A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) is a non-profit organization A non-profit organization is an organization that does not distribute its surplus funds to owners or shareholders, but instead uses them to help pursue its goals. Examples of NPOs include charities (i.e. charitable organizations), trade unions, and public arts organizations. Most governments and government agencies meet this definition, but in seeking to further a particular profession A profession is a vocation founded upon specialised educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain, the interests of individuals engaged in that profession, and the public interest The public interest refers to the "common well-being" or "general welfare." The public interest is central to policy debates, politics, democracy and the nature of government itself. While nearly everyone claims that aiding the common well-being or general welfare is positive, there is little, if any, consensus on what exactly.
The roles of these professional associations have been variously defined: "A group of people in a learned occupation who are entrusted with maintaining control or oversight of the legitimate practice of the occupation;"[1] also a body acting "to safeguard the public interest;"[2] organizations which "represent the interest of the professional practitioners," and so "act to maintain their own privileged and powerful position as a controlling body."[3]
Such bodies generally strive to achieve a balance between these two often conflicting mandates. Though professional bodies often act to protect the public by maintaining and enforcing standards of training and ethics in their profession, they often also act like a cartel A cartel is a formal agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production. Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products. Cartel members may agree on such matters as or a labor union A trade union or labor union (American English) is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members (rank and file members) and negotiates labor contracts (collective bargaining) with (trade union) for the members of the profession, though this description is commonly rejected by the body concerned.
Therefore, in certain dispute situations the balance between these two aims may get tipped more in favor of protecting and defending the professionals than in protecting the public. An example can be used to illustrate this. In a dispute between a lawyer and his/her client or between a patient and his/her doctor, the Law Society of England and Wales The Law Society of England and Wales is the professional association that represents the solicitors' profession in England and Wales. It provides services and support to practising and training solicitors as well as serving as a sounding board for law reform. Members of the Society are often consulted when important issues are being debated in or the General Medical Council The General Medical Council registers and regulates doctors in the United Kingdom. It has the power to revoke the registration, or place restrictions on it, if they deem a doctor unfit to practise in the UK. The current president of the council is Professor Peter Rubin will inevitably find itself plunged into a conflict of interest in (a) its wish to defend the interests of the client, while also (b) wishing to defend the interests, status and privileges of the professional. It is clearly a tough call for it do both.
Many professional bodies are involved in the development and monitoring of professional educational programs, and the updating of skills, and thus perform professional certification Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply certification or qualification, is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task. Many certifications are used as post-nominal letters indicating an earned privilege from an oversight professional body acting to to indicate that a person possesses qualifications in the subject area. Sometimes membership of a professional body is synonymous with certification, though not always. Membership of a professional body, as a legal requirement, can in some professions form the primary formal basis for gaining entry to and setting up practice within the profession; see licensure Licensure refers to the granting of a license, which gives a 'permission to practice.' Such licenses are usually issued in order to regulate some activity that is deemed to be dangerous or a threat to the person or the public or which involves a high level of specialized skill. The danger and skill elements inspire governments not to allow a free-.
Many professional bodies also act as learned societies A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline or group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies, such as the Polish Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana , the Italian for the academic disciplines underlying their professions.
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Legal functions
In countries where the law entitles defendants A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute. (Note that American lawyers and judges often pronounce the word slightly differently than is common in standard American to a jury A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to judge whether an accused person is not guilty or guilty of a crime. (There is no such verdict as 'innocent') by their peers, the general public may not be considered sufficiently knowledgeable in a field of practice to act as a peer in some legal cases. For example, the Professional associations do not always concern themselves with licensure or the equivalent or government regulations. In the United States, journalists seek to avoid government involvement in their work or "official" definitions.
Inter-professional associations
Inter-professional associations have been defined as private organizations, recognized by the State, that group together participants from all stages of the same agricultural commodity A commodity is a good for which there is demand, but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market. Commodities are substances that come out of the earth and maintain roughly a universal price.It is fungible, i.e. equivalent no matter who produces it. Examples are petroleum, notebook paper, milk or copper. The price of chain (filière in French), with the objectives of elaborating policies, guaranteeing equity among the members, facilitating the improvement of the performance of the chain and defending the interests of the members. [4] There are around sixty such associations in France and several in Francophone The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person countries of Africa. A particular feature of inter-professional associations is that the membership is made up of associations that represent the individual chain professions. This is in contrast, for example, to commodity associations in the United States where membership is largely of individuals and companies. Many developing countries have few or no associations that cover an entire commodity chain and there would appear scope for the development of such organizations to promote improved liaison with governments [5].
References
- ^ Professional body at Analytic Quality Glossary
- ^ Harvey, L. and Mason, S., 1995, The Role of Professional Bodies in Higher education Quality Monitoring. Birmingham: QHE.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Coronel, C. & Liagre, L. 2006 [1], Les interprofessions agroalimentaires en France. Ministère Français des Affaires Etrangères, Paris.
- ^ Shepherd, Andrew W., Cadilhon, J-J and Galvez, Eva, 2009 [2]Commodity Associations - A tool for supply chain development? FAO, Rome
See also
- Licensure Licensure refers to the granting of a license, which gives a 'permission to practice.' Such licenses are usually issued in order to regulate some activity that is deemed to be dangerous or a threat to the person or the public or which involves a high level of specialized skill. The danger and skill elements inspire governments not to allow a free-
- List of professional organizations This is a list of professional associations which are international organizations
- List of British professional bodies The following is a list of professional bodies in the United Kingdom. Membership of a professional body does not necessarily mean that a person possesses qualifications in the subject area, nor that they are legally able to practice their profession. Many of these bodies also act as learned societies for the academic disciplines underlying their
- Profession A profession is a vocation founded upon specialised educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain
- Professional development Professional development refers to skills and knowledge attained for both personal development and career advancement. Professional development encompasses all types of facilitated learning opportunities, ranging from college degrees to formal coursework, conferences and informal learning opportunities situated in practice. It has been described
- Professionalization Professionalization is the social process by which any trade or occupation transforms itself into a true "profession of the highest integrity and competence." This process tends to involve establishing acceptable qualifications, a professional body or association to oversee the conduct of members of the profession and some degree of
- Standards organizations A standards organization, standards body, standards development organization or SDO is any entity whose primary activities are developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise maintaining standards that address the interests of a wide base of users outside the standards development organization
External links
- Directory of British professional Bodies
- List of Professional bodies in Australia
- List of Professional bodies in Canada
- List of Professional bodies in Ireland
Categories: Standards organizations Categories: Organizations by subject | Standards | Measurement | Government bodies | Professional associations Categories: Organizations by type | Associations | Occupational organizations | Types of organization | Trade unions Categories: Guilds | Industry trade groups | Labor movement | Labor-related organizations | Occupational organizations | Organizations by activity
Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:29:28 GMT+00:00
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