Transcript Personal Values Influence Ethical Choices

Chapter Five
Personal Values
Influence Ethical
Choices
Chapter Preview: Personal Values
Influence Ethical Choices
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Developing a strong sense of character
How values are formed
Value conflicts and how to resolve them
Making ethical decisions based on
personal values
• Understanding corporate crime and
eliminating it
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Character, Integrity and
Moral Development
• Character is composed of your personal
standards of behavior including honesty,
integrity, and moral strength
• Integrity is congruence between what
you know, say, and do
• Practicing what you believe
demonstrates integrity
• Critical to successful relationships
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A Valued Character Trait
• People with integrity do what they say
they will do
• Are clear about what they stand for
• Think hard about what is right and
wrong
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The Corrosion of Character
• Author Richard Sennett believes decline
of character can be traced to:
– economic conditions
• fast-paced, high stress
• information-driven
– limited connections
• past
• neighbors
• selves
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Character Development
• Integrity can be developed
• Make and keep promises to self and
others
• Many organizations and educational
institutions believe in character training
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Figure 5.1 - Biogen's Values
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Table 5.1
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Total Person Insight
A person’s true character can
be judged by how he treats
those who can do nothing for
him.
Roy Chitwood
President, Max Sacks International
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Personal Values
• Values are personal beliefs and
preferences that influence one’s
behavior
• Deep-seated in personality
• Exist at different levels of awareness
• Awareness of values enhances integrity
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Five-Part Valuing Process to Clarify and
Develop Values
• Thinking
– critical thinking
– distinguishing fact from opinion
• Feeling
– listening to “gut level” feelings
• Communicating
– listening closely
– interacting with others
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Five-Part Valuing Process to Clarify and
Develop Values
• Choosing
– being well informed
• Acting
– repeatedly and consistently
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Identifying Your Core Values
• Core values are those that consistently
rank higher than others
• General principles and beliefs that guide
intermediate and long-term goals
• Influence the behavior of individuals and
organizations
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Values and Job Selection
• We often must choose among core
values
– High salary
– Security
– Meaningful work
– Lots of time off
• Most choices require compromising at
least one
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Values Shaping Influences
• Major influences that shape our values
are:
– People and events
– Family
– Religious groups
– Education
– The media
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Table 5.2
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Family
• Parents assume many roles
• Most important role is moral teacher
• Challenges to families:
– single-parent households
– two parents working outside the home
– care for elderly parents
– financial pressures
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Religious Groups
• Value priorities often developed through
religious training
– Religious doctrine
– Role models
• Many now seeking spiritual and moral
anchors in both personal lives and work
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Education
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Some see character education as
fundamental aspect of education
Six Pillars of Character according to
the Josephson Institute of Ethics:
-Trustworthiness
-Responsibility
-Caring
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-Respect
-Fairness
-Citizenship
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Media
• Viewers often see
– people abusing and degrading each other
without consequences
– violent and antisocial behavior
• Research connecting television viewing
and
– depression
– desensitization of children
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People We Admire
• Modeling is shaping behavior to be like
people you admire
• Important for children and adults
• Leaders in the workplace are important
models for adults
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Avoiding Values Drift
• Values drift is the slow erosion of core
values over time
– exposure to conflicting situations
– pressure to compromise
• Monitor your commitment and make
adjustments
• Careful examination each day will help
keep values on track
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Values Conflicts
• Individual differences in values
preferences can cause conflict
• Worker’s and manager’s differences
may cause distrust or misunderstanding
• Values conflicts may lead to declining
quality, absenteeism, and poor
customer service
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Internal Values Conflicts
• Internal values conflict occurs when a
person is caught between two or more
strongly held values
• 9/11 led people to reexamine values
• Value clarification minimizes conflicts
• Value ranking makes decisions easier
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Values Conflicts with Others
• Require effective human relations skills
• Emotional issues may disrupt
friendships, work teams, and
productivity
• Often based on
– Interpretations of work ethics
– Priorities of work life and personal life
• Responses may require compromise
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Personal Values and Ethical Choices
• Ethics are principles that define
behavior as
– right
– good
– proper
• Provides a means of evaluating and
deciding among options
• Rules that direct your conduct and
moral judgments
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Total Person Insight
If you want young people to take
notions like right and wrong
seriously, there is an indispensable
condition: they must be in the
presence of adults who take right
and wrong seriously.
William J. Bennett
Author, The Book of Virtues
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Personal Values and Ethical Choices
• Jobs often present ethical dilemmas
• Each organization has different ethical
standards
• Some feel pressure to violate ethical
standards to meet business objectives
• Often faced with multiple options
– Rarely just one right or wrong answer
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The Right Choices
• Learn to distinguish between right and
wrong
– Seek your employer’s code of ethics or the
ethical code of your professional
organization
– Ask an experienced or trusted colleague
– Refrain from choosing wrong path
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The Right Choices
• Don’t let your life be driven by the desire
for immediate gratification
– People are often under pressure to show
the trappings of success
– Progress and prosperity have same
meaning to many
– Often means compromising values
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The Right Choices
• Make sure your values are in harmony
with those of your employer
– Leads to success for individuals and
organizations
– Provides a strong bond among all
members of a work force
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Total Person Insight
Nothing is more powerful for employees
than seeing their managers behave
according to their expressed values and
standards: nothing is more devastating
to the development of an ethical
environment than a manager who
violates the organization’s ethical
standards.
Dan Rice and Craig Dreilinger
Authors, Rights and Wrongs of Ethics Training
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Corporate Values and Ethical Choices
• Good corporate citizens consistently
make ethical decisions in the best
interest of
– Employees
– Customers
– Stockholders
– The community
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Corporate Values and Ethical Choices
• Organizations get into serious trouble
by ignoring ethical principles
• “Gray-area” situations cause difficulty in
choosing the right, ethical course of
action
• Even when right choice is clear,
competitive pressure can lead to poor
managerial decisions
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How to Prevent Corporate Crime
• Establish and support a strong code of
ethics
– Written statement of ethical expectations
can be a powerful force in preventing
unethical or criminal behavior
– Research suggests that companies also
need to create an “ethical climate”
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How to Prevent Corporate Crime
• Hire with care
– Priority in hiring process
– Identify a guiding set of values
– Hire people who share values and can
work together
– Screening and integrity tests
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How to Prevent Corporate Crime
• Provide ethics training
– Ethics codes developed and posted for
employees to read
– Provide opportunities for discussion of
ethical decisions
– Business schools requiring ethics courses
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How to Prevent Corporate Crime
• Develop Support for Whistle-Blowing
– Revealing wrongdoing within an
organization
– Three choices:
• Keep quiet and keep working
• Leave the situation
• Report the situation
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Total Person Insight
All that is necessary for evil to
triumph is for good men to do
nothing
Edmund Burke
Nineteenth-century English political
philosopher
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Whistle-blowing
• Organizations legally responsible to
support whistle-blowing
• You may be right, win your case, and
still lose friends and/or job
• May experience emotional and financial
turmoil
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Whistleblower Checklist
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Is this the only way?
Do I have the goods?
Why am I doing this?
Am I ready?
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Values and Ethics in
International Business
• Values and ethical choices are more
complicated at the international level
• Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
• Global marketplace is ethical minefield
• U.S. companies are a positive role
model
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Chapter Review
• Developing a strong sense of character
– A strong sense of character grows out of
your personal standards of behavior
– Consistent behavior maintains your
integrity
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Chapter Review
• How values are formed
– Values are the importance you give to an
object or idea
– Values are the foundation of attitudes,
preferences, opinions, and behavior
– Core values are formed early in life by
people and events, family, religion,
education, the media, and people you
admire
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Chapter Review
• Value conflicts and how to resolve them
– Internal conflicts arise when you must
choose between values
– Value conflicts with others are often based
on age, racial, religious, gender, or ethnic
differences
– Require skilled intervention to resolve
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Chapter Review
• Making ethical decisions based on
personal values
– Clarify your personal values
– Distinguish right from wrong
– Avoid the pursuit of immediate gratification
– Choose an employer whose values you
share
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Chapter Review
• Corporate crime and eliminating it
– Corporate values and ethics are receiving
increasing attention
– Globalization increases need to
consciously examine values and ethical
standards
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Chapter Review
• Corporate crime and eliminating it
– Organizations
• Develop ethics codes to guide behaviors
• Hire individuals who share their values
• Offer ethics training
• Support whistle-blowing
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