Professionalism is almost always viewed in a positive sense, with it typically associated with things such as integrity and sound judgment.  Research from Cambridge Judge Business School suggests, however, that it can have a dark side to it as well.

The paper demonstrates that a high self-concept of professionalism often exists alongside a much shallower notion of the idea that suggests that professionals are better able to self-regulate than non-professionals.  This can often result in more instances of unethical behavior.

“The conclusion of the study is that ‘professionalism’ in the workplace has too often relied only on cultivating certain intrinsic values, and this has come at the expense of policies and other extrinsic controls,” the researchers say.  “This approach may actually have a contrary effect to the higher standards that the word ‘professionalism’ is designed to connote.”

A more rounded view

The study was initiated in order to examine the assumptions that portray professionalism in a purely positive light.  The authors hypothesized that as we don’t really know how people who regard themselves as highly professional actually behave, we don’t know if there are any negative connotations attached to the term.

“The current view on professionalism in organizations is one-sided and thus limited, as it views professionalism only as a desirable trait,” they explain.

“Contrary to this view, we argue that a high sense of professionalism can have a counterintuitive effect, by which it can lead to greater bias and unethical behavior. This can cause dysfunctional behavior in organizations and lead to negative outcomes.”

Protecting against harm

The researchers provide a two-stage model to help organizations and individuals safeguard against any possible conflicts of interest.  The first is to obviously decline any gifts offered in order to prevent any possible feelings of reciprocity in the future.  The second part is to neutralize the influence after accepting any gifts.

When we have a high sense of professionalism, however, we can often be blinded to such conflicts of interest.  Indeed, the more professional we believe ourselves to be, the more likely we are to accept gifts because we are confident that we won’t be unduly influenced by them.

“We need a different way to ‘professionalize’ our work environments,” the researchers conclude. “Norms of professionalism should not be about the self-perceived ability to self-regulate, mitigate favoritism, and eliminate bias (which is often unobservable and out of conscious control) but about observable repeated behaviors and a deep understanding of the concept.”