The pursuit of professionalism

September 2, 2024
by Noriyuki Morimoto

In fields that require highly specialized expertise, one is not able to operate a business or manage an organization without the relevant knowledge and experience. Therefore, it is only natural to think that business managers should be selected from those with a good track record of expertise in that field.

In fact, in fields considered professional occupations such as law, accounting, tax, medicine, R&D, and consulting, the organizations themselves are composed of professionals and led by outstanding individuals among them. On the other hand, it is also true that no professional business can be managed solely on the basis of specialized skills in a particular field.

While faculty is placed at the top of a university’s organization, no matter how good you are as an academic, you may not always be able to deal appropriately as a manager in the face of various challenging management issues, such as securing the right number of students, determining the right balance between teaching and research in faculty responsibilities, and attracting external funds via collaboration with industry through joint or contract research. The same can be said about hospitals. A competent physician is not necessarily a competent hospital manager.

Management itself requires specific expertise and a unique capacity for the pursuit of rational decision-making. There has to be appropriate collaboration and control between the pursuit of rationality in management and the pursuit of technical expertise as a professional, which is what we call professionalism. Otherwise, professional business would not be possible.

That said, as long as it is a professional business, the superiority of its technical expertise cannot be undermined. The economic conditions of a business are a premise that must be fulfilled, given it is impossible to carry out professionalism without them. However, even if the conditions are in place, without the creation of social value including the ethical aspects of professionalism, true value as a business cannot materialize.

 

[Category /Corporate Governance]