Personal_Values

Personal Values and Ethics After review of my results of the Williams Institute Ethics Awareness and considering my own values, I can honestly say I now understand the basics for making decisions, which involves an approach where you have to understand and have a strong personal knowledge of right or wrong. I have to be able to look at a problem, be able to evaluate that problem, and then decide on the alternatives available to me to resolve that problem. Before I began work at Kudlers, I informed Ms. Kudler that I could not work for someone who asks me to abandon my values in order to remain employed. Upon review of Kudler’s balance sheet, I discover there are quite a few discrepancies, when I brought this to Ms. Kudler’s attention I was greeted with skepticism. However, it was important for me to know why there were different figures on the balance sheet, income statement and inventory report. As her store manager, it is my duty to inform her that to make her business a success she had to be up front with me on all aspects of her business and if I was to continue to manage her store, I would need free rein to do what I do best and that is to manage. To be a good manager, I believe that there is certain information that should be shared with the store’s management team and everything must be balanced and double checked. We both believe for this business to prosper she would need a reliable person as her back-up who has her best interest in mind. I have been assigned to set up a new marketing campaign and help trim the budget for my location. To do what is expected of me I have to solve a major problem, which is to collect company data and research this data which could vastly improve our current service in the catering and organic food line. My belief is that Kudler Fine Foods lacks any kind of organization which lies solely in the hands of Kathy Kudler. However, Kathy Kudler has tapped into an industry with great potential. Each Kudler location must have employees trained and cross-trained in a fashion that represents the clientele it serves. This is a belief held by Ms. Kudler and myself. Without this type of personal service, I do not believe that Kudler Fine Foods would survive long in this marketplace. One problem I have with Kudlers is giving staff the left over baked goods in place of a decent hourly pay rate. You cannot pay your bills with day old bread. This is no way to cut the budget, in the long run you will lose this seasoned employee and have to take the time to train a new hire which is going to cut into your business day. Not saying that Ms. Kudler is unethical, but if the employees banded together she would have to make amends or lose money on a daily basis. I believe my ethical leadership skills are a combination of my ethical decision making and ethical behavior. To be an effective manager, I know I have to balance my obligation to myself and my obligation to Kudlers. And Ms. Kudler has the responsibility and authority to enable her organization to be ethical and do all that is possible to uphold individual ethics through organizational decisions and employee behavior. I think that Ms. Kudler holds to the same mind set as I do when it comes to the head of this organization making ethical and fair decisions. The bottom line is that managers and CEO’s know what they value and recognize the importance of ethical behavior. My leadership ethics and values should be visible because I live them in my actions every single day. To remain an effective manager, I have chosen the values and ethics that are most important to me, because they define my character. I live them everyday while at work, these are powerful tools that help me lead and influence the other employees at Kudlers.