Professional Values and Ethics

Professional Values and Ethics

To prosper and gain a positive public reputation, it is necessary for any organization to possess values and ethics followed by all of its employees, including leadership. “Professional Values and Ethics are a set of moral principles and standards of conduct, supporting the moral prestige of professional groups in society” (Newman, 2010, para. 1). To enable an organization to put values and ethics into every day business life, it is necessary to define ethics and values, understand how ethics and values relate to one another, learn by examples provided by other organizations, and describe how possessing the same will lead to career success.

Defining Values and Ethics

Values and ethics are central to any organization. On deciding what values and ethics mean to an organization and how it can affect career successes, it must first be understood what ethics and values mean.

The basic meaning of ethics is to decide what is considered right or wrong depending upon one’s own values or organization’s values. Ethics is based on ground rules and fundamental principles by which people and organizations respect and uphold (FDU, 2010).

Values are the standards and principles that are important and considered to be most worthy to an individual or an organization. “Values are the embodiment of what an organization stands for, and should be the basis of the behavior of its members” (FDU, 2010). {need page # of quote and full URL for reference page

So, how do values relate to ethics…?

Values determine what is right and wrong and doing or acting upon what it right or wrong is considered ethics. To behave ethically is to behave in a manner that is considered right or moral. Most of an individual's ethical development occurs before entering an organization. The influence of family, church, community, and school will determine individual values. The organization, to a large extent, is dealing with individuals whose value base has been established....