Professionalism in Practices: A Preliminary Study on Malaysian Public Universities

Abstract

Despite the revolution of the management aspect worldwide, many changes have been noticed to give an impact to work outcomes which is associated with quality workers. Changes in technology, political unrest and financial uncertainties become the facts of life. These factors and other elements make conflict unavoidable for individuals as well as an organization. Towards that, most of the occupational groups are engage in an ongoing professionalization process. However, the efforts are always met with only limited success. By focusing on the public university in Malaysia, this study contributes to the minimal research on professionalism that exists in the context of public sector employees. Attempts are made to explore the practice of professionalism dimensions using a modification of Hall’s Professionalism scale. The dimensions include professional community affiliation, social obligation, belief in self regulation, dedication to the profession and demands for autonomy. There were 239 participants from public universities in the east coast of Malaysia involved in the study. The findings revealed that a demand for autonomy is the essential need among academicians in practicing their professionalism at the workplace. In addition, participants scored relatively high on two other dimensions including professional community affiliation and social obligation. Contrary to expectations, the lowest rating scored was dedications to profession. Finally, it is hope that results of the findings will be able to assist a university and related authorities in regard with employment relation especially to avoid dysfunctional work outcomes among employees. Perhaps, it may be wise to take it into account in order to manage the negative impact of the job attitudes that may influence the quality of human capital in the public sector.