PROFESSIONALISM VS PERSONALISM AT WORK

In my several years’ practices as a Human Resources Professional, I have witnessed both professionalism and unprofessionalism which I would prefer calling “personalism” from employees and employers. Regrettably, personalism is on the rise especially in public service Institutions. So what is professionalism? What is personalism? And Which one do you choose?

Professionalism can be understood as the conduct of an individual that demonstrates honour, integrity, and civil behavior toward adversaries in their line of work or volunteering.  Professionalism applies to every single human endeavor. Human Resources Professional, Lawyers, Accountants, Procurement Professions, Engineers, Maids, Teachers Doctors, Nurses, Builders, Subcontractors, Farmers, Bankers, Businessmen, Volunteers, and even retirees either practice professionalism in their daily lives or care nothing for it.

The opposite of professionalism can be called is unprofessionalism which I would prefer calling “personalism” in this context. 

According to the Free Dictionary by Farlex: unprofessionalism is defined as “not conforming to the standards of a profession or unprofessional behavior standards of a profession or unprofessional behavior.”

According to Free Dictionary by Farlex: Personalism is the quality of being characterized by purely personal modes of expression or behavior, idiosyncrasy. Personalism is therefore, is the mind set and conduct of a person who exhibits selfishness, the desire to “win” at any cost, and treating others with contempt and/or disrespect. Unfortunately, personalism seems to be the natural human reaction when we are placed under enormous stress or when things are not “going our way.”

Consider a situation where a Medical Personnel, start disclosing medical conditions of a person he treated to unauthorized persons just because the live in the same community and had personal differences during a drinking escapade or similar circumstances. Is that professionalism or personalism?

Consider a male HR Professional start soliciting sexual favours from a female recruitee for her to be expressly put on payroll. Or a Supervisor soliciting sexual favours from a female subordinate in order to recommend her for promotion.

Consider a HR Manager, asking for bribes in order to facilitate employment for an applicant. These examples sound sensitive but they are in reality. Would you consider this as Professionalism?

I have heard situations in some academic Institutions whereby a learned Professor, subjectively awards good grades to some selected students based on personal relationships outside campus or based on some conditionalities but not the quality of the papers. Similarly, some employees are not promoted because they consider their faces not their competencies, skills and deliverables at work. Those who don’t deserve certain promotions get promoted because they have personal interest and some bribe in different forms.

Once upon a time, a man from a community I was working in some time back, approached me in my office, I asked him, how I would be of a help, he told me that he came to thank me for ensuring that her wife was now substantively confirmed to her position after working for more than 6 years because someone at work used to ask her for sexual favours before processing her confirmations. This made me think, maybe he is thinking that the wife had now yielded to the request, however, he was quick to point out that her wife was narrating how I was of help and how did my job without asking for anything, so he was motivated to come and say, “thank you.”

Think of a time at work, school or business, when you got   angry, bitter because someone objected to your views and you labeled him as an enemy. By the way, the author once did that, left that meeting room in anger but later after calming down realized that, it was not professional to behavior like that in a meeting. At that time, I took things personally because my recommendations were not been considered.

What is expected in Professionalism:

We are all human beings and sometimes our emotions can overtake us and become personal at work, however we should at all cost strive for professionalism which includes but not limited to these:

  v  Be respectful:

Respect yourself and others at all times.

  v  Be trustworthy:

Trustworthiness is about fulfilling an assigned task- not letting down expectations, it is been dependable, and reliable when called upon to deliver a service.

v  Be accountable:

To be accountable is to stand tall and be counted for what actions you have undertaken, this is the blameworthiness and responsibility for your actions and its consequences- good or bad.

v  Be courteous and respectful:

Courteousness is being friendly, polite and well-mannered with a gracious consideration towards others.

v  Be honest, open and transparent:

Honesty is a facet of moral character that connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as truthfulness, straightforwardness of conduct, loyalty, fairness, sincerity, openness in communication and generally operating in a way for others to see what actions are being performed. Honest is the best policy.

v  Be competent and improve continually:

Competence is the ability of an individual to do a job properly, it is a combination of knowledge, skills and behavior used to improve performance

v  Always be ethical:

Ethical behavior is acting within certain moral codes in accordance with the generally accepted code of conduct or rules.

v  Always be honorable and act with integrity:

Honorable action is behaving in a way that portrays “nobility of soul, magnanimity,” which is derived from virtuous conduct and personal integrity.

v  Be respectful of confidentiality;

Confidentiality is respecting the set of rules or promise that restricts you from further and unauthorized dissemination of information.

The benefits of professionalism far out-weighs personalism. In personalism, you may end up losing your integrity, respect as an Individual and organization, you may get sued for sexual harassment and get fired, you may end up hiring incompetent people and put the company at risk because of non-performers. The benefits of practicing personalism are just but momentarily as they are not sustainable.

Which one would Choose? Professionalism or Personalism?

God bless!