Hari's Corner

Being a professionally qualified individual myself, I think it is fair to say that most of us have some reasonable expectations of what we want from our jobs. I think it all boils down to the following aspects:

1. Expectation of proper, proportionate reward in return for the application of expertise to solving problems. The reward may be a combination of job satisfaction, recognition and also monetary and material compensation.
2. Reasonable independence of thought and action in following a career path, subject of course to the guidance of experts and more knowledgeable professionals in the field.
3. Lack of restraints on our working environment and the flexibility to work within our comfort zone, subject of course to the inevitable deadlines and time constraints.
4. An aversion to close or constant supervision by colleagues or superiors.

Of course, some of these points also apply to non-professionals but I think professionals are a bit more sensitive on these points, particularly the last two. I think most of us are far more interested in the quality of the actual job we do than on the peripheral aspects of how it is done. The difference, I think, between professionally qualified folk and the rest, is that we professionals actually prefer to determine these parameters on the basis of a considered judgement formed of collective experience, norms and standards set out by the larger community of the particular profession rather than those determined by the immediate boss.

In return for these perquisities, professionally qualified people have a greater degree of responsibility and answerable to not just clients or immediate superiors, but also to the profession and society at large, which may in some cases, also include a legal duty to adhere to a code of conduct as in the case of practising lawyers/advocates.