Cognitive mapping the topic of professionalism

Cognitive mapping the topic of professionalism

Joseph Kim-keung Ho

Independent Trainer

Hong Kong, China

Abstract: The topic of professionalism in the subject of social sciences is complex. By making use of the cognitive mapping technique to conduct a brief literature review on the professionalism topic, the writer renders a systemic image on the topic of professionalism. The result of the study, in the form of a cognitive map on professionalism, should be useful to those who are interested in the topics of cognitive mapping, literature review and professionalism.

Key words: Professionalism, cognitive mapping, literature review

Introduction

As a topic in social sciences, professionalism is complex. It is thus useful to employ some learning tool to conduct its study, notably for literature review purpose. For a teacher in research methods, systems thinking and management, the writer is specifically interested in finding out how the cognitive mapping technique can be employed to go through a literature review on  Professionalism. This literature review exercise is taken up and reported in this article.

On the cognitive mapping exercise for literature review

Literature review is an important intellectual learning exercise, and not just for doing final year dissertation projects for tertiary education students. On these two topics of intellectual learning and literature review, the writer has compiled some e-learning resources. They are the Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page and the Literature on literature review Facebook page. Conducting literature review with the cognitive mapping technique is not novel in the cognitive mapping literature, see Eden and Simpson (1989), Eden, Jones and Sims (1983), Open University (n.d) and the Literature on cognitive mapping Facebook page. In this article, the specific steps involved in the cognitive mapping exercise are as follows:

Step 1: gather some main points from a number of academic journal articles on Professionalism. This result in the production of a table (Table 1) with the main points and associated references.

Step 2: consolidate  the main points from Table 1 to come up with a table listing the cognitive map variables (re: Table 2).

Step 3: link up the cognitive  map variables in a plausible way to produce a cognitive map (re: Figure 1) on the topic under review.

The next section applies these three steps to produce a cognitive map on professionalism.

Descriptions of cognitive map variables on the professionalism topic

From the reading of some academic articles on Professionalism, a number of main points (e.g., viewpoints, concepts and empirical findings) were gathered by the  writer. They are shown in Table 1 with explicit referencing on the points.

Table 1: Main points from the professionalism literature and referencing

Main points from the professionalism literature	Referencing
Point 1: "..the struggle to redefine professionalism, which is currently being waged in a host of institutions from the National Health Service to accountancy practices, is actually a struggle to legitimise different types of cultural capital and that, as such, it will potentially split the service class".	Hanlon, G. 1998. "Professionalism as enterprise: service class politics and the redefinition of professionalism" Sociology 32(1) February: 43-63.
Point 2: "Cultural capital is largely independent of economic capital and the degree to which one's cultural capital is legitimised by society (which is itself a matter of historic conflict) dictates the level of skill one is deemed to have and hence the level of reward one receives".	Hanlon, G. 1998. "Professionalism as enterprise: service class politics and the redefinition of professionalism" Sociology 32(1) February: 43-63.
Point 3: "..cultural assets, through the education and credentialling systems, allow people independence from the organisation they work for, thereby providing them with other means of maintaining the class position. The key group to use cultural assets successfully are the professions. Professional have successfully argued that their cultural capital is important and have translated these  skills into a means of earning a successful reward".	Hanlon, G. 1998. "Professionalism as enterprise: service class politics and the redefinition of professionalism" Sociology 32(1) February: 43-63.
Point 4: "While it is a nebulous term, "professionalism' has been used to mean several things. First, it is often used to set apart a profession from a trade or occupation by way of characteristics such as advanced educational and licensing requirements, regulation by government or by the profession itself, and a stated commitment to public service for which financial remuneration is incidental. Second, it can refer to a set of ideals with which the members of a profession conform on a voluntary basis, that are not enforceable or actionable if breached.... In a broader sense, professionalism refers to those goals, values and attitudes which exemplify the nobler aspects of the practice of law and that enhance the public image of lawyers and the legal profession".	Daicoff, S. 1997. "Lawyer, know thyself: a review of empirical research on attorney attributes bearing on professionalism" The American University Law Review 46: 1337-1427.
Point 5: "The professional is motivated by service to the community rather than by the anticipation of an immediate material reward; altruistic values predominate over egoistic inclinations".	Stronach, I., B. Corbin, O. McNamara, S. Stark and T. Warne. 2010. "Toward an uncertain politics of professionalism: teacher and nurse identities in flux" Journal of Education Policy 17(1): 109-138.
Point 6: "..[p]rofessional culture has institutionalized universalistic standards of service delivery, regardless of the personal characteristics of the client which are irrelevant to the professional relationship".	Stronach, I., B. Corbin, O. McNamara, S. Stark and T. Warne. 2010. "Toward an uncertain politics of professionalism: teacher and nurse identities in flux" Journal of Education Policy 17(1): 109-138.
Point 7: "The literature ... tends to characterize 'professionalism' through methodological reduction, rhetorical inflation and universalizing excesses regarding the definition, project, and typologizing of the 'professional'".	Stronach, I., B. Corbin, O. McNamara, S. Stark and T. Warne. 2010. "Toward an uncertain politics of professionalism: teacher and nurse identities in flux" Journal of Education Policy 17(1): 109-138.
Point 8: "Dawson argues that professional virtue has at least two versions. The first is Aristotelian, based on the notion of the virtuous person. That is the 'inside out' version... Inside-out ethics may be necessary in so far as 'a code of practice can never be rich enough to provide guidance in all situations, perhaps because there are so many ethical factors to be taken into account'....  The other version is the 'outside in' where virtue is consequent to following prior principles regarding belief or conduct"'[o] this view, making  a decision about ethical conduct is merely a process of following the correct rule'".	Stronach, I., B. Corbin, O. McNamara, S. Stark and T. Warne. 2010. "Toward an uncertain politics of professionalism: teacher and nurse identities in flux" Journal of Education Policy 17(1): 109-138.
Point  9: "Professional values common to the undergraduate medical curricula, on both sides of the Atlantic, are altruism, respect for  others, and additional humanistic qualities  such as honor, integrity, ethical and moral standards, accountability, excellence and duty/ advocacy. There are, however, some different views. Some medical educationalists, for instance, add the values of "autonomy", "self-regulation" and "dealing with uncertainty".".	van Mook, W.N.K.A., S.J. Van Luijk, H. O'Sullivan, V. Wass, J.H. Zwaveling, L.W. Schuwirth, C.P,M. van der Vleuten. 2009. "The concepts of professionalism and professional behaviour: Conflicts in both definition and learning outcomes" European Journal of Internal Medicine 20, Elsevier: e85-e89.
Point 10: "Alongside the variation in definition, there are striking intercontinental differences in approaches to professionalism. In the United States professionalism is mainly a theoretical construct, and described in abstract, and idealistic terms....  A more practical definition of professional behaviour has been proposed by the Netherlands' so called Conssilium Abeundi working group of the Association of Universities in the Netherlands.... This frames professionalism as observable behaviours from which the norms and values of the medical professional can be visualized . It is obvious that the use of observable  behaviour as the basis for assessment and guidance facilitates its practical implementation".	van Mook, W.N.K.A., S.J. Van Luijk, H. O'Sullivan, V. Wass, J.H. Zwaveling, L.W. Schuwirth, C.P,M. van der Vleuten. 2009. "The concepts of professionalism and professional behaviour: Conflicts in both definition and learning outcomes" European Journal of Internal Medicine 20, Elsevier: e85-e89.
Point 11: "... so far, the focus of the academic literature has primarily been on the measurement of professional behaviour, consequently ignoring the attitudinal elements of professionalism".	van Mook, W.N.K.A., S.J. Van Luijk, H. O'Sullivan, V. Wass, J.H. Zwaveling, L.W. Schuwirth, C.P,M. van der Vleuten. 2009. "The concepts of professionalism and professional behaviour: Conflicts in both definition and learning outcomes" European Journal of Internal Medicine 20, Elsevier: e85-e89.
Point 12: "..behaviour can be defined as consisting of four components: "action", "targeting", "timing" and "context". Unfortunately, the latter two are frequently forgotten. The assessment of behaviour cannot be divorced from context, social pressure being one of the strong contextual determinants of behaviour".	van Mook, W.N.K.A., S.J. Van Luijk, H. O'Sullivan, V. Wass, J.H. Zwaveling, L.W. Schuwirth, C.P,M. van der Vleuten. 2009. "The concepts of professionalism and professional behaviour: Conflicts in both definition and learning outcomes" European Journal of Internal Medicine 20, Elsevier: e85-e89.
Point 13: "Professional behaviour is... subject to "impression" management, whereby individuals manage other's impressions".	van Mook, W.N.K.A., S.J. Van Luijk, H. O'Sullivan, V. Wass, J.H. Zwaveling, L.W. Schuwirth, C.P,M. van der Vleuten. 2009. "The concepts of professionalism and professional behaviour: Conflicts in both definition and learning outcomes" European Journal of Internal Medicine 20, Elsevier: e85-e89.
Point 14: "Although definitions and characteristics used to describe professionalism may vary, some consistency does exist in that the behaviors and attitudes directly relate to professional practice, patient care, and/or activities in the formal education environment. Because there is no singular precise  definition and understanding of professionalism, we refer to the professionalism construct as encompassing the commonly accepted attributes of altruism, respect, honesty, integrity, dutifulness,  honor, excellence, and accountability".	Cain, J. and F. Romanelli. 2009. "E-professionalism: a new paradigm for a digital age" Currents in Pharmacy Teaching & Learning 1, Elsevier: 66-70.
Point 15: "... the changing nature of social communications facilitated by newer web applications have further complicated what it means  to exhibit professional behaviors and attitudes. Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, YouTube, Flickr, and Twitter are just a few of the emerging and popular web-based technologies that allow people to express themselves online".	Cain, J. and F. Romanelli. 2009. "E-professionalism: a new paradigm for a digital age" Currents in Pharmacy Teaching & Learning 1, Elsevier: 66-70.
Point 16: "We define e-professionalism as the attitudes and behavior (some of which may occur in private settings) reflecting traditional professionalism paradigms that are manifested through digital media".	Cain, J. and F. Romanelli. 2009. "E-professionalism: a new paradigm for a digital age" Currents in Pharmacy Teaching & Learning 1, Elsevier: 66-70.
Point 17: Carr-Saunders and Wilson (1933) defined professions as occupational groupings of experts who apply specialized knowledge to solving unique problems. Work  is generally defined as activities involving mental or physical effort performed to achieve  a purpose or result".	Lawrence, B., J.J. Zhang and J. Heineke. 2016. "A life-cycle perspective of professionalism in services" Journal of Operations Management 42-43, Elsevier: 25-38.
Point 18: "Professional bodies.... play critical roles in articulating and amplifying the knowledge underlying the services... For instance, professional associations promote information that diffuses technological developments among their member.... and helps shape norms of professional behavior".	Lawrence, B., J.J. Zhang and J. Heineke. 2016. "A life-cycle perspective of professionalism in services" Journal of Operations Management 42-43, Elsevier: 25-38.
Point 19: "What makes someone a professional? Freidson (1984, p. 2) describes the distinctiveness of professionals both in terms of their possession of skills and knowledge and their "special attitude and commitment and concerns to their  work." This commitment is demonstrated... by the self-governing character of the professions".	Keyser, J.D. 2016. "Professionalism" Research in Accounting Regulation 28, Elsevier: 63-65.
Point 20: "Professionals in any discipline must maintain a high level of technical competence. When individuals invest the time necessary to pass the CPA exam, they demonstrate a commitment to establishing and maintaining their technical  competence".	Keyser, J.D. 2016. "Professionalism" Research in Accounting Regulation 28, Elsevier: 63-65.
Point 21: "As professionals, auditors must  recognize that serving the public interest involves spending time reading (to maintain expertise) and critical thinking, regardless of time and budget pressures".	Keyser, J.D. 2016. "Professionalism" Research in Accounting Regulation 28, Elsevier: 63-65.
Point 22: "Development of a professionalism curriculum for surgical residents might begin with defining professionalism in terms of tangible behaviors. The program might also include a precurriulum preparatory course and simulation-based training.... Assessment in the form of multisource feedback that is consistent with observable behavioral definitions of professionalism should also be considered in evaluating resident professionalism".	Deptula, P. and  M.B.J. Chun. 2013. "A Literature Review of Professionalism in Surgical Education: Suggested Components for Development of a Curriculum" Journal of Surgical Education 70(3), May/ June: 408-422.
Point 23: "The ACGME provides the following definition of professionalism: ·      residents must demonstrate a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities and an adherence to ethical principles and ·      residents are expected to demonstrate: 1.      compassion, integrity, and respect for others; 2.      responsiveness to patient needs that supersedes self-interest; 3.      respect for patient privacy and autonomy; 4.      accountability to patients, society, and the profession, and 5.      sensitivity and responsiveness to a diverse patient population, including but not limited to diversity in gender, age, culture, race, religion, disabilities, and sexual orientation.	Deptula, P. and  M.B.J. Chun. 2013. "A Literature Review of Professionalism in Surgical Education: Suggested Components for Development of a Curriculum" Journal of Surgical Education 70(3), May/ June: 408-422.
Point 24: "Studies have demonstrated that the introduction of professionalism into the formal classroom curriculum of the surgical resident has proved to be successful".	Deptula, P. and  M.B.J. Chun. 2013. "A Literature Review of Professionalism in Surgical Education: Suggested Components for Development of a Curriculum" Journal of Surgical Education 70(3), May/ June: 408-422.

With a set of main points collected, the writer produces a set of cognitive map variables. These variables are informed by the set of main points from Table 1. These variables are presented in Table 2.

Table 2: Cognitive map variables based on Table 1

Cognitive map variables	Literature review points
Variable 1: Drivers of interest in professionalism	Point 1: "..the struggle to redefine professionalism, which is currently being waged in a host of institutions from the National Health Service to accountancy practices, is actually a struggle to legitimise different types of cultural capital and that, as such, it will potentially split the service class". Point 4: "While it is a nebulous term, "professionalism' has been used to mean several things. First, it is often used to set apart a profession from a trade or occupation by way of characteristics such as advanced educational and licensing requirements, regulation by government or by the profession itself, and a stated commitment to public service for which financial remuneration is incidental. Second, it can refer to a set of ideals with which the members of a profession conform on a voluntary basis, that are not enforceable or actionable if breached.... In a broader sense, professionalism refers to those goals, values and attitudes which exemplify the nobler aspects of the practice of law and that enhance the public image of lawyers and the legal profession". Point 7: "The literature ... tends to characterize 'professionalism' through methodological reduction, rhetorical inflation and universalizing excesses regarding the definition, project, and typologizing of the 'professional'". Point 11: "... so far, the focus of the academic literature has primarily been on the measurement of professional behaviour, consequently ignoring the attitudinal elements of professionalism".
Variable 2: More intellectual knowledge on other ingredient notions on professionalism	Point 2: "Cultural capital is largely independent of economic capital and the degree to which one's cultural capital is legitimised by society (which is itself a matter of historic conflict) dictates the level of skill one is deemed to have and hence the level of reward one receives". Point 3: "..cultural assets, through the education and credentialling systems, allow people independence from the organisation they work for, thereby providing them with other means of maintaining the class position. The key group to use cultural assets successfully are the professions. Professional have successfully argued that their cultural capital is important and have translated these  skills into a means of earning a successful reward". Point 5: "The professional is motivated by service to the community rather than by the anticipation of an immediate material reward; altruistic values predominate over egoistic inclinations". Point 6: "..[p]rofessional culture has institutionalized universalistic standards of service delivery, regardless of the personal characteristics of the client which are irrelevant to the professional relationship". Point 8: "Dawson argues that professional virtue has at least two versions. The first is Aristotelian, based on the notion of the virtuous person. That is the 'inside out' version... Inside-out ethics may be necessary in so far as 'a code of practice can never be rich enough to provide guidance in all situations, perhaps because there are so many ethical factors to be taken into account'....  The other version is the 'outside in' where virtue is consequent to following prior principles regarding belief or conduct"'[o] this view, making  a decision about ethical conduct is merely a process of following the correct rule'". Point 12: "..behaviour can be defined as consisting of four components: "action", "targeting", "timing" and "context". Unfortunately, the latter two are frequently forgotten. The assessment of behaviour cannot be divorced from context, social pressure being one of the strong contextual determinants of behaviour". Point 13: "Professional behaviour is... subject to "impression" management, whereby individuals manage other's impressions". Point 15: "... the changing nature of social communications facilitated by newer web applications have further complicated what it means  to exhibit professional behaviors and attitudes. Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, YouTube, Flickr, and Twitter are just a few of the emerging and popular web-based technologies that allow people to express themselves online". Point 16: "We define e-professionalism as the attitudes and behavior (some of which may occur in private settings) reflecting traditional professionalism paradigms that are manifested through digital media". Point 17: Carr-Saunders and Wilson (1933) defined professions as occupational groupings of experts who apply specialized knowledge to solving unique problems. Work  is generally defined as activities involving mental or physical effort performed to achieve  a purpose or result". Point 19: "What makes someone a professional? Freidson (1984, p. 2) describes the distinctiveness of professionals both in terms of their possession of skills and knowledge and their "special attitude and commitment and concerns to their  work." This commitment is demonstrated... by the self-governing character of the professions".
Variable 3: More learning from professionalism practice	Point 10: "Alongside the variation in definition, there are striking intercontinental differences in approaches to professionalism. In the United States professionalism is mainly a theoretical construct, and described in abstract, and idealistic terms....  A more practical definition of professional behaviour has been proposed by the Netherlands' so called Conssilium Abeundi working group of the Association of Universities in the Netherlands.... This frames professionalism as observable behaviours from which the norms and values of the medical professional can be visualized . It is obvious that the use of observable  behaviour as the basis for assessment and guidance facilitates its practical implementation". Point 18: "Professional bodies.... play critical roles in articulating and amplifying the knowledge underlying the services... For instance, professional associations promote information hat diffuses technological developments among their member.... and helps shape norms of professional behavior". Point 21: "As professionals, auditors must  recognize that serving the public interest involves spending time reading (to maintain expertise) and critical thinking, regardless of time and budget pressures". Point 23: "The ACGME provides the following definition of professionalism: ·      residents must demonstrate a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities and an adherence to ethical principles and ·      residents are expected to demonstrate: 1.      compassion, integrity, and respect for others; 2.      responsiveness to patient needs that supersedes self-interest; 3.      respect for patient privacy and autonomy; 4.      accountability to patients, society, and the profession, and 5.      sensitivity and responsiveness to a diverse patient population, including but not limited to diversity in gender, age, culture, race, religion, disabilities, and sexual orientation.
Variable 4: More learning from professionalism education	Point  9: "Professional values common to the undergraduate medical curricula, on both sides of the Atlantic, are altruism, respect for  others, and additional humanistic qualities  such as honor, integrity, ethical and moral standards, accountability, excellence and duty/ advocacy. There are, however, some different views. Some medical educationalists, for instance, add the values of "autonomy", "self-regulation" and "dealing with uncertainty".". Point 14: "Although definitions and characteristics used to describe professionalism may vary, some consistency does exist in that the behaviors and attitudes directly relate to professional practice, patient care, and/or activities in the formal education environment. Because there is no singular precise  definition and understanding of professionalism, we refer to the professionalism construct as encompassing the commonly accepted attributes of altruism, respect, honesty, integrity, dutifulness,  honor, excellence, and accountability". Point 20: "Professionals in any discipline must maintain a high level of technical competence. When individuals invest the time necessary to pass the CPA exam, they demonstrate a commitment to establishing and maintaining their technical  competence". Point 22: "Development of a professionalism curriculum for surgical residents might begin with defining professionalism in terms of tangible behaviors. The program might also include a precurriulum preparatory course and simulation-based training.... Assessment in the form of multisource feedback that is consistent with observable behavioral definitions of professionalism should also be considered in evaluating resident professionalism". Point 24: "Studies have demonstrated that the introduction of professionalism into the formal classroom curriculum of the surgical resident has proved to be successful".

The next step is to relate the cognitive map variables to make up a cognitive map on professionalism. The cognitive map and its explanation are presented in the next section.

A cognitive map on professionalism and its interpretation

By relating the four variables identified in Table 2, the writer comes up with a cognitive map on professionalism, as shown in Figure 1.

These cognitive  map variables, four of them altogether, are related to constitute a systemic image of professionalism. The links in the cognitive map (re: Figure 1) indicate direction of influences between variables. The + sign shows that an increase in one variable leads to an increase in another variable while a -ve sign tells us that in increase in one variable leads to a decrease in another variable.  If there no signs shown on the arrows, that means the influences can be positive or negative. Readers are referred to the Literature on profession and professionalism Facebook page for more  information on the topic.

Concluding remarks

The cognitive mapping exercise captures in one diagram some of the main variables involved in professionalism. The resultant cognitive map promotes an exploratory way to study professionalism in a holistic tone. The experience of the cognitive mapping exercise is that it can be a quick, efficient and entertaining way to explore a complex topic such as professionalism in social sciences. Finally, readers who are interested in cognitive mapping should also find the article informative on this mapping topic.

Bibliography

1.      Cain, J. and F. Romanelli. 2009. "E-professionalism: a new paradigm for a digital age" Currents in Pharmacy Teaching & Learning 1, Elsevier: 66-70.

2.      Daicoff, S. 1997. "Lawyer, know thyself: a review of empirical research on attorney attributes bearing on professionalism" The American University Law Review 46: 1337-1427.

3.      Deptula, P. and  M.B.J. Chun. 2013. "A Literature Review of Professionalism in Surgical Education: Suggested Components for Development of a Curriculum" Journal of Surgical Education 70(3), May/ June: 408-422.

4.      Eden, C. and P. Simpson. 1989. "SODA and cognitive mapping in practice", pp. 43-70, in Rosenhead, J. (editor) Rational Analysis for a Problematic World, Wiley, Chichester.

5.      Eden, C., C. Jones and D. Sims. 1983. Messing about in Problems: An informal structured approach to their identification and management, Pergamon Press, Oxford.

6.      Hanlon, G. 1998. "Professionalism as enterprise: service class politics and the redefinition of professionalism" Sociology 32(1) February: 43-63.

7.      Keyser, J.D. 2016. "Professionalism" Research in Accounting Regulation 28, Elsevier: 63-65.

8.      Lawrence, B., J.J. Zhang and J. Heineke. 2016. "A life-cycle perspective of professionalism in services" Journal of Operations Management 42-43, Elsevier: 25-38.

9.      Literature on cognitive mapping Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/Literature-on-cognitive-mapping-800894476751355/).

10. Literature on literature review Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.literaturereview/).

11. Literature on profession and professionalism  Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/Literature-on-profession-professionalism-1878673612386765/).

12. Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/managerial.intellectual.learning/).

13. Open University. n.d. "Sign graph" Systems Thinking and Practice (T552): Diagramming, Open University, U.K. (url address: http://systems.open.ac.uk/materials/T552/) [visited at April 10, 2017].

14. Powell, T.C. 1995. "Professionalism as Competitive Advantage: A Review and Empirical Study" Strategic Management Journal 16(1) January: 15-37.

15. Stronach, I., B. Corbin, O. McNamara, S. Stark and T. Warne. 2010. "Toward an uncertain politics of professionalism: teacher and nurse identities in flux" Journal of Education Policy 17(1): 109-138.

16. van Mook, W.N.K.A., S.J. Van Luijk, H. O'Sullivan, V. Wass, J.H. Zwaveling, L.W. Schuwirth, C.P,M. van der Vleuten. 2009. "The concepts of professionalism and professional behaviour: Conflicts in both definition and learning outcomes" European Journal of Internal Medicine 20, Elsevier: e85-e89.