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Definition
Academic and professional integrity refers to the morality and ethical practices in the academic and professional world. As stated by Macfarlane, Zhang, and Pun (2014), academic integrity represents the commitment to ethical practices and the demonstration of moral and honest behavior in the academic world. This is highly important in this field as people should be given credit for their ideas and findings. If a paper is written with the help of other papers containing ideas of other scholars and they were not given the credit, the work would be considered to be plagiarized, that is, stealing others ideas and this is a serious offense in the academic world. Hence, in simple terms, it can be said that academic integrity refers to the acknowledgment of the contributions of other scholars in the education sector and it is a moral activity that should be practiced by all scholars.
Similar to academic integrity, professional integrity refers to the adoption and practice of ethical standards in the professional place. As stated by Eriksen (2015), a person demonstrates professional integrity when he willingly and continuously acts according to the moral values or social standards of society. In the business world, integrity is mostly directed towards implementation of the fair and ethical practices and professional integrity allows a person to follow the social and moral rules while doing the job. It prevents people to adopt unfair practices to achieve organizational goals and objectives.
Significance
Integrity is a very important characteristic of the personality of a person. The attitude towards showing integrity either in academics or in the professional world is important as it shows the strong moral principle and values of an individual. As stated by Cox, La Caze, and Levine (2018), integrity refers to the practice of being honest and demonstrating a constant and rigid observance of strong ethical and moral principles, and hence, a person showing integrity in either academics or in the professional place is treated with respect.
In the academic world, integrity in the academics is treated as the foundation of success. Plagiarism in academics is strictly prohibited in almost all universities across the country. By studying various literature, I learned more about plagiarism. I understood that plagiarism refers to the deliberate and reckless imitation of another scholars works, that is, thoughts, ideas, words, and research findings as ones own without giving credit to the actual author (Löfström et al. 2015). Chertok, Barnes, and Gilleland (2014) state that it is considered a serious offense as it is a form of cheating or stealing of the intellectual property of another author, and the dishonest practices often lead to the suspension and failure of the student, who gets caught for submitting plagiarized work. Hence, integrity should be practiced by every individual in the academic world and every piece of information in a paper should be correctly cited from original source.
On the other hand, in any organization, integrity is highly valued by employers as it is the foundation of morality and ethical practices and helps to build effective interpersonal relationships and trust among the employees. As highlighted by Walmsley and McCormack (2016), professional integrity refers to doing the right thing, which would be right not only for the organization but also for the employees, and communities in which the organization is delivering the services. By studying various literature, I learned that practicing integrity in the professional place helps executives to leave in mental peace, which also increases their job satisfaction, efficiency, and productivity. Secondly, the level of trust is increased when the leaders and the followers in an organization demonstrate integrity, that is, ethical and moral work practices. Lastly, professional integrity increases the credibility of the leaders, and respect for the people increases for leaders adopting ethical leadership practices (Eberl, Geiger, and Aßländer 2015).
Application
In universities, students learn how to express original ideas and cite the correct sources for every corresponding piece of information. They also learn to work independently and report the results accurately and honestly. These skills are helpful even beyond their academic career as they help to build their personality and moral character. The dishonest practices in academic assignments not only would affect the valuable learning experiences of the students but could also lead to failure in the assignment and or expulsion from the university (Razek 2014). Thus, I learned that academic integrity involves the creation and expression of original ideas in the academic assignments, acknowledgment of the information sources, completion of the assignments independently and acknowledgment of any collaboration to pay respect to the other authors, honest representation of ones own work. Hence, universities have guidelines regarding academic integrity and the students must follow those. Under the guidelines, proper citation of other authors work is the main criterion for academic integrity (Reeves 2015).
In the professional world, companies have their guidelines on ethical practices and the employees must abide by the rules. The guidelines and policies usually address points like bribes, biases, favoritism among employees, internal politics for harming employees, not keeping promises, and cheating (Gundersen and Townsend 2014). The guidelines strictly prohibit the practices of the above-mentioned issues in the workplace to maintain a fair work environment, which would keep the employees motivated. Violation of these rules would lead to strict penalties, such as suspension or even termination from the job.
Comparison between present and past knowledge on academic and professional integrity
Previously, I had a vague idea about academic and professional integrity. I knew that integrity means the adoption of fair and ethical practices in academic and professional lives. It reflects the culture of the individual demonstrating the moral values and principles. However, now I know how important it is to practice integrity in both fields. I learned about the implications of integrity in both the academic and professional world and the penalties that are imposed if one gets caught following unfair and unethical practices.
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