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Professional Values and Ethics Paper Learning Team B Gen/200 Frank Marino Define Values and Ethics “Values are reflected in decisions; the repetition of values in decisions shows the existence of a virtue (and strengthens it), and the body of virtues shapes a character which gives consistency to subsequent decisions until a conduct is defined” (Argandona, 2003). Professional values are our principles and beliefs that influence our work behavior. They guide the good and bad choices we make and help us to evaluate our decision making.
When you have values they help you to become the person you want to be and to influence others. They allow you to accomplish your goals as well as your dreams in life. Different cultures of people have different values and beliefs. As we grow into adults we learn our own set of values as well as understanding the values of others. Values give us the freedom to express ourselves and the things that really matter to us. They allowed our ancestors to stand up for the things they believed in. Values influence the choices we make and help mold us into leaders and not followers.
With a clear set of values comes credibility and loyalty to others, which allows us to a have better clarity and focus on the directions we take in life. Ethics are the foundation for personal and professional excellence. Defined as a set of standards, which actions are determined to be right or wrong (Owen, p. 27). They are used to establish rules of conduct; created through a comprehensive framework of communication and behavioral expectation. They are critical to the success of any business (Childers, p. 34).
Ethics are used as an ambitious solution for problems posed by diversity within a profession; they are constructed as an additional set of ethical guidelines focused on particular functions and fields of business (Croxton, p. 5). They are important for maintaining professional cohesion and identity within a group (Croxton, p. 5). Creating this culture allows business to gain trust and loyalty from their employees and customers. Three Sources of Professional Values and Ethics Three sources of professional values and ethics would be Professional integrity, academic integrity, and personal values.
Professional integrity begins with the responsibility to serve the needs of the community. Communities allow the professional the authority to set the standards of competence and conduct of its members. Professionals are educated and supported by society, they have public trust; if that trust is violated it is a serious breach of professional integrity. Professional integrity is the fundamental goals of the profession, (McDowell,??1996). Academic integrity has five fundamental values that characterize an academic community by integrity; they are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility.
Honesty is the quest for truth and knowledge; trust is the mutual trust that allows the free exchange of opinions and ideas. Fairness occurs when students, instructors, administrators need clear standards, practices, and procedures. Respect needs to be in place when a wide range of opinions and ideas are shared. Responsibility demands personal accountability on the part of all members and when in the wrong admitting the wrong integrity (Empire State College, 1999-2010). Personal values are your beliefs and ethics rolled into one; this usually begins how you were raised in your family and is closed tied to the family values.
Personal values is what is right and wrong for a person; these values are determined by going in two directions, making a list of general values and picking the most important to you. It encourages you to select values you think you should have. Building a list from scratch on your life experiences; this is more rewarding and accurate (Lopper, 2007). Professional Values and Ethics Impact Career Success Before entering the professional world the student is faced with decisions around their own practice of academic integrity. Cheating in higher education is rampant…and students of business are among the most dishonest,” declared Levy and Rakovski, (2006, p. 736) in an article summarizing the state of academic dishonesty in business school. With 56% of graduate students and 47% of undergraduates admitting to engaging in some form of cheating or questionable behavior (Caldwell 2010) it is likely that a young person at the beginning of their career has already breached the line between integrity and deceit. This comfort level with cheating ncreases the risk of repeating the same cheating behavior when carried to a career profession. Someone trying to anticipate consequences of cheating in their career need only look at the Enron phenomenon, or consider Tom Petters downfall when he was found guilty of orchestrating a $3. 65 billion Ponzi scheme. In a study of the affect of personal values on entrepreneurial success, Gray and Eylon (1998) concluded that successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs differ in their values profile as well as on several individual values.
Successful entrepreneurs place higher emphasis on the values of freedom, independence, broadmindedness, and courage, and place less emphasis on wisdom, obedience, politeness, and responsibility. Personal values are the foundation to build professional and academic integrity. To be successful, personal values must be aligned with professional goals. An example that most will be familiar with is Steven Covey, a past professor of organizational behavior at Brigham Young University. Covey espouses personal values.
He teaches the importance of personal values in business; be good, be honest, love thy neighbor, and uphold family values. It doesn’t take much imagination to see the connection between these personal values and Covey’s business success; he has half of the Fortune 500 companies on his 10,000-plus-client list; that is career success. After making a stance in the professional world, it becomes fairly obvious that not only your managers and bosses take notice of your day-to-day activities. In recent years, a blend of economic, social, legal, and political events has had a profound effect not only on the behavior and performance of professionals, but also on the public’s expectations of them,” stated Mark S. Frankel (1989, 109), which elaborates on the professional value and ethics that each individual must demonstrate in the professional world. A single individual can make just as much a public impact as how the company operates as a whole. The values and ethics of an individual can cause a chain reaction in people who may benefit or deter others from the company that individual is representing.
For instance nursing in general has changed social and ethical practices taking their level of care from a global perspective to more of an individual perspective (Rassin, 614). One of the major factors for this change was to improve the personal care each individual received that in turn improved the opinions of the facility that the nurses worked in. In one example of how ethics and personal values have been intertwined with the business world, Leung and Cooper have implemented an ethics course into their accounting firm (Cooper, 406).
The reason for this was to build trust in the community and to show the community that the accounting firm was working for their interests not just those of the firm. . The teachings covered areas of making money, creating happy customers and looking out for the company’s reputation and bottom line. The outcome of the ethics teachings showed that happy customers would make a profitable company and would grow the reputation of the company. References Argandona, Antonio (2003, June) Fostering Values in Organizations Journal of Business Ethics, 45(1), 15-28. Caldwell,??C. (2010).
A Ten-Step Model for Academic Integrity: A Positive Approach for Business Schools. Journal of Business Ethics,??92(1),??1-13. Retrieved July 12, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID:??1953683231). Childers, David, Marks, Norman (2005, Oct. ) Internal Auditor. 62(5), 34-38 Cooper, Barry J (2008). Ethics Education for Accounting Students-a Toolkit Approach. Accounting Education: an internal journal, 405-430. Croxton, Tom, Jayaratne, Srinika (1999) Journal of Social Work Education 35(1), 2-6 Empire State College (1989-2010) Academic Integrity, Retrieved from http://www. sc. edu/academicintegrity Frankel, Mark S. (1989). Professional Codes: Why, How, and with What Impact? Journal of Business Ethics 8, 109-115. Gray,??S. ,??&??Eylon,??D. (1998). DO VALUES PLAY A ROLE IN ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS? Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship,??10(1),??15-0_9 Retrieved July 13, 2010, from Entrepreneurship. (Document ID:??1396397981). Covey, Steve (1995, July) Guru to the great??Report on Business Magazine,??12(1),??11, 13+??Retrieved July 13, 2010, from CBCA Complete. (Document ID:??440754441). Looper, J. 2007, March) A Personal Code of Values. Article McDowell, J. (1996) Professional Integrity. Airpower Journal, Retrieved from http://www. mncap. org/protcol/core/values_propintrgrity. pdf Owens, J. (1978, February) Business Ethics: Age Old Ideal, Now Real. Business Horizons 21, 26-30. Petters, Tom (2009, Dec) Minnesota Man Convicted in $3. 6 Billion Ponzi Scheme Business/Financial Desk The New York Times??159, 54878: pna (L Rassin, Michal (2008) Nurses’ Professional and Personal Values. Nursing Ethics, 614-630.