The Changing Nature of Professionalism: The Importance of Organisational Learning and Practical Management

This paper is concerned first, with the changing nature of professionalism in the surveying profession and second, in response to such changes, the results of two recent projects sponsored by the Royal Institution of Chartered. Surveyors (RICS). The paper focuses on some of the characteristics associated with being considered as a ‘professional’ and how these have shifted over time. A number of new trends are also becoming apparent as surveying professionals seek to maintain, and in some Instances, extend their influence across the professional services sector. First, it is becoming recognised that ‘lifelong learning’ for both surveying professionals and surveying organizations is of critical importance to the future development of the profession. Second, it is also being recognised that business and commercial skills are becoming of increasing importance to professional surveyors in both private and public sector organisations. The evolution of both sets of ideas in the context of surveying in the United...