Cultural Values And Personal Ethics Paper
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Running head: CULTURAL VALUES AND PERSONAL ETHICS PAPER
Cultural Values and Personal Ethics Paper
University of Phoenix
Cultural Values and Personal Ethics Paper
[The introduction goes here. It should be one or two paragraphs explaining the findings of your paper. The introduction should prepare the reader for the contents of the paper by previewing the three main topics in your paper. Be sure to end with a transition word or sentence to lead into Section 1 of your paper. Triple click anywhere in this paragraph to begin typing your own introduction.]
Personal Values
Personal values are the beliefs a person possesses in which they have a strong feeling regarding, whether for or against. On a very basic level, personal values are our sense of identity. By this I mean that with different personal values, we would essentially be different people. As a society, we begin acquiring our personal values from the beginning of our lives. “Values reflect the most basic characteristics of adaptation that guide individuals in deciding which situations they should enter and what they should do in them” (Nonis 2001). For many people, their personal values probably go right along with a version of the golden rule – do unto others as you would have done unto you. The golden rule is actually an effective rule that can fuel an entire life of good and moral decision-making. If a person consistently uses the golden rule, their decisions will be more thorough and applicable to their personal values.
For me, my personal values are extremely important. Every decision that I make is made by evaluating the options and looking into the future to see how the decision may affect me, my loved ones, and others. I try to not just do the right thing, but do the right thing for the right reasons. For example, it is not enough for me to spontaneously make a decision to move to Mexico without weighing everything out. There are too many other factors, including my partner, my cats, my family, and my career.
In my professional life, my personal values remain at the heart of every decision. My current company has never asked that I do anything against my personal values, and I feel that many of my co-workers share my core values. I think this is especially true of my manager. I feel completely secure enough in this belief that if I ever did feel uncomfortable, that I could go to her and let her know and she would understand and work with me to find a solution that more reflects my value system.
Organizational Values
Within any organization there is a set of values or rules that every employee must follow. Often these are set out in a code of conduct manual or within the employee manual itself. Many rules are in place for regulatory reasons, so there should be no clash with personal values because breaking these rules would be breaking the law to some extent.
Human resources is a field that perhaps allows for the most ethical and value-related issues to arise. The human resources manager is often in a unique and challenging situation, and often has to be the leader for ethical training and implementation of new regulations (OHiggins, 2005). According to OHiggins, 95% of human resource professionals “indicate(d) that human resource staff should be responsible for ethical leadership” (2005). This makes sense as human resources is the department within any large organization that deals with ethical and value-related conflicts.
Cultural Values
Cultural values are at the core of all cultures. According to Simga-Mugan, cultural values are “defined as the values and beliefs learned in day-to-day living within a particular society, starting in early childhood” (2005). Many cultures have similar values, but some have severely different values. Overall, cultural values are similar within the country as people of the same heritage and cultural background reside together. However, the United States is unique in that it is a melting pot of different cultures residing together and this can lead to clashes in values. Whereas I believe that our differences is what makes the United States