English in Quality Management.

Unit 1. Occupation or Profession?

Vocabulary

Import – импорт

Export – экспорт

Transport service – транспортное обслуживание

Provide – предоставлять

Private – частный

Social – общественный

Authorities - администрация

In many respects – во многих отношениях

Primarily – изначально

Achieve – достигать

There is a group of occupations which the general public usually refers to as the professions. In the nineteenth cen­tury doctors, lawyers and the clergy were generally agreed to be in this category. During the last hundred years there has been an increase in the numbers of those claiming to be mem­bers of a profession. In the main this has been a result of the rising proportion of occupations that have required a high standard of education. Many members of these newer occu­pations, for example engineers and accountants, have aspired to professional status.

...The practice of the professions that were recognized as such in the last century is based on the close personal relationship between the practitioner and his client. The layman who is sick consults his doctor because he is ignorant of the nature of his illness, whilst the doctor is assumed to know how to cure it. In the same way the lawyer can help his clients because of his knowledge of the complexities of the law. Therefore, the professional situation is characterized by the expert practitioner in consultation with the ignorant cli­ent who has absolute trust in the advice tendered to him. The practitioner does not use his knowledge except to benefit his clients. According to this analysis the social fact of the professions" rests upon the implications of the social situa­tion involved. Following from the essential nature of this re­lationship there are, it is said, a number of characteristics that are common to all " true" professions. These characteristics concern the type of knowledge required to practice, the way in which entry to the profession is controlled, the formulation of an ethical code governing professional behavior and finally, the freedom of the professional to practice without lay inter­ference. Though not strictly a consequence of the nature of the interrelationship between practitioner and layman one extension of these implications is usually made, namely that professions tend to found organizations to watch over the codification of the four characteristics identified above.

Answer the questions according to the text:

1. What group of occupations does the general public usually refer to as the professions?

2. Is it possible to refer your future activity to the professions? Why?

3. What is your future professional status characterized by?

4. What type of knowledge is required to practice your profession?

5. What is common to all " true" professions?

Exercises: