CSC290 is a course to teach the conventions associated with professional and technical communication and behaviour. What does professional behaviour mean to you? If you were told that you are expected to carry yourself with professionalism in this course, what does that mean? Is it something you are already doing in the academic setting? Are there certain situations where another student or an instructor has shown you exceptional professionalism? Perhaps more interestingly, can you think of a scenario where other students or instructors have been less than professional? You needn’t name names but be specific about the behaviour and/or scenario.
Professional Behaviour is a set of manners that one should conduct in a professional setting such as in a business meeting with a client or an interaction with a coworker during work hours. But one might view differently on how we should approach and interact with people at a professional setting. For me, the set of behaviours I displayed at a professional setting is influenced by a mix of what I have learned from school, my culture, and my own personality. I believe that professional behaviours are unique because everyone has different experiences and are from different backgrounds. However, the attitude of each behaviour is essentially the same. For example, one may greet a person with a handshake while another person may greet a person with a bow. Both methods of greeting a person are meant to greet one another respectfully. At school, I learn basic etiquette such as greeting people and talking to others respectfully. But how I display these behaviours may differ from others because I am from a Confucius background where I am expected to greet my elders and superiors with high respect. So when I receive a document from an elder, I would either receive the document with two hands along with a small bow or I would use my right hand to receive the document meanwhile my left hand would be supporting my right forearm along with a small bow. Although I may not know the formal Korean etiquettes properly, I blend in what I know and what I think is respectful. However, not all coworkers will display professional behaviour at work.
The question of should professional behaviour be carried at an academic setting varies depending on the course and how well you know the people in the course. I strongly believe that professional behaviour should be displayed at an academic setting only when you are expected to share your findings and thoughts with other fellow academics and fellow students. However that should only apply to research and presentations. A student’s job is to learn and thrive to use what they learn to either further advance the society or to further expand the field they learn. But a school should also encourage students to socialize and be in an open environment to explore new ideas and network with people as well. So I do not expect students such as myself to display professional behaviour on a normal school day because I believe being too formal hinders the learning environment and the social interaction with fellow students and professors and seems rude to me for some reason. Talking casually to professors, elders, and my superiors is very difficult for me. This may or may not be a problem but I do hope that I can be able to learn to differentiate when I should display professional behaviours because I see students being way too casual with their professors which I do not see as a bad behaviour but I would probably never be that casual with a professor. Even with talking to coworkers and superiors, I often see people talking very casually and often making jokes with them. For example, I heard from a friend of mine who worked at Alcatel-Lucent that his coworkers often swear and talk very casually to one another which really did surprised me since at my workplace, I rarely saw people being talking to each other that casual.