very impressed having had the opportunity to meet and interract with the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

Meeting Mr.Vijayendra N. Kaul -Comptroller and Auditor General of India in 2003 was a great honour for me.

Profession and employer are not synonymous. Employer wants everything to be done fairly as per his/her definition of fairness. Sometimes, circumstances arise when we need to reside on many factors that may seem dishonesty to employer, but those factors are come out to be efficient to solve many problems. Again, honesty to profession makes an employee confident and to a large extent independent. It decreases "yes boss" types of employees in an organization and in the long run employer gets relief from overburden of "decision making". "Honest to employer" leads to centralization of power as also activities of an organization, whereas employees who are honest to their profession make work easy for the employer as they feel proud to take responsibility to their jobs.

As a conclusion I want to add, history shows us loads of examples where accomplishments of titans in industrial and political world came through their attachment and honesty to profession only.

Suddenly in toostep, a debate crops which will remove boredom and the effect of most of the useless articles/responses we would have come across for few days…

 This is one such debate that is well participated with useful contributions

Profession means…
Line of work, vocation, occupation, job, career work, business

Professional is …
Expert, specialized, qualified, proficient, skilled, trained, practiced and certified

A professional is proficient and so is…
Capable, talented, skillfull, expert, gifted, skilled, adept, dexterous

The above is not my explanation but list of synonyms given by ms word.   I have practiced as a consultant for over 15 years and have come across many professionals who of course do not meet with all the above.  Even if s/he meets half of the above, s/he can be a great asset to society and her/his clientele. 

We come across many who do not find themselves accountable if they fail to perform.  They just don’t care or make sufficient effort to provide the best to their clients.  This is one major reason why we are not being given the recognition we deserve to get.

If delivery and safeguarding client’s interests is the criteria, I believe many can afford to take little shelter in compromise of values.  But there is a limit.  Satyam’s auditors are inexcusable so are lawyers who would simply lose an important winnable case and don’t bother about it.  A doctor who kills a patient through his inefficiency and lack of knowledge but takes shelter under “massive heart attack”; “brain hemorrhage” etc also falls under this category. 

We should anticipate pitfalls; and lead clients to solutions.  But we should also know when to put our foot down and tell the client to listen – under broad guidelines that a particular profession has evolved.  Mr Makrand Bhave – I understand how you feel and many times have felt it myself but I advocate the middle path here.  This is not a one-way road to material success; we have a responsibility here.

I belive " Time is god and Work is workship". So dedication to work is more important than anything.

A professional is a member of a vocation founded upon specialized educational training.

The word professional traditionally means a person who has obtained a professional (doctoral) level degree. The term professional is used more generally to denote a white collar working person, or a person who performs commercially in a field typically reserved for hobbyists or amateurs. Less technically, it may also refer to a person having impressive competence in a particular activity.

According to me, there are four universal traits of a professional in any job position:

1. Professionals are responsive.
   
   
2. Professionals are knowledgeable.
   
   
3. Professionals care about what they do.
   
   
4. Professionals teach you something.

Professionalism is not commercialism. To be a professional, is to use education, experience and training to do work, anaylse, solve problems and make sound decisions. A professional must know and deliver sound advice to the client based on accumulated knowledge. A professional is held in high regard because they are more experienced than the client. And they don't 'Enron' their clients/stakeholders.

Compromise is largely the domain of politicians and bureaucrats; not of professionals.

I support Devi in her well drafted argument. I disagree with the other argument. The world is full of those who want to do something else but compromise and do something else; but why confuse such people with professionals.

I agree with Devi kaladeen ... I am honest to my profession and not my Employer !

There has been many instances in my professional life and career, where I have been face to face with so called compromises and somehow my inner conscience did not allow me to continue and listen to those unfair compromises and I had to discontinue and suffer the ignominy and terrible hardship and yet I have no regrets that I could not be 'smart' enough to compromise and succumb to unfair means and this is what I call 'PROFESSIONAL' to the core ... to walk the path of Professional Ethics, Truth and Principles and welfare/well being of larger societal GOOD !

I find that this is what is lacking in the name of Development and we have made a mess of the same ... and I speak from not just experience but my inner conscience !

First of all you are honest to your self, Now everybody knows what conscience and morals are use them in your professional life...... Remember if you donot like somebody's negative action, how can do the same to somebody else......  Same is valid for you Profession, if you cannot cheat yourself how can you cheat your profession?.... 

Too nice explanation Devi.I also support you in this regard.If there is loyalty in the profession result will automatically come.Also sincerity to profession not only provide money (as salary) but also self satisfaction too.

word professinal came from proffesion , one who performs his duty 100% and  accepts the result he is professional.but now days everything counted in term of more money,one earns more money all call him proffesional but he is selfish ,cause of this kind of practice by few, socity, nature disturbed, and every animal suffers human is become educated degree holder wildanimal, only living in said civilized socity, where most are civilised are not god knows

very true and valid point .. davi mam...

Dear Devi

I liked the way you put it. 

Let me quote from the "Price of everything by Russell Roberts,  "a person can achieve a lot( I mean more functionality) by not thinking about the applause he expects to receive, this is true for all people who have achieve a lot from Mosses onwards".

So a Professional is one who creates lot of functionality and not worry about the fame it need to create.

The best possible explanation that I can share is here:

Software Engineering Code of Ethics

The explanation here is very apt and the intent applies to all professionals.