Personal Values and Business

Personal Values and Business

Business organizations continually seek to improve workplace performance through self-evaluation among its employees. Reflecting on one’s personal values should be the first step in identifying how and why a person conducts themselves in a professional environment. According to the Williams Institute Ethics Awareness Inventory assessment, scoring higher in one of the four prominent categories of ethical philosophy represents a primary core value that forms a basis for ethical decision making. Scoring lower in any of these categories reflects the least closely aligned ethical perspective used to base decisions on. The four categories used in this assessment include; Character, Obligation, Results, and Equality (CORE). (The Williams Institute, 2008)

Basing ethical perspectives on character emphasizes what is good to be, rather than what is good to do. In this category, one values such qualities as honesty, wisdom, and integrity, and place greater emphasis on demonstrating these qualities than on following the rules. “You believe that an individual would be incapable of choosing between conflicting rules or standards of right and wrong without already possessing good character. Your approach to ethics calls for developing practical wisdom and sound judgment within individuals to guide them in their ethical decision making. Your ethical style compels you to strive to be a person of wisdom and integrity.” (The Williams Institute, 2006, pp 2)

In the United States Air Force, core values are instilled in each airman as a way to hold each individual to a higher standard, not only in their professional careers, but in their personal lives as well. These three core values; Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence In All We Do, serve as a model of good and ethical behavior conduct to follow. Integrity is essentially doing what is right in every situation, even when no one is looking It encompasses such moral and ethical traits as...