Yes - came across a very fascinating paper by Ashish Nanda, Associate Professor at Harvard on the subject of professional associations/professions 'Evolution of public reputation of a profession'.
The reason it's fascinating is how Nanda describes the evolution and reputation of a profession. In it he proposes that practitioners are one of three types: 'Idealists' - who are true belivers attracted by the profession's calling (the internal 'good' that the practice offers) and will stay faithful to the profession no matter the reputation.
The 'Committed professionals'. They are attracted by the status and satisfaction offered by the profession. Social mobility, personal career growth thyrough membership is a big driver. Committed professionals practice in accordance with the profession's norms and value its reputation. Idealists and Committed professionals increase the profession's goodwill.
Then there's the 'Rent seekers' who seek primarily personal gain even at the expense of destroying public goodwill of the profession........Nanda uses the term 'infected' when it comes to rent seekers and the pillaging over time of professional goodwill........As you may have guessed Rent-seekers are more 'fly by night' in nature.
Of course. It's not that simple as Nanda says that each professional practitioner is effectively a mix of all three but there will be a dominant type.
What's even more fascinating is the model he puts forward is also underpinned with some higher order maths that model the dynamics of a profession over time.
Applying the conceptual model to the HR profession is an interesting exercise (cursory only here).
First of all, his description of a profession's attributes immediately points to the fact that against this model the HR 'profession' is quasi-professional at best (a point I have made earlier but without the model). So collectively we need to understand the differences.
Nanda's work draws heavily on medicine and law. From an HR profession, one needs to make a few adjustments.
For instance, there are several classes of 'Idealists' depending on the individuals driver (see the recent diversity/equality body argument for example).
Thus we have several different 'Idealists' types. Committed professional class is ok (notwithstanding the different driver focus as just explained). And I can't argue with the Rent-seeking.
In fact it was when reading the 'Rent-seeking' definition that a rather large light-bulb lit up. I have been struggling for some time to understand the conflicts and behaviours of the HR 'profession' and HR function. Now it becomes clear.
The profession/function isn't so much infected but plagued by 'Rent-seekers'. Once you see it you see it everywhere and it's quite disturbing. It sure explains an awful lot. It's why there's such a volume of PR going on (both individual and organisational reasons). The problem is I'm not sure if Rent-seekers see themselves as 'Rent-seekers', particularly at senior level?
There are some other interesting observations but which are not suitable for entry on this blog. You may find an interesting correlation with my earlier blog comments 'Why case study mania is ruining the HR profession?'
Next time you interact with a HR practitioner whether in situ or external advisor ask yourself what type of practitioner attributes is displayed by he or she? Its can be very enlightening.
As for me, I've realised I've got far more professional 'Idealist' tendencies than I thought alongside my 'Committed practitioner' behaviour.
But more importantly, ask yourself what's your mix? 'Idealist', 'Committed professional' or 'Rent-seeker'?
As a 'profession', the old adage 'Heal thyself' seems to have increasing connectivity......
Comments (2)
Dear Nicholas,
can you give the link to the paper? this topic is very interesting.
in my opinion,there are many factor that affect a practitioner to become the three types above.
thanks before.
Ayah Faiz
Posted by Ayah Faiz | May 30, 2008 7:59 AM
Posted on May 30, 2008 07:59
NJH responds:
Hi Ayah
The link is to Harvard Business School Publishing - quickest way is to google Harvard Business online....
Posted by Nicholas Higgins
|
May 30, 2008 8:57 AM
Posted on May 30, 2008 08:57