Values_and_Ethics

In this paper we will discuss three sources of professional values and ethics and how they are paramount to the success of a career. An individual’s values and ethics can help a company build a strong foundation to help achieve the goals and objectives of the company. Ethics and values are so important that many companies compile Codes of Conduct and Value Statements for their employees to use to guide them through their career. In fact, values and ethics are a driving force behind a company’s success. If employees are given the proper tools they will be able to make ethical decisions to move the company and their career in the right direction. Values and ethics are the basis of every organization and it is important to understand there meanings. According to Dictionary.com() ethics can be defined as, the study of the general nature of morals and of the specific moral choices to be made by a person; moral philosophy; or the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession: medical ethics. Values are the rules by which we make decisions about right and wrong, should and shouldn't, good and bad. They also tell us which are more or less important, which is useful when we have to trade off meeting one value over another, Dictonary.com(). On a daily basis we use our values to make decision in our professional and personal lives. Some examples of values are responsibility, dedication, respect, and courage. Our application of these values is called ethics. It is essential for business’s to hire employees with strong values, they can bring honesty and integrity to the table and contribute to the business’s success. Many companies develop a Code of Conduct to instill these values among their employees, although values are not learned overnight they are developed over time. However, the Code of Conduct gives employees rules to live by, and gives employees a way to learn right from wrong and guides them in their professional decisions. There are many sources of professional values and ethics we will address three of them. One major source of values is families; as children we spend countless hours with our parents learning right from wrong and how to behave as a result they have the most influence on our daily choices, whether we want to admit it or not. Your parents teach you to be kind to others, not to lie and cheat, and if you break the rules there will be consequences for your actions. Another source of values is religion; religion also helps to teach many values to live your life by. Your religion also teaches right from wrong, forgiveness and that there will be consequences for breaking the rules. Some conflict can arise among individuals who are asked to do something that maybe ethically right in the eyes of an employer but not proper according to religious beliefs; this could affect how that person makes a decision. The last source we will discuss is personal experiences; how individuals are treated by employers and watching how others have been treated influences reactions and shapes the decision making process. These are not the only sources of our ethics and values and continually our experiences are helping us develop our views. It may seem that core values are established prior to entering the workforce it might be difficult for companies to influence ethical behavior among its employees. For this reason companies have developed Value statements and Codes of Conduct to define how they want their employees to behave, treat each other, and how they should treat customers. In fact, the United States Army developed Seven Core Values a soldier should live by; soldiers spend a large amount of time in basic training learning the values and then must live by them throughout their career. Leadership is also a key to helping individuals act ethically. If senior leaders follow the rules, there will be a trickledown effect to the employees improving the corporate culture in the workplace. Professional values and ethics are essential to a successful career and the corner stone of company’s success. Displaying ethical behavior throughout your career will have a positive impact; you will realize respect and trust from superiors, increased responsibilities and self confidence as a result of ethical behavior. Trust of others is very important to success; if you can gain the trust of people you will be able to promote your career to its highest levels. As a result you will be given respect from coworkers and superiors, and that will lead to increased job responsibilities. Many may think you could be successful without being ethical and that may be true for a short time; however you cannot hide unethical behavior for long. If you make several unethical decisions in your career you are viewed as an unethical person. It takes a lifetime to build a reputation and your professional values and ethics are the building blocks of that reputation. Reference Page Values. () In Dictonary.com. Retrieved from http://www.dictonary.com Ethics. () In Dictonary.com. Retrieved from http://www.dictonary.com