For our posting this week, we are very fortunate to have Gautham Pandiyan’s perspective on professionalism and suggestions for our MEMP students. Gauthum and I were meeting recently about the work he is doing with a start-up company and we began discussing professionalism – how important it is and yet how hard it can be to explain. He had some great comments that I wanted him to share with you so he kindly agreed to write up the following.
Guest Post by Gautham Pandiyan:
As I sat in your position a year ago as a new MEMP student during orientation, I wondered why I was hearing so much about “professionalism” and “professional conduct”. I learned soon that there were some good reasons behind it that I would like to share. Hope you are all having a good start to your year. My name is Gautham Pandiyan and officially I am a MEMP Sept. 2009 graduate but I obtained another master’s degree from Duke prior to the MEMP and I have known members of the MEMP class from 2004 onwards. I was in danger of becoming somewhat of a Duke institution before finally graduating and leaving! Each year I have seen the MEM program grow and change in many ways. Several things have improved considerably about the program, and some other shortcomings and areas for improvement have come to light as well. The flexibility in coursework, the opportunities for engagement outside the classroom, the great faculty & staff and more, are certainly shining features of the program. I have also greatly enjoyed the energy and enthusiasm shown by the diverse student body for many different areas of interests including my pet favorite, commercialization & entrepreneurship.
As a long-time Duke student, I have however noticed that the reputation of the program within Duke, and to some extent outside Duke, tends to be tarnished by the behavior of just a small number of students. While the majority of the student body conduct themselves very professionally and perform exceptionally, a small minority tends to act unprofessionally, hounds professors & recruiters and comes across as somewhat avaricious. A good friend of mine works at Duke hires a student each year to work as a Data-entry technician under her. Every year she tells me she gets flooded with resumes, phone calls and emails from MEM students that ignore the instructions of the application process, and attempt to get hired by hounding her. As a result she has a very negative image of the MEM program. This is highly unfortunate as it might affect her future interactions with others from the program. The same is true of several Fuqua faculty and recruiters as well. It is easy to see how the action of just one person can bring considerable disrepute to the entire program and affect all of us. This is why the program administration constantly stresses professional behavior and why it behooves all of us to conduct ourselves in the most professional manner. While understandably everyone is worried about their short-term future and jobs, it will affect everyone in the long-term if this worry trumps our conduct.
While apologizing for sounding preachy if I do, I challenge you all to adopt a student code of conduct or culture that will ensure that the MEM program is represented in the best possible manner both within and outside of Duke, and I am sure you will continue to bring many accolades to it! Good luck for a great year!
Editor’s Note: I would like to add that developing the culture that Gautham refers to can only happen if we all hold each other accountable for this culture. There will be times when we all, perhaps inadvertently, act in ways that do not support this culture. If we help each other develop the habits that Gautham refers to it will benefit our careers and the MEM program!
"Engineering Management Thought of the Week" Jeff Glass 
Hello Dr. Glass. My name is Devashish Singh (Dev) and I am a current Master of Engineering Management student at Duke (May 2010).
My friend and I were just discussing this very topic last night (Tuesday) and it is good to see a related blog being posted the very next day.
With respect to your note at the end, how does one hold others accountable for this professional culture? As mentioned by Gautham Pandiyan, there’s only a small section of the class that does not observe the professional code of conduct. Therefore we often feel that it is not worth the effort to reach out and coach them. Further, we feel that this approach might even create conflict and peers might feel that we would be coming on too strong.
Although this program has already taught me so much in conflict management and I feel confident whilst approaching people, the sheer effort involved might deter me from doing so. I do understand that we are collectively responsible for not only our growth as individuals, but also for the reputation of the MEM program.
Thanks for the comment. This is a tough question and there is no single way to create the culture and hold people accountable. But as a start, tallk about the topic – a lot. In meetings, in groups, with individuals. Not just specific issues but professionalism in general. Just make it a part of the MEMP culture to discuss professionalism as a topic – to debate and analyze it. This will make people think about their actions in this respect. For example, discuss things like: What does unprofessional mean? Is putting pictures on Facebook unprofessional if colleagues and employers can see it? Is it OK to be a little unprofessional when you are too busy and do not have time to do things just right? Does it really hurt you if you are not always professional? Analyzing this topic will make people more aware and will help you define the culture in the MEMP.
Also, any time we want to change a culture, it takes tremendous effort and needs to be reinforced in all kinds of ways; exectuives indicate that they need to discuss it everywhere, all the time, before everyone gets it. But you are right, the effort to do this is sometimes a deterrent and also it may cause some conflict. This is very similar to the issues that managers and even nonmanagement employees face constantly. One key is to make it a natural part of your communication with your peers. Saying something to your peer when it happens in a relaxed, unemotional way is difficult and takes a lot of practice but can make it very efficient and effective. Although it could cause friction, most times it will not and the person will understand they have been unprofessional. In addition discussing the issues in group meetings and generally reinforcing the culture of professionalism by simply talking about what it means as often as possible will be easy and efficient.
It is hard to bring up specific cases because you do not want to come across as superior or condescending. I like to phrase things as questions when it can cause friction so the person does not get defensive. Such as: “Could you work on your computer after seminar so the speaker is not offended?” Or sometimes keeping it light if the person is a friend: “Dude, you are making us look bad by working on your computer during seminar” You will study communicating this type of feedback in EGRMGMT 240 if you have not already taken that course but it is not easy for most of us. Practicing this type of potentially inflammatory communication and learning to do it well is a lifetime endeavor. But here in school you have a great place to practice. If you become good at it, most of your managers will love you for it
Hello Dr Glass, I am Chiragh Madaiah, an MEM student of the 2010 batch. Your blog is a really nice read and the perspectives are interesting in every article. Mr Goutham has written a crisp article on professionalism but I would like to know his insights on professionalism in the work place which would be really helpful for my colleagues in this course many of whom have minimal job experience so that they could approach their first job with some amount of prior knowledge on what is right and what is unacceptable.
This statement comes from a personal experience I had while working as an Analyst programmer at Syntel India Limited. It was during my last few months of work there when I was done with the application procedures for my Masters program and was getting the reply from the universities regarding the same. I started taking my job lightly not putting my 100% to it. My behavior started becoming more casual which affected the work environment. Well I was not very happy with the daily happenings as the atmosphere at work was very low. This didn’t flash in my head but I was woken up one day from my slumber by a colleague and a good friend who was my junior at work. We were at dinner and this topic just came up. I was made to realize what was happening and informed that my Team leader who was also my mentor was thoroughly disappointed with my behavior.
This made me realize what was going on and I had just 3 months to correct my errors. It was a fault of mine which made all this happening and this had to stop. I started behaving more professionally, working real hard, helped a lot in the activities in and around office and what can I say, I was at the best morale and loved what I was doing. When I was leaving office I had gained a great friend and mentor in my Team leader, my colleagues liked my work and appreciated my enthusiasm as I was a really good team builder and always loved to boost the morale of the team and also organize various events which made working fun.
This was one major experience which helped me a lot to realize that put your best effort in each endeavor and you will see the fruits of your labor.
Thanks for the good story. I agree wholeheartedly that this is an excellent example of professionalism at work – it is great that you had the desire and time to fix the problem, thereby ending your time there with a great friend and mentor instead of burning a bridge. Attitude counts for a lot! Interestingly, you found out about the problem and how were being perceived and negatively impacting the work environment from a friend at dinner rather than a formal review process. This is not uncommon and points to one important aspect of professionalism – seek out feedback on your performance regularly and use it constructively for continuous improvement. I will write about professionalism in the workplace for my next blog – hopefully in the next week or so.
Thanks for sharing this interesting personal story with us.