Professional_Values,_Ethics,_and_Career_Success

Many different things in life will impact the success in a person’s career. When thinking about a person’s career a person must consider how much he or she knows about their current job, how qualified they are to perform their job and how this job will help a person gain the knowledge that he or she needs to gain a better job. A person rarely thinks about how professional values and ethics play a role in gaining that better job. Knowing and understanding what professional values and ethics are will help a person gain a successful career. Professional values are not something that is discussed on a regular basis. A value is a relative worth, merit, or importance. Examples of professional values would be to do no harm, remember that honesty is the best policy, and stay balanced. Jane Smith, eHow Contributing Writer, says “Professional values are the principles that guide your decisions and actions in your career.” Before decisions are made, a person must first investigate and see if the decision will have a negative effect. By making decisions that will have a positive effect for the participating individuals will prevent harm. As a professional, being honest will take a person a long way. A person must be honest in everything that they do whether they are working with a team or working individually. Many people will respect a professional who is honest rather than one who is not. A person can live a simple life with full potential by balancing work and home. Staying balanced will not only make a better professional, but it will prevent the professional from being over consumed in their professional career. These examples can be read in Beating the 24/7: How Business Leaders Achieve a Successful Work/Life Balance, online at eHow.com, and in Wharton on Making Decisions. Business ethics and a professional career go hand in. According to YourDictionary.com (1996-2009), “Ethics are considered the moral standards by which people judge behavior.” This definition is up for interpretation as to what a person thinks is good moral standards. In the professional arena, companies typically have stated ethical standards called Codes of Conduct in which their employees are to abide by. Some of these ethical standards may include but are not limited to the following: honesty, integrity, objectivity, confidentiality, responsibility to society, respect, and accountability (Deloitte Development, LLC (2008), p. 3). Some, these days most, companies will send their employees to ethics training or seminars to help them learn to apply their Codes of Conduct throughout their workdays. Adopting ethical standards can be useful in the workplace, because eventually people are faced with complex ethical dilemmas (Urbany, Reynolds, Phillips (2008)). If someone encounters an ethical dilemma it’s crucial for a person to weigh the pros and cons of each possible solution. Many people recommend seeking out the advice of someone trustworthy for an outside, non-biased opinion, or in many cases companies will provide an ethics hotline that is confidential for dealing with such dilemmas. Having good business ethics without professional values is almost impossible. They are closely knitted together and almost inseparable. Colleges and supervisors will recognize an employee who is good at dealing with ethical issues. Being just, fair, and applying the preferred set of company ethical standards will show the ability of discernment and decision making skills. Applying professional values and ethics can help make a career successful. When defining career success a person must first decide what success means to them, there are many different meanings to the word success and it might mean something different to everyone. Some might define career success as being successful at everything they aspire to do in a their career. While others might define career success as getting to the top of their organization as fast as possible. No matter what a person considers to be a successful career he or she must keep in mind professional values and ethics are two important factors in gaining that successful career. Without knowing the meaning of professional values and ethics a person might not be considered for that promotion that they are qualified for because he or she does not have good ethics or professional values. When a person is in a professional environment he or she needs to always ask themselves before making a decision if what he or she is doing is ethical. Career success, ethics, and professional values will always have an effect on our everyday lives. To have a successful career a person needs to keep in mind that professional values and ethics are two key parts in gaining that successful career. Having the understanding that a person must have good values and ethics and by understanding what makes up both will help a person grow not just in his or her career but also in life