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The Case for Behavioral Professionalism in Leadership

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Professionalizing Leadership

Abstract

It is neither appropriate nor practical for leadership/management to become a profession. In this chapter I distinguish between professionalization of a field, for which institutions restrict access to practice, and behavioral professionalism , for which the responsibility is within the individual (Weidner and Kulick, “The Professionalization of Organization Development: A Status Report and Look to the Future.” In Research in Organization Change and Development . Stamford, CT: JAI Press, 1999; Maister, True Professionalism: The Courage to Care About Your Clients, Your People, and Your Career. New York: Free Press, 1997 ). While many occupations have made the successful transition to becoming a profession, leadership/management is not a distinct occupation. Although leadership may meet the threshold of criticality necessary to be considered a profession, mistaking the field as a profession-in-waiting disregards the wide diffusion of leaders in an array of formal and informal organizations. In such dissimilar settings, all individuals can practice and attain behavioral professionalism; individuals in formal leadership positions can strive to make behavioral professionalism normative within their organizations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For consistency, throughout this chapter I use “client” or “clients” to refer to the recipient of professional services; when referring to medical professions, “client” is a proxy for “patients.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    C. Ken Weidner II

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  1. C. Ken Weidner II
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nord University, Bodø, Norway

    Anders Örtenblad

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Weidner, C.K. (2018). The Case for Behavioral Professionalism in Leadership. In: Örtenblad, A. (eds) Professionalizing Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71785-2_9

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