Primarily, professional competence is one of the basic principles of the Code of Ethics for any person carrying the ‘professional’ tag. From accountants to physicians to teachers, professional competence is not only an indispensable obligation but also a fundamental prerequisite. Many firms that emphasize engagements rather than professional competence have had a myriad of problems that forces them to take legal liabilities. For instance, one career that requires utmost professional competence is accountancy. In the past, listed companies across the globe have experienced fraud due to a lack of professional competence.
Consequently, this has triggered indignant denunciation from investors; their business performance has also dropped. This and many more reasons have forced colleges and universities to introduce courses on professional competence to educate students on the importance of observing professional competence in their careers. This essay will define professional competence and assess its connection to educational goals. It will also assess its influence within the workplace and the modalities of maintaining it. The paper will also discuss self-awareness and emotional influence or perceptions on legal issues and professional ethics in professional competence.
To start with, professional competence is the aspect of being able to carry out duties and responsibilities within a career or occupation. In other words, professional competence is the consistent and astute use of communication, acquaintance, and values for professional practice. Additionally, professional competence involves the application of technical skills in the right way, astute clinical reasoning, and the manifestation of professional practices. Undoubtedly, professional competence is paramount to the daily running of personal businesses as well as career practices. I think professional competence plays a significant role in my life. As a student, I understand that I should work hard and score good grades through fair means. I understand that cheating in exams amounts to incompetence, and it is against rules and regulations. On the other hand, in my career as a professional, I also understand that I ought to give unsurpassed services to my clients.
To set a path towards a successful career, professional competence is the benchmark for developing goals and objectives. In other words, to arrive to come up with better choices, it is better to consider decent and principled standards of professional expertise. This will ensure that clients get reliable services up to the point of absolute satisfaction. Moreover, this will enhance somebody’s urge to work towards being the best in the area of expertise and even master it. To assess professional competence, I look at the successes of my duties. For instance, if my clients compliment my work, and the company keeps drawing more and more clients, then I will know I am on the right track. Precisely, training is important in maintaining professional competence. I always attend workshop training to continue merging my knowledge and skills of practice. I also enjoy working on complex and infrequent projects that require robust knowledge and skills. Some companies have established competence assurance systems to help employees maintain their professional competencies. Here, employees learn very many things, such as risk assessment, control measures, simulation, and other safer critical tasks (Corey, Corey & Callanan, 2011).
It is also important to note that self-awareness of personal life experiences promotes professional competence. Self-awareness influences emotions and perception in the manner I view my daily practices. For instance, as a competent professional, I use self-awareness to distinguish situations that require legal attention from those that demand professional ethics. Competence in the workplace does not solely require individuals to perform activities to arrive at the goals, but it involves self-awareness. For instance, I know that in dealing with intricate, collective, and technical issues in a highly vibrant environment, some disagreements can arise, and to solve them, I need to apply legal issues. Nonetheless, through self-awareness, I can negotiate effectively and structure out ethical and legal issues.
Emotional influence on perceptions of legal issues and professional ethics is also an imperative component I use to assess my professional competence. As a professional, I always want to do my best to fulfill my desired performance. However, to arrive there, I know I must pass through obstacles and challenges. Nevertheless, my emotional influence and perceptions lead me to make sound decisions that will help me avoid obstacles. Emotional influence is a lever of authority that helps me to assess my competence. There is also a connection between emotional influence on perceptions and professional competence. That is, I always bring to my professional work my characteristics, which come from my experiences, biography, and my future obligations (Fisher, 2009).
In conclusion, competence is a necessary component in professional practice. I use my professional competence to develop my personnel management knowledge and skills. Additionally, I also use competencies to asses my professional qualifications and performances. Competence is not the same as functional analysis, as competence involves new things such as self-awareness, emotional influence, and ethics, which helps an individual to perform duties and responsibilities correctly. Competence provides the necessary attributes that are essential in professional practices. Additionally, through professional competence, I know that I can respond to a litany of issues, which are common in my professional work.
Reference List
Corey, G., Corey, M. S. & Callanan, P. (2011). Issues and ethics in the helping professions. (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Fisher, C.B. (2009). Decoding the ethics code: A practical guide for psychologists. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.