Ethiopian Public Administration,

Governance and Ethics

Unit 6
Concepts of Professionalism

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 Guiding Questions
• What do we mean by profession, professional
and professionalism?
• What are the characteristics of
professionalpublic service andpublicservant?
• Why professionalism?
• How should professional client relationship
be?
• What about professionalism in Ethiopian
public service?
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 Contents
1.The meaning of profession, professionals and
professionalism.
2.The characteristics of professional civil
services/servant
3.The Rational behind Professionalization
4.The merits of professionalism
5.Model of professional- client relationship
6.Professionalism in Ethiopianpublicservice

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 1. The meaning of Profession, Professionals and
Professionalism
Profession
• Is often used synonymously with occupation.
• Refers to a recognized type of work like to be a
teacher, a judge, etc.
• When issues of profession is raised, we try to
associate it with:
- High social status: due to the profession that one
has.
- Education: Someone to be a professional, he/she has
to be educated

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 The meaning of Profession, …
- Expertise: is a kind of skill
• Even if somebody does not have much of
education, if he/she is capable of handling
something, based on that expertise, we say
this person is of this kind profession.
- Identity: as occupational group is also another
connotation of profession.
- We may identify oneself with teacher, doctor,
etc.
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 The meaning of Profession, …
Professional: refers to the person not the field
of study.
• A professional is therefore,
- An educated and trained person,
- competent
- Motivated
- Impartial and
- dedicated to serving the public interest

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 The meaning of Profession, …
Professionalism: refers to:
• Meticulous/careful adherence to undeviating/lasting
– courtesy
– honesty (to be truthful towards our customers) and
– responsibility
Therefore, the careful adherence of the above three
point is what makes a professional to be called as
practicing professional or doing in professional manner.
This is actually required whenever we have a dealings
with citizens or customers.

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 The meaning of Profession, …
• a level of excellence that goes over and above
the commercial considerations and legal
requirements.
• behaving in an ethical manner while assuming
and fulfilling your rightful responsibilities in
every situation every time, without fail.
• employee’s behavior that involves the need to
improve, reinforce, update ones own
knowledge, skills and enhance his/her output.
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 2. The Characteristics of Professional Civil
Service/Servant

Commitment to
Continuous learning

Mastery of Ability to create

theoretical Professional knowledge as well
knowledge as to possess it
competences

Enthusiasm & Applying

Capacity to solve
Commitment to theoretical
problems
Customers knowledge to
practice

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3. The Rational behind Professionalization

Why Professionalize the public Service?

• A need to adherence to some values (the
worth of something) and professionalization
brings about developing those values and
requirement to put on the public servant to
adhere to those values.
• A need to have highest professional quality
and behavior.

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 The Rational behind …

• Public servants should be:

1. neutral, impartial, fair, competent, and serve
the public interest.
2. To be like this, there must be attitudinal
change by persons, and structural change in
the civil service.

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 4. The Merits of Professionalism
Benefits of professionalizing:
• Enhance Efficiency and Effectiveness which was said
absent in then Ethiopian Civil service
• Resistant to political Change.
-Even if political parties with their policies may
change over and over again, thepublicservice has to
be stable.
• As opposed to resistance to political changes, we
have to have public service that adapting to
organizational changes. It is a necessary condition
to survival.
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 The Merits of Professionalism …
• Professionalization is also an intangible asset or
good will. Serving in a public service, do have
value for persons.
• Attract FDI(Foreign Direct Investment)
-If the civil service is professionalized,
appropriate persons are assigned on
appropriate jobs.
-This may create conducive environment for
investors to come and invest or generate
employment
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 5. Models of professional- Client relationship
• Different models show the relationship b/n
professionals and clients. How professionals
are related to clients.
‘Who makes what decision?’ Shall the
professionals be given 100% authority to
decide on the fate of the client or the client
shall decide on everything and the
professionals works only as a hired gun?
Or should they relate to each other in such a
way that they mutually work?
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 Models of professional- Client relationship …

• Therefore, models of professional relationship

is about configurations of authority and
responsibility of both parties.
• By configuration, we mean greater authority
to climb and lesser to professional and vice
versa or equal authoritarian responsibility to
those parties

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 Models of professional- Client relationship …

• This finally determines the manner of ultimate

service delivery. How is going to be delivered?
• Let us see the different approaches or
configurations of authoritarian responsibility.

Agency Friendship Paternalism/Fiduciary

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 Models of professional- Client relationship …

•The first classification is the issue of agency

where the professional does not have much say
in the decision.
-Rather the professional works as an agent.
-Greater power responsibility and authority is
given to the client.
-When we subtract some power or authority
from the customer or client, the responsibility
and authority of the professionals is improved.
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 Models of professional- Client relationship …

- Then, this is friendship approach

• Again, there is also another approach that is the
direct opposite of agency known as paternalistic
or fiduciary approach.
• In paternalism or fiduciary, as opposed to agency,
most of the power and responsibility is given to
professionals.
- the client is only somebody who has to accept
what the professional is going to do.

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 Models of professional- Client relationship …
I) Agency Model
• The client has most of the authority and
responsibility for decisions.
• The professional is an expert acting at the direction
of the client.
• The client hires a professional to protect or act for
some interest and the professional has to wait until
he/she is told by the client.
• The professional provides services to achieve the
client's goal.

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 Models of professional- Client relationship …
• Therefore, we can simply compare this to
bureaucratic employer-employee relationships or
autocratic where,
- the where, the what, the when and the how to
be done is mostly determine by the client and the
professional does not have any much power
except acting as mouth piece .

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 Models of professional- Client relationship …
II) Friendship Model
• As the name indicates, the two parties, the
professional and the client acts like friends.
• Close relationship of mutual trust and cooperation.
• Involved in mutual venture, partnerships.
• Power does not tilt to any one of the sides but rather
authority and responsibility is equally shared.
• In this case, the implementation is as such not very
simple because there may not be easy for the two
parties to equally share responsibility and authority
in getting something done for the client.
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 Models of professional- Client relationship …

• But here, the theoretical demarcation is that,

there must be close relationship between
mutual trust and cooperation and the client
plays some role and the professional plays
another role.
• The role is going to be classified as per the
capability of each party. E.g., the doctor and
patient relationship.

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 Models of professional- Client relationship …

iii) Fiduciary
• This puts greater power in the hands of the
professional but not as extreme as paternalism.
• Both parties are responsible and their judgments
given consideration but whose interest be given
priority is what makes fiduciary different from
paternalism.
• Because one party is in a more advantageous
position, he or she has special obligations to the
other.

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 Models of professional- Client relationship …
• The weaker party depends upon the stronger in
ways in which the other does not and so must trust
the stronger party.
• A client has more authority and responsibility in
decision making than in the paternalistic model but
You can’t expect greater power as in the case of
agency
- Because in fiduciary approach, the party that is
expected to have more advantageous position is the
professional but professional can not arrive at the
right solution for the customer.
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 Models of professional- Client relationship …

• So, here, there is a need for one party which is

proved to be weaker to depend on the
capability of the stronger party so that better
solution to the problem, better service would be
offered at the end.

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 Models of professional- Client relationship …
IV) Paternalism
• Paternalism is the extreme side or the direct opposite
of agency where greater or complete power is in the
hands of the professional.
• Here, it is a kind of parent-child relationship.
-For example, think how you treat children at home.
You think that children do not know anything, then you
do not trust them. You do not give them challenging
tasks. Or if you give them, you closely follow them up.
• Parents exercise judgment on behalf of children. So
that is professional.
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• Professional thinks as if he has knowledge and
experience that a client lacks something, and is
hired to further the client's interests.
• So, you do not actually leave any power or
authority for somebody who think lacks certain
knowledge and comes to you because you are the
knowledgeable person.
• You are the experienced and capable person.
Then as professional, you exercise paternalism like
what parents exercise on behalf of their children.
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• The professional is to some extent in a superior
position to the client and paternalistic conduct is
actually determined on the basis of how much
somebody needs to act on behalf of the other.
• The greater the degree of ones own need to act on
behalf of somebody else, the greater is going to be
the degree of paternalistic concerning the
professional client relationship.

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 6. Professionalism in Ethiopianpublicservice
• The history of civil service in Ethiopia dates back to
1960s when actually the CPA was introduced with its
backing policies, theories and philosophies.
• When CPA is established, it was to administer
government employees, the civil service started to
operate and we will see actually what CPA has
brought to Ethiopian civil service since then and the
different developments that have so far been made.
• The CPA was structured in line with the bureaucratic
principles.

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 Professionalism in Ethiopianpublicservice…
• These beaurcratic principles actually require a strictly
defined hierarchy governed by clearly defined
regulations and lines of authority, which demands:
– specialization of tasks;
– appointment on merit;
– provision of career opportunities for members;
– standardization of activities; and
–a rational impersonal organizational climate.
( organizations should not detect persons by name,
race, religion, etc).

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 Professionalism in Ethiopianpublicservice…
• An organization which only accept and rejects
employees based on their merit and to create such
kinds of organization is very much in the best interest
of civil service.
• So, we can avoid nepotism, favoritism and then to have
the right person on the right position. Through this,
things done efficiently and effectively.
Factors eroding professionalism in Ethiopia
• Backward beliefs and attitudes in the civil service.
There is no good ground in terms of thinking ahead
and becoming proactive about ones own responsibility
and duty to be change sensitive.
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• This can be best manifested in the thinking that
the we and the they attitude.
- The attitude of persons as “we are the
professionals and they are politicians. And a kind
of polarizing and dividing the organization into
two.
- Two parts but working in the system and may be
for the same goals.
- lack of sense of ownership
- This has to be avoided.
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• When the politician dictates the solution that
requires professional involvement, the
professional becomes neutral on the situation
and then this has something to do with the we
and the they attitude.
• When the politician interferes in the work of
the professional again, this is also from
political perspective.

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• The politicians interferes in the work of the
professionals, the professional becomes frustrated,
anxious and then finally decide to withdraw and try
to develop the attitude that we previously raised.
• When the professional resists political decision.
Political decisions are actually made for some
change that has to come regarding especially the
vision for the country.
• Salary which does not satisfy the basic personal
need is another problem that works against
professionalization.
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• In general, let us put professionals and politicians side
by side and see how they see each other and finally
how their view of each other can work towards
hindering the professionalization of Ethiopian Civil
service.
Professional Vs Politician
• Professionals by the eyes of politicians:
1. They resists change.
2.The Civil Servants are there to fulfill the strategic
objective of the government. No more no less.
3.Wants to interfere in my political work.
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•So, if I am a politician, and thinking like this, I will
not trust the professionals. I always keep an eye on
him/her. I do not leave them free so that they can
be creative, they can be committed, they can be
self-confident. They can contribute for execution of
whatever they execute in a better way.
The Politician in the eyes of the Civil Service
• He is a Politician and doesn’t know how to run a
Civil Service.
• He is a simple appointee. He/she is not hired
based on merit.
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• He is here to interfere in my work. I am a
professional, I know what I do. So, why should
I be told by a politician?
• They think as if the politicians are recruited
because of their affiliations to politics.
Professionals do not think politicians are
recruited based on their merit.

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• Again they also think that changes are introduced
and implemented as a result of political decision
rather than as a result of research.
• Sentimental and short sighted: Wants to see
results quick, thinks always about his political
goal.
• He/she thinks always about his political goal. No
benefit to citizen.
• Wants to make as busy, increase work load, in the
name of change.

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Finally, as a student, think about your view of
the professionals if you are politicians and
correct it and do not think as it is put here.
Likewise, check you view of the politicians if you
are professionals.

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Thank
You