Rethinking the Roles of Professionalism and Administrative Acts in Organisations

Given Ramajoe

doi:10.5171/2015.524695

Abstract

Organisations depend on the administrative process to carry out their goals and objectives, for the purposes of competitiveness and sustainability. As such, administrative functions are considered to be critical in the organisations. Hence, many organisations have little or no “room” for the malfunctioning of their administrative activities. There are a number of challenges that organisations encounter, one of the most critical of the challenges is to align employees’ interest with the organisational values and goals. This happens at both public and private organisations, at different levels of the organisational structure. The challenges of administrative process are inevitably associated to workplace Professionalism, which has become a fundamental factor for cultural built and prerequisite for Organisational success or failure. Some Organisations are aware of the administrative challenges, and others are not. Of those Organisations that are aware of the challenges, some of them do not seem to understand the gravity and depth of the impact it has on their growth, sustainability and competitiveness. Also, some of the organisations experience difficulty in attempt to manage the professional and administrative challenges within their environment. This is the motivation for this study. This paper presents the result from an interpretive case study, and the framework that was developed. The aim of the framework, Managing Professionalism and Administrative Framework (MPAF) is to guide managers and other employees in the management of professional acts and administrative activities in their Organisations.

Highlights

In many organisations, employees and employers rely on interaction and communication to carry out their professional and administrative roles and responsibilities, in achieving common goals and objectives
This paper presents the result from an interpretive case study, and the framework that was developed
The quantitative research method was used in this study to determine the extent to which public and private Organisations adhere to the components of professionalism in their administrative environments

Summary

Introduction

Employees and employers rely on interaction and communication to carry out their professional and administrative roles and responsibilities, in achieving common goals and objectives. Professionalism in an administrative environment is fostered by communication and interactions that happen between, employee-to-employee, and employee-employer. The communication and interactions are considered to be of suitable beliefs and standards to employees who are willing to accept and implement what has been communicated (Akhtar-Danesh, Baumann, Kolotylo, Lawlor, Tompkins & Lee, 2013:248). Distinctive professional values and/or moral obligations could apply to a particular work environment, limiting excessive competition and encouraging cooperation. Professionalism is emphasised to persuade employees, practitioners and other workers to perform in ways which the organisation deems appropriate, effective and efficient (Evetts, 2003:395)

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Methods

Conclusion