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The other day while i was having dinner with an old pal, our talk veered towards ethics. Most of our talk was revolved around personal/individual ethics. As it turned out we both had different words for the same thing. I called it professionalism and he called it good ethics. The point in question was a trivial one,
Company WorkHard has employed Rahul on a permanent basis. His contract expects him to work for a stipulated amount of 9*5 days per week. His contractual obligation ends the moment the clock strikes 6 pm. His managers are reasonable rational human beings and have never ever put undue pressure on Rahul. His work has been deemed to be satisfactory and there is no course of discontent amongst his supervisors regarding his performance so far.
Rahul has target for a client of WorkHard for this particular Monday. Due to the work overload, he won’t be able to finish the work by 6.00pm, the time he is generally heads off for home. It really is not much of a critical deliverable (in workhard’s view) as the company does not really care much about this particular customer as it makes the least amount of money from this client. Rahul’s supervisor has specifically told him to look into this client only after he is through with the rest, meaning in a priority list, this client figures at the bottom.
Rahul has a date and he has been really looking forward to spending the evening with her, he hasn’t met her in a few weeks. He knows that his supervisors won’t skin him for ditching this particular client.
Rahul decides to cancel his date and work on his deliverable to this particular client.
Question: Is this his professionalism or his ethics?
Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big
Definitions
pro·fes·sion·al·ism
[pruh-fesh-uh-nl-iz-uh
m]
1. professional character, spirit, or methods.
2. the standing, practice, or methods of a professional, as distinguished from an amateur. eth·ic
A set of principles of right conduct.
A theory or a system of moral values: “An ethic of service is at war with a craving for gain” (Gregg Easterbrook).
ethics (used with a sing. verb) The study of the general nature of morals and of the specific moral choices to be made by a person; moral philosophy.
ethics (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession: medical ethics.source dictionary.reference.com
I do not think i would have really needed to examine the meaning of the two words but i have to insist here, so that it’s ‘clear’ to everyone what iam trying to convey here. Ethics by it’s very nature, is intangible while the other is tanglible. Professionalism seems to be a child of good ethics.
Logically a manager/leader can never hope to reach high standards or be a complete professional unless he has a good ethical system in place. Professionalism stems from good ethics, better the ethic, better is the professional. This theory can also be extrapolated to organizations.
An organization without a good work-ethic in place can never hope to achieve high professional standards. Reaching milestones is an ethic, not cutting corners in reaching that milestone is an ethic. Completing them on time is professionalism.Effective and timely completion of an activity is professionalism; motivation to do so, is an ethic.
Great organizations are separated from good organizations by their work ethics. It’s the difference between a WOW and Good Enough!
What Rahul did was in line with his work ethic, he showed no disparity amongst any of the clients and stayed back late to complete an assignment. This also speaks much about his professionalism, dedication to his work and his passion. In an ideal world his managers would have rewarded him with a day off but thats another discussion.
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