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VALUES, MORALS AND ETHICS
ANUPREET KAUR
VALUES
 According to M. Haralambos (2000), “A value is a belief
that something is good and desirable”.
FEATURES / CHARACTERISTICS OF VALUES
1.Values are often vaguely defined by an individual.
2.Values are often defined in terms of concepts.
3.Values are different states of intentionality which when
activated, guide behaviour and create meaning.
4.Values support individual needs.
5.Values change as needs and circumstances change.
6. Values may be inculcated through learning or adopted as
a result of life experiences.
7. Most of the basic values are learnt early in life from family,
friends, neighbourhood, school, the mass print and visual media
and other sources within the society.
8. Values may be specific, such as honouring one’s parents or owning
a home or they may be more general, such as health, love and
democracy.
9. Value systems can be different from culture to culture. Values are
also different for each person. While one person might value
honesty, another might value wealth.
10.We use ‘values self-awareness’ to evaluate the appropriateness of
our behavior as well as the behaviour of others.
TYPES OF VALUES
1. Broad classification of values
(1) Individual values - These are the values which are
related with the development of human personality or
individual norms of recognition and protection of the human
personality such as honesty, loyalty, honour etc.
(2) Collective values: Values connected with the solidarity of
the community or collective norms of equality, justice,
solidarity and sociableness are known as collective values.
2. On the basis OF hierarchical arrangement:
(1) Terminal Values - These are the values that we think are
most important or most desirable. They are desirable states
of existence that we work towards or try to reach.
(2) Intrinsic values - These are the values which are related
with goals of life. They are sometimes known as ultimate and
transcendent values.
(3). Instrumental values - These values come after the
intrinsic values in the hierarchy of gradation of values. These
values are the means to achieve goals (intrinsic values) of life.
3. On the basis of organizational setting /
organizational values
(1) Relationship values - Relationship values reflect how
you relate to other people in your life, i.e. friends, family or
colleagues in the organisation.
(2) Societal values - Societal values reflect how the
individual or the organisation relates to society.
4. On the basis of nature of values:
(1) Personal values - These are the values endorsed by an
individual.
(2) Family values - Family values are the principles valued in
a family, and may be good or bad.
(3) Social-cultural values - Cultural values are centred on
what a culture believes is fair and just. These are the
prevailing values of the society which change with time and
either coincide or not with the family or personal values.
(4) Material values - These values allow an individual to survive
and are related to the basic needs of human beings, such as food,
clothing and protection from the environment.
(5) Spiritual values - Spiritual Values are how you represent what
you believe in when it comes to religion / spirituality. Spiritual
values are the way you believe in your own god.
(6) Moral values - Moral values are the attitudes and behaviours
that a society considers essential for coexistence, order, and
general wellbeing of the society.
(7) Aesthetic values - Aesthetic values are the values associated
with the evaluation of artwork or beauty.
IMPORTANCE / SIGNIFICANCE OF
VALUES
1. Values play an important role in the integration and fulfilment of
man’s basic impulses and desires in a stable and consistent manner
appropriate for his living.
2. They are generic experiences in social action made up of both
individual and social responses and attitudes.
3. They build up societies and integrate social relations among the
members of the society.
4. Values are the effective cultural elements which shape the
elements of the individuals as well as members of a community
that holds together. They mould the ideal dimensions of
personality and range and depth of culture.
5. They influence people’s behaviour and serve as criteria for
evaluating the actions of others.
6. They have a great role to play in the conduct of social life.
7. They help in creating norms to guide day-to-day behaviour.
8. Their importance is independent of the circumstances. For
example, even though if we may be unfair, fairness still has a value.
9. In an organization, values serve as a framework for the behaviour
of its members. In this regard, an organization’s values are
reflected in the specific behaviours of its members, and not just in
its mission statement.
10. The values are important because they help us to grow and
develop. They help us to create the future we want to experience.
11. When we use our values to make decisions, we make a deliberate
choice to focus on what is important to us. When values are
shared, they build internal cohesion in a group.
12. Values enable individuals to feel that they are part of something
bigger than themselves.
13. Values are the motive power behind purposeful action. They are
the ends to which we act.
14. Values are essential to ethics. Ethics is concerned with human
actions and the choice of those actions. It determines which values
should be pursued, and which should not. Ethics is a code of
values.
15. For the well-being of the community, it is necessary to have
shared rules that guide the behaviour of its members, otherwise
the community will not function satisfactorily for the majority.
MORALS
1. Morals are concerned with or relating to human behaviour,
especially the distinction between good and bad or right and
wrong behaviour.
2. Morals can be defined as adhering to conventionally accepted
standards of conduct.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MORALS
1.They are based on a sense of right and wrong according to the
conscience of a person.
2. Moral standards deal with matters which people think can
seriously injure or seriously benefit human beings.
3. Moral standards are not established or changed by political or legal
authoritative bodies. The validity of moral standards rests on the
adequacy of the reasons.
4. Moral standards are preferred to other standards including
even self-interest when choice is there.
5. Moral standards are impartial. They are based on impartial
reasons that an impartial observer would accept.
6. Moral standards are associated with special emotions. When
people act in violation of a moral standard, they feel guilty,
ashamed and remorseful.
7. Prescriptivity refers to the practical or action-guiding nature
of morality. (For example, ‘Do not kill,’ ‘Do no unnecessary
harm,’ and ‘Love your neighbour’). Morals are intended for
use to advise and to influence to action.
8. Moral principles must apply to all who are in the relevantly similar
situation. If one judges that act X is right for a certain person P,
then it is right for anyone relevantly similar to P. According to
GOLDEN RULE “It cannot be right for A to treat B in a manner in
which it would be wrong for B to treat A.
9. Moral principles must be made public in order to be an actionguiding role in our lives.
10. A moral system must be workable i.e. its rules must not lay a
heavy burden on agents.
11. Morals often play an important role in the formation of ethics.
12.Though morality is often used to refer to the code of conduct
accepted by an entire society, different morals may be accepted
and practiced by individual groups within a society.
MYTHS ABOUT BUSINESS ETHICS
1. Business ethics is more a matter of religion than
management
2. Our employees are ethical so we do not need to pay
attention to business ethics
3. Business ethics is a discipline best led by
philosophers, academics and theologians
4. Business ethics is superfluous. It only asserts the
obvious: ‘Do Good’
5. Business ethics is a matter of the good guys
preaching to the bad guys
6. Business ethics is the new policeperson on the
block
7. Ethics cannot be managed
8. Business ethics and social responsibility is the same
thing
9. Our organisation in not in trouble with the law, so
we are ethical
10. Managing ethics in the workplace has little
practical relevance
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MORALS,
VALUES AND ETHICS
The following points highlights the relationship between
the two:
(a) Similarity of origin
The words "ethics" and "morality" share the same origin.
(b) Ethics as Moral Studies
In the 1995, Professor John Deigh of the University of Texas argued
that "ethics" relates to the "philosophical study of morality.“
(c) Ethics comprises Morals
The Oxford English Dictionary underlines the idea that ethics relates
to "a set of moral principles" in its definition of the word.