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Recognizing and raising professionalism behaviors within the culture of business undergraduates: Working paper series--10-10

Abstract

Professionalism, as represented in behavioral qualities that are in wide variation across students, is a timely and relevant issue for business schools for both pedagogical progress and for graduates' employability. Framed in structuration theory (Giddens, 1984), this paper describes a novel program designed to foster recognition of professional characteristics and incentivize more professional behavior, to progressively shift awareness and norms within the student body culture among undergraduates in an accredited college of business in the Western United States. In concert with traditional curriculum, this simple program offers the reward of formal recognition for students who consistently demonstrate more professional behavior in coursework and extra-curricular activities. Students' recognition of professionalism is expected to be valuable to them and to the college, and formal recognition for those that distinguish themselves is expected to be notable on their resumes and valuable in seeking employment. As presently designed, the program capitalizes on uncommon strengths of the college, but wider applicability of the concept is explored and discussed

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