One of the most annoying habits common amongst the working class citizens is the height of unprofessionalism in the work area, most take their duties with little or no seriousness while treating it like it was handed over to them on a platter of gold, some even claim they do not get paid enough for the job while some can swear they have other jobs they could do while still holding on tightly to the same job they claim does not pay them enough. We will take a several look into how these habits have unfolded at many workplaces and how it has affected clients’ trust with them. But first, let’s quickly grab the idea of what unprofessionalism means and how it reflects in workplaces.
Unprofessionalism means attitudes, habits, practices and behaviors that goes contrary to work standards, ethics and coordination, it is reflected in appearances, mannerism, communication and work ethics, and it is capable of undermining both individual and organizational credibility and this is because it ends up soiling the image of both workers and the organization they belong. Unprofessionalism in the workplace is capable of impacting productivity, workplace harmony and growth negatively, it slows it down and eventually kills it, making the growth stale. This act depicts a strong violation to workplace standards, ethics and etiquettes that was set to uphold a respectful effective environment.
Now let’s dive into how unprofessionalism is displayed at workplaces, the attitudes and behaviors that comes with unprofessionalism and how it plays out:
- The first and most common act is poor communication, one of the most common way people display unprofessionalism at workplace is how they communicate, they come off as condescending, annoying, disrespectful in language, gossiping, failing to listen to fellow coworkers and clients or attendees, and they further go on to withhold important information that are credible and can be helpful someone else within the workspace, either a coworker or a client. We can identify these habits amongst professionals in the medical field, academic field as well. Unprofessionalism in the medical field has caused so many fatalities such as death and complications in the health of patients, this can also be seen in the academic sector where teachers do not take up necessary lectures needed or even show up on time for lectures and some just end up grading students based off sentiments and not what merit.
- Another act of unprofessionalism that is unnoticeable is when someone who is at fault refuses to admit to their own mistakes and would rather blame others for it and some even dodge responsibilities, this is mostly tied to incompetence and lack of accountability, this act is mostly common among in the medical field because no one is willing to be held accountable for a botched medical procedure and would find something else to blame it on.
- One of the most recurring act of unprofessionalism in workplaces is tearing down the organization’s rules and regulations or instructions from supervisors and this comes from highly inflated egos where a junior staff feels they cannot be controlled or directed because they somewhat feel the person giving them the instruction is not up to them maybe in age, education, exposure or even height and race, this can happen in large organizations where there are large numbers of people from different races and ethnicities.
- In a workplace, there are certain group of people who do nothing else but spread negativity about others or even the company itself, they complain endlessly and nothing seems to ever work for them because of their pessimistic point of view towards everyone and everything, and they go on to show hostility towards their coworkers, they are intolerable and extremely annoying that working with them feels like walking on a pile of hot coals. Acts like these are unprofessional and we can definitely tell our experiences with people and situations like this.
- Showing up late to work, missing deadlines and producing low quality works creates room for unreliability and people with this level of unprofessionalism become a thorn in the eye because their unprofessional acts affects everyone around them, especially people who work with them and have to go back home after their night shift. People like that cannot be left with an unfinished duty but they are best at leaving their portion of work unfinished for another person to take over, such an act is unfair and unprofessional.
- The act of dishonesty, favoritism, harassment and misuse of the company’s resources are common habits amongst organizational staff. The urge to always incriminate a fellow worker just to save oneself from a tight spot and put dirt on their name just to make oneself look saintly is another height of unprofessionalism, some staffs are also fond of showing favoritism to someone or some group of staffs due to racial, ethnic and tribal affiliations with them. All acts like these are to be condemned because it breeds hate and rivalry in the workspace and it stunts the growth of the organization.
- Dressing inappropriately to work, using disrespectful gestures when speaking to others at work or clients who have come to help are unprofessional behaviors. Not to come off as bias but it is most times proven that female workers tend to fall under this category the most, the inappropriate dressing to work seems like a culture amongst female staff, as most go by phrases like “my body, my choice” which shouldn’t be a mentality in a workplace where professional activities should be taking place and men always tend to fall under this with egregious haircuts and body modifications that may be upsetting to clients and give them a bad impression about the organization and its services, these are things that should be put into perspective at work at avoid being playmaker in the trend of unprofessionalism in our society as we have it today.
In conclusion, we can tell from this how negative unprofessionalism is at workplaces and can affect a person, a group and family due to its wide and long-lasting effect. Putting an effective end to this behavior is a task from everyone of us and this starts by having a self-reflection on how we handle the duties at our workplaces and how it may affect those we offer our services to and the organization we work for as well, when we put all these into consideration them we can take up the right steps and approaches towards curbing this behavior and it spreads so well that unprofessionalism at workplace feels like a crime(which it should be).
