VALUES IN WORKPLACE

Ethics refers to the study of moral principles or values that determine whether actions are right or wrong and whether outcomes are good or bad. We rely on our ethical values to determine the right thing to do. One of the dilemmas organizational leaders face is that the distinction between ethical and unethical behaviour is not black and white. Instead, it depends on several factors, such as the persons reason for engaging in the behaviour, specific conditions in that culture, the influence of external factors on the behaviour, and so forth. MEANING OF ETHICS Ethics is the study of moral values and moral behaviour. Ethical behaviour is acting in ways consistent with one's personal values and the commonly held values of the organization and society. Ethical issues are a major concern in organizations. There is evidence that paying attention to ethical issues pays off for companies. Doing the right thing can positively affect an organization's performance. Managers must confront the ethical challenges that are encountered in organizations. Some organizations manage ethical issues well. Despite the positive way some organizations handle ethical issues, there is plenty of evidence that unethical conduct does occur in other organizations. How can people in organizations rationally think through ethical decisions so that they make the "right" choice? Ethical theories give us a basis for understanding, evaluating, and classifying moral arguments and then defending conclusions about what is right and wrong. Ethical Values Is capital punishment right or wrong? How about employment equity guidelines in hiring? If a person likes power, is that good or bad? The answers to these questions are value-laden. Some might argue, for example, that capital punishment is right because it is a suitable punishment for crimes such as murder. However, others might argue just as strongly that no government has the right to take anyones life. Values are concepts or beliefs that guide how we make decisions about and evaluations of behaviors and events. An individuals values can be ranked according to importance. Values tend to be relatively stable and enduring. Most of our values are formed in our early yearswith input from parents, teachers, friends, and others. As children, we are told that certain behaviors or outcomes are always desirable or always undesirable. There are few grey areas. It is this

absolute or black-or-white learning of values that more or less ensures their stability and endurance. Ethics is the study of moral values or principles that guide our behaviour and inform us whether actions are right or wrong. Thus ethical values are related to moral judgments about right and wrong. In recent years, there has been concern that individuals are not grounded in moral values. It is believed that this lack of moral roots has resulted in a number of business scandals. Values Basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end state of existence. Values are broad preferences concerning appropriate courses of action or outcomes. Values influence behavior and attitudes. Values tend to influence attitudes and behavior. For example, if you value equal rights for all and you go to work for an organization that treats its managers much better than it does its workers, you may form the attitude that the company is an unfair place to work; consequently, you may not produce well or may perhaps leave the company. Its likely that if the company had had a more equalitarian policy, your attitude and behaviors would have been more positive. IMPORTANCE OF VALUES Values are important to the study of organizational behaviour because they lay the foundation for the understanding of attitudes and motivation and because they influence our perceptions. Individuals enter an organization with preconceived notions of what "ought" and what "ought not' to be. For example, If Jeevan enters IG Ferns and Curtains with a view that salary on piece-rate system is right and on time-rate basis is wrong. He is likely to be disappointed if the company allocates salary on time-rate basis. His disappointment is likely to breed his job dissatisfaction. This will, in turn, adversely affect his performance, his attitude and in turn, behaviour would be different if his values are aligned with the company's reward/ pay policy. TYPES OF VALUES 1. The noted psychologist Milton Rokeach has developed a well-known set of values classified into two broad categories 1. Terminal values and 2. Instrumental values

2 Another frequently used classification of human values has been developed by psychologist Gordon Allport and his associates. These values fall into six major types 1. Theoretical: Interested in the discovery of truth through reasoning and systematic thinking. 2. Economic: Interest in usefulness and practicality, including the accumulation of wealth.

3. Aesthetic: Interest in beauty, form and artistic harmony. 4. Social: Interest in people and love as a human relationship.

5. Political: Interest in gaining power and influencing people. 6. Religious: Interest in unity and understanding the cosmos as a whole. Once again, groups differ in the way they rank order the importance of these values, as shown in the following. MinistersReligious, social, aesthetic, political, theoretical, economic. Purchasing ExecutiveEconomic, theoretical, political, religious, aesthetic, social. Industrial ScientistsTheoretical, political, economic, aesthetic, religious, social. The previous value classifications have had a major impact on the values literature, but they were not specifically designed for people in a work setting. A more recent values schema, developed by Maglino and associates, is aimed at people in the workplace AchievementGetting things done and working hard to accomplish difficult things in life. Helping and Concern for OthersBeing concerned with other people and helping others. HonestyTelling the truth and doing what you feel is right. FairnessBeing impartial and doing what is fair for all concerned.

These four values have been shown to be especially important in the workplace; thus, the framework should be particularly relevant for studying values in OB. Milton Rokeach values Terminal Values ( Preferences concerning the ends to be achieved.) terminal values, refers to desirable end-states of existence. These are the goals that individuals would like to achieve during their lifetime, such as a comfortable life, or happiness. A comfortable life (and prosperous) An exciting life (stimulating) A sense of accomplishment (lasting contibution) A world at peace (free of war and conflict) A world of beauty (beauty of nature and the arts) Equality (brotherhood, equal opportunity) Family security (taking care of loved ones) Freedom (independence, free choice) Happiness (contentedness) Inner harmony (freedom from inner conflict) Mature love (sexual and spiritual intimacy) National security (attack protection) Pleasure (leisurely, enjoyable life) Salvation (saved, eternal life) Self-respect (self-esteem)

Social recognition (admiration, respect) True friendship (close companionship) Wisdom (mature understanding of life)

The other set, called instrumental values, refers to preferable ways of behaving, such as being courageous or helpful. Ambitious (hardworking) Broad-minded (open-minded) Capable (competent, effective) Cheerful (lighthearted, joyful) Clean (neat, tidy) Courageous (standing up for beliefs) Forgiving (willing to pardon) Helpful (working for others' welfare) Honest (sincere, truthful) Imaginative (creative, daring) Independent (self-sufficient, self-reliant) Intellectual (intelligent, reflective) Logical (rational, consistent) Loving (affectionate, tender) Obedient (dutiful, respectful) Polite (courteous, well mannered) Responsible (reliable, dependable)

Self-controlled (self-disciplined) Instrumental Value: Instrumental values reflect the means to achieve goals; that is, they represent the acceptable behaviour to be used in achieving some end state. Instrumental values identified by Rokeach include ambition, honesty, self-sufficiency and courageousness. Instrumental value refers to a single belief that always takes the form: believe that such and such a mode of conduct (example Honesty, courage, etc.) is personally and socially preferable in all situations with respect to all objects. An instrumental value is a tool or means for acquiring a terminal value. Terminal Value: Terminal values, in contrast, represent the goals to be achieved, or the end states of existence. Rokeach identified happiness, love, pleasure, self-respect, and freedom among the terminal values.

Terminal value takes a comparable form: I believe that such and such an end state of existence (example salvation, or world at peace etc.) is personally and socially worth striving for. A terminal value is an ultimate goal in a desired status or outcome. Workplace Values and Ethics Attitudes, Values and Work Ethics Values represent stable, long-lasting beliefs about what is important in a variety of situations that guide our decisions and actions. They are evaluative standards that help define what is right or wrong, or good or bad, in the world. Values dictate our priorities, our preferences, and our desires. They influence our motivation and decisions. Although leaders refer to the core values of their companies, values really exist only within individuals, which we call personal values. However, groups of people might hold the same or similar values, so we tend to ascribe these shared values to the team, department, organization, profession, or entire society. Work values are important because they affect how individuals behave on their jobs in terms of what is right and wrong. The work values most relevant to individuals are: 1. Achievement: Achievement is a concern for the advancement of one's career. This is shown in such behaviours as working hard and seeking opportunities to develop new skills. 2. Concern for Others: Concern for others reflects caring, compassionate behaviour such as encouraging other employees or helping others work on difficult tasks. These behaviors constitute organizational citizenship.

3. Honesty: Honesty is accurately providing information and refusing to mislead others for personal gain. 4. Fairness: Fairness emphasizes impartiality and recognizes different points of view. Although individuals vary in their value systems, when they share similar values at work, the results are positive. This means that organizations recruiting job candidates should pay careful attention to individual's values. Importance of Values in the Workplace Values have been studied in organizational behavior for a long time, but they have only recently become a popular topic in corporate boardrooms. One reason is that as todays workforce rejects command-and-control supervision, leaders are turning to values as a more satisfactory approach to keeping employees decisions and actions aligned with corporate goals. A second reason is that globalization has raised our awareness of and sensitivity to cultural differences in values and beliefs. This creates an increasing challenge to identify a set of core values acceptable to employees around the world. The third reason why values have gained prominence is that organizations are under increasing pressure to engage in ethical practices and corporate social responsibility. Ethics refers to the study of moral principles or values that determine whether actions are right or wrong and outcomes are good or bad. We rely on our ethical values to determine the right thing to do. Ethical behavior is driven by our values. Unfortunately, a lot of people give executives low grades on their ethics report cards these days, so ethics and values will continue to be an important topic in OB teaching. Corporate Social Responsibility More than 30 years ago, economist Milton Friedman pronounced that there is one and only one social responsibility of businessto use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits. Friedman is a respected scholar, but this argument was not one of his more popularor accurate statements. Today, any business that follows Friedmans advice will face considerable trouble. Several studies have reported that employees increasingly want to work for ethical organizations whose decisions benefit the wider community, not just shareholders and employees. Many corporate leaders also expect their business partners to serve this wider constituency. In other words, the public expects organizations to engage in corporate social responsibility.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to an organizations moral obligation toward all of its stakeholders. Stakeholders are the shareholders, customers, suppliers, governments, and any other groups with a vested interest in the organization. As part of corporate social responsibility, many companies have adopted the triple bottom line philosophy. This means that they try to support or earn positive returns in the economic, social, and environmental spheres of sustainability. Firms that adopt the triple bottom line aim to survive and be profitable in the marketplace (economic), but they also intend to maintain or improve conditions for society (social) as well as the physical environment. Why We Need Values and Morals It is important to carefully consider your values for several reasons: (1) they could guide your life minute by minute towards noble goals, rather than your life being controlled by self-serving motives, customs, accidental occurrences, bad habits, impulses, or emotions. You have to know where you are going before you can get there. (2) Values and morals can not only guide but inspire and motivate you, giving you energy and a zest for living and for doing something meaningful. (3) Sensitivity to a failure to live up to your basic values may lead to unproductive guilt or to constructive self-dissatisfaction which motivates you to improve. (4) High values and some success meeting those goals are necessary for high self-esteem. (5) Professed but unused values are worthless or worse--phony goodness and rationalizations for not changing. We must be honest with ourselves, recognizing the difference between pretended (verbalized) values and operational (acted on) values. Of course, no one lives up to all their ideals, but values that only make us look or feel good (including being religious) and do not help us act more morally must be recognized as self serving hypocrisy.

EXTRA MATERIAL CONTEMPORARY ETHICAL ISSUES IN ORGANIZATIONS In contemporary organizations, people face ethical and moral dilemmas in many diverse areas. The key areas are:(i) White-Collar Crime: Corporate criminal behaviours have resulted in big financial scandals. White-collar crime may occur in more subtle forms as well. Using work hours for conducting personal business, sending out personal mail using the company resources. Inflating expenses etc., are all practices some individuals would consider unethical. Whether the impact is large or small, white-collar crimes are important issues in organizations. (ii) Employee Rights: Managing the rights of employees at work creates many ethical dilemmas in organizations. Some of these dilemmas are privacy issues, drug testing etc. The use of employee data from computerized information systems presents many ethical concerns. Safeguarding employee's right to privacy and at the same time preserving access to the data for those who need it requires that the manager balance competing interests. (iii) Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual attention, whether verbal or physical, that affects an employee's job conditions or created a hostile working environment. Sexual harassment costs the company in the form of absenteeism, turnover, and loss of productivity. Companies may be required to pay damages to victims of sexual harassment. Besides, the company may face negative publicity because of sexual harassment cases. (iv) Romantic Involvements: Hugging, kissing, sexual innuendos, and repeated requests for dates may constitute sexual harassment for some, but they are prelude to romance for others. This situation carries with it a different set of ethical dilemmas for organizations. Conflicts occur within an organization when romantic involvements at work become disruptive. Moreover, employers are liable for acts of their Attitudes, Values and Work Ethics employees and can thus be held liable for sexual harassment. Other employees might claim that the subordinate who is romantically involved with the supervisor gets preferential treatment. Romantic involvements at work can create a conflict of interest. A comprehensive policy should require anyone who might be experiencing a conflict of interest to report it to his or her manager. The policy should also include an explanation of how unwelcome romantic advances can turn into sexual harassment.

(v) Organizational Justice: Another area in which moral and ethical dilemmas may arise for people at work concerns organizational justice, both distributive and procedural. (a) Distributive Justice: Concerns the fairness of outcomes individuals receives. b. Procedural Justice: Concerns the fairness of the process by which outcomes is allocated. The ethical questions here do not concern the just or unjust distribution of organizational resources. Rather, the ethical questions in procedural justice concern the process. Has the organization used the correct procedures in allocating resources? Have the right considerations such as competence and skill, been brought to bear in the decision process? (vi) Whistle blowing: Whistle-blowers are employees who inform authorities of wrongdoings of their companies or co-workers. Whistle blowing is important because committed organizational members sometimes engage in unethical behaviour in an intense desire to succeed. Organizations can manage whistle blowing by communicating the conditions that are appropriate for the disclosure of wrongdoing. Clearly delineating wrongful behaviour and the appropriate ways to respond are important organizational actions. (vii) Social Responsibility: Corporate social responsibility is the obligation of an organization to behave in ethical ways in the social environment in which it operates. Socially responsible actions are expected of organizations. Current concerns including protecting the environment, promoting worker safety, supporting social issues, investing in the community etc. Managers must encourage both individual ethical behaviour and organizational social responsibility. Work Values Achievement (career advancement) Concern for others (compassionate behavior) Honesty (provision of accurate information) Fairness (impartiality)

The thoughts and feelings people have about work range from being broad and long-lasting attitudes about the nature of work in general, called work values, to more specific thoughts and feelings about a current job or organization, called work attitudes, to more moment-to-moment experiences, called work moods.

Work values are a workers personal convictions about expected outcomes work and behavior at work. Outcomes might include a comfortable existence with family security, a sense of accomplishment and self-respect, or social recognition, and an exciting lifestyle. Appropriate work behaviors at work include being ambitious, imaginative, obedient, self-controlled, and respectful. Work values guide ethical behavior at workhonesty, trustworthiness, and helpfulness. Work moods, how people feel when they perform their jobs, are more transitory than values and attitudes, changing from day to day, hour to hour, or minute to minute. Moods are categorized as either positive or negative. Positive moods include feeling excited, enthusiastic, active, strong, peppy, or elated. Negative moods include feeling distressed, fearful, scornful, hostile, jittery, or nervous. Moods can also be less intense. A worker might simply feel drowsy, sluggish, calm, placid, and relaxed. Experiencing different moods depends on a workers personality and the situation. Workers high on the trait of positive affectivity experience positive moods at work, whereas those high on the trait of negative affectivity experience negative moods. Both major and minor situational factors, such as receiving a promotion or coming to work in bad weather, can influence a workers mood. Mood has importance consequences for organizational behavior. Research suggests that positive moods promote creativity, result in helpfulness to coworkers and customers, and increase the performance of subordinates. Negative moods result in more accurate judgments (e.g., a performance appraisal). Both positive and negative moods influence decision making. Because managers can do many things to promote positive moods, work moods are receiving additional attention from researchers.

The Value of Organizational Values What's the value in values? Organizational values define the acceptable standards which govern the behaviour of individuals within the organization. Without such values, individuals will pursue behaviours that are in line with their own individual value systems, which may lead to behaviours that the organization doesn't wish to encourage. In a smaller, co-located organization, the behaviour of individuals is much more visible than in larger, disparate ones. In these smaller groups, the need for articulated values is reduced, since unacceptable behaviours can be challenged openly. However, for the larger organization, where desired

behaviour is being encouraged by different individuals in different places with different sub-groups, an articulated statement of values can draw an organization together. Clearly, the organization's values must be in line with its purpose or mission, and the vision that it is trying to achieve. So to summarize, articulated values of an organization can provide a framework for the collective leadership of an organization to encourage common norms of behaviour which will support the achievement of the organization's goals and mission. However, just as with a mission or vision statement, it is one thing to have a written guide to an organization's values that remains on the wall, or in a folder, but it is quite another thing to have living values which shape the culture - the way that things get done. So here are five suggestions to ensure you have living values 1. Communicate the Values Constantly. Values should fit with the organizations' communication, both internally and externally. If we say that we're fun, team-oriented where everyone counts, then having a traditional style with a photo of the CEO may challenge this. Refer frequently to the values in talks and sermons, in articles in internal/parish magazines. Acknowledge and thank those people who have achieved something which particularly emphasises the values. 2. Enroll New Folk. The values should be explicitly available as new members join an organization. If your organization is a business, this can be a part of the selection process, if a church, then explicitly stating the values of the church creates an expectation in the minds of newcomers. The church then needs to deliver on that! 3. Revisit and Refresh the Values. Revisit your values periodically - allowing members to update them. This has the power of enrolling those who have joined the organization recently, and avoids the stated values no longer reflecting the business culture. 4. Confront Contradictory Behaviour. Ensuring that we give feedback to those who don't live out the values of the organization. If people are allowed to live out contradictory values, then over time there is a clear danger that these will usurp the desired values, particularly if it is the more dynamic, dominant individuals who are espousing the contradictory values. 5. Periodically Check out with Feedback. Ask people what they think are the values of the organization - not only members, who may be influenced by the stated values, but outsiders - observers, customers, former members.

Pause for Thought : Do you have a statement of values. If not, let your organisation come up with them, rather than driving them yourself. If you do have a statement, is it a living expression of current, real values in the organisation or an expression of past desires? Review the five pointers above to see how well the organisation is living the values.

Sample Values Statement

INTEGRITY: We are morally upright, honest and sincere in our private and public lives. PROFESSIONALISM: We consistently implement the law, provide timely and accurate information to investors, and render efficient and competent service to the public. ACCOUNTABILITY: We abide by prescribed ethical and work standards in government service. INDEPENDENCE: We act without fear or favor, and render sound judgment in the performance of our duties and responsibilities. INITIATIVE: We are strategic and forward-looking in the fulfillment of our developmental and regulatory functions.

Goodness without knowledge is weak; knowledge without goodness is dangerous. We have to build a better man before we can build a better society. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. Our purpose is not to make a living but a life--a worthy, well-rounded, useful life. Morality is not a subject; it is a life put to the test in dozens of moments. -Paul Tillich

THE ABOVE MATERIAL IS PREPARED FOR THE M.A. FINAL YEAR STUDENTS OF ANDHRA UNIVERSITY (DISTANCE MODE).