Why Should People Form Professional Groups and Associations?

Bolashak Reflections: A Series of Essays by Bolashak Fellows on What They Have Learned from Their Studies

Author: Gaini Seitenova

If the power of bad people is achieved by the fact that they are together, then to be powerful, good people must do the same.

Leo tolstoy

Human history would have never evolved so remarkably if it were not for people’s love of community: tribes, clans, farms, cities, countries, etc. This has helped people to survive and develop. Philosophically speaking, “man is a purely social being.” This has remained unchanged over time. People are still uniting around causes and hobbies, political goals, religion, social media groups, etc. What I am particularly interested in is professional collaboration and collegiality, how people organize and exchange knowledge, how colleagues help each other, and how to organize this professional networking and collegiality in Kazakhstan.

Many scientific articles have been written about the role of professional associations in society (see Bibliography). They point out that professional associations lead to more effective programs and initiatives in the professional field, but also that organizations should be governed in the same strict manner as commercial enterprises. Particularly, membership organizations with consistently good organization and management are more sustainable in the long term.

In order to understand the real role that membership associations play in various industries, I decided, based on my research expertise, to study the organization of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and derive any lessons that could be beneficial for my home country of Kazakhstan, where researchers and scholars are not organized in this way and in fact hardly organized at all.

Good Practices Needed

When you go to the website of the American Chemical Society, you immediately see all the necessary information for any researcher, from beginners to those more advanced in their careers, whether he or she is a professor, schoolteacher, or a student of chemistry. Undoubtedly, at the beginning of my career, the availability of such information would have been very helpful.

For example, I was able to get acquainted with past and upcoming ACS meetings and exhibitions, regional meetings, conferences on green chemistry, future ACS meetings, and ACS webinars. All events are listed chronologically and easy to navigate.

I could see professional development opportunities and information about certification and continuing education opportunities. This could be immensely helpful in one’s career. The website contains information on seminars, webinars, events, and courses designed to help with personal assessment and goal-setting, as well as improving skills on a wide range of topics. Here you can also understand and determine which branch of chemistry you want to specialize in. Then you can go to the next resource: searching for and finding a job.

Here is an effective job search and internship site for finding openings in academia and industry combined with individual mentoring and coaching to help you find the right opportunity. There is a separate section for students and teachers with educational resources, standards and recommendations, and a guide to scientific activities, books, and magazines. Students and teachers have separate resources where information is collected for undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students regarding, grants, funds, awards, and competitions. In addition, there is an American Association of Chemistry Teachers housed within the ACS. Also of note is the list of high-ranking chemical journals available to members of the Association, which comes with a detailed guide for how to write a successful article. The website is a great platform for professional communication and provides access to professional knowledge through links to all kinds of resources related to chemistry around the world. By browsing this site, you can access resources available in the world, without spending your time on additional search.

Connections between scientists are very important. Collaborative work and knowledge exchange contribute to the development of a particular area and even help to boost the ranking of the university. In one of my research papers, entitled “The Place of Kazakhstan Universities in the World Rankings,” I developed metrics to assess university performance. In my assessment, academic reputation and academic standing count for 40% of the total score. This includes networking, guest and visiting professorship opportunities, collaborative academic and scientific projects, and the availability of dual-degree programs. To improve dual-degree programs in Kazakhstan, I therefore offered to stimulate the creation of various interest groups and communities (women in science, STEM, volunteer clubs, etc.) to achieve internal academic mobility as a result of networking. For me, the fact that there are so many associations in the USA is an important contributor to the place of the US universities in the QS World University Rankings 2022, where every 4^th US university is included in this ranking (https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2022).

In Kazakhstan, unfortunately, the importance of teamwork for a researcher, even though well understood, is barely realized. Teams are often assembled through a top-down approach centered around the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who decides on the availability of a grant. Such teams often include senior science administrators who help to promote the work and obtain funding. Researchers are not fully autonomous and therefore are restricted in their ability to choose how to assemble their teams and to collaborate freely across borders. The overall low place that science occupies in society, combined with low wages and a lack of equipment, labs, and necessary conditions in which to conduct experiments, as well as general limitations on funding for research, all complicate the work of a Kazakh scientist.

Currently, there is not a single scientific association in Kazakhstan that brings together groups of people on a professional basis and conducts consistent and organized work to preserve the unity of the community. From the time of the Soviet Union to the present, there have been only professional unions uniting members of the same organization they definitely need a fresh approach based on modern management techniques for nonprofit organizations. So, as one of the conclusions from the Bolashak Leadership in Education scholarship program at George Washington University, I decided to develop and offer practical recommendations on the very first steps that are necessary to create a professional association.

How to Start a Professional Association

To start a professional association, we usually need a few enthusiasts and volunteers who are willing to take on the organizational initiative and sustain it. They will form a nucleus of members and friends of the organization to run all preparatory work. But they should assume only temporary leadership. Once the association gets on track, its leadership (board, president, secretary, etc.) should be elected by the members every year to give a chance to other people to participate and bring in fresh ideas. The management of the association is not a full-time job; board and staff members should devote only some of their time to the work of the association and should be reasonably compensated. Also, the board should not be overcrowded: only a small team is needed to run the association.

The issue of financing may become a serious obstacle for a new association. As a rule, funding for a professional association can be presented in three different ways: through annual membership dues, through fees collected by members for a specific program of the association, or through a combination of these methods. There are, of course, other financial opportunities such as fundraising campaigns and state grants. The amount needed to run the association should be calculated based on the goals and priorities of the association and its planned events and projects.

Following the management model of many non-profit organizations, many functions can be delegated among members or carried out by volunteers, such as building a website and creating applications as well as running social media accounts. Meetings can be also held online with minimal expenses.

But the administrative work of the association is significant, as it should be up-to-date with all its members’ work, share necessary links, and build up an archive of knowledge. It should regularly revise its plans, maintain a strict budget for expenses and fees, know of new areas of interest and opportunities, organize the nomination and election of the board, and take the lead on other communication initiatives.

Communications Is Key

A professional association is a channel, a shared platform, a big room for communication. It is important to develop strong communication capacities. Invest in newsletters, postcards/flyers (to promote special events, ballgames, golf outings, etc.), create an association directory, have a regular telephone number and update the website as well as social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and take photos of key events and milestones.

I also encourage open dialog to fight some misconceptions, such as:

1. “I used to be a _______.” (Membership doesn’t expire when you graduate – it’s designed to last a lifetime.)
2. “I don’t have time.” (We’re all volunteers.)
3. “I won’t know anybody.” (Older members can help by welcoming newcomers.)
4. “All they want is my money.” (There needs to be an effort made to show that money is not the primary concern.)

As outlined, the practical implementation of this initiative is not that difficult and cumbersome. In only five steps, you can start something exciting that brings you new colleagues and friends, and open endless possibilities for collaborative research. Having completed this research on the merits and potential benefits of a professional association, as both a researcher and an organizer, I am more confident in my conviction about the need to open professional associations in our country. Such changes will not only benefit individual members, but society at large as well. Students and scientists can play a larger role in the future development of our country as it transforms its present and rethinks its past.

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Bibliography:

1. Eyun-Jung Ki and Yuan Wang. “Membership Benefits Matter,” Nonprofit Management & Leadership vol. 27, no. 2 (Winter 2016). DOI: 10.1002/nml.21230
2. Holly Mata, Teaniese P. Latham, and Yusuf Ransome, “Benefits of Professional Organization Membership and Participation in National Conferences: Considerations for Students and New Professionals,” Health Promotion Practice vol. 11, no. 4 (July 2010): 450453. DOI: 10.1177/1524839910370427
3. Beth Gazley, “Predicting a Volunteer’s Future Intentions in Professional Associations: A Test of the Penner Model,” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 42, no. 6 (December, 2013): 1245–1267. DOI: 10.1177/0899764012453207
4. Gergana Markova, Robert C. Ford, Duncan R. Dickson, and Thomas M. Bohn, “Professional Associations and Members’ Benefits: What’s in It for Me?,” Nonprofit Management & Leadership vol. 23, no. 4 (May, 2013), p. 491–510.
5. ChiaKo Hunga and Mark A. Hagerb, “Moderated Commitment: Members’ Decisions Not to Give to Professional Associations,” Public Performance & Management Review, vol. 43, no. 4, (March, 2020): 971–992. DOI: 10.1080/15309576.2020.1736105
6. Yuan Wang and Eyun-Jung Ki, “Membership Matters: Why Members Engage with Professional Associations,” Voluntas 29, no.1 (2018): 71–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-017-9873-x
7. Kenneth L. Bills, Lauren M. Cunningham, and Linda A. Myers, “Small Audit Firm Membership in Associations, Networks, and Alliances: Implications for Audit Quality and Audit Fees,”Accounting Review, vol. 91, no. 3 (May, 2016): 767–792.
8. Jeyoung Oh and Eyun-Jung Ki, “What Makes Association Members Donate More? Factors Influencing Members’ Donation Amount in Membership-Based Professional Associations,”Voluntas 30, no.4 (2019): 800–810. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-018-00059-3
9. Ana Delicado, Raquel Rego, Cristina Palma Conceição, Inês Pereira, and Luís Junqueira, “What Roles for Scientific Associations in Contemporary Science?,”Minerva 52, no[X1] .? (2014): 439–465. DOI 10.1007/s11024-014-9260-3
10. Eyun-Jung Ki and Moonhee Cho, “What Are the Predictors of Nonprofit Association Members’ Supportive Behaviors?,” International journal of nonprofit and voluntary sector marketing, vol.26, no.2 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.1693
11. Natalie LaFranzo, “The Role of Professional Societies in Advancing Inclusion in Chemistry: Through the Lens of the American Chemical Society,”Electrochemical Society Interface vol.31, no.1 (Spring, 2022).
12. Teresa M. Mourad, Amy Fox Mcnulty, Desiree Liwosz, Karin Tice, Frederick Abbott, Gwendolyn C. Williams, and Julie A. Reynolds, “The Role of a Professional Society in Broadening Participation in Science: A National Model for Increasing Persistence,”BioScience vol. 68, no. 9 (September 2018). doi:10.1093/biosci/biy066
13. Malin Ryttberg and Lars Geschwind, “Professional Support Staff in Higher Education: Networks and Associations as Sense Givers,”Higher Education vol.78, no.6 (2019): 1059–1074. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00388-2

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