Claude Balthazard, Ph.D., C.Psych., CHRL. Vice-president Regulatory Affairs and Registrar Human Resources Professionals Association

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2 Claude Balthazard, Ph.D., C.Psych., CHRL Vice-president Regulatory Affairs and Registrar Human Resources Professionals Association 2

3 Office of the Registrar 2018 Fall Understanding Regulation series Thursday, November 1, 2018 Thursday, November 6, 2018 The Professional Liability Insurance Requirement Explained Professionalism

4 On-demand webinars Our previously aired Understanding Regulation and How-to webinar series can be found on the Regulatory Webinars page of our website. Listen to recording Download the power point slides View the Questions & Answers 5

5 Housekeeping Webinar will be recorded and posted online Webinar is eligible for CPD CPD code will be set with the post-webinar survey Post answers to questions that we could not answer in the webinar

6 Questions Involving Specific Individual Circumstances Not the appropriate place and time to address specific individual circumstances Sometimes the correct answer depends on some details that are not provided with the question Please contact the Office of the Registrar with questions involving specific individual circumstances

7 Poll In your opinion, how professional are Human Resources professionals? Most are very professional, with some rare exceptions The majority are professional, but there are a lot of exceptions It is about fifty/fifty There are a lot of professional HR professionals, but there seems to be a lot more that aren t Truly professional HR professionals are the exception

8 Agenda What is professionalism? Some interesting work on professionalism The development of professional identity

9 Professionalism and the protection of the public The most important component in the protection of the public is the professionalism of the members of the profession One of the key things that HRPA must do is to foster, encourage, promote professionalism

10 What does it mean to be a professional? Being professional (adjective) and being a professional (noun) are not the same Some professionals act in a manner that is not professional, and some non-professionals behave in a professional manner Getting paid for doing what one does is not enough

11 Professionalism (Sociologists) Professionalism referring to institutions How the profession is organized (Non-sociologists) Professionalism referring to individuals The attitudes, values, and behaviours of members of the profession

12 Ten elements of professionalism The Chief Justice of Ontario Advisory Committee on Professionalism listen ten elements of professionalism for lawyers: Scholarship Integrity Honour Leadership Independence Pride Spirit and enthusiasm Civility and collegiality Service Balanced commercialism

13 CIPD has been doing some interesting work on professionalism in the last few years It is part of their Profession for the Future strategy The first research report was published in October 2015 This first report was followed up by a second report published just a few weeks ago in January 2017

14 Key themes of CIPD s work on professionalism The CIPD research on professionalism pulls together a number of important themes: Gap between professed ethics and actual behaviour Business partner v. professional role Professionalism and the process of professionalization Professional identity formation

15 CIPD s starting point: The movement for better business The movement for better business is focused on advocating ethical capitalism, where profits are important but not the only outcome at the expense of workers and society There is a critical role for the HR profession of the future to play, by developing its expertise in human and organizational behaviour and using that to help create business solutions that have lasting benefits for all stakeholders Although competence is important, it is ethics that sets us apart from non-professional occupations

16 advancing the concept of professionalism brings ethical behaviour to the world of business. In short, making a commitment to a profession involves taking on ethical responsibilities that require rejecting a strictly selfish commercial view. Duska, R., Duska, B., and Ragatz, J. (2011). Accounting as a profession: Characteristics of a profession. In Duska, R., Duska, B., and Ragatz, J. (Eds.). Accounting ethics (2 nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

17 Re-sequenced What is professionalism? (2015) the use of specialist, expert knowledge necessary to perform a particular type of work or role the use of knowledge for the good of the society, implying an ethical responsibility a renewed focus on trust has highlighted the importance of situational judgement as key to professional behaviour Through the combination of their expertise and ethical responsibility professionals enjoy a degree of trust to carry out their services and are granted a unique right of practice and an authority to make decisions in line with their professional judgement

18 The gap is the issue Situational judgment is the term CIPD has coined to refer to the combination of competence and ethics in making decisions The ability to apply situational judgment and demonstrate moral integrity are what sets them [professionals] apart as professionals, and are important characteristics in helping organizations create long-term sustainability while HR practitioners and business leaders want to make ethical decisions, in some circumstances they either deprioritize ethics or do not feel able to apply ethical principles in practice. CIPD calls this the gap between ambition to uphold ethical values and actual practice

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21 The bigger picture: Professionalization and professionalism Professionalisation can be viewed as a gradual process, since professional techniques usually develop gradually before professions attain the highest levels of professional status. It has therefore been suggested that professionalism should be perceived as a scale or continuum, rather than as a cluster of characteristics. We [CIPD] developed a checklist of the elements of professionalism as we understand it today for the CIPD s 2015 report; this model was based on a literature review of the evolution of professions.

22 CIPD Elements of professionalism (2017) Element of professionalism Body of expert knowledge and skills Social legitimacy Ethical responsibility Self-regulation Identity Situational judgement Service orientation Continuing professional development Description Based on specialised training or education Occupational status the expertise of the professional group acquires authority The use of knowledge for the good of society The prescription of standards of performance A common identity within the professional community and a sense of loyalty to fellow practitioners Applying expertise to specific circumstances, while often resolving conflicts of interest between multiple stakeholders; drawing on both knowledge and ethical competence The importance of trust and quality of service in professional relationships with clients A requirement to regularly update expert knowledge and invest in maintaining the level of professional skill

23 Closing the gap For HR to deliver on its promise, for HR to progress along the path of professionalization, and for HR to be considered a true profession, HR is going to have to close the gap between ambition to uphold ethical values and actual practice But the gap is based on something deeper a role conflict

24 The fundamental paradox There is a fundamental paradox that characterises HR professionalism: alignment with business strategy lies at the heart of the majority of HR roles, while one of the key attributes of a profession is the ownership of standards that not only go beyond, but actually override, those of the organisation. In search of power, status, and legitimacy, HR professionals have simultaneously pursued two different strategies

25 Two alternative strategies for the profession to achieve greater status, influence, and achievement Business partner strategy By aligning ourselves with senior management and become really useful in moving forward the organization s strategy, we will be valued by senior management and get greater status, influence, and power. Professionalization strategy By becoming a true profession (with or without state recognition), we would have the respectability and clout to command respect and get greater status, influence, and power.

26 Kochan (2004) The human resource management profession faces a crisis of trust and a loss of legitimacy in the eyes of its major stakeholders. The two-decade effort to develop a new strategic human resource management role in organizations has failed to realize its promised potential of greater status, influence, and achievement. To meet contemporary and future workplace challenges, HRM professionals will need to redefine their role and professional identity to advocate and support a better balance between employer and employee interests at work.

27 Role conflict Many HR professionals experience role conflict There are different reactions to the role conflict Some experience it more than other Some prefer to minimize the conflict

28 Identification Organizational identification Professional identification Business partner role Professional role

29 Professional identity While HR professionals like to think of themselves as professionals, in actuality their level of identification with the profession is not as strong as it should be HR professionals have a slightly stronger sense of identification with the organization than with the profession. When under pressure from the business, organizational identity may take precedence over professional identity for HR practitioners, which could provide some explanation for the gap between ambition to uphold ethical values and actual practice.

30 Enhancing professional identity As identification strengthens, people are more likely to internalise the values of the profession, and behave in ways that are consistent with its norms This suggests that the more someone identifies with their profession and its values, the more likely they are to demonstrate behaviours that are aligned with those professional values

31 CIPD s line of argument Professionalization means moving towards greater levels of professionalism this defines the profession for the future This means a greater emphasis on the ethical dimensions of HR practice To do this, we need to resolve the role conflict by giving primacy to the professional role To do this, we need to strengthen professional identification

32 How does it fit with HRPA? As it turns out, by going for statutory self-regulation, HRPA and its members did make a commitment to put professionalism first (which was the intention of the Legislature) Let s see how this works

33 HRPA s Mission and mandate are part of a deal The profession agreed to create and maintain a professional regulatory body which mission and mandate is to manage the profession in the public interest Give to Get The extraordinary privilege of self-regulation (with all its consequential benefits for the profession and its members)

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40 Questions Suggestions for webinar topics? Feedback?