ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of professionals in implementing policy responses in the program or implementation phases of projects. A criterion is a principle or standard by which a judgment is made. The word comes from the Greek word for a judge. The ideas of informed consent in medicine, and acting under client instructions in law depend heavily on the capacity of professionals’ patients or clients to understand options presented to them by the professionals, sometimes in situations of considerable stress. The situation to which the professional is responding has already been defined as ethically challenging in the sense of having implications for human well-being. Professionalism is an occupational device which develops and transmits shared practice standards, in terms of which professional decision-making can be assessed. The importance of specification of the situation for which the responsible professional agent is setting objectives has already been emphasized.
