AMID the ongoing economic and financial turbulence that is now                                                                                        
threatening to engulf the world, several observations are                                                                                             
pertinent.                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
First is that the global economy is a reality; what happens                                                                                           
elsewhere will affect us. The devaluation of the Russian ruble                                                                                        
and its aftermath on the equity markets across the globe is a                                                                                         
case in point.                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
Second is the increasing obsolescence of skills. We thought we                                                                                        
could, fix the Asian crisis by contractionist policies a la                                                                                           
IMF, but these did not work for Thailand, Indonesia and South                                                                                         
Korea. We are now moving-towards expansionist policies a la                                                                                           
Keynesian economics.                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
We had already known that yesterday's skills would not be good                                                                                        
enough to take us to Vision 2020.  Hence, we have prioritised                                                                                         
the education sector towards science and technology,                                                                                                  
stimulated skills training via the Human Resource Development                                                                                         
Fund, and jump started our move towards the technological age                                                                                         
through the creation of the Multimedia Super Corridor.                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
As a consequence of skills obsolescence, accelerated by global                                                                                        
inter-connectedness, yardsticks of human competence need to be                                                                                        
measured by world standards of performance which are                                                                                                  
continually being challenged.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
It is' said that an engineer who graduated some eight years                                                                                           
ago and who has not updated himself will lose his competence                                                                                          
in the global market place; for a computer graduate, a much                                                                                           
shorter time of four years will render him obsolete.                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
The third observation, therefore, is that it is no longer a                                                                                           
luxury to engage. in continuous learning.  Indeed it is a                                                                                             
condition for maintaining our effectiveness as a professional.                                                                                        
After all, a professional by definition is a person who                                                                                               
affirms one's skill or proficiency in the practice of a                                                                                               
vocation.                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
Among the closed professions, e.g. medicine, accounting and                                                                                           
law, professional practice is only available to persons who                                                                                           
have been qualified through study and internship. At one time,                                                                                        
all that is needed is to qualify to become a member of, for                                                                                           
instance, the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, pay the                                                                                             
necessary dues and observe the code of behaviour expected of                                                                                          
members, and from thence on be licensed to practice as a                                                                                              
public accountant.                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                      
This "club" environment is now changing for many professions.                                                                               
There is recognition of obsolescence, of new knowledge and                                                                                            
competencies, and of the need for continuing renewal in the                                                                                           
expectation of delivering best professional practice.                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
For some professions, there is the further need for members to                                                                                        
accumulate sufficient credit units in professional development                                                                                        
over a given period of time. The mechanism is usually through                                                                                         
attendance at classes in a range of subjects with the need to                                                                                         
clock in a certain minimum number of hours a year.                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                      
While the world of the closed professions is endeavouring to                                                                                          
install a process of renewing its collective competency, the                                                                                          
open professions are exposed, with the result that the                                                                                                
standard of professional practice is enormously varied.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
Take the case of the management profession. Anyone, with or                                                                                           
without qualification, can be a manager.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
The universality of management renders it difficult to define                                                                                         
the boundaries of professional practice, and academic studies                                                                                         
in management are, under current curriculum, biased towards                                                                                           
knowledge acquisition rather than towards professional skills                                                                                         
development.                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
Despite the phenomenal growth of business and Management                                                                                              
studies at our universities and private colleges and the even                                                                                         
more phenomenal output of business and management literature,                                                                                         
most practising managers are quite illiterate on management                                                                                           
specifics.                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
Many can mouth concepts and explain jargons, but few are                                                                                              
actually practising these concepts or applying the tools they                                                                                         
have learnt.  Unless useful knowledge is eventually translated                                                                                        
. into value-added                                                                                                                                    
application, competency cannot be enhanced.                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
In a world of tumultuous change, we need to have the facility                                                                                         
to search for useful knowledge, frame it into application,                                                                                            
test it in our particular situation, modify as necessary and                                                                                          
reinforce what works.                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
Unlike medicine, management application is culture and                                                                                                
location biased, but we often seem to be taken in bathe                                                                                               
pronouncements of management gurus from a different dimension.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
Professional development, then, is more than acquiring                                                                                                
knowledge.  It has everything to do with the application of                                                                                           
knowledge so that a higher level of service is eventually                                                                                             
delivered. Examples of measurements of service delivery would                                                                                         
include the time taken, quality rendered and cost involved.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
An individual practising manager needs to be nourished in the                                                                                         
con- text of widening his perspectives and his perceptions.                                                                                           
Unlike the closed professions in which career development is                                                                                          
towards specialisation, the management profession moves in                                                                                            
reverse track.                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
Managers begin as specialists in, say, sales and marketing and                                                                                        
move up the hierarchy towards general management. As he                                                                                               
progresses in his career, he has to understand and take                                                                                               
responsibility for areas in which he may not have had previous                                                                                        
experience in.                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
That is why the failure rate of first time general managers                                                                                           
can be disturbingly high. find that is why professional                                                                                               
development of specialists becoming generalists is so crucial                                                                                         
to the well-being of the organisation.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
There are several pathways towards professional development.                                                                                          
One is through education. That is why the MBA is such a sought                                                                                        
after qualification. Another route is through training by                                                                                             
requiring the general manager-designate to attend a portfolio                                                                                         
of specially selected courses, particularly in areas outside                                                                                          
of his experience, generally with the purpose of preparing him                                                                                        
to assume the new responsibility.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
But professional development should not be limited to                                                                                                 
education and training. In any profession, the starting point                                                                                         
has to be member- ship of the relevant professional body,                                                                                             
whether legally mandated or by choice.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
In the field of management, where membership is by choice, the                                                                                        
purpose of joining a management association is to first obtain                                                                                        
some sense of accreditation as a Fellow, Member, Associate or                                                                                         
Affiliate of, say, the Malaysian Institute of Management.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
Flowing from this accreditation is the opportunity provided to                                                                                        
network through organised meetings, seminars and conferences                                                                                          
to share experiences, to learn from fellow professionals and                                                                                          
to enhance our understanding of the discipline.                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                      
A professional body normally offers the first port of call for                                                                                        
educational and training opportunities, access to library,                                                                                            
publications and other resources and contact with other                                                                                               
members with the objective of promoting, enhancing and                                                                                                
maintaining the highest standards of professional practice.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
There is, in fact, a family of management-related professional                                                                                        
bodies to cater to different interests.  Personnel managers                                                                                           
tend to join the Malaysian Institute of Personnel Management,                                                                                         
marketing managers have the Malaysian Institute of Marketing,                                                                                         
directors have the Malaysian Institute of Directors, while                                                                                            
those interested in the discipline of management in its                                                                                               
generic and most universal sense can opt for membership of the                                                                                        
Malaysian Institute of Management.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                      
In a world of turbulent and extraordinary change we have to                                                                                           
compete from a position of knowledge.  Often the first source                                                                                         
of relevant knowledge is best obtained from the professional                                                                                          
association we belong to.