Cultural Values and Personal Ethics

Cultural Values and Personal Ethics

There is a close interconnection and relationship between the areas of personal, cultural and organizational values and decision making. Decision making is based on personal values which are influenced and impacted by cultural values, ethical systems and other cardinal aspects. Organizational values, which are often influenced by cultural values in a society, are very important especially with regard to the decision making process in the lives of professionals. Organizational values have played a large part in the development and inculcation of decision making in my particular case, as I have been involved in organizations with a strict and clear organizational ethos. My work as a law enforcement office and as a member of the military has had a profound and lasting affect on my view of life and on my personal values.

It is very difficult to separate cultural, organizational and personal ethics and value systems. Cultural and organizational value systems influence and affect personal values and views. Decision making involves a combination of these various aspects.

However, one's work values and organizational ethics also have a lasting effect on decision making. As someone who has spent the last thirty year in law enforcement and the military I have been profoundly shaped and influenced by the organizational ethos and structures of these institutions, which have molded my decision making process. At the same time these values have not been incongruent with my underlying personal values. I should therefore begin with an overview of the organizational ethics which have had the greatest effect on my life and on my decision making.

Both the military and law enforcement share a strict hierarchical and very rational process of decision making. They have an essentially logical and shared decision making process, which takes into account the greater good of all and not merely personal needs or desires. The important aspect of all organizations is that they usually have a set of rules and ethics intended to control and direct personal values. This is particularly the case in an institution like the military, where the good of the organization supersedes the needs and wishes of the individual.

Organizational values set acceptable or expected norms or bounds of behavior for the individual members of the organization. Without organizational values, organization members will, by default, follow their individual value systems. These may or may not promote behavior that the organization finds desirable. Therefore, organizations establish values to provide their members guidelines for their behavior. (Bell, W)

This set of values had a profound effect on my decision making process as I learnt that I should see the holistic picture when making decisions, rather than focusing only on my own needs or desires.

Not only do organizations like the police force affect individual values in decisions making, but they promote a certain culture of behavior, which also has an important effect on decision making.

This culture of ethics and values is an essential part of the structure and functioning of the military as well. These ethics guide individual decision making and act as frameworks for the values of the individual members to adhere to in all decisions..

Organizational values also provide the framework for the culture of the organization. Culture is the body of custom, ideas, assumptions, and institutional patterns transmitted from one generation to the next and are particularly powerful in determining individual behavior.

It is "the collective programming of the mind." Any values that have the net result of potentially changing culture must be analyzed very carefully because it is very difficult to reverse those changes. (ibid)

In essence, values in institutions like the military and police are extremely important in defining the criteria of the specific culture of that organization. "Values typically act as the defining elements of a culture, and norms, symbols, rituals, and other cultural activities revolve around them. (Sundaram, D.S.)

On a personal, level I was certainly influenced and guided by the values of the institutions in which I worked. This however does not mean that I lost my individuality in the decision making process. Cultural values and especially those values that I imbibed from my personal background, also played an invaluable part in shaping the parameters of my decision making process.

One of these values was particularly important and relates to both cultural and organizational ethics. This is the value that I inherited for my cultural background, often referred to as the "work ethic." This particular cultural value system in fact helped me to assimilate more easily into the two institutions in which I spent most of my working life. The work ethic is defined as follows:

The work ethic is a cultural norm that advocates being personally accountable and responsible for the work that one does and is based on a belief that work has intrinsic value." (Hill, R.B. and. Petty, G.C. 1995) This attitude towards work has aided my understanding of the value systems as well as the ethos and meaning of work and decision making in both the military and police. The value of personal accountability in particular was one of the cardinal aspects that was emphasized in both organizations and which formed the basis of all decisions. The fact that one had to take responsibility for the decisions one made ensured that no decision was taken lightly and without due consideration for all the salient factors and repercussions.

A also leant to understand the concept of a shared system of cultural values. Cultural values are essentially values that are agreed upon through consensus. In other words, the group of individuals agrees as to the most beneficent and important decision that are best for the group or organization.

When the members of a social unit share values, an organizational culture or value system can be said to exist (Weiner 1988)." (Sundaram, D.)

In the final analysis, while all these factors impact on an individuals ability to make decisions, as well as providing the framework in which these decisions are made, yet the final decision making process lies, I believe, with the individual conscience and his or her heartfelt view of right and wrong. I have always made my decisions based on the values of understanding and care as well as hard work and ensuring fairness to those around me. I have also learnt through my years in the military and police force to consider those who are directly and indirectly affected by the decisions I make. This is a cardinal value that was predominant in the two organizations for which I worked.