Professional responsibility

What makes professionals unique, is that the general public would not ordinarily be expected to know in detail the skills and knowledge of a profession independently.

[4] Professional responsibility historically applied to secularly taught professions including medicine, law, and divinity – or religion.

[6] The term continued to evolve alongside generally accepted responsibilities for professionals to become all-encompassing as it accommodated new emerging professions in modern societies.

Research has shown that through implementation of common behavioural standards, the likelihood of interpersonal conflict decreases where honour and respect is encouraged.

[11] Professional responsibility is typically implemented by an organisation or institution's management, through what is commonly referred to as a code of ethics or similar guiding document of standards.

[20] Businesses have codes of ethics to assist workers deducing whether behaviours would be considered appropriate or acceptable wherever dealing with clients and stakeholders.

In some cases, employees may be required to sign declarations that they will adhere to the organisations ethical guidelines as laid out by the employer.

[22] Confidentiality Competence Professional Courtesy Do No Harm Privacy Teamwork Objectivity Growth Communication Common violations in the legal field include: Reports of violations will activate that profession's regulator to investigate and perhaps discipline the professional concerned.

Attorneys who violate professional responsibility rules may be subject to sanctions ranging from reprimands to temporary suspension to permanent disbarment.