August 21, 2010 – Winnipeg Free Press – Barbara Bowes – Canada
Many occupational groups are regulated by associations that don’t have the legislative teeth to properly protect the public.
The earliest professions of law, medicine and divinity are sometimes known as the “true” professions. Over the years, these occupational groups have been joined by others, such as accountants, engineers, pharmacists, nurses, dentists and, more recently, social workers.
What a so-called “true” profession means is that certain professional associations are regulated by legislation or statute. This legislation or law gives the organization the power to set competency requirements and to license members who qualify as professionals under their guidelines. This also gives the professional association the right to formally discipline its members and to decertify them from practising, if need be.
However, over the past number of years, the government has been reluctant to legislate other occupational groups such as those in the social and human sciences, as well as several of the business fields.
This means that human resource professionals, project managers, business consultants, executive coaches and/or management consultants do not have any authority under law. Yes, they can prevent membership and decertify an individual, but they cannot prevent people from practising in their fields. In other words, they cannot afford the protection to the public that the regulated and legislated associations can offer.
So how are these occupational groups attempting to overcome this dilemma?
First of all, the associations attempt to “professionalize” through other means, such as developing specialized education and experience requirements, offering examinations leading to certification either provincially or nationally and developing codes of ethics for members. All of these efforts are combined with public relations initiatives that strive to develop a sense of trustworthiness and altruism. Read story.
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