Personal Values
University of Phoenix
MGT521
Dr. Kyle Kucera
October 29, 2008
Personal Values
In today’s world the boundaries between different disciplines become increasingly blurred. The rational and dry business realm is being slowly permeated by the softer and more fluid psychology and sociology. The role of values and the set of ethical criteria of the decision makers become increasingly relevant in a modern business research. One of the most popular tools is Williams Institute Ethics Awareness Inventory assessment (WIEM, 2003). According to the Ethics Awareness Inventory [EAI] (Williams Institute for Ethics and Management [WIEM], 2003), "[My] ethical perspective is most likely to be based on obligation, and…least likely to be based on equity."
The EAI states that my ethical perspective is based on "…an individual's duty or obligation to do what is morally right…" (WIEM, 2003). In my personal and professional life, this means that I tend to look behind the person's actions to determine intention, rather than concentrating on results. The EAI supports my belief that human beings are entitled to basic rights, and therefore, our actions must respect the rights of others: "The ends do not justify the means" (WIEM, 2003). Therefore, I believe individuals have an obligation to make choices which benefit the whole, yet do not infringe upon the rights of the individual. Thus, for example, in my ethical standpoint, the management must make policies which benefit the whole company and its employees, without stripping away individual freedom of each.
Being “obligation oriented” poses certain problems as well. Being clearly individualistic and independent can cause frictions with either peers or management. Moreover, a belief t ...