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Core Values
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What is Core Values?

Core values are the foundational principles that guide behavior, decision-making, and identity at both individual and organizational levels. This topic appears across a wide range of disciplines, including business management, social work, nursing, education, and ethics. Students engage with it in courses on strategic planning, organizational behavior, professional development, and applied ethics. What makes it academically interesting is the tension between personal values and institutional ones — how individuals align their own beliefs with the communities and organizations they belong to, and what happens when those systems come into conflict. Frameworks around values-driven organizations and ethical codes give students structured ways to analyze these dynamics.

The papers archived on this topic take several distinct approaches. Some are personal and reflective, such as personal mission statements and application essays that ask students to articulate their own goals and guiding principles. Others are analytical, comparing institutional core values against ethical standards — for instance, examining how a university's stated values align with established codes of ethics. Organizational and strategic angles also appear frequently, with essays exploring how core values shape strategic planning, support community-focused missions, and drive organizational change initiatives. Catholic schools in Australia and military social work contexts show that cross-sector and cross-cultural comparisons are equally common.

A strong essay on core values needs a clear, arguable thesis rather than a simple list of principles. Evidence drawn from specific organizational documents, ethical frameworks, or professional codes carries the most weight. Whether the essay is reflective or analytical, grounding abstract values in concrete examples — real policies, mission statements, or observable outcomes — gives the argument substance. The most common pitfall is treating core values as inherently positive without critically examining whether they are consistently practiced or effectively measured.

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Paper Masters
Ethical challenges in Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Lubrizol Corporation
This report presents an analysis of the ethical challenges faced by two organizations—one in the not-for-profit sector named Susan G. Komen for the Cure and one in the for-profit sector named The Lubrizol Corporation. A brief background of the two organizations is provided which also includes a description of the ethical challenge. Several alternatives for each organization are discussed along with implications for various stakeholders. Out of the three alternatives for each organization, two are rejected and the reasons for rejection are also presented. The proposed solution for each organization is discussed and is followed by a detailed recommendation based on specific steps and measures to be taken by the management. The report concludes with a reflection on the qualities of an effective response to real-life ethical challenges faced by organizations.
Essay Undergraduate
Multinational enterprises and the cultural economic impact of globalization
Globalization has fostered the rise of powerful international organizations that exercise unprecedented dominance over the world. Brands such as Coke, Levis, McDonald's and other once-iconic American brands are now…
Paper Undergraduate
Barriers and best practices for implementing workplace diversity programs
The increase in globalization has resulted in greater levels of interaction of individuals from diverse cultures and beliefs than ever before in the history of the world. As noted in the work of Green, Lopez, Wysocki and Kepner (2002) "People no longer live and work in an insular marketplace; they are now part of a worldwide economy with competition coming from nearly every continent." (p.1) Diversity is defined as "The variety of experiences and perspective which arise from differences in race, culture, religion, mental or physical abilities, heritage, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other characteristics." (University of California, San Francisco, 2012, p.1)
Paper Undergraduate
New Belgium Brewing's commitment to sustainability and employee values
The New Belgium Brewing Company is a small, relatively 'boutique' beer company specializing in the production of unique beers that are brewed in small batches. The company until recently relied mostly upon 'word of…
Paper Doctorate
Zappos' organizational culture and competitive strengths before Amazon acquisition
This is a brief SWOT analysis for Zappos. Each of the factors included in the SWOT are broken out into paragraph form instead of being listed in bullet format. Zappos has an unique culture and could potentially change due to the recent acquisition by Amzaon.
Paper Undergraduate
Balancing and reinforcing feedback loops at Whole Foods Market
To identify existing and potential learning opportunities for While Foods Markets, this paper uses systems thinking theory to identify one Balancing Loop and one Reinforcing Loop that are regarded as critical to Whole Foods Market's performance and success. The paper provides an explanation of the two feedback loops, including the causal factors and how they affect each other, followed by a discussion concerning an area of growth for the Reinforcing Loop and goal behavior for the Balancing Loop. Finally, an analysis concerning how Whole Foods Market has generated organizational learning and how this organization can go further and generate additional organizational learning is followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.
Essay Doctorate
Applying the Nadler-Tushman congruence model to Google
This paper deals with the Organizational congruence model put forth by Nadler and Tushman which states that there are 12 essential components which can be used to analyzed an organization's performance and depending on the fit between the components, the organization's performance can be judged. This is an analysis of Google Inc. using the congruence model.
Paper Undergraduate
Leadership as relationship-building and organizational influence
This paper will concentrate on the diverse factors affecting the leadership in most of today's organizations. After the abstract, the first chapter of this paper will provide the various thoughts about leadership; give definitions of certain key terms and compare management to leadership. The first chapter will also discuss what leaders do. Chapter two will be on the leadership theories which will be analyzed critically. For the purpose of this paper, the theories under discussion will include leadership, transformational and situational styles of leadership. Chapter three will analyze the aspects of self leadership. The core values in leadership practice will be dissected including decision making and embracing organizational change and self assessment. Chapter four will be on the context of leadership. There will also be an evaluation of application theories and concepts in real life leadership. Chapter five will contain the final thoughts on leadership, and the general lessons learnt throughout the post graduate course. A final summary will be given at the end of the paper to conclude all the discussions in the previous chapters.
Essay Doctorate
How family values and religious upbringing shaped personal ethical development
Personal ethics are something that develop over time. According to Corey, Corey, & Callanan (2007) ethics originate or emerge "from what has occurred rather than from anticipating what may occur" (p.10).
Paper Doctorate
Strategic marketing plan for Heineken International
In the context of the internationalized economic crisis, the investors often come to place more emphasis on alcohol beverages manufacturers, since these tend to remain consistent in sales and demand registered by the public. Still, the downside to investing in this industry sector is represented by the fact that the industry is rather mature, with limited opportunities for growth and development