![](https://addisfortune.news/wp-content/themes/addis-fortune/images/defaultPhots/fortuneNews.jpg)
Fortune News | Aug 15,2022
Aug 13 , 2022
By Halima Abate (MD)
Public sector professionals operate under unique political and legal obligations, with greater public scrutiny of their actions and a duty to address public problems. So it could be impossible for them to bring this sense of public services responsibility into their roles as members with respect to their professional association.
Definitions of professions usually contain two attributes in particular: the first is the idea that a profession is built around a substantial body of theory and knowledge, which must be continuously tested, revised, and expanded. The second attribute deals with constantly pursuing new or revalidated knowledge that results from research efforts in the field or from related fields that can bring professional development.
It is clear that professional associations play an essential role in educating, credentialing, and advocating public services such as health, education, and law enforcement. They can produce public benefits through associations and promulgate institutional rules and norms of conduct that can elevate the quality of the professional workforce. They set up ethical standards for personnel, build social capital among members, and support their civic connectedness. Besides, their participation can also expose professionals to radically different perspectives and encourage tolerance for diversity in addressing much more significant public administration challenges, including effective public performance management.
Professional development will be used as a general term that encompasses a wide range of educational opportunities - from annual conferences, to local or regional workshops, to self-paced instructional materials for individualised learning. If a professional association can demonstrate active involvement in research efforts and professional development, one can make a case for the value that association gives to that profession in general and to its members in particular.
Despite their diversity, most associations hold in common three characteristics: a dues-paying membership base, tax-exempt status, and a mission focused on some collective action. The values guiding public employees are often described holistically as “public service ethos,” defined as a commitment to the values of accountability, collegiality, integrity, impartiality, organisational citizenship behaviour, loyalty, equality, and dedication to a public rather than a private interest. While an association’s longevity and the level of activity among its members can be used as measures of value, other ways of determining value exist.
Undeniably, public sector workers' membership in professional associations can exert a powerful external influence on public organisations’ behaviour and structure, especially with bureaucracies' tendency to mimic other bureaucracies. And there are blames on an increasingly professionalised management for holding the professional association aloof from public accountability, and a destructive influence on the public sphere. This brings up the original formulation of professional associations under question, whether to avail any value to their members or the profession at large.
The associations’ members can only answer as to whether they receive any value for the resources each one commits to these professional groups. The “upside” would be that most of us would have a bit more discretionary income, since we would not be paying dues to one or more organisations or having to come up with all or part of conference expenses. The fact that there would be no more conferences means that more of us would be able to attend meetings and workshops that would be sponsored and likely held on a local or regional basis, making them somewhat easier to attend. A contribution to the profession along these lines would be welcome.
Are professional associations valuable?
Ultimately, this question can only be answered by the associations’ members as to whether they receive any value for the resources each commits to these professional groups. However, professional associations should serve their members as a platform for promoting public values to the highest values of lawfulness, incorruptibility, and impartiality in a democratic society.
PUBLISHED ON
Aug 13,2022 [ VOL
23 , NO
1163]
Fortune News | Aug 15,2022
Fortune News | Jul 08,2023
Fortune News | Jul 03,2024
Fortune News | Aug 12,2023
Radar | Nov 27,2023
Radar | Jul 29,2023
Fortune News | Feb 14,2024
Fortune News | Aug 12,2023
Agenda | Jul 09,2022
Fortune News | May 27,2023
My Opinion | 108821 Views | Aug 14,2021
My Opinion | 105219 Views | Aug 21,2021
My Opinion | 104030 Views | Sep 10,2021
My Opinion | 103320 Views | Aug 07,2021
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Investors who rely on tractors, trucks, and field vehicles for commuting, transportin...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
The cracks in Ethiopia's higher education system were laid bare during a synthesis re...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Construction authorities have unveiled a price adjustment implementation manual for s...
Jul 13 , 2024
The banking industry is experiencing a transformative period under the oversight of N...
Jul 20 , 2024
In a volatile economic environment, sudden policy reversals leave businesses reeling...
Jul 13 , 2024
Policymakers are walking a tightrope, struggling to generate growth and create millio...
Jul 7 , 2024
The federal budget has crossed a symbolic threshold, approaching the one trillion Bir...
Jun 29 , 2024
In a spirited bid for autonomy, the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), under its younge...
Jul 21 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Mayor Adanech Abebie's Administration faced an audit report that unveiled a startling...
Jul 21 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Brook Taye (PhD), director general of the Ethiopian Capital Market Authority, has tak...
Jul 21 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Ethiopia's horticulture, a major source of foreign currency and employment, is facing...
Jul 21 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Commercial banks are now permitted to acquire equity shares in capital market service...