This essay will investigate the effect of of employment upon a person's core values and ethics. Values and ethics are socialised into a person through institutions such as family, education and religion. Workplaces are encountered later in life once a persons identity with values has already developed. I choose this area of research because within my micro world I was surprised about how diversely people with different occupations behave as with peoples with the same occupation behave similarly.
I hypothesis that workplaces will have a positive or negative influence upon a person’s values dependant on the culture of the workplace and that adults will be more susceptible to this influence than a teenager. An adult’s identity and socialisation is deeply interconnected with their occupation which is why I believe that they will cooperate more with a change of values even if it conflicts with their own due to pressure from management or social pressure to be accepted into the culture of their co-workers. Workplaces aren’t the main institution of socialisation for teenagers so the influence will be lesser but still existent.
I have employed an interview and a questionnaire and intend to conduct a focus group as a part of my research. An interview explores the idea or experiences of an individual through the guided direction of planned questions and obtains qualitative data. A questionnaire is a series of pre-determined questions, both open-ended and close ended to gain quantitative and qualitative data. A focus group is a group where a topic is given and the researcher coordinates the discussion. A focus group will provide qualitative data and information on personal experiences. These methodologies are advantageous to my resea...
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...cs Be Taught?. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/canethicsbetaught.html [Accessed: 2 Nov 2013].
This article articulates the theories of moral development of Kohlberg and how ethics can be taught. The article is in response to a Wall Street Journal article that deemed ethics courses useless and proves said statement incorrect. The article is presented from an expert view and is helpful to my research.
University, C. (2013). HSC Online - Nature of Work and Leisure. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.hsc.csu.edu.au/society_culture/work_leisure/nature/nature_work/natureofworkandleisure.html [Accessed: 17 Oct 2013].
This article presents the basic meaning of the Protestant work ethic. The source is reliable however the information is presented in a minimal rather simplistic manner and is not overall useful for my research
Marks, L. (2006). The Loss of Leisure in a Culture of Overwork. Spirit of Change Magazine.
He discusses the Protestant work ethic primarily examining Richard Baxter a Presbyterian and Methodists. There is a much more focus on wealth because a worldly self discipline is stressed as the morally and right way to live. You not only work hard in your calling but you are constantly productive and are mentally and physically rational. If one were lazy and/or waste their time by indulging themselves in joyful activities it is seen as sinful. Wealth itself is not a sin as long as it is connected to ones work only when it is used irrationally. Therefore, the spirit of capitalism takes form because rather than spending people are invesing. Consequently, the protestant work ethic eventually contradicts itself by separating from religion and increases the temptations that are supposed to be avoided. As capital continuously increases greed, pride, selfishness, sloth, and excessive wasteful spending increases (Barnes 2015). Resulting in western rational capitalism. In today 's society people continue to work hard in order to be successful and spend money on what they desire, as well as viewing those who are of lower class and receiving welfare as lazy and useless fueling those who are also poor to work harder in order to reach success and be viewed
Many people today have become obsessed with success in the here and now. They are too focused on their own personal gains which takes away their want to help others. To these people work does not have a transcendent purpose as a means of serving and loving God. This can be redeemed by showing people that intertwining the sacred and secular parts of work can have substantial impacts. Capitalism provides the best opportunity for economic growth and human freedom only if it is tempered by compassion and regard for social justice. Work is a gift of God that imparts a sense of personal fulfillment and useful service. The secular worldview has many negative viewpoints on work, but it is only the Christian worldview that provides a high view of work that gives meaning and dignity to human labor. Along with that, only the Christian worldview provides the moral foundation essential to preserving free economic systems. We must bring back the idea that work is so much more than a means of supporting oneself. The Christian worldview assists in this by providing a higher meaning to human labor than the secular worldview does (Colson, Chuck and Pearcy).
De Grazia, S. (1962). Of time, work, and leisure (pp. 9–25). Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.
Each employee or individual will also have their personal code of Ethics and it’s vital to also take time to understand those Ethics and respect each individual views related to Ethics. Ethics are usually influenced by religion and culture and it’s vital that an individual ethics and respect their codes of ethics. This requires for a neutral interaction between the individual which will ensure they accumulate adequate information regarding each person ethics thus boosting their ability to abide by each individual ethics. It’s important to understand each person’s ethics so as to provide the individual with a stable atmosphere which will help retain a positive attitude and assist them remain comfortable (Welfel,
Personal, cultural, and professional values and ethics drive the decision making process for most individuals and businesses in our society. Ethics reflect our conscience, morality and how we apply these concepts in deciding right from wrong (Covey 66). Ethical awareness is critical for how we conduct our lives and make choices in the workplace; by defining personal and ethical values, individual and business alike can become more productive members of society. a
A Discussion and Analysis Of some of his Contributions As Well as their Social, Political and Economic Impacts Since the Thirteen Colonies first united, the United States has had one of the strongest economies in the world. Over the years, many theorists have had varying opinions concerning the reason for this nation's strong economic standing. One reason that has often been overlooked is that a great many of this nation's workers have been influenced by the Protestant work ethic. The philosophy behind this work ethic has driven many workers to attain as much as possible at their jobs during their lifetimes. If one man were to be given credit for the development of the Protestant work ethic it would have to be Martin Luther. In the course of the next several pages this researcher will examine the ethic that has had such a great impact on the United State's economy and on the economies of other nations. It has been suggested by such writers as Weber and Smith that the Protestant work ethic first developed around the word "calling." Basically, this term has a religious connotation which is a task set by God. However, gradually this term was expanded to the point where it covered many of man's activities. During the Protestant Reformation, the term "calling" started to take on a new meaning. Fulfilling one's duty in worldly affairs became a task of extreme importance. gradually, fulfilling one's duty was not only important but it became the moral obligation of every individual (the highest form of moral activity). Before the Reformation, the Catholic Church did not believe that everyday world activities had a religious significance. As a result of Luther these world activities were quite important in adhering to God's wishes. Rather than devote one's life to worshipping God through prayer, and instead of sacrificing all worldly goods to follow Christ, the Protestants believed that the task of every person is to fulfill (to the best of his/her ability) their tasks on earth. This unique conception of the word "calling" was developed by Luther during his first active decade as a reformer. At first he believed, like many other theologians, that everyday world activities were activities of the flesh. Although these activities were willed by God, they were nonetheless morally neutral. However, gradually Luther began to protest against ...
The article “Faith in the workplace”, featured in The Economist, is about a new admonition that came up last month from America’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which stated that last year there were 3, 721 religious discrimination cases in the workforce, which makes the year 2013 with the most amount of religious discrimination cases. Therefore they enforced a law, because it’s a human right for firms to respect their workers and provide them with religious needs, that all the bosses and managers of the Western part of the world, must respect and have to allow their employees to display their religious faiths and beliefs and let them practice it while at work, for example: letting Muslim women wearing their Hijab (head scarf), letting people celebrate their special holidays. That is why all Business firms and companies have changed their rules in order to meet employee’s expectations such Abercrombie Fitch, because if they don’t meet their expectations and discriminate them they will have suffer from lawsuits and so on.
Lefebvre, Henri. "Work and Leisure in Everyday Life." Everyday Life Reader. Ed. Ben Highmore. Great Britain: Routledge, 2002. 225-36.
"Ethics are personal and, at the same time, a very public display of your attitudes and beliefs. It is because of ethical beliefs that we humans may act differently in different in situations" (University of Phoenix, 2007). Poor ethical choices in the workplace can truly hurt people. Poor ethics can damage their career, happiness, and quality of living. Not only can these actions hurt the individual who has made the bad choices, but also most often it hurts the innocent. This essay will provide two actual case studies; one of positive ethical principles and the other of poor ethical principles.
According to Kohlberg, individuals progress through a series of stages in the evolution of their sense of justice and in the kind of reasoning that they utilize to make moral judgments (Feldman, R., 2013, p. 426). His work modified and expanded from Jean Piaget’s previous work to form a theory of cognitive development that explained how pre-adolescent children develop moral reasoning (Cherry, K., 2014, October 12). Kohlberg’s theory of moral development focuses on children’s ability to distinguish right from wrong based on their perception. His theory claims that individuals progress through the levels morality in a fixed order and
Part One:The criticisms of Kohlberg's moral development stages seem to center around three major points, his research methods, the "regression" of stage four, and finally his goals.The first criticism that I would like to address is that of his research methods. Kohlberg is often criticized for not only his subject selection, but also the methods by which he tries to extricate data from those subjects. His initial study consisted of school boys from a private institution in Chicago. The problem with this is fairly obvious, that this does not represent a significant portion of the population to allow for generalized conclusions. In other words, how can we test some boys from Chicago and ascertain that this is how all people develop worldwide?I believe that the answer to this criticism comes from the theory that it relates to.
Although everyone has their own values and standards that guide them in their decisions, I believe that employees have to understand their role in an organization and make their decisions based on organizational values. That is why it is important to have a career in a field or in an institution with which one has shared
Personal values and ethics govern personal success and have an impact on career success. Everyone has their own set of values and ethics that have been taught throughout life. Personal values and ethics are learned behaviors, hence, some are easy to understand and apply, some can be acquired, and each compliments the other. Values and ethics can carry consequences. Therefore, if one applies the practices, they can succeed. If one ignores or violates the practices, one will find themselves in the position of self loathing, stress, or in a bad situation. These values and ethics carry over into our professional lives as we go into our careers.