09 September 2009

Why is it that such a small percentage of South Africans choose to join professional societies?

As more and more people around the world become involved in Knowledge Work, there has been a huge growth in the number of ‘interest groups’ many of them online, that have formed to serve the needs of people interested in specific knowledge niches. Known as Communities of Practice (CoP), they vary from being quite informal, to being institutionalised on a global scale.

Some of these CoP’s evolve into full-blown ‘professions’, especially when the community is primarily concerned with a particular job focus that reaches critical mass. Such professions are usually nurtured and sustained by the creation of a professional organisation of some kind.

A professional organisation comprises a body of like-minded people who have got together with the intention of creating an identity that is associated with high level of skills, knowledge and quality. Typically a profession is characterised by an association of members underpinned by a Body of Knowledge (BOK), a code of ethics and a set of qualifications that define the profession and a career path in it. A driving force in many new professions is the desire to secure ‘recognition’ for that profession in the marketplace. In maintaining the professional status and image of its members, such societies have entry requirements, usually relating to experience or educational qualifications, and require members to adhere to the values of the society as embodied in the constitution and code of ethics.

Most successful professional bodies are largely driven by the members themselves, operating in a spirit of volunteerism and with a strong knowledge sharing and service culture. Strong professional bodies generate lots of value for their membership, including networking and career opportunities, events and conferences and access to huge amounts of information and knowledge in the form of training courses, white papers and articles, templates, and methodologies.

Nowhere is this plethora of professional organisations more evident than the Information, Technology and Knowledge industries and their associated disciplines, where dozens exist. The ACM, IEEE, and various national computer societies have huge online libraries of publications and training courses which are free to members. Professional bodies like the IIBA, PMI, IFEAD, KMPRo and ISSSP (go on - Google them!) focus on providing networking events and conferences for professional business analysts, project managers, enterprise architects, knowledge professionals, and process specialists respectively. And a range of academic societies like AISNet, ICIS and IAIM offer opportunities for publication and research.

Given the enormous value that membership of a professional society can bring, it is a sad fact that comparatively few South Africans working in the ICT and knowledge industries choose to belong to a professional society. And why is it that when they do choose to do so, their membership is largely passive. Too few end up participating actively in the organisation and running of these bodies, or contributing to the publication and debate of knowledge in the various forums? And they pass up wonderful opportunities to learn business skills as diverse as marketing, planning, financial management, team leadership, event management and corporate governance: after all, most successful professional organisations are run according to sound business principles, even if they are not necessarily profit-making.

Is it that we South Africans are insecure and don’t believe in our ability to participate or contribute on the global stage? Yet we can tap into a pool of lots of competent people: South Africans are regarded as hard-working, skilled, innovative and productive people and our competence and skills are widely accepted worldwide.

Is it that South Africans are educationally immature? We certainly place much less emphasis on a culture of life long learning than do professionals in other countries. Only 15% of South Africans enroll in tertiary education which places us in 80th place against 150 other countries. Not only is this dismally far behind the USA and Scandinavian countries (+70%), New Zealand (69%) and Australia (63%) but it is also less than half that of countries like Kyrgyztan (41%), Mongolia (33%), Bolivia (35%) or the Philippines (31%). Yet we do boast fine academics and world class researchers in all disciplines, and although fewer than 3% of South Africans progress further than Honours level, the quality of the research work done is world class? Why do so few South Africans choose to study after school?

Is our participation in professional societies influenced by the ‘not-invented-here’ syndrome – that many of these societies were started elsewhere, and are somehow not that relevant to our local economy? Yet knowledge is global. Many of these organizations have (or could have) local chapters, started by South Africans, exactly for the purposes of representing SA interests and bringing value to local membership. If we don’t do it for ourselves, why should we expect others to do it for us!

Are South Africans resistant to paying membership fees to ‘overseas-based’ organisations? But there is good local acceptance of international qualifications and certifications, our entertainment and news are global, we compete globally in sports, and we happily pay for all manner of international purchases over the Internet.

Is it our national ‘culture of entitlement’ – where we ask “what is in it for me” rather than “how can I be involved and contribute”? Do we set such little store on knowledge that we can’t learn and grow without being formally taught, or spoon-fed by attending training courses?

Are we too busy? Too lazy? Too tired? Too depressed? Too scared? Maybe, but passion and optimism overturns all these, and when a South African gets passionate, great things happen!

At the end of the day, is it that we don’t really see ourselves as professionals, engaged in a rich and rewarding dialogue with like-minded individuals on a global scale. Are we just a nation of employees, working for a salary, and passively dependent for our future on the skills we acquired in the distant past?

Being a member of a professional society says something about a person’s vision of themselves. Participating actively in its activities is a positive affirmation of self-belief in owning the future. Professional societies are environments where opportunities emerge and possibilities exist. Belonging and participating in professional activities is a statement of intent by an individual that he or she will place themselves in the path of these opportunities.

Growing numbers of FTI graduates, just like you, are taking hold of their professional futures, enrolling for formal educational programmes, attending conferences or joining professional societies.

Are you?

FTI actively supports and participates in the activities of professional organizations like the IIBA® (International Institute of Business Analysis), the PMI® (Project Management Institute). FTI’s lecturers are all members of at least one professional society, and many play leading roles in the administration of the business of these societies.