... when you have a job there are rules to follow to
show that you are credible, reliable and trustworthy.
Being a professional means both having a job/career
as well as acting according to business etiquette. In
other words, an expert complies to a CoC to be a
professional.
institutions as essential for ensuring their
members remain up to date and maintain their
professional competence. The use of the word
“competence” in the context of CPD implies
an outcome in terms of performance. The
preference of these organisations was to consider
professional development as a part of an overall
staff development policy. Though such a policy
may be common for non-aircraft maintenance
engineering organisations, it has not been
practised in the aircraft maintenance engineering
field. In addition, CPD has been defined by
Madden and Mitchell [38] as “the maintenance
and enhancement of the knowledge, expertise
and competence of professionals throughout their
careers according to a plan formulated with regard
to the needs of the professional, the employer,
the professions and society.” The evolvement
of knowledge, technology and operational
environments necessitates continuous updating
to maintain a professional level. This is particularly
relevant to the field of aircraft maintenance
engineering.
There is a clear indication that the purpose of all
CPDs is to promote effective performance at work.
Welsh and Woodward [39], for example, describe
CPD in the context of “an activity which helps to
maintain and improve professional competence”.
Again Madden and Mitchell [38] stated that “the
aim of an effective CPD is to provide a profession
where members are fully trained and competent
to perform the tasks expected of them throughout
their careers.” As the majority of LAMEs stay
within aviation related organisations and continue
to function in an aircraft maintenance engineering
environment, a CPD supports the life long career
development in a systematic and progressive
manner.
As aircraft systems becomes more and
more complex, it also means employers need
practitioners who can solve complex problems
and can acquire and develop new knowledge
as highlighted by Baartman et al., [40]. With the
compliance to CPD activities, enhancement of
knowledge may enable practitioners to develop
the capability to solve not only complex problems
but also complicated problems. This is particularly
true for category C LAMEs as they manage the
aircraft maintenance engineering operations.
Though arguably, the attitude of a practitioner
determines the level attained, nevertheless, CPD
activities may support practitioner towards that
direction.
From another perspective, an expert means
someone who has a great degree of knowledge
about a subject. Often they have an education
or a lot of experience with the subject matter
such as the education and training gained by a
LAME, whereby a LAME is an expert. However, a
professional is someone who has a job function,
and acts according to the (written and unwritten)
rules of business etiquette. The term business
etiquette may be interpreted as a set of CoC and
code of ethics. This latter part is a bit difficult to
explain, but when you have a job there are rules
to follow to show that you are credible, reliable
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