Surely part of the experience of learning and completing the qualification is about doing the research yourself and looking for the texts that cover the topic. I'd suggest starting with the CIPD Professions Map and looking at what the CIPD defines as professionalism and then maybe look at some other professional bodies (e.g. accountancy bodies) and see how they define it? You should also look in journals for some references to professionalism - you can access some through the CIPD and probably your learning provider as well.

Hi Rebecca,

Just googling "what is professionalism" brings up lots of answers! That will give you lots of guidance on the definition. I would guess that your assignment is probably then asking you to expand on that definition as to how it fits in your organisation or why it is important etc. As Lesley says that is the bit you will need to research for yourself.

Good luck with your studies.

Hi Rebecca... this question is actually covered by a broad piece of current work the CIPD is leading at the moment.

There are quite a few blog posts around the topic, e.g...
www2.cipd.co.uk/.../how-do-you-define-professionalism-in-hr

www2.cipd.co.uk/.../because-professionalism-matters

...and a few threads in the "Our Profession" group on this Community.
www2.cipd.co.uk/.../our_profession

In reply to Steve Bridger:

Thanks so much Steve

In reply to Steve Bridger:

There's also the CIPD Professional Code of Conduct which provides some useful reading www.cipd.co.uk/.../code