sign in sign up
<<
Home , Business ethics

Journal of

Management as a Profession: Applying a classification and attending to ethical requirements. --Manuscript Draft--

Manuscript Number: BUSI-D-18-02156 Article Type: Original Paper Full Title: as a Profession: Applying a classification and attending to ethical requirements. Section/Category: Leadership and Ethics: Philosophical Perspectives and Qualitative Analysis - Scott Taylor Keywords: Keywords: Profession, Management, Codes of Ethics Corresponding Author: Chris Booth, PhD, MBA RMIT University Melbourne, Victoria AUSTRALIA Corresponding Author E-Mail: [email protected] Order of Authors: Chris Booth, PhD, MBA Michael John Segon, PhD, MBA Jeremy Pearce, PhD Funding Information: Abstract: There have been efforts in recent literature and media commentary to propose that management become a profession. Some papers and texts have delved into the literature relevant to professions and processes of professionalization. To date there has been no thorough paper to encapsulate the key writings on professions and professionalization. The present paper presents a thorough literature analysis and in doing so develops a classification of a profession from the key attributes presented in the relevant literature. In considering the literature from various perspectives of , social science, ethics and discipline specific occupational arenas the paper establishes a set of propositions to classify a profession. From the resulting classification that identifies key attributes of a profession the authors proceed to evaluate a claim for management as a profession. After considering several challenges to the claim of management as a profession the authors present two potential initiatives that may assist in developing further progress to the professionalization of management. The conclusion considers the contribution of this paper and arenas of continuing research on professionalization of management. Suggested Reviewers: Additional Information: Question Response

1. Is the manuscript submitted elsewhere? No

2. Has the work reported in this No manuscript been reported in a manuscript previously rejected by the Journal of Business Ethics?

Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Title Page (containing all authors contact details)

Title Page

Management as a Profession: Applying a classification and attending to ethical requirements

Running Head Short Title: Management as a Profession – Ethical requirements

Authors:

Dr. Chris Booth, Graduate School of Business and , RMIT University Email: [email protected]

Associate Professor Michael Segon, School of Business and Law, Central Queensland University Email: [email protected]

Dr. Jeremy Pearce, De Montfort University School of Business and Law Leicester, United Kingdom Email: [email protected]

Corresponding author: Dr. Chris Booth, Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University Email: [email protected] Phone contact of corresponding author: +61 412112991

Conflict of Interest: Author Dr Chris Booth declares that he has no associated with this research. Author Associate Professor Michael Segon declares that he has no conflict of interest associated with this research. Author Dr Jeremy Pearce declares that he has no conflict of interest associated with this research.

Blinded Manuscript (excluding authors' names and affiliations) Click here to view linked References

1 Introduction. 2 3 Over the past decade, a growing number of papers have appeared in mainstream business 4 5 6 journals exhorting that it is time that management became a profession (Cabera 2009; 7 8 Khurana 2010; Khurana, Nohria and Penrice 2005a; Khurana and Podolny 2007; Spender 9 10 2007; Thomas 2006). At the same time, other authors identified that management failed to 11 12 13 meet and maintain many of the key elements prevalent in many of the mainstream professions 14 15 – namely medicine and law regarding qualification, accreditation, and representative bodies 16 17 18 (Ardaugh 2010; Barker, 2010a, 2010b; Heineman 2010; Sutton 2007). The background of this 19 20 debate has been prompted largely by the fallout of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) The 21 22 23 GFC was propelled by managerial decisions in the , banking and business arena which 24 25 supported lax and systemic practices of moral hazard in developing and 26 27 28 propagating misleading financial products and advice. Further the regularity of business 29 30 scandals post GFC involving corporate managers clearly puts into question the capacity of the 31 32 business managerial classes to develop and sustain the ethical and professional business 33 34 35 practices expected by society at large (Podolny 2009). Recent scandals such as Libor in 2012 36 37 involving interest rate rigging between Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Deutsche 38 39 40 Bank and Societe Generale, and Eurobor in 2014 involving HSBC, along with JP Morgan and 41 42 Credit Agricole, (Roberts and Griffin 2016) add further disappointment in behaviours of 43 44 45 business managers. The most recent corporate scandal of note involved Wells Fargo Bank’s 46 47 development of 2 million unauthorized client product accounts to develop a stream of 48 49 fees (Ochs 2016). In each, and every case so called ‘professional’ executives developed the 50 51 52 unethical concept and decided on the actions towards securing financial returns based on 53 54 fraud and malfeasance. This was done at individual executive levels, executive group levels 55 56 57 and in the Wells Fargo Bank instance across a total organizational business unit culture. 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Time and again within both for profit and not for profit , scandals of poor work

1 practices, deficits of customer care, or paucity of product safety, have shown managers at all 2 3 levels from C-suite to operations as lacking real insight into the notion of professionalism or 4 5 6 the concept of representing a profession. Karlson, Aguirre and Rivera (2017) argue that it is 7 8 difficult to research and assess if there is more corporate today than in the past. 9 10 However, the researchers point out that more senior managers today are losing their jobs due 11 12 13 to unethical practices. They state that at the CEO level: ‘Globally, dismissals for ethical lapses 14 15 rose from 3.9 per cent of all successions in 2007–11 to 5.3 per cent in 2012–16, a 36 percent 16 17 18 increase (Karlson, Aguirre and Rivera 2017, p. 3). Against this harsh reality of poor practices 19 20 there has persisted a tacit recognition of a need for greater demonstrable professionalism from 21 22 23 managers. This call is evidenced in the business literature focusing on ethics, business 24 25 literature in general, in literature surrounding management education, and on the topic of 26 27 28 management as a profession (Ardaugh 2010; Cabrera 2009; Khurana 2010; Martin 2010; 29 30 Podolny 2009). 31 32 33 34 35 In the realm of business ethics literature, the key focus of professional behaviour for business 36 37 practitioners has largely focused on codes of ethics (Frankel 1989; Hoivik 2002; Peterson et 38 39 40 al. 2001; Valentine and Fleischman 2008). The research on codes of ethics relates more to 41 42 organizational codes of ethics or a code of practice rather than a code for a profession. In 43 44 45 attending to the effectiveness of codes of practice in general for business Kaptein and 46 47 Schwartz (2008) identified mixed results for codes of ethics. These ranged from largely 48 49 counterproductive (Grundstein-Amado 2001) through to of little impact (Lere and Gaumnitz 50 51 52 2003) to beneficial (Wood and Rimmer 2003) and successful (Dobson 2005). In defining the 53 54 nature of codes of ethics and a proposition as to the attributes of a code of ethics Kaptein and 55 56 57 Schwartz (2008) identified the conditions under which a code had the most fruitful 58 59 opportunities to be effective pointing out; ‘A code is not an instrument that stands in isolation 60 61 62 63 64 2 65 of others and it could even be said that in and of itself it is meaningless: the process of

1 developing and implementing the code is pivotal.’ (p. 122). Similarly, Doig and Wilson 2 3 (1998) in discussing codes of practice for private sector conclude from their 4 5 6 research of major cases of corporate performance in applying codes; ‘…the use of codes alone 7 8 in defining conduct, culture and performance in the private sector may be less effective than 9 10 their proponents think, and of less impact on managers and employees, customers and 11 12 13 stakeholders than they would wish.’ (p. 148). 14 15 16 17 18 To this point however the continuing actions of managers in business organizations across 19 20 industries, cultures and borders fails to give any encouragement that managers can exhibit 21 22 23 attributes of a profession or make moves toward developing many of the key ethically based 24 25 elements of a profession. This includes the concept of a code of ethics for managers and a 26 27 28 code of practice outlining expected adherence to behaviours associated with a practice of the 29 30 expertise upon which a profession is normally founded. What is lacking so far in the 31 32 literature, particularly within the business ethics literature has been a contribution establishing 33 34 35 a definitive classification of a profession against which not only management but also many 36 37 other business occupations can be assessed. Further there has been little discussion in the 38 39 40 prevailing debate on professions of the term professional, particularly, the co-opting of the 41 42 term professional by any occupation and the implications stemming from this practice 43 44 45 (Wilensky 1964). The professionalization of management has been on going since the 46 47 commencement of business education at Harvard at the turn of the Twentieth century, but as 48 49 argued by key writers in the field this process has stalled (Khurana 2007; Khurana et al. 50 51 52 2005a; Rousseau 2010). The continuing argument by some is that it is time for management 53 54 to become a profession, whereas others highlight the hurdles that would prevent this 55 56 57 occurring. 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 3 65 The structure of this paper then is to: Firstly, outline the key research questions and to

1 demonstrate their import to practice of management and business ethics. Secondly, to 2 3 consider the key literature and arguments presented across business, ethics, and 4 5 6 professional practices to develop a clear view of the debates and findings on the nature of a 7 8 profession. Thirdly, in considering this detailed review of the prevailing classic and 9 10 contemporary literature to develop and support a classification for a profession. Fourthly, 11 12 13 having established a classification to then proceed to perform an assessment of management 14 15 against the classification of a profession. Fifthly, discuss further aspects of management 16 17 18 professionalization. Finally, develop a conclusion regarding the current contribution to 19 20 research and where further research or action could be developed. 21 22 23 24 25 Research Focus 26 27 28 The research focus of this paper deals with of profession across disciplines as well as 29 30 specific application of the concept of profession to management. In considering both the 31 32 nature of a profession and the notion of management as a profession emphasis has been 33 34 35 placed upon ethics underpinning several of the attributes of a profession. Ethics and moral 36 37 practice of professionals has been a key theme in writings on defining professions and 38 39 40 determining professionalism. As outlined in the introduction to this paper the ethics of 41 42 management practice has been a critical issue for writers advocating both management as a 43 44 45 profession and those writers advocating greater responsibility by business executives in their 46 47 roles. The debate on management as a profession in the broad business literature argues for 48 49 business managers to act with greater and professional responsibility to the societies 50 51 52 they serve (Cohen, Krishnamoorthy and Wright 2010; Hamel 2012; Kemper and Martin 53 54 2010; Marwa and Zair, 2008; Podolny 2009; Sahlman 2009; Thomas 2006; Zadek 2004). 55 56 57 The literature moves on from calls for a profession to consider the challenges that could 58 59 prevent this (Khurana et al. 2005b; Khurans and Nohria 2008; Khurana and Podolny 2007; 60 61 62 63 64 4 65 Martin 2010; Spender 2007; Barker 2010b). Finally, the literature in the field attends to the

1 issue of the failure of business schools and MBA curricula as providers of a knowledge base 2 3 serving responsible managerial practice (Barker 2010a, 2010b; Bennis and O’Toole 2005; 4 5 6 Datar, Garvin and Cullen 2011; Ghoshal 2005; Krause 1996; Mintzberg 2004; Navarro 2008; 7 8 Podolny 2009; Richards-Wilson 2002). 9 10 11 12 13 The need for this research lies largely in presenting a more integrated analysis of both past 14 15 and present literature on the topic of management as a profession. Previous literature has 16 17 18 selectively considered attributes, characteristics, requirements outlined as essential to a 19 20 profession. Much of the focus has been on knowledge and skills in developing an expertise. 21 22 23 Some papers have considered the issues of credentialism as well as codes of practice and 24 25 codes of ethics. Little attention has been paid in many instances to the issues of licensing to 26 27 28 practice, and to considerations of professionals’ adherence to restrict market power abuse and 29 30 to apply expertise for the common (an expectation of most true professions). In the 31 32 present paper, the authors present a more holistic analysis and discussion of the nature of a 33 34 35 profession as well as the role of ethics in a profession. This analysis is then applied to 36 37 determine an effective assessment classification of a profession and to proceed to assess 38 39 40 management as a profession. 41 42 43 44 45 Research Methodology 46 47 The research paradigm relevant to this research is qualitative (Creswell 2013; Denzin and 48 49 Lincoln 2011). The methodology employed is a literature based which applies an inductive 50 51 52 strategy (Lin 2009; Luce-Kapler 2012). Inductive reasoning moves from the specific to the 53 54 general (Blaikie 2007). In the current instance the selected research methodology would 55 56 57 apply an inductive approach to consider the differing views across differing disciplines 58 59 interested in the concept of a profession. It would move from specific arguments and insights 60 61 62 63 64 5 65 inclusive of the usual industry based comparisons for medicine and law to determine

1 potential element of a general nature to inform a classification of profession. The research 2 3 method involved data collection of literature obtained from applied searches of key terms 4 5 6 related to ‘profession’ across multiple data bases and key discipline journals in fields of 7 8 social science, ethics, philosophy, business ethics, management inclusive of management 9 10 history, law, medicine and . 11 12 13 14 15 Siddaway (2015, p. 1) advises that where there are conflicting findings or views, a systematic 16 17 18 review of the literature aims to address these problems by ‘identifying, critically evaluating 19 20 and integrating the findings of all relevant, high-quality individual studies addressing one or 21 22 23 more research questions.’ In discussing the nature of a narrative literature review Siddaway 24 25 (2015) indicates that that a good systematic review achieves aims to identify to what extent 26 27 28 existing research has developed towards clarifying a problem and may also discover 29 30 relations, contradictions, incongruities and gaps in the literature (Baumeister and Leary 1997; 31 32 Bem 1995). It can also critique, evaluate, extend, or develop theory or help to develop 33 34 35 general statements or a central conceptualization. Finally, it may provide implications for 36 37 practice and policy as well as suggested directions for further research (Cooper 2003; 38 39 40 Sternberg 1991). 41 42 43 44 45 A narrative based literature methodology is employed in this research project. Under this 46 47 methodology, the research aims to: Advance general statements or an overarching 48 49 conceptualization in relation to a profession. Identify relations, contradictions, 50 51 52 inconsistencies and gaps in the literature, and investigate reasons for these. Finally, provide 53 54 implications for practice and policy in relation to management pursuing professional status 55 56 57 and then suggested directions for further research. 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 6 65 Profession and Professional – elusive terms

1 Wilensky (1964) contends that the term professional is freely applied to describe a growing 2 3 number of occupations that have increasing specialization, transference of skill, objective 4 5 6 standards of work and may involve a license to practice. The difficulty in discriminating 7 8 between occupations and professions has been recognized by Koehn (1994) and also Taylor 9 10 and Runté (1995). These writers assert that the term professional has been applied broadly to 11 12 13 anyone who exhibits a high level of style, skill or even guile. This underscores that the wide 14 15 application of the term has had the effect of devaluing the original concept of a profession 16 17 18 and the term professional. Savan (1989) defines professions in broad terms as “groups which 19 20 apply special knowledge in the service of a client” (p. 179). Cogan (1953, p. 111) argues that 21 22 23 some of the problems in defining a profession can be resolved if practitioners apply the 24 25 following: 26 27 28  Determine a general framework within a lexicological and historical context, 29 30  Provide incentives through persuasive definitions, 31 32 33  Develop the behavioural and operational definitions that provide guidance within the 34 35 exclusive conditions of an individual profession. 36 37 38 39 40 Professions versus Occupations – a starting point 41 42 One of the key issues in defining the term profession is to determine how it differs from an 43 44 45 occupation. This is a starting point to then consider what characteristics, elements, qualities 46 47 or requirements represent a general classification to determine a profession and might act to 48 49 50 assess if an occupation has structurally and operationally altered to satisfy consideration of 51 52 the term profession. 53 54 55 56 57 May (1989), Koehn (1994) and De George (1999) all observed the perplexity that exists 58 59 regarding the terms of profession and a professional, and note how these are distinct from a 60 61 62 63 64 7 65 , skilled occupation, craft or career. That said, De George (1999) states there is no

1 single unambiguous term that is used to refer to a member of a profession although the term 2 3 professional is most commonly used. He defines professionals as those who perform full-time 4 5 6 work, for pay demonstrating a substantial expertise, but also notes that others may do the 7 8 same thing in pursuit of a hobby, without pay and as amateurs and not belong to a profession. 9 10 He clearly states that many activities can be classified as professional activities but not all 11 12 13 these constitute professions. Dellaportas et al. (2005) embrace a more general approach to 14 15 defining a profession stating that it is a community of people circumscribed by the endeavors 16 17 18 they undertake, apprised by a common theoretical knowledge attained via formal education. 19 20 The contentions of both De George (1999) and Dellaportas et al. (2005) parallel the authors 21 22 23 argument that the term professional has become synonymous with occupation. This does not 24 25 mean that an occupation is a profession. 26 27 28 29 30 Newton (2014) provides a straightforward description that a profession is an occupational 31 32 group distinguished from others by possession of a constellation of properties essentially 33 34 35 central to its operations. Pound (1944) defined a profession as a group that pursues a learned 36 37 art as a shared calling in the spirit of public service, and should be considered no less a public 38 39 40 service because it may also be a method of livelihood. Pound contends that a profession is 41 42 differentiated by its reliance on learning. According to Pound; ‘Learning, the pursuit of a 43 44 45 learned art, is one of the things which distinguishes a profession from a calling or 46 47 vocation or occupation.’ (1944, p. 205). 48 49 50 51 52 May (2001) contends that the professional’s covenant opens out in three paths that help 53 54 55 distinguish professionals from careerists: the professional professes something (a body of 56 57 knowledge and experience); on behalf of someone (or some institution); and does so in the 58 59 60 scrutiny of colleagues. Bullock and Trombley (1999) describe the process of 61 62 63 64 8 65 professionalization that provides a link between the concepts of occupations and professions.

1 They state that when a trade or occupation transforms itself by embracing a formal 2 3 qualification based upon education, apprenticeship and examination, coupled with the 4 5 6 emergence of an then it can set standards and control entry. It therefore 7 8 establishes a degree of monopoly power, provide a regulatory framework for members and 9 10 discipline those who fail to uphold the standards. According to Bullock and Trombley (1999) 11 12 13 when this occurs then the occupation has moved towards being a true profession. 14 15 16 17 18 These definitions seem to support De George’s assertion that there is no universal agreement 19 20 as to what constitutes a profession, other than it differs from an occupation, trade or career 21 22 23 (De George, 1999). It appears that the distinction is to be found in the description of what 24 25 characterizes or typifies professions versus occupations, crafts, or careers. Further 26 27 28 Middlehurst and Kennie, (1997) present a compelling point that the features constituting a 29 30 profession can be fluid and contested with periods of social change brining contentions into 31 32 sharp relief. The authors point out the features are subject to ‘fluctuations and differences 33 34 35 across time culture and discipline’ Middlehurst and Kennie, (1997, p. 51). 36 37 38 39 40 Professions contrasted with Occupations 41 42 Wilensky (1964) maintains that occupations can be placed on a continuum of 43 44 45 professionalization, which resembles the concept of professionalization promoted by Bullock 46 47 and Trombley (1999). At one boundary are those often referred as the true professions, such 48 49 as medicine and law, being highly specialized and regulated, whilst at the other are 50 51 52 occupations that are uncomplicated and easily mastered. These last occupation types are what 53 54 May (1989), Koehn (1994) and De George (1999) might refer to as trades, careers or crafts. 55 56 57 Wilensky (1964) argues that some occupations progress along the continuum towards 58 59 professionalization whereas others remain fixed or can regress. What is unclear is whether an 60 61 62 63 64 9 65 occupation becomes a profession at a stage along the continuum, or whether it needs to

1 satisfy several critical criteria to assume this classification (Becker, 1962). Denzin and 2 3 Mettlin (1968) in considering the issue of pharmacy as a profession identify that pharmacists 4 5 6 satisfy some elements of a true profession. They certainly acquire and maintain specific 7 8 knowledge and qualifications from a tertiary institute and service client interests. The authors 9 10 therefore recognize that this occupation is further along a professionalization continuum as 11 12 13 advocated by Wilensky (1964) and Bullock and Trombley (1999). Denzin and Mettlin 14 15 (1968) argue that a lack of an accrediting and licensing institutions together with refutation of 16 17 18 the profit motive (as pharmacists are involved in sales of beyond their primary expert 19 20 knowledge base), means that pharmacy fails some key elements of a profession. They 21 22 23 contend that occupations that satisfy some but not all key elements of a true profession may 24 25 be considered a quasi-profession. 26 27 28 29 30 Watkins (1999) advises that the professions can be distinguished from other groups in society 31 32 due to the specific characteristics of their members. These characteristics include the 33 34 35 possession of specialized skills, the attainment of expert knowledge usually based on mastery 36 37 obtained through intellectual and practical training and the existence of a regulatory body that 38 39 40 is empowered to maintain the profession including ensuring that members abide by 41 42 established standards. Chadwick and Thompson (2000) note that traditionally a profession 43 44 45 has been distinguished by a specific body of knowledge, the mastery of which, at least in 46 47 part, validated conditions for admittance to the profession and by an ideal of service to the 48 49 community derived from the potential of that knowledge to confer status, power and income. 50 51 52 Curnow and McGonigle (2006, p. 287) express this approach as the ‘attribute model of 53 54 professions’ that attempts to identify the attributes that differentiate a profession from an 55 56 57 occupation. 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 10 65 Reader (1966) argues that an occupation’s move to professional standing can be linked to the

1 existence and influence of a relevant professional organization. Similarly, Sager (1995) notes 2 3 that professions are characterised by a substantial skill base and theoretical knowledge that is 4 5 6 acquired after lengthy education that includes testing for competency. As a result, a great deal 7 8 of is afforded to these professions. 9 10 11 12 13 Koehn (1994), De George (1999) and Boatright (2012) summarize the basic characteristic of 14 15 a member of a profession as a trustworthy agent of clients either because they are experts or 16 17 18 they are service providers who will fulfil a client’s instructions for a fee. May (1989) states 19 20 that Abraham Flexner’s presentation at the 1915 National Conference of Charities and 21 22 23 Correction in Baltimore, attempted to purposefully define the essence of a profession. Since 24 25 its publication this work has become a key influence for identifying and legitimizing other 26 27 28 groups of workers as professionals. According to Flexner (1915) to qualify as a profession 29 30 several criteria needed to be substantially satisfied: 31 32  Professions involve essentially intellectual operations with large individual 33 34 35 responsibility 36 37  Professions derive their raw material from science and learning 38 39 40  This material they work up to a practical and definite end 41 42  Professions possess an educationally communicable technique 43 44 45  Professions tend to self-organization 46 47  Professions through their members are becoming increasingly altruistic in motivation. 48 49 50 51 52 Greenwood (1957) considering the literature on professions to that time observed that all 53 54 55 professions seem to possess: (1) systematic theory, (2) authority, (3) community sanction, (4) 56 57 ethical codes, and (5) a culture. Moore argues that defining a profession is methodologically 58 59 60 achievable if ‘adequate operational specifications are available for reliable identification of 61 62 63 64 11 65 the selected characteristics’ (1970, p. 4). Moore argues that the notion of determining a

1 profession by way of assessing professionalism of an occupation should be a scale rather than 2 3 a cluster of attributes. He argues that definitions of attributes for professions can only be 4 5 6 approximate and not absolute, that the dichotomy of true professions from non-professions 7 8 would be too rigid excluding interesting variations in profession. Refuting an absolutist 9 10 position, Moore argues that an occupation achieves professionalization over time through a 11 12 13 process through both internal and external change (Moore, 1970). 14 15 16 17 18 In terms of attributes Moore (1970) indicates that the scale for professionalism needs to 19 20 demonstrate that the professional practices the specific occupation full time as the key source 21 22 23 of income. He further indicates that the professional is responding to a calling with normative 24 25 and behavioural expectations and are identified with their peers through belonging to a 26 27 28 formal organization designed to protect and enhance the interests of the profession. Further 29 30 Moore (1970) identifies that a profession must possess useful knowledge and skills obtained 31 32 through specialized education which is extensive and academically demanding. The 33 34 35 professional is expected to exhibit a service orientation to provide for the needs of clients. 36 37 Finally, Moore (1970) argues that in obtaining a unique level of valuable knowledge for 38 39 40 client needs, the professional achieves a level of autonomy which is tempered by 41 42 responsibility. 43 44 45 46 47 It should be noted that many individuals in occupations or for that matter industry based 48 49 occupations claim that their members act professionally. The notion of acting professionally 50 51 52 as in ‘skillfully’ or ‘expertly’ is not disputed as the term has been adopted into common 53 54 usage to indicate quality workmanship or service (Neal and Morgan 2000). 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 12 65 In being distinctly different from an occupation, professions are afforded greater autonomy to

1 self-determine the qualities, attributes, knowledge, practice, behaviours, attitudes, duties and 2 3 obligations for the profession which result in significant status and financial remuneration. 4 5 6 The author’s note that whilst not all the literature necessarily agrees with this relationship, the 7 8 critical factor of expert knowledge being difficult to acquire together with a license to operate 9 10 does restrict the supply of services, which results in capacity to claim higher remuneration. 11 12 13 This exclusivity also results in members of the profession being in a minority when compared 14 15 to occupations, which then can result in greater status. 16 17 18 19 20 Establishing a classification of a profession 21 22 23 The previous section identified the key arguments within business, ethics, sociology and 24 25 professional practices literature to establish a clear view of present debates and findings 26 27 28 on the nature of a profession. Attention now moves to establish of a classification of a 29 30 profession drawn and supported from the prevailing classic and contemporary literature. 31 32 33 34 35 The first proposition to consider in developing a classification of a profession is to 36 37 address the issue of nature of the attributes constituting a profession. As an a priori 38 39 40 position to identifying these attributes it first needs to be established whether they are 41 42 independent of each other or an integrated set. Within the review of literature above 43 44 45 several potential attributes have been identified by scholars over the years. In the key 46 47 literature on professions there appears a strong indication of integration rather than 48 49 independence of attributes (Chadwick and Thompson 2000; May 1989; Watkins 1999). 50 51 52 There also appears in several writings a clear indication for a set of attributes to be 53 54 satisfied to achieve the status of a profession. Most notable are Flexner (1915) and May 55 56 57 (1989) supporting an integrated model, and Khurana and Nohria (2008) indicating a set 58 59 of integrated criteria of a profession. Given these considerations the following is the 60 61 62 63 64 13 65 first proposition of six reflecting the integrated attributes of a classification of a

1 profession: 2 3 4 5 6 Proposition 1: A profession is distinctly different to an occupation requiring 7 8 specific attributes of qualifications, accreditation, standards of expected 9 10 behaviours and practice to be satisfied in order, to secure the right to be 11 12 13 recognized as a profession. These attributes are mutually reinforcing in nature 14 15 creating a recognizable and qualifiable standard for a profession. 16 17 18 19 20 The intellectual component: Knowledge and Power 21 22 23 A key aspect of professionalism is the power derived from expert knowledge and skill and 24 25 the absence of such knowledge and skill on the part of the client. Middlehurst and Kennie 26 27 28 (1997) contend that professionalism is a constructed phenomenon that is sustained because 29 30 professionals can attend to the needs of clients confronting complex problems. They add, that 31 32 a client in attempting to alleviate their problem, is unable to bridge sufficient specialist 33 34 35 knowledge by themselves (Gold, Rodgers and Smith 2002). They assert the client relies on 36 37 the professional’s specialized knowledge and skills as a remedy to their needs that is reliable. 38 39 40 Abbott (1988) advises it is the abstract nature of the knowledge that differentiates the 41 42 professional from other individuals and groups because of their capacity to direct this 43 44 45 abstraction towards solving client problems. Eraut (1994, 2000) agrees, arguing that the 46 47 client is dependent on the professional because they are unable to solve their problem by 48 49 procedural knowledge alone or by consulting a manual. Essentially the relationship between 50 51 52 professional and client is one of information asymmetry a point noted by Barker (2010a) and 53 54 by Martin (2010). That is, for an individual to be a professional, it is necessary to have 55 56 57 knowledge that only select, highly trained individuals know and can exercise. 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 14 65 Freidson (1970) classes professional knowledge as ‘pure’ knowledge. As such ‘pure’

1 knowledge is largely theory typically restricted to codified science and applied knowledge 2 3 that directs the professional’s practice of the knowledge to the problems faced by society or 4 5 6 the client. Professions require two expert knowledge bases. The first knowledge base relates 7 8 to specific theory and the second proficiency in application of that theory into practical 9 10 results. Mangham and Pye (1991) as well as Cheetham and Chivers (2000) expand further on 11 12 13 the subject of knowledge required for professions. These writers discuss knowledge in 14 15 relation to both ‘scientific knowledge’ which includes logic, analysis and the capacity for 16 17 18 rational deduction, and ‘behavioural knowledge’ which involves tacit and intuitive 19 20 understanding necessary for engagement with clients. Oakeshott (1962) presents a similar 21 22 23 view in making the connection that professions rely on the Aristotelian concept of ‘technical 24 25 knowledge’ and ‘practical knowledge’. This aligns with May (1989) who argues that 26 27 28 professional knowledge consists of conceptual knowledge allied with expertise and behaviour 29 30 that apply within a workplace. Significant knowledge of a complex nature, both 31 32 conceptual and behavioural, is formally acquired over time. The literature supports that it is 33 34 35 the possession of knowledge and mastery of this knowledge, which cannot be easily secured 36 37 that is a key, but not the only determination of between a member of a profession and 38 39 40 potential clients. The considerations above result in the following proposition as a key 41 42 attribute of a classification of a profession: 43 44 45 46 47 Proposition 2: A profession requires a specific and substantive intellectual 48 49 component of expert knowledge to underpin expertise in practice with that 50 51 52 knowledge applied to the benefit of the client. 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 15 65 Knowledge acquired formally

1 Cogan (1953, p. 33) defines a profession as ‘a vocation whose practice is founded upon an 2 3 understanding of the theoretical structure of some department of learning or science, and 4 5 6 upon the abilities accompanying such understanding’. Both Wall (1988) and Winch (2004) 7 8 stress that the formal knowledge for a profession is extensive compered to occupations or 9 10 crafts. It requires both substantial time and commitment to attain mastery. 11 12 13 14 15 May (1989) argues that the often complex and esoteric body of knowledge on which the 16 17 18 professional relies expands beyond fundamental training to education and development. He 19 20 suggests this is the reason Flexner (1915) holds that the profession’s education should be 21 22 23 based in a university setting in order to differentiate it from apprenticeship systems and the 24 25 crafts. Lusch and O’Brien (1997) agree that a profession is an occupation that requires 26 27 28 extensive formal education that is supported by a formal qualification. May (1989) goes 29 30 further arguing that a purpose of the professional is to contribute to the body of knowledge, 31 32 through further research to improve professional knowledge and skills for the benefit of the 33 34 35 profession and its clients. Although all professionals need not be researchers, the profession 36 37 must establish the basis for progress in the field. 38 39 40 41 42 As Gorman and Sandefur (2011) note, all professions draw upon a body of knowledge 43 44 45 comprised of formal theoretical standards. Abbott (1988) and Goode (1969) argue along the 46 47 same lines referring to professions requiring expert knowledge. According to Abbott (1988, 48 49 p. 8) professions are exclusive occupational groups applying, somewhat, ‘abstract 50 51 52 knowledge’ to specific field of client cases and the ‘jurisdiction’ that is the authority and 53 54 dominion over the field is the link between a profession and its work 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 16 65 The authors maintain that qualifications acquired formally, usually through a university or

1 similar qualified and quality institution, signal a grounded level of competence in knowledge, 2 3 skills and attitudes supporting practice of the profession towards a market expectation of 4 5 6 performance. Qualifications need to be established at universally accepted standards to 7 8 commit to serve and meet the interests of a client. These qualifications should be based on 9 10 expert knowledge and capability that includes a limit to practice, that is, not exceeding or 11 12 13 providing advice outside the individual’s knowledge and capability. For many professions, 14 15 they are ascribed as national or international standards of practice. Knowledge acquired 16 17 18 formally is identified as a key attribute of a classification of a profession: 19 20 21 22 23 Proposition 3: The knowledge underpinning the profession and its practice 24 25 must be acquired through formal qualifications to maintain universally accepted 26 27 28 standards of practitioner competence in base knowledge, skill sets and 29 30 professional behaviours and attitudes to serve clients and related stakeholders. 31 32 33 34 35 Behavioural codes, license to operate and or accreditation 36 37 Khurana, Nohria and Penrice (2005a) state that codes are a requirement for any occupation 38 39 40 that aspires to be a profession. They distinguish between voluntary codes that exist in many 41 42 occupational groups such as librarians, plumbers and those of the true professions where the 43 44 45 approach is significantly more sophisticated and regulated. They argue that true professions 46 47 teach the meaning and importance of the code as part of the formal education of members. 48 49 Furthermore, they examine members’ comprehension and acceptance of such codes as a 50 51 52 formal process upon which accreditation or licensing is dependent. Dellaportas et al. (2005) 53 54 believe the process of licensing or accreditation has two objectives. Firstly, it ensures all 55 56 57 members have the requisite knowledge and skill required to call themselves a member of the 58 59 profession and secondly, it develops a sense of occupational identity that is committed to 60 61 62 63 64 17 65 professionalism. Once the professional has been granted the license to practice they must

1 adhere to the code to maintain the right to practice. 2 3 4 5 6 Sager (1995) recognises the existence of a licence to operate and a professional association 7 8 that establishes a code of ethics or rules of conduct by which members must abide. Frankel 9 10 (1989) provides several arguments as to the positive impact of a code for members of a 11 12 13 profession. He notes that there are different types of codes with different functions. Segon 14 15 (2010) proposes they may be primarily aspirational, educational or regulatory in nature 16 17 18 although most professional codes seek to achieve all three functions to some degree. In 19 20 effect, the most important function is to guide or assists the professional to make more 21 22 23 informed and wise decisions (Frankel 1989; Segon 2010). Within this framework, the code 24 25 establishes standards towards the collective good even though it may be a mere distillation of 26 27 28 collective experience and reflection. 29 30 31 32 An accreditation or licensing system permits individuals to practice, once they have proven 33 34 35 mastery of substantive knowledge. The existence of formal accreditation that approves the 36 37 knowledge base is fundamental to a profession. The authors maintain that this is one of the 38 39 40 attributes that support or ratify the professional’s knowledge or expertise in the eyes of the 41 42 client. This in turn provides more evidence or a sense of comfort for a client regarding the 43 44 45 legitimacy of the professional and their ability to use their knowledge and skills to solve the 46 47 problems of the client. Requirement for behavioural codes and a license to operate and or 48 49 accreditation establish a further attribute for a classification of a profession: 50 51 52 53 54 Proposition 4: A profession must be supported by criteria of eligibility to 55 56 57 practice inclusive of entry qualifications, continuing accreditation requirements 58 59 which include a potential license to practice and stipulated professional code of 60 61 62 63 64 18 65 practice. This provides restriction of eligibility to a profession and maintenance

1 of standards. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A professional association 11 12 13 The existence of an association or professional body is a key feature that distinguishes the 14 15 profession from other occupations (May 1989; Morgan 1998; Khurana, Nohria and Penrice 16 17 18 2005a; Pearce, Miani, Segon and Nguyen, 2015). These authors suggest that the association 19 20 has numerous functions including restricting membership to the association only to those that 21 22 23 satisfy the high standards of practice thus maintaining its status and establishing and 24 25 maintaining a set of rules or standards to which members must adhere. These authors also 26 27 28 tnote that professional bodies act to develop the expert knowledge underpinning the 29 30 profession and to regulate the behaviour of members including the expulsion of those 31 32 members who fail to meet the standards or demonstrate required levels of mastery. 33 34 35 36 37 Similarly, De George (1999) and Ardaugh (2010) describe the role of a professional 38 39 40 association as managing the field or discipline as well as establishing restriction of entry to 41 42 the field of practice. Flexner (1915) also notes the criteria of admission, legitimate practice 43 44 45 and proper conduct as key characteristics of a profession. Beauchamp and Bowie (1997) 46 47 agree that standards of professional practice include obligations and principles of moral 48 49 conduct determined by the professional community. 50 51 52 53 54 Continuing eligibility to membership of a profession relies not only on maintaining 55 56 57 competency in expert knowledge and practice and being ‘financial’ regarding any 58 59 membership fees, it also requires maintaining the standards and behaviours expected of the 60 61 62 63 64 19 65 profession (Frankel, 1989). A breach of any code of practice to which members of a

1 profession have attested can lead to censure or, under a serious breach, loss of membership 2 3 (Frankel 1989). 4 5 6 7 8 A professional association is comprised of members of that profession. The association 9 10 purpose is as a regulatory body to act for the interests of all members of the profession. The 11 12 13 existence of an association is a key feature of a true profession. However, the authors note 14 15 that the association must perform specific roles. Firstly, it establishes the accreditation 16 17 18 system or recognizes some form of examination that verifies the mastery of relevant 19 20 knowledge and permits the individual to practice. Secondly, the association establishes a 21 22 23 relevant code of ethics or practice that commits the member to a set of ethical standards, 24 25 which the association enforces, including the removal of the right to practice. Thirdly, the 26 27 28 association is charged with a responsibility for continuing education and development of not 29 30 only the individual but also the sum of knowledge that represents the profession. The need to 31 32 establish a professional body or association, to coordinate membership, to license to practice 33 34 35 and to regulate members in respect of standards of practice and of behaviour is a further 36 37 attribute of a profession. 38 39 40 41 42 Proposition 5: A profession must be supported by a professional association or 43 44 45 regulatory body the purpose of which is to ensure that members must fulfil and 46 47 maintain entry qualifications, continuing accreditation requirements and 48 49 stipulated professional codes of practice. This provides scrutiny of member 50 51 52 practice, development of standards and review of eligibility to the profession. 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 20 65 A moral disposition and rejection of the profit motive

1 De George (1999) describes a set of characteristics that typify a profession including high 2 3 levels of autonomy and self-governance. He states that, in return, professions are properly 4 5 6 expected, to serve the public good, to set higher standards of conduct for their members than 7 8 those required of others in society and to enforce a higher discipline on themselves than 9 10 others do. He notes that another way professionals differ is they are expected to follow a 11 12 13 higher set of standards in personal as well as professional conduct, thus setting an example of 14 15 proper conduct and to be above suspicion. The professional is expected not only to refrain 16 17 18 from improper conduct but be seen to refrain and be known to refrain from it. 19 20 21 22 23 May (2001) states that Flexner’s original characteristics of professionals can be synthesized 24 25 to three categories: intellectual, organizational and moral. Boatright (2012) states that 26 27 28 obligations of roles are sometimes added to those of ordinary and this is especially 29 30 applicable to the situation of professionals. He offers two justifications for role morality. The 31 32 first is a simple argument that some roles have responsibilities to many different stakeholders 33 34 35 and hence must consider a wide range of interests. The second is that roles are created to 36 37 better serve the interests of society and therefore have accompanying obligations that enable 38 39 40 a society to achieve more, thereby benefiting a greater number. 41 42 43 44 45 Raelin (1991) and Lennertz (1991) identify an intellectual tradition and a 46 47 relationship to society as prime characteristics of a profession. The concept of a social duty is 48 49 also supported Camenisch (1983) and Frankel (1989) who describe a profession as a ‘moral 50 51 52 community’ because to be self-regulatory the members of the profession must establish 53 54 mutual goals and outline appropriate methods to achieve them. 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 21 65 Khurana, Nohria and Penrice (2005a) argue that for an occupation to be considered a

1 profession it must satisfy several criteria including a commitment to use specialized or expert 2 3 knowledge for the public good. This could be interpreted as an altruistic characteristic of 4 5 6 professionals. They also note that professionals must renounce the goal of profit- 7 8 maximization, in exchange for professional autonomy and monopoly power. They suggest 9 10 that because professionals have specialized knowledge in areas of great importance to 11 12 13 society, it is expected that true professionals make that knowledge available to all who 14 15 require it. It is further expected that they do so in a way that maintains professional standards 16 17 18 and values ahead of the securing individual advantage. In this manner, the professional’s 19 20 knowledge is regarded as a public good even when they are serving the needs of clients 21 22 23 (Khurana et al. 2005a). 24 25 26 27 28 Similarly, Bowie (1990) provides further guidance on the use of expert knowledge stating 29 30 that the chief function of a professional is not to apply their specialist knowledge to maximize 31 32 income, rather professionals shold apply their knowledge to protect ignorant clients from 33 34 35 being exploited by others. Thomas (2006) in reviewing the contributions of to 36 37 the field of management and its professional standing, identified a need for managers and 38 39 40 management educators to consider their social and cultural role as ‘citizen professionals’. 41 42 43 44 45 Jennings, Callahan and Wolf (1987) suggest that although the terms common good and 46 47 public interest are often used synonymously, the former has an implication of the communal 48 49 whereas the later tends to have an individualistic orientation. They identify service that 50 51 52 contributes to the public good as including perspectives on human values, facets of the 53 54 human good and the good life, which they term civic discourse. By contrast, they note that 55 56 57 the public interest has most recently embraced social of liberalism, 58 59 and democratic pluralism so that the concept within society emerges from a 60 61 62 63 64 22 65 rational alliance of self-interested parties. The public interest is the aggregation of the private

1 interest of these individuals and it is maximized when the collective realization of individual 2 3 interests is pursued within social arrangements, institutions and values that make social life 4 5 6 possible, orderly and mutually advantageous. Essentially, this perspective suggests that 7 8 professionals serve the public interest simply by making their knowledge, skills and 9 10 capabilities available to the public. 11 12 13 14 15 The notion that professions have a duty to the public interest is not universal, however. 16 17 18 Brilloff (1972) argues that as a professional is engaged in a contractual arrangement with a 19 20 client, they must attend to the client’s needs and not be concerned with any non-related. 21 22 23 Similarly, Collins and Schultz (1995) highlight the economic between the 24 25 professional who sells services to the client and that their allegiance should only be to the 26 27 28 client. 29 30 31 32 De George (1999) questions the issue of moral standards for professions suggesting that they 33 34 35 no longer set higher moral standards for the profession but set professional or ‘ethical’ 36 37 standards. He claims that some codes are simply created to satisfy one of the accepted 38 39 40 attributes of a profession, and others are only used for ceremonial or induction purposes. 41 42 Similarly, Jennings, Callahan and Wolf (1987) acknowledge that although traditionally the 43 44 45 ideal of providing service in the interests of the public good has been a theme in many codes 46 47 of , it has largely been rhetorical in nature. They further state that the 48 49 reality is that public duty remains low on the list of ethical priorities for most professions, and 50 51 52 remains uncertain and ill defined. 53 54 55 56 57 Based upon the critical analysis above, the authors recognize that a commitment to serve the 58 59 interest of society by supporting the common good is an attribute that is not compulsory for 60 61 62 63 64 23 65 an occupation to be considered a profession. The authors accept the argument presented by

1 some authors that the act of provision of expertise can be considered as serving the interests 2 3 of society. However, this is a minimalist approach to the concept of the common good. The 4 5 6 recent exploration of management as a profession in the literature was initiated by corporate 7 8 financial and consumer fraud scandals (Barker 2010a; Khurana 2007; Khurana et al. 2005b; 9 10 Martin 2010) where managers exploited substantive knowledge and power relations for 11 12 13 personal or self-interest. The authors therefore argue that professions need to have an explicit 14 15 commitment to serve the public good and avoid abuse of the inherent power accrued by the 16 17 18 nature and attributes of the profession. 19 20 21 22 23 Proposition 6: A profession must have an explicit commitment from its 24 25 membership to serve the interest of society by contributing to the common good 26 27 28 and not exploiting the opportunities inherent in the power of professional 29 30 expertise for personal or self-interest. 31 32 33 34 35 A classification of a profession 36 37 The authors argue that these six propositions form the basis of a classification to assess the 38 39 40 requirements of a profession. Drawing on the key debates on the nature of a profession 41 42 within the literature the following key attributes of a profession are identified. A profession: 43 44 45  Requires that the intellectual command of the knowledge and skills of the profession 46 47 are practiced in manner requiring rigor and a member of a profession displays a 48 49 50 primary for decisions and actions. 51 52  Must possess and draw upon a store of knowledge that is based on sound theory to 53 54 practice principles and constantly improved through learning. 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 24 65  Applies its theoretical and complex knowledge to the practical solution of human and

1 social problems with a further aim to pass on such knowledge as well as improved 2 3 stocks of knowledge to novice generations in a deliberate manner. 4 5 6  Develops organizational processes which establish criteria for member registration, 7 8 auspice of legitimate practice, guide proper conduct and deregister members for 9 10 11 professional breaches if required. 12 13  Must be imbued with an altruistic spirit serving the community and common good. 14 15 16 17 18 Based on the above considerations, the authors present a conceptual model for a 19 20 profession (see below) comprising six interdependent and mutually supporting attributes 21 22 23 based propositions presented by the authors. The first differentiates a profession from an 24 25 occupation and the remaining are the critical attributes that act to define a profession. All 26 27 28 attributes need to be fulfilled to claim the identity of a profession. The conceptual model 29 30 indicates the natural interdependencies between the attributes detailed in the propositions 31 32 33 that have informing and reinforcing aspects between the attributes. An important aspect 34 35 of this model is the indication of a focus for each of the attributional propositions. The 36 37 first focus is ‘integrative‘ encompassing the proposition that the core attributes classifying 38 39 40 a profession are mutually dependent and all attributes must be satisfied. The second 41 42 focus is ‘knowledge’ and relates to two attribute based propositions relating to 43 44 45 professions securing expert knowledge and that knowledge must be acquired through 46 47 formal qualifications. Finally there is a third focus related to ethics covering three 48 49 50 attributes. Namely; a profession requires criteria of eligibility to practice a potential 51 52 license to practice and a professional code of practice, a profession is supported by a 53 54 55 professional association to ensure that members fulfil entry qualifications, maintain 56 57 accreditation requirements and abide by professional codes of practice, a profession must 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 25 65 have an explicit commitment to serve the interest of society by contributing to the

1 common good. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Figure 1 Conceptual model of a classification of a profession. 26 27 28 29 30 Goes here. 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 ======43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 26 65 Ethical attributes as underpinnings to practice of professions

1 Considering the literature applied in determining the above classification of a profession it is 2 3 notable that three of the six propositions presented directly touch on ethical aspects of 4 5 6 practice. Proposition four in the classification indicates a profession must be supported by 7 8 criteria of eligibility to practice inclusive of entry qualifications, continuing accreditation 9 10 requirements which include a potential license to practice and stipulated professional code of 11 12 13 practice. In this manner, the knowledge of know what and know how are maintained but 14 15 importantly the attitudes and behaviours underpinning expert practice that is competently 16 17 18 applied. Frankel (1989) argues that a profession is an institution performs as a normative 19 20 reference group for its members. It is through a code of ethics that the profession, clarifies for 21 22 23 both its membership and society the values it commits to in guiding behaviours. Austin 24 25 (1961) developed an important contribution to the debate on business management as a 26 27 28 profession observing that if it was to aspire to become one it needed to secure a sound code 29 30 of conduct. Austin (1961) articulated a sound code could be recognized by three 31 32 characteristics common to all the pure professions. These are: Firstly, the requirement that a 33 34 35 member of the profession demonstrate a standard of excellence within a recognized body of 36 37 knowledge, with a focus on expanding that knowledge for the benefit of the profession. 38 39 40 Secondly, a , developed by the membership of the which each member 41 42 affirms to follow. Austin (1961) stresses that the code should be framed in affirmation rather 43 44 45 than ‘Thou Shalt Nots’. Thirdly, members must place society’s interest before self-interest. 46 47 48 49 Proposition six also considers ethical aspects of practice in a profession indicating an explicit 50 51 52 commitment from membership of the profession to contribute to the common good and not 53 54 exploit the potential power of expertise. This proposition is a recognition that with the 55 56 57 potential for obtaining a monopoly provision position within the market due to a closed 58 59 membership of a profession, that there are expected reciprocities to the market through 60 61 62 63 64 27 65 responsibilities to clients and society in general. These responsibilities include provision of

1 expertise without exploitation of clients and society in general. This should also include some 2 3 consideration of altruistic behaviours as professionals such as medical practitioners and legal 4 5 6 practitioners in relation to pro bono work. 7 8 9 10 Proposition five further indicates that a profession is supported by a professional regulatory 11 12 13 body to ensure that members fulfil and maintain; entry qualifications, continuing 14 15 accreditation requirements and stipulated professional codes of practice. In establishing a 16 17 18 professional body to oversee licensing and mandatory standards of practice the profession is 19 20 ensuring a consistency expertise is delivered and ethical behaviours and interactions are 21 22 23 maintained. The aim is to define and sustain the integrity of the profession in its ethics, 24 25 practice and on going reputation. 26 27 28 29 30 The prevailing literature on management as a profession 31 32 There have been several arguments presented in the business literature supporting 33 34 35 management as a profession whilst others have refuted that management can achieve the 36 37 status of a profession. An early assessment presented by Schein (1988) found that on 38 39 40 several bases management was a profession but on several other bases was not yet a 41 42 profession. Schein (1988) made the point that though business schools were still aiming 43 44 45 towards professionalizing managers and inculcating professional values for a 46 47 management profession these were constantly undermined by organizational values that 48 49 may or may not be conducive to the professional ideal. The series of corporate and 50 51 52 industry related scandals mentioned earlier in this paper represent clear evidence that 53 54 Schein’s (1988) theory from nearly three decades ago still has sharp if not sharper teeth. 55 56 57 In discussing the bases for management as a profession Schein (1988) points out a body 58 59 of knowledge, he does admit a potential weakness that management is a generalized 60 61 62 63 64 28 65 body of knowledge rather than a specific expert body, managers do not have a single

1 client relationship and they have a conflict in serving customer needs, needs 2 3 and the agency needs of organizational superiors. Managers in organizations may use 4 5 6 asymmetric information for organizational advantage and thereby achieve self-interest 7 8 in performance. This does not align to the usual attributes of a profession serve the 9 10 interest of society by contributing to the common good and not exploiting the 11 12 13 opportunities inherent in the power of professional expertise for personal or self- 14 15 interest. On several ethically founded bases Schein (1988) would see organizational 16 17 18 cultures as a possible source of erosion of management professional attributes. 19 20 21 22 23 An earlier analysis on the topic of management as a profession by Bowen (1955) 24 25 identified that in traditional professions there is a primary relationship to an identifiable 26 27 28 group of customers served by the practitioners. There is a significant relationship 29 30 between professional and client which requires professionally skilled practice, 31 32 maintaining ethical standards in dealings maintaining a duty of care. In terms of the 33 34 35 business manager, Bowen argues: 36 37 ‘Because the clientele of business is so diffuse and ramified and distant, and 38 39 40 because business relationships are so impersonal, it is much more difficult 41 42 for businessmen, as compared with members of the traditional professions, 43 44 45 to perceive their responsibilities and to respond to them.’ (1955, p. 114.). 46 47 Bowen (1955) indicates that management does not have the focus of a profession, 48 49 namely serving clients needs ethically and with skilled practice and therefore fails a key 50 51 52 profession attributes. The corporate scandals ongoing since the GFC make Bowen’s first 53 54 insight regarding management failing to be a profession on the grounds of detachment 55 56 57 from any discernable client interest that more disturbing as the practice within 58 59 management seems to be an enduring facet. 60 61 62 63 64 29 65

1 Spender (2007) in an essay examining management education particularly that provided 2 3 by business schools has taken up the position espoused by May (2001) and Pound 4 5 6 (1944, p. 204) as a ‘learned profession’. Spender identifies that ‘management education 7 8 has professionalized around quasi-scientific research methods and a regulated body of 9 10 knowledge’ (2007, p. 39). Spender (2007) further argues that management as a 11 12 13 profession should be considered as pertaining to both science and art with an emphasis 14 15 to be placed on art to achieve the status of a profession. Spender’s (2007) final position 16 17 18 on management as a profession is best described as a series of broad aspirations imbued 19 20 with the community of practice model of Wenger (1998). 21 22 23 ‘Perhaps, at bottom, a profession is a group sufficiently disciplined, 24 25 communicative, and reflexive to know itself as a community of considered 26 27 28 practice. To reach this degree of self-perception and understanding requires 29 30 serious hard work, serious commitment to the profession, serious pushing at the 31 32 limits to professional practice, and serious consideration of its impact on others. 33 34 35 Come to think of it, that sounds like a pretty good description of management as 36 37 a profession.’ (Spender 2007, p. 40). 38 39 40 This broad view is commendable but still leaves the management community lacking clarity 41 42 on specific requirements, obligations, processes and expected behaviours to underpin a 43 44 45 profession and professional practice. The authors consider that a more robust approach to 46 47 determining the parameters for a profession are required and that a resulting classification 48 49 should be applied to the role of manager. 50 51 52 53 54 Khurana and Nohria (2008) present the argument that it is time to make management a 55 56 57 profession, recognizing that for the moment management has lost legitimacy due to corporate 58 59 ethical failures. Their arguments to establish management as a profession are principally 60 61 62 63 64 30 65 based upon establishing a code of ethics for management and movements to formalize

1 management education. The authors also propose a Hippocratic oath for managers as a code 2 3 of conduct. In this oath, aspects of profession are touched on in a broad manner with 4 5 6 numerous specific pledges, recognitions, vows and promises. The key aspects relevant to a 7 8 profession within the proposed oath which add to the authors’ arguments are; to avoid 9 10 unbridled self-interest, avoid conflict of interest, and maintain standards of behaviour in line 11 12 13 with the expectations of the profession. Nowhere do the authors refine discussion on the 14 15 nature of a body of knowledge. It presents a presumption of the MBA as the body of 16 17 18 knowledge and business schools as the developers and dispensers of this knowledge. The 19 20 authors neither deal with the variety of possibilities of MBAs nor that this degree is generalist 21 22 23 in nature not specialized knowledge as in medicine or law both of which have a core 24 25 curriculum. Also, not recognized in discussion is the large number of managerial positions 26 27 28 and managers per se for whom an MBA is not suited to their talents or to the job they do. 29 30 Though Khurana and Nohria (2008) discuss the establishment of a Certified Business 31 32 Professional (CBP), no discussion is presented of a requisite body to evaluate membership, 33 34 35 coordinate and monitor professional practice, and grant or rescind license of a profession as 36 37 in law or medicine. They do discuss the issue of licensing addressing both pros and cons of 38 39 40 both a closed system and a more open system of some licensed professionals and others 41 42 unlicensed. One of the criticisms of the arguments of Khurana and Nohria is that they 43 44 45 predominantly focus on one aspect of professionalism, ‘the adherence to "higher aims" 46 47 beyond self-interest or economic benefit’ (Pfeffer 2011, p.38). Pfeffer (2011) argues that 48 49 professions have a further defining feature: a specialized body of knowledge that 50 51 52 practitioners are obliged to apply in their practice. 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 31 65 Khurana, Nohria and Penrice (2005a) argue the case that management should move to

1 become a profession. Their analysis identifies four ‘traits and practices’ for determining a 2 3 profession (Khurana et al. 2005a, p. 1): 4 5 6  A common body of knowledge resting on a well-developed, widely accepted 7 8 theoretical base; 9 10 11  A system for certifying that individuals possess such knowledge before being licensed 12 13 or otherwise allowed to practice; 14 15 16  A commitment to use specialized knowledge for the public good, and a renunciation 17 18 of the goal of profit-maximization, in return for professional autonomy and monopoly 19 20 power; and 21 22 23  A code of ethics, with provisions for monitoring individual compliance with the code 24 25 and a system of sanctions for enforcing it. 26 27 28 29 30 Many occupations use the term professional to describe their status however this is not 31 32 33 synonymous with an occupation legitimately fulfilling the expectations of a profession. In 34 35 considering the discipline of management against the attributes of a profession, the authors 36 37 38 conclude that management cannot legitimately lay claim to being a profession. The claim is 39 40 based upon an assessment presented below of management against the classification for a 41 42 profession. 43 44 45 46 47 Assessment of management against a classification of a profession 48 49 50 Assessment of management as a profession assessed against the attributes of a classification 51 52 for a profession as outlined in figure 1 above. 53 54 55 56 57 Proposition 1: A profession is distinctly different to an occupation requiring specific 58 59 60 attributes of qualifications, accreditation, standards of expected behaviours and practice to be 61 62 63 64 32 65 satisfied to secure the right to be recognized as a profession. These attributes are mutually

1 reinforcing in nature creating a recognizable and qualifiable standard for a profession. 2 3 Regarding proposition 1, there is no qualification requirement for being a manager. Nor is 4 5 6 there an accreditation or regulatory requirement necessary to practice as a manager. There is 7 8 no generally accepted minimum standard of expected behaviour compared, for example, to 9 10 medicine’s ‘do no harm’ or law’s key practitioner requirement of - duty to the court and the 11 12 13 administration of . Those representing the practice of management have not developed 14 15 an integrated, intelligible universally applicable series of criteria of eligibility and standards 16 17 18 of practice to develop it beyond a classification of occupation. 19 20 21 22 23 Proposition 2: A profession requires a specific and substantive intellectual component of 24 25 expert knowledge to underpin expertise in practice with that knowledge applied to the benefit 26 27 28 of the client. In relation to proposition 2, there is a wide range of management qualifications 29 30 from certificates through to master level programs. This fails to fulfil the expectation of the 31 32 possession of expert knowledge which cannot be easily attained, and mastery of this 33 34 35 knowledge underpinning practice. Expert knowledge for management practice is not 36 37 guaranteed. A plethora of management training and academic programs undermines any 38 39 40 establishment of an expert body of knowledge and skills for management as a profession. 41 42 43 44 45 Proposition 3: The knowledge underpinning the profession and its practice must be 46 47 acquired through formal qualifications to maintain universally accepted standards of 48 49 practitioner competence in base knowledge, skill sets and professional behaviours and 50 51 52 attitudes to serve clients and related stakeholders. In respect to proposition 3 as 53 54 presented above, management knowledge is often acquired through on-the-job 55 56 57 experience. There are no formal qualifications that serve as entry to management 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 33 65 practice. There are no universally accepted standards of practitioner competence for a

1 management role. Management fails to meet the attribute outlined in the proposition. 2 3 4 5 6 Proposition 4: A profession must be supported by criteria of eligibility to practice 7 8 inclusive of entry qualifications, continuing accreditation requirements which include a 9 10 potential license to practice and stipulated professional code of practice. 11 12 13 Regarding proposition 4, the attribute outlines a restriction of eligibility to a profession 14 15 and maintenance of standards. Management has no defined criteria of eligibility or 16 17 18 requirement of a license to practice. As such any individual can make claim to be a 19 20 manager. There is also no remedy to effectively act on negligent practice or misconduct 21 22 23 by managers. They can continue to practice whether competent or not. 24 25 26 27 28 Proposition 5: A profession must be supported by a professional association or 29 30 regulatory body the purpose of which is to ensure that members must fulfil and maintain 31 32 entry qualifications, continuing accreditation requirements and stipulated professional 33 34 35 codes of practice. Referring to proposition 5 above, the attribute of a regulatory body 36 37 provides scrutiny of member practice, development of standards and review of 38 39 40 eligibility to the profession. Management has no overarching regulatory body, no 41 42 continuing accreditation requirements and no professional code of practice. As such 43 44 45 managers have neither, guidelines to frame practice and behaviour nor a process to 46 47 ensure competence and relevance of their practice. 48 49 50 51 52 Proposition 6: A profession must have an explicit commitment from its membership to 53 54 serve the interest of society by contributing to the common good and not exploiting the 55 56 57 opportunities inherent in the power of professional expertise for personal or self- 58 59 interest. 60 61 62 63 64 34 65 In respect to proposition 6 above, management does not require membership of a professional

1 association where an explicit commitment to serve the interest of society is made. The 2 3 evidence of manager practice in abiding by a common good process is damning. Barker 4 5 6 (2010), Khurana et al. (2005a) and Martin (2010) all indicate recent corporate scandals and 7 8 the failure of the managerial cadres of to maintain ethical standards and meet 9 10 society’s expectations for . The requirement for a substantive assurance 11 12 13 to commitment to serve the interest of society by contribution to the common good and 14 15 avoiding opportunities inherent in the power of professional expertise for personal or self- 16 17 18 interest, is long overdue. 19 20 21 22 23 Developing professionalization of Management 24 25 There has been a concerted call in the literature for managers to possess an increased level of 26 27 28 competence and standard of ethical practice. The classification of a profession presented in 29 30 this paper in establishing standards, practices, processes, expectations and potential 31 32 repercussion for professional breach could certainly address concerns raised in recent years 33 34 35 over the decline in managerial standards of ethical behaviour. The issue that remains is the 36 37 challenge of implementing such a professionalization agenda and most importantly securing 38 39 40 agreement as well as commitment from the disparate and large number of stakeholders 41 42 involved under the banner of a discipline of management. 43 44 45 46 47 In considering some of the potential steps towards professionalization of management 48 49 One option is for providers of management education to adopt a consistent standard for the 50 51 52 entry level qualification. The United Nations ‘Principles for Responsible Management 53 54 Education’ (PRME) provides a starting point for this approach. Despite being promulgated 55 56 57 nearly a decade ago, most business schools have not yet applied for this accreditation. A 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 35 65 recent review of the PRME website by the authors identified the following in relation to

1 education institution signatories in developed : 2 3  Strong representation of the major university and business schools for Australia, 4 5 6 Canada, Denmark, France, Norway, Spain, Sweden. 7 8  Very good representation for Germany and the Netherlands. 9 10 11  Good representation for the United Kingdom and the United States. Notable for these 12 13 two countries was the absence of the heavy hitter business schools usually listed in 14 15 16 the top 20 top business school listings. 17 18 As membership to the PRME is a completely voluntary process, it may never achieve 19 20 universal penetration. Further, it does not address the issue of the requirement of a standard 21 22 23 qualification for entry to practice in the management discipline nor that of a code of practice. 24 25 It does however offer a starting point to introduce a set of aims and identifiable outcomes 26 27 28 regarding managerial practice. Though not dictating the requisite knowledge and skills to 29 30 achieve these it does provide curriculum focus and learning outcome influence. An action 31 32 33 such as this may go some way to fulfilling Propositions 2, 3 and 6 as the PRME promotes 34 35 environmental , global and responsible leadership in its six- 36 37 charter. 38 39 40 41 42 Another option would be to use an approach not unlike the Certified Practicing Accounting 43 44 45 qualification (CPA), which provides global professional recognition on top of a base 46 47 qualification of practice. Industry has created both the impetus and the market for CPA 48 49 50 status. Consideration should be given to testing whether industry would be willing to 51 52 differentiate professional management in the same way, as this appears to be the only current 53 54 55 working solution that could translate. The establishment of a Certified Professional 56 57 Management (CPM) accreditation would enable significant differentiation of expertise as 58 59 exists in the accounting field together with a representative and licensing body to address the 60 61 62 63 64 36 65 issues of Propositions 5 and 6. Proposition 1 which affirms an integration of the attributes

1 would only succeed if both the above initiatives or similar were simultaneously achieved. 2 3 4 5 6 Conclusion 7 8 The authors advance that the classification proposed in this paper provides a comprehensive 9 10 description and robust tool for assessing a profession. An analysis of the occupation of 11 12 13 management against the classification of a profession finds management lacking across all 14 15 six attributes. The authors conclude that management cannot be classified as a profession. 16 17 18 The paper contributes to the knowledge of a profession in relation to an integrated analysis of 19 20 the classical and critical contemporary literature on professions with an emphasis on both the 21 22 23 nature of occupations reserving a right to the distinctiveness of a profession and the ethics 24 25 implications of securing that distinction. The classification represents a contribution to 26 27 28 knowledge and learning to the academic areas of work, occupation and the role of an ethical 29 30 expectations in those fields. The key contribution relates to the attributes of a profession and 31 32 how it differs from an occupation. Moreover, the attributes of profession which determine a 33 34 35 profession rely heavily on ethical commitments. Those that specifically relate to an ethical 36 37 integrity of practice relate to; codes of practice and ethics, a licensing body to ensure ethical 38 39 40 behaviour and censure of professional members, agreed standards of knowledge and 41 42 qualification that must be upheld, and serving the interests of clients whilst rejecting the 43 44 45 profit motive. Finally, the paper has contributed to the debate on Management as a 46 47 profession as it is one of the few to take an integrated consideration of all the key attributes 48 49 required of the identified ‘true professions’ that have established over many years the societal 50 51 52 expectation of a professional and professional practice. 53 54 55 56 57 The authors recognize that when the term ‘professional’ is widely applied to management, it 58 59 is being used in a generic manner consistent with the meaning argued by De George (1999) 60 61 62 63 64 37 65 and Dellaportas et al. (2005) that the manager is in fulltime employment with a body of

1 knowledge used in the performance of their duties. The authors argue that under this 2 3 conception of professional, there is recognition that the manager is in fulltime employment 4 5 6 with a body of knowledge used in the performance of their duties and that these duties are 7 8 skilfully pursued applying knowledge towards a practice aimed at fulfilling client needs. 9 10 This would apply to both for profit and not for profit organizations. In some sense this 11 12 13 reflects a base level of the professionalization project set in train by Donham at Harvard 14 15 Business School in the 1920’s (Stewart 2009). Though not a true profession with codes, 16 17 18 licensing and regulation coordinated by a professional body management could at some point 19 20 achieve a quasi-profession status (Denzin and Mettlin, 1968). 21 22 23 24 25 The contentious issue of fulfilling client needs remains a prominent feature of business 26 27 st 28 practice in the 21 century as organizational goals may be at odds with client outcomes. 29 30 These outcomes leading to what has been labelled unethical and unprofessional business 31 32 practices which harm individual clients, classes of client, communities or society in general. 33 34 35 Indeed, these outcomes have been the very catalyst for the arguments for management to 36 37 develop into a profession (Cabrera 2009; Khurana and Nohria 2008; Khurana and Podolny 38 39 40 2007). 41 42 43 44 45 The authors concede that given the large numbers of individuals titled as managers or 46 47 referred to as managers in disparate industries and organizational roles it would be close to 48 49 impossible to create a sustainable professionalization process based on the profession 50 51 52 tclassification. This would be the view at least in the near term. Current barriers to progress 53 54 include a lack of drive for professionalization on the part of educational bodies, industry 55 56 57 bodies, consumer bodies and government agencies in most jurisdictions as well as the 58 59 challenge of securing the title manager reserved for qualified professionals. With the large 60 61 62 63 64 38 65 numbers of individuals titled as managers or referred to as managers in disparate industries

1 and organizational roles it would be close to impossible to create an effective 2 3 professionalization accreditation process for management to satisfy the attributes of the 4 5 6 profession classification. 7 8 9 10 Regarding further research on the topic of professionalization of management, the authors 11 12 13 believe there is still much work to do in attempting to identify key positive managerial 14 15 practices and processes as an immediate issue rather than persisting with the call to make 16 17 18 management a profession. As outlined above the task of ‘fitting’ management to a 19 20 professional structure resembling the disciplines of law and medicine would be resource 21 22 23 draining and mired in challenges across discipline specific jurisdictions not to mention 24 25 potential national perspectives. The authors advocate for more applied research to be 26 27 28 undertaken at the senior managerial level regarding integrity, organizational cultural impacts 29 30 inclusive of norms of behaviour, integrity systems that ensure organizational goals remain 31 32 ethical not just ‘barely’ legal, and ensuring recognition and 33 34 35 rewards align with organizational integrity. The autors of this article From the point of view 36 37 of the authors of this article are researchers and teaching academics in management and 38 39 40 business. We have all been managed and managed others in the public and private sectors as 41 42 well as practising consultants in management and business ethics. From our point of view 43 44 45 from both sound theory and practice more robust research needs to connect the pursuit of 46 47 ‘professional’ behaviours and actions with positive intrinsic and extrinsic performance 48 49 outcomes for firms. This nexus will provide clear evidence of both benefit and need for 50 51 52 professional practice to underpin all management levels within businesses. fEnsuring a role 53 54 for ethics in the knowledge base and practice base of management is essential to secure 55 56 57 integrity practice in management of businesses. 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 39 65 Compliance with Ethical Standards: This research has not been supported by funding internal from the listed authors’ 1 associated institutions nor any external funding. 2 3 Ethical approval: This article does not contain any studies with human participants or 4 animals performed by any of the authors. 5 6 7 References 8 Abbott, A. (1988). The system of professions: an essay on the division of expert labour. 9 University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. 10 11 12 Ardaugh, D. (2010). Business as a Profession: A bridge too far or fair way to go? Lambert 13 Academic Publishing, Saarbrucken, Germany. . 14 15 Austin, R.W. (1961). Code of conduct for executives. Harvard Business Review Sep-Oct, 53- 16 17 61. 18 19 Barker, R. (2010a). No Management is not a Profession. Harvard Business Review Jul-Aug, 20 52-60. 21 22 23 Barker, R. (2010b). Management can never be a Profession, Financial Times website 6 24 September 2010 at https://www.ft.com/content/e0db7430-b76a-11df-839a-00144feabdc0 25 accessed 19 May 2017. 26 27 Baumeister, R. F. and Leary, M. R. (1997). Writing narrative literature reviews. Review of 28 29 General Psychology 3, 311-320. 30 31 Becker, H. S. (1962). The nature of a profession. In Nelson B. Henry (Ed.), Education for the 32 professions (pp. 27-46). National Society for the Study of Education, Chicago, IL. 33 34 35 Bem, D. J. (1995). Writing a review article for Psychological Bulletin. Psychological Bulletin 36 118, 172-177. 37 38 Beauchamp, T.L. and Bowie, N. (Eds.) (1997). Ethical theory and business, 5th edition, 39 40 Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. 41 42 Bennis, W and O’Toole, J. (2005). How business schools lost their way. Harvard Business 43 Review May, 96–106. 44 45 46 Blaikie, N. (2007). Approaches to Social Enquiry: Advancing Knowledge, Polity Press, 47 Cambridge, UK. 48 49 Boatright, J.R. (2012). Ethics and the Conduct of Business, 7th edition. Pearson, UK. 50 51 52 Bowen, H.R. (1955). Business Management: A Profession? The Annals of the American 53 Academy of Political and Social Science 297, 112-117. 54 55 56 Bowie, N. (1990). Business Ethics as a Discipline: The Search for Legitimacy. In R.E. 57 Freeman, Business Ethics The state of the Art, Rufon, US. 58 59 Brilloff, A.J. (1972). Accountable Accounting. Harper Collins, New York, NY. 60 61 62 63 64 40 65 Bullock, A. and Trombley, S. (Eds.) (1999). The Norton Dictionary of Modern Thought. Norton Publications, NY. 1 2 Cabrera, A. (2009). Let’s professionalize management. Harvard Business Review at hbr.org 3 website at https://hbr.org/2009/04/a-hippocratic-oath-for-future.html accessed on 30 May 4 2017. 5 6 7 Camenisch, P.F. (1983). Grounding Professional Ethics in a Pluralistic Society. Haven 8 Publications, New York, NY. 9 10 Chadwick, R. and Thompson, A. (2000). Professional Ethics and Labor Disputes: Medicine 11 12 and Nursing in the United Kingdom. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 9(4), 483- 13 497. 14 15 Cheetham, G., & Chivers, G. (2001). How professionals learn in practice: an investigation of 16 17 informal learning amongst people working in professions. Journal of European Industrial 18 Training 25(5), 247-292. 19 20 Cogan, M.L. (1953). Towards a definition of a profession. Harvard Educational Review 21 XXIII, 33-50. 22 23 24 Cohen, J. Krishnamoorthy, G. and Wright, A. 2010. Corporate Governance in the Post- 25 Sarbanes-Oxley Era: Auditors’ Experiences. Contemporary Accounting Research 27(3), 751- 26 786. 27 28 29 Collins, A, and Schultz, J. (1995). A critical examination of the ACPIA Code of Professional 30 Conduct. Journal of Business Ethics 14, 31-41. 31 32 Cooper, H. M. (2003). Editorial. Psychological Bulletin 129, 3-9. 33 34 35 Creswell, J.W. (2013). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods 36 Approaches, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA. 37 38 39 Curnow, C. and McGonigle, T.P. (2006). The Effects of Government Initiatives of 40 Occupations. Human Review 10, 286-292. 41 42 Datar, S. Garvin, D. and Cullen, P. (2011). Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a 43 Crossroads. Journal of Management Development 30(5), 451-462. 44 45 46 Dellaportas, S. Gibson, K. Alagiah, R. Hutchinson, M. Leung, P. and Van Homrigh, D. 47 (2005). Ethics, Governance and Accountability: A Professional Perspective, Wiley, 48 Melbourne. 49 50 th 51 De George, R. (1999). Business Ethics, 5 edition, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 52 53 Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y.S. (2011). The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, 4th 54 edition, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA. 55 56 57 Denzin, N.K. and Mettlin, C.J. (1968). Incomplete Professionalization: The Case of 58 Pharmacy. Social Forces 46(3), 375-381. 59 60 61 62 63 64 41 65

1 2 Dobson, J. 2005. Monkey Business: A Neo-Darwinist Approach to Ethics Codes. Financial 3 Analysts Journal 61, 59–64. 4 5 6 Doig, A. and Wilson, J. (1998). The Effectiveness of Codes of Conduct. Business Ethics a 7 European Review 7(3), 140-149. 8 9 Eraut, M. (2000). Non-formal learning and tacit knowledge in professional work. British 10 Journal of Educational Psychology 70, 113-136. 11 12 13 Eraut, M. (1994). Developing Professional Knowledge and Competence, The Falmer Press, 14 London. 15 16 17 Flexner, A. (1915). Is Social Work a Profession? General Session Presentation on May 17 at 18 the Forty-Second Annual Session of the National Conference of Charities and Correction, 19 Baltimore, Maryland, May 12-19. 20 21 Frankel, M.S. (1989). Professional Codes: Why, How, and with What Impact? Journal of 22 23 Business Ethics 8(2-3), 109-115. 24 25 Freidson, E. (1970). The Profession of Medicine; A Study of the Sociology of Applied 26 Knowledge, Harper and Row, New York, NY. 27 28 29 Ghoshal, S. 2005. Bad management are destroying good management practice, 30 Academy of Management Learning & Education 4(1), 75-91. 31 32 Gold, J. Rodgers, H. and Smith, V. (2002). The future of the professions: are they up for it? 33 34 Foresight 4(2), 46-53. 35 36 Goode, W. J. (1969). The theoretical limits of professionalization. In A. Etzioni (Ed.), 37 The semi-professions and their organization (pp. 266-313), Free Press, New York, NY. 38 39 40 Gorman, E.H. and Sandefur, R.L. (2011), Golden Age, Quiescence, and Revival: How the 41 Sociology of Professions Became the Study of Knowledge-Based Work, Work and 42 Occupations 38(3), 275-302. 43 44 45 Greenwood, E. (1957). Attributes of a Profession. Social Work 2(3), 45-55. 46 47 Grundstein-Amado, R. 2001. A Strategy for Formulation and Implementation of Codes of 48 Ethics in Public Service Organizations. Journal of Public Administration 24, 461–78. 49 50 51 Hamel, G. (2012). What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, 52 Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA. 53 54 Heineman, Jr, B.W. (2010). Management as a profession: A Business Lawyer’s critique, 55 56 Harvard Business Review at hbr.org website at https://hbr.org/2010/11/management-as-a- 57 profession-a-b accessed on 20 February 2018. 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 42 65 Hoivik, H. (2002). Professional ethics – A managerial opportunity in emerging organizations, Journal of business ethics 39, 3-11. 1 2 Jennings, B. Callahan, D. and Wolf, S.M. (1987). The Professions: Public Interest and 3 Common Good. The Hastings Center Report 17(1), 3-10. 4 5 6 Karlson, P.O. Aguirre, D. and Rivera, K. (2017). Are CEOs Less Ethical Than in the Past? 7 Strategy+Business 97, 1-12. 8 9 Kaptein, M and Schwartz, M.S. (2008). The Effectiveness of Business Codes: A Critical 10 Examination of Existing Studies and the Development of an Integrated Research Model, 11 12 Journal of Business Ethics 77, 111-127. 13 14 Kemper, A. and Martin, R.L. (2010). After the fall: The global financial crisis as a test of 15 corporate social responsibility theories. European Management Review 7, 229-239. 16 17 18 Khurana, R., (2010). Why Management must be a Profession”, Harvard Business Review 19 website at hbr.org of 20 July, https://hbr.org/2010/07/why-management-must-be-a-profe 20 accessed 2 June 2017. 21 22 23 Khurana, R., (2007). From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of 24 American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession, 25 Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 26 27 28 Khurana, R. and Nohria, N. (2008). It’s time to make Management a Profession. Harvard 29 Business Review October, 70-77. 30 31 Khurana, R. Nohria, N. and Penrice, D. (2005a). Is Business Management a Profession? 32 Working Knowledge, website at hbswk.hbs.edu of 21 February, 33 34 http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/is-business-management-a-profession accessed 2 June 2017. 35 36 Khurana, R. Nohria, N. and Penrice, D., (2005b). Management as a Profession? In W. 37 Lorsch, L. Berlowitz and A. Zelleke (Eds.), Restoring Trust in American Business. (pp. 43- 38 62). MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. 39 40 41 Khurana, R. and Podolny, J.M. (2007). Can we make management a profession? Yale 42 Insights website 15 April http://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/can-we-make-management- 43 profession accessed 20 May 2017. 44 45 46 Koehn, D. (1994). The Ground of Professional Ethics, Routledge, London. 47 48 Krause, E.A. (1996). Death of the Guilds: Professions, States, and the Advance of 49 Capitalism, 1930 to the present. Yale University Press, New Haven. 50 51 52 Lere, J. and B. Gaumnitz: 2003. The Impact of Codes of Ethics on Decision Making: Some 53 Insights from Information . Journal of Business Ethics 48, 365–79. 54 55 56 Lennertz, J.E. (1991). Ethics and the professional responsibility of lawyers – a commentary. 57 Journal of Business Ethics 10, 577-579. 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 43 65 Lin, G. (2009). Higher education research methodology – literature method. International Education Studies 2(4), 179-181. 1 2 Luce-Kapler, R. (2012). Literature in Qualitative Research. In L.M. Given, The SAGE 3 Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods, (pp. 486-487). Sage Publications, Thousand 4 Oaks, CA. 5 6 7 Lusch, R.F. and O’Brien, M. (1997). Fostering professionalism. Marketing Research 9(1), 8 24-30. 9 10 Mangham, I.L. and Pye, A. (1991). The Doing of Management, Blackwell, London. 11 12 13 Martin, R.L. (2010), Management is not a Profession – But it can be taught. Harvard 14 Business Review, Harvard Business Review website hbr.org available at 15 https://hbr.org/2010/07/management-is-not-a-profession accessed 31 May 2016. 16 17 18 Marwa, S., & Zairi, M., (2008). An exploratory study of the reasons for the collapse of 19 contemporary companies and their link with the concept of quality. Management Decision 46 20 (9), 1342-1370. 21 22 23 May, W.F. (1989). Vocation, career and profession. Monograph Series. The Australian 24 Institute of Ethics and The Professions, Brisbane 1(1), 1-9. 25 26 May, W.F. (2001). Beleaguered Rulers: The Public Obligations of the Professional. 27 28 Westminster John Know Press, Louisville, KY. 29 30 Middlehurst, R. and Kennie, T. (1997). Leading professionals: towards new concepts of 31 professionalism. In J. Broadbent, M. Dietrich, and J. Roberts (Eds), The End of the 32 Professions? Routledge, London. 33 34 35 Mintzberg, H. (2004). Managers not MBAs: A herd look at the soft practice of managing and 36 management development, Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, CA. 37 38 Morgan, J. (1998). The natural history of professionalization and its effects on valuation 39 40 theory and practice in the UK and Germany. Journal of Property Valuation & Investment 16 41 (2), 185-206. 42 43 Moore, W.E. (1970). The Professions: Roles and Rules. Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 44 45 NY. 46 47 Navarro, P. (2008). The MBA Core Curricula of Top-Ranked U.S. Business Schools: A 48 49 Study in Failure? Academy of Management Learning and Education 7(1), 108-123. 50 51 Neal, M., and Morgan, J. (2000). The professionalization of everyone? A comparative study 52 53 of the development of the professions in the United Kingdom and Germany. European 54 Sociological Review 16(1), 9-26. 55 56 57 Newton, L. (2014). Making: Introduction to Cases and Concepts in Ethics, 58 Springer, London. 59 60 Oakeshott, M. (1962). Rationalism in Politics: And Other Essays, Methuen, London. 61 62 63 64 44 65

Ochs, S.M. (2016). The Leadership blind spots at Wells Fargo. Harvard Business Review 1 hbr.orgs website 6 October 2016 at https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-leadership-blind-spots-at- 2 wells-fargo accessed 19 May 2017. 3 4 5 6 7 Pearce, J. Miani, M. Segon, M. and Nguyen, B. (2015). in Vietnam, 8 Cambodia, the Philipines and Indonesia, in B. Nguyen and C. Rowley, Ethical and Social 9 Marketing in Asia, pp. 95-114, Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 10 11 12 Peterson, D. Rhoads, A. and Vaught, B.C. 2001. Ethical Beliefs of Business Professionals: A 13 Study of Gender, Age and External Factors, Journal of Business Ethics 31(3), 225-232. 14 15 Pfeffer, J. (2011). Management a profession? Where’s the proof? Harvard Business Review 16 17 September, 38. 18 19 Podolny, J.M. (2009). The buck stops (and starts) at business school. Harvard Business 20 Review June, 62-67. 21 22 23 Pound, R, (1944). What is a Profession - the Rise of the Legal Profession in Antiquity. Notre 24 Dame Law Review 19(3), 203-228. 25 26 Raelin, J. (1991). The Clash of Cultures: Managers managing Professionals. Harvard 27 28 Business School Press, Boston, MA. 29 30 Reader, W.J. (1966). Professional Men, Routledge, London. 31 32 33 Richards-Wilson, S. (2002). Changing the way MBA programs do business - Lead or 34 languish. Journal of Education for Business 77(5), 296-300. 35 36 Roberts, C. and Griffin, D. (2016). Seven Banks Fined in Swiss Probes of Rate-Rigging 37 Cartels. Bloomberg news website 21 December 2016 at 38 39 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-21/jpmorgan-barclays-fined-in-separate- 40 swiss-rate-rigging-probes accessed 18 May 2017. 41 42 Rousseau, D.M. (2012). Designing a Better Business School: Channeling Herbert Simon, 43 Addressing the Critics, and Developing Actionable Knowledge for Professionalizing 44 45 Managers. Journal of Management Studies 49(3), 600-618. 46 47 Sager, R. (1995). Evaluating an professional and brokerage. Journal of 48 Accountancy 179(3), 47. 49 50 51 Sahlman, W.A. (2009). Management and the Financial Crisis (We have met the enemy and 52 he is us ...). Harvard Business School, Working Paper 10-033, 1-35. 53 54 Savan, B.: 1989, Beyond Professional Ethics: Issues and Agendas. Journal of Business Ethics 55 56 8, 179-185. 57 58 Schein, E. (1988). Organization Socialization and the profession of management. MIT Sloan 59 Management Review, Fall October, MIT Sloan Management Review website at 60 61 62 63 64 45 65 http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/organizational-socialization-and-the-profession-of- management/ accessed 12 March 2017. 1 2 Segon, M.J. (2010). Managing Organisational Ethics: Professionalism, Duty and HR 3 Practitioners. Journal of Business Systems, Governance and Ethics 4, 13-25. 4 5 6 Siddaway, A. (2015). What is a Systematic Literature Review and how do I do one? 7 University of Stirling, at 8 https://www.stir.ac.uk/media/schools/management/documents/centregradresearch/How%20to 9 %20do%20a%20systematic%20literature%20review%20and%20meta-analysis.pdf accessed 10 2 June 2017. 11 12 13 Spender, J.C. (2007). Management as a Regulated Profession: An Essay. Journal of 14 Management Inquiry. 16, 32-42. 15 16 17 Sternberg, R. J. (1991). Editorial. Psychological Bulletin 109, 3-4. 18 19 Sutton, R. (2007). Why Management is not a profession. Bob Sutton Work Matters web site 20 at http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/09/more-evidence-t.html accessed 20 21 January 2018. 22 23 24 Taylor, G., and Runté, R. (1995). Thinking About Teaching: An Introduction. Harcourt 25 Brace, Toronto. 26 27 28 Thomas. M. (2006). Management: a profession in theory. Management Decision 44(3), 309- 29 315. 30 31 Valentine, S. and Fleischman, G. (2008). Ethics programs, perceived corporate responsibility 32 33 and job satisfaction. Journal of Business Ethics 77(2), 159-172. 34 35 Wall, A. (1998). Ethics and management: oil and water. In S. Dracopoulou, (Ed.), Ethics and 36 Values in Health Care Management, (pp. 13-28). Routledge, London. 37 38 39 Watkins, J. (1999). Conflicting codes: Professional, ethical, and legal obligations in 40 archaeology. Science and 5, 337-345. 41 42 Wilensky, H.L. (1964). The professionalization of everyone. American Journal of Sociology 43 44 1(2), 137-158. 45 46 Winch, C. (2004). What do teachers need to know about teaching? A critical examination of 47 the occupational knowledge of teachers. British Journal of Educational Studies 52(2), 180- 48 196. 49 50 51 Wood, G. and Rimmer, M. 2003. Codes of Ethics: What Are They Really and What Should 52 They Be? International Journal of -Based Management 16, 181–95. 53 54 55 Zadek, S. (2004). The path to corporate responsibility. Harvard Business Review, December 56 125-132. 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 46 65 Figure Click here to access/download;Figure;JOBE_Classification_Profession_Mod

Figure 1: Conceptual Model - Classification of a Profession

INTEGRATION KNOWLEDGE ETHICS FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS

PROPOSITION 2 PROPOSITION 4

A profession requires a A profession must be specific and substantive supported by criteria of intellectual component eligibility to practice of expert knowledge to inclusive of entry underpin expertise in qualifications, practice with that continuing accreditation knowledge applied to requirements which the benefit of the client. include a potential license to practice and stipulated professional code of practice.

PROPOSITION 1 PROPOSITION 5

A profession is A profession must be distinctly different to supported by a an occupation professional association requiring specific or regulatory body the attributes of purpose of which is to qualifications, ensure that members accreditation,I I must fulfilI and standards of expected maintain; entry behaviours and qualifications, practice to be satisfied. continuing accreditation requirements and stipulated professional codes of practice.

PROPOSITION 3 PROPOSITION 6 The knowledge underpinning the A profession must have profession and its an explicit commitment practice must be from its membership to acquired through serve the interest of formal qualifications to society by contributing maintain universally to the common good accepted standards of and not exploiting the practitioner opportunities inherent competence in base in the power of knowledge, skill sets professional expertise and professional for personal or self- behaviours and interest. attitudes to serve clients and related stakeholders.