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Professional Values and Ethics Professional ethics and values are important in the business environment to promote satisfaction to employees and clients, effectiveness with business strategies, and good for professional moral. Since business began, there have been unfair business practices promoted by “successful” professional business people. This conundrum brings into question what professional business values and ethics are, how one attains and maintain these practices or qualities, and what the impact of these factors on career success may be.
Ethics are considered the moral standards by which people judge behavior; the system or code of morals of a particular person, religion, group, or profession (Yourdictionary, 2009). Values are beliefs of a person or social group in which that person or people have an emotional investment either for or against something (Wordnetweb, 2009). Both ethics and values could be combined to form a mission statement or core guidelines for an entity to promote in a professional manner among clients, employees, and customer satisfaction.
Core guidelines also can be called “core values”. These values can strengthen and enhance any professional setting based on general principles such as integrity and honesty. Professional ethics and values can be developed by any single person or group of individuals that have goals and potentials to gain success. Companies and individuals should have a strong understanding of the definition of what consists of a good moral character, re-review the definition regularly and make a gut check before making decisions that affect others.
Companies need to set a good ethical tone to their employees, stockholders and the public by executing a strong mission statement with a commitment to ethical practices and cascade the message throughout their companies by setting up and thoroughly communicating ethical best practices. Professional values and ethics are formed many ways. According to Moosmayer (2009), personal beliefs and values of a person influence the professional values and ethics a person follows, which in turn, influences the person’s place of work.
It is important that people aim for positive outcomes, trust their instincts, and prepare for future crisis. According to Jacobson (2009), a company’s ethics should be based upon the values of the stockholders in to ensure they are satisfied with the ethics and values of the company. Another important key to professional ethics and values is to be prepared with proper knowledge of laws and regulations, which should also influence professional values and ethics (Jacobson, 2009). Knowing the laws and regulations pertaining to a business is important, to ensure the business is run accordingly, and legally.
According to Lesher and Murray (2009), it is important for professionals to honor commitments and do what he or she has agreed to do to uphold the professional values and ethics. It is also important to remember that time is precious and should be this way in order to maintain and improve efficiency (Lesher, Murray, 2009). Lesher and Murray (2009), also mention that it is important to pay attention to values in general and how they are created. A clearly defined set of value-based criteria is important to make tactical and strategic decisions in a way that is consistent with ethical, moral, and legal principles (Lesher, Murray, 2009).
Knowing how and why values and ethics originate is important in the professional world, as they are key to any business running properly and in order, to avoid preventable conflicts for the business. Values and ethics are the fabric of society. People live in a push-pull continuum where ethical ideologies differ. Some professionals diligently follow a strict code of ethics, others acknowledge the code but slightly skirt the ethical barrier, with the remainder of society staying somewhat oblivious to their unethical wrong-doings.
This is apparent by the myriad of businesses that appear in the media with ethical issues. The concept of personal conduct inside of the business world has been brought to the attention of the public recently by the media, via numerous scandals. Several heinous examples perpetuate media propaganda. For example, KB Home chief executive Bruce Karatz was indicted for the backdating of stock options, UnitedHealth chief executive William McGuire settled an SEC lawsuit for 468 million dollars and Communications Systems chief Gregory L.
Reyes was convicted for fraud charges and sentence to two years in jail (Kravitz, 2009). One cannot help but to question the values and ethics of the offenders! Professional success can be measured in many ways. Success can be rated by the amount of money earned and the material belongings in life. Another sense of professional accomplishment may be as simple as working overtime on a business project, doing the best work possible or receiving praise. Many people often wonder what professional values and ethics does one need to become successful.
Bill Gates is said to be one of the most successful businessmen of modern times (Time, 2005). Gates became known when he developed a soft-ware company, Microsoft (Time, 2005). He attended Harvard University, but had dropped out to pursue his dreams of creating Microsoft. Gates’ professional success comes from remaining determined and eager to be the best in the soft-ware and future technology market, while maintaining ethical practices. His success, smart business decisions, intellect, and ethics have enabled to achieve the level of experience and success he now enjoys.
Bill Gates strategies for success and wise career decisions have formed him into the businessman he is today. His success does not come from something that was taught to him; his success comes from his personality, values, and the eagerness to succeed. Another incredibly successful businessman is Donald Trump. Trump has his hand in the business industry like no other real estate mogul; from owning Trump Towers, to Trump University, and of course, his show, The Apprentice. Trump continues to experience success.
The following are several personal success strategies that reflect virtues of Trumps values and ethical business practices: be focused, put everything one has into what one does every day, believe in oneself, be tenacious, trust in one’s instincts, maintain momentum and keep everyone moving forward, see oneselfas victorious and leading a winning team, be passionate about what one does, live on the edge and do not become complacent, leadership is not a group effort and if one is in charge; be in charge, and never give up (Trump University, 2009).
No one claims argument with Trumps success professionally, it should hold true for anyone else to believe in oneself and continue working hard toward their dreams and goals, relying on ethical practices and values to act as a guide to success. In the remains of the day, the achievement of ethical and value oriented goals is a litmus indicator of professional success. It takes hard work, dedication, and critical thinking to make the most out of any career. Nothing happens over night, and true success does not come from unethical business practices.
Having strong professional values and ethics are the beginning steps to becoming successful in any arena in life, especially business. References Carter, C. , Bishop, J. , Kravits, S. (2007). Keys to college studying: Becoming an active thinker (2nd ed. ). [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-Text]. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Retrieved November 23, 2009 from Gen200- Foundations for General Education and Professional Success. Jacobson, L. (2009) Understanding Organizational Ethics_: How PR professionals can steer a safe course. _ Retrieved November 24, 2009 from Business Source Complete Database.
Kravitz. D. (March, 2009). The Washington Post: The Business Scandal Before the Bust. Retrieved November 23, 2009, from http://voices. washingtonpost. com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2009/03/stock_backdati_ scandal_nabs. html Lesher, J. , Murray, A. (2009) Core Values Steady the course in a volatile world. Retrieved November 24, 2009 from Business Source Complete Database. Moosmayer, D. (2009) Beyond The Ethics Course???A Communicative Framework of Value-oriented Academic Business Teaching. Retrieved November 24, 2009 from Business Source Complete Database.
Princeton University. (2009). Values. Retrieved December 2, 2009, from website http://wordnetweb. princeton. edu/perl/webwn? s=values Time Magazine. (October, 2005). In Search Of The Real Bill Gates. Retrieved November 30, 2009, from http://www. time. com/time/magazine/article. htm Top Ten Tips For Success. (2009). Donald Trump. Retrieved November 30, 2009, from http://www. trumpuniversity. com/blog/post/2009/09 Your Dictionary. (2009). Ethics. Retrieved December 2, 2009, from website http://www. yourdictionary. com/dictionary-articles/Define-Ethics. html