Certifications, Licensures, and Designations

• Author: Randy Joyner
• Pages: 102-103

Page 102

The changing global and U.S. economy, along with expectations of the workforce, has, in many instances, brought about a need for higher credentialing standards for employees in many areas of the workplace. Also, higher performance expectations have prompted some types of businesses to initiate increased standards in the area of advanced certification, licensure, and designation, so as to facilitate recognition of their work environments as professions and the employees functioning within those environments as professionals. The term professional denotes the individual as an expert in that field. In addition to being employed in a particular field, R. S. Poore stated that one of the factors designating a person as a professional is an earned credential. Such an earned certification, licensure, or designation places individuals at a higher knowledge and expertise level compared to their counterparts who do not possess such a credential.

The meaning of the word profession can examined from both sociological and philosophical perspectives. The sociological view of the definition of profession has its origins in the social sciences. Generally, this view is based on the perception that an occupation is a profession when a job has high social status, high income, and/or important social functions. Consequently, carpentry could not be considered a profession because the education and social status of carpenters are low. Law, however, would be considered a profession because of the perception of high income and high social status. Therefore, according to this perspective, a job is considered to be a profession when the perception by the public is that it is not a menial, repetitive task.

The philosophical view attempts to define profession in two ways—the Cartesian and the Socratic. The Cartesian view is developed by asking oneself the question of what it means in certain terms, testing the definition by the use of counterexamples, revising the belief based on the counterexamples, and continuing the process until one has one's own belief in good order. Thus, the Cartesian "approach attempts to define professions by making sense of a person's mind." Furthermore, electricians could consider their occupation a profession because individuals practice their own beliefs of professional conduct and workmanship. Conversely, the Socratic approach views a profession as a group undertaking; thus, a profession cannot consist of only...