Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Cultural Values and Ethics
No personal or professional decision happens in a vacuum. We are continually bombarded by external influences from family members, friends, culture, society, the media, and our mentors. Small decisions that seem simple and meaningless, such as choosing which clothes to wear to a job interview, are often based on personal and cultural values. Values influence decisions ranging on consumer choices to career choices. Therefore, it can be helpful for individuals to examine the cultural, personal, and organizational values that impact their lives.
I have had the unique opportunity to experience more than one cultural value system. Growing up in Puerto Rico, I was influenced by traditional ideas of gender roles, politics, and religion. My childhood experiences and the values that I absorbed from my culture and my family influenced my decision to enter the American armed forces before entering college. My value system included a respect for authority and tradition, both of which are integral to military life. In my culture,...
Because poverty is more common in Puerto Rico than in the United States, my value system included a strong drive to succeed and overcome any and all obstacles. Some of my teachers and school counselors provided a type of organizational value system from which I could make my final decision to enter into the armed forces twenty years ago.
During the first half of my military career I was heavily influenced by the organizational values of the United States Army. Values such as commitment, discipline, cooperation, respect for authority and respect for structure were some of the guiding forces that influenced important decisions I made in both my personal and professional life. One of the reasons I have succeeded as a career officer is because of my commitment to the organizational values of the army. For example, I was once caught in a conundrum in which a fellow officer and good friend wanted me to…
References
Barkdoll, Gerald L. "Individual Personality and Organizational Culture." Retrieved October 7, 2005 from http://www.pamij.com/barkdoll.html
Schein, Edgar H. "Organizational Culture and Leadership." Retrieved October 7, 2005 from http://www.tnellen.com/ted/tc/schein.html
" 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 whole process is grounded in a commitment to social justice...." (Morales, 2003) Fortunately, the organization I work for has an open systems approach, which allows its employees to evaluate (1) ways of being (the psychological business process); (2) ways of knowing (the spiritual business process); and (3) ways of behaving (the theoretical and technical business processes). This open system philosophy frees the decision making process from cultural and personal
Ethics and Decision Making Values and Decision Making The process of making a moral or ethical decision is governed largely by the values that are applied when making the decision. In any case where a decision is being made, there are a range of values that can potentially impact the decision. These include personal values, organizational values, and cultural values. The value system that is most significant will depend on both the
Despite its conservative image, IBM is known for its philanthropy as well as its technical innovation. Thus, I became an IBMer. My mother, as a woman still struggling with her career in the business world almost thirty years ago, at first disapproved. IBM had a reputation as a male-dominated company -- but male did not necessarily mean misogynist, in my mind. For twenty years, it was my home. Although I
In instances such as this, an employee may make decisions that are totally foreign to their normal character. It is these corporate ethical values that typically have the most impact on the decision-making process. Organizational ethical contexts are comprised of the moral ideologies adopted by the members of the organization, as well as the institutionalized philosophies regarding the principled conduct and the ethics codes that shape corporate strategy and action.
Personal, Organizational, and Cultural Values play in Personal and Professional Decision-Making In today's increasingly high-powered, competitive workplaces, employees at all levels, occasionally (or even frequently) find themselves having to make difficult ethical decisions at work, such as rather or not to do the right thing ethically, or instead to do something else, less ethical but more self-protective. Often, that "something else" flies in the face of one's self-image and personal