Personal values usually represent very important forces in organizational ethical behaviors. There exist at least three purposes of personal values in organizational ethics. These values serve as behavioral standards that determine the correct course of action. Two, personal values serve as guidelines that help in the resolution of conflict as well as decision-making. Lastly, personal values contribute to emphasizing the motivation of employees (Schneider & Kunze, 2021). Considering each of these purposes, behavioral standards assist individuals in determining the appropriate standards of conduct or behavior. In addition, these values limit the behavior of individuals outside and inside the organization. In other words, ethics or ethical behavior forms the grounds for these situations. It is also crucial for employees at all organizational levels to make decisions regarding what is proper or improper, right or wrong (Russo et al., 2022). For example, whether an employee would choose to conceal information concerning hazardous products made by their company or feel obliged to report.
Another example is how an employee would respond to a co-worker or supervisor engaging in petty theft. These two examples reveal that societal values at some point impact ethical behavior. These societal norms aim to tell the members of a society that engaging in certain behaviors is wrong. In addition, however, human beings are responsible for differentiating between what is proper and what is improper on their own. This aspect particularly applies when individuals find themselves in situations where ethical standards are unclear or ambiguous. These situations are also referred to as ‘grey zones’ and are mostly encountered when colleagues and friends to someone disagree on what is proper (Schneider & Kunze, 2021). In these situations, an individual must choose their behavioral standards. This essay is an ethical reflection paper surfacing how I would use my values to judge ethically ambiguous situations in places of work. These values include; personal integrity, motivational influence, and leading as an example.
Personal Integrity
Personal integrity is crucial as it serves as a guideline when attempting to resolve conflicts and make decisions. As an organizational manager, I would utilize the value of integrity in making difficult organizational decisions. Through this value, I would easily point out the decisions that would be less likely to be detrimental or harmful to employees and other people. In addition, decision-making would be of great assistance as an employee especially on how to approach a conflict. For instance, if my boss asked for my opinion about a report he wrote that I disliked, I would be torn apart between being honest by telling him the truth about how I feel or flattering him.
However, through the value of personal integrity, I would have the courage to tell him the truth and at the same time be polite about it. This example would reveal that decision-making as a personal value involves honesty or integrity tests (Russo et al., 2022). However, the purpose of these tests would be to measure an individual’s honesty or integrity level. In addition, these tests would be based on the grounds that dishonest or honest decisions and behaviors flow from the underlying values found in each individual.
Motivation Influence
In the place of work, personal values have a great impact on the motivation of employees by determining what outcomes or rewards to seek. As a manager in an organization, I would motivate employees by giving them promotions and providing overtime hours to allow them to earn more. However, working overtime is often an ambiguous issue as individuals find themselves torn between working overtime to get a promotion, and spending time with their families. I would therefore motivate my employees by minimizing overtime hours to give them the opportunity to make more money and have time for their families.
I would also introduce an open-door policy in my organization to motivate my employees to ask questions, deliver their comments, and discuss their concerns. In addition, an open-door policy and the creation of accessible communication lines would help employees feel that their input mattered, which it should. The purpose of the open-door policy would be to curb the ambiguity faced by workers between keeping their ideas and problems, and voicing them out to their employers (Russo et al., 2022). If the open-door policy failed, I would devise an alternative, which would include dedicating some time during staff meetings for individuals to write down or voice their concerns for a group discussion.
Leading by Example
Employees look to organization managers and owners for direction with regard to the acceptable code of conduct in the organization. Therefore, as a business owner, I would make ethics-based decisions as well as monitor the people I give leadership roles for these values. On the other hand, if I were an employee of a certain institution and saw the manager violating various institutional policies, I would immediately intercede in order to retain credibility with other workers. An example of these institutional policies would include the policy against relationships at the place of work.
However, even before new employees start working, I would make sure to inform them of the various rules and policies during their orientation sessions. I would also make use of these sessions to enlighten the new employees on the consequences of violating these policies. Therefore, in case employees conducted themselves unethically, I would refer to the code of conduct before taking the necessary measures to terminate or warn them. As a good role model, I would therefore hold my employees accountable in case of an unethical act.
References
Russo, C., Danioni, F., Zagrean, I., & Barni, D. (2022). Changing personal values through value-manipulation tasks: A systematic literature review based on Schwartz’s theory of basic human values. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 12(7), 692-715. Web.
Schneider, S. A., & Kunze, S. (2021). Disastrous discretion: Ambiguous decision situations Foster political favoritism. SSRN Electronic Journal. Web.