Hao Yuan Liu

Internship Course 101

25 June 2016
Work Ethics
Some work may be hard and some are just a breeze. However, some other work can be regarded
as having a moral. A work can be done several ways and some other ways may be deemed as
controversial or immoral. Work ethics is the principle that hard work is intrinsically virtuous or
worthy of reward.* Work ethics define the value of the work. Hence there are good work ethic and bad
work ethic. It is no doubt that we would want good work ethic in the job and career field. To better
understand the work ethic of both high school students and adults in the working field, I interviewed 5
people who are mature enough to work.
My interviewee's name is Hong Liang and he is my father. My dad works in houses and
buildings, mostly fixing house appliances. He is a handyman and does household installments. He has
been working in this field for a decade and has gained a lot of experience. According to my dad, his
definition of work ethic is to fully satisfy the objective and to get things finished in a timely manner.
I believe that my dad's definition of work ethics are good because it is very important to fully
follow orders and get things done in a timely manner. Work should not be taken with shortcuts and
incomplete before a deadline. Completing work in a timely manner ensures that you are trustworthy
and competent. My dad has been having good work ethics so far and always completes his tasks with
quality and on time. I believe that because that my dad does not know the power of the internet, he
assumes that every graduating high school students worked hard to get their diploma. My dad sees
them as procrastinators but still has adequate work ethic as they get their work done, which would
allow them to graduate. Next, I asked my dad about how he feels about my work ethics. He responded
saying that although I am still working on homework until past midnight, I am able to get all the work
completed. He advices me to be better at time management so I don't have to trade my health for

sleepless night catching back up on homework.

My next interviewee is Henry Li. Henry is a close friend of mines and he is 21 years old. He is
in college full time and working part time. He is a great candidate to be interviewed because he has two
separate spheres of work ethic, one academically and one in the workforce, and knows how to balance
both work and academic. On days when Henry gets called in for work, he goes to his employer's store
and begins packaging boxes and mails. He has been working there for a year as a part time job. From
his experience in the workforce, he believes that being quick and efficient while getting the job done
accurately and on time is the definition of having good work ethic. Thus this work ethic requires hard
work in order to develop this skill of being quick and efficient. I believe that having this work ethic is
a skill and it can be very hard to maintain.
I asked him how he manages time as well as energy in his overwhelming schedule. He
responded saying that priority is the most important. According to Henry, it is crucial to pay attention to
deadlines so that you can set your priorities and stay on top of things. Academically, his work ethic in
college is defined as being apt and qualitative on his assignments. Although Henry fails to maintain his
work ethic at some point, I believe he works very hard to maintain his work ethics because he has to
balance the work ethic of being quick and efficient yet also being qualitative. Because he has gone
through high school, he truly understands the inner circle of high school students. He says that many of
the students whom he knows has the worst work ethic including himself and the top students. He says
that the power of the internet allows many students to take shortcuts in getting homework assignments
done. In conclusion, many students abuse the power of the internet to get work done, but in an indecent
manner.
Another interview is from a recent high school graduate who is currently working a part time
job. His name is Bill Wang and he has been working at Lucky for half a year. His job is to do tasks that
his manager assigns him such as pushing carts back into place and restocking supplies. In his
workforce, his definition of a good work ethic is to be follow orders and be efficient in getting tasks

completed. Bill has to maintain good work ethic in his job and may have to sacrifice some of the things
he like to do when he gets called in. He says that a worker with good work ethic must show up to work
on time and can be depended on. I believe Bill achieves all these qualities and displays good work
ethic, or else he would have been fired!
Although Bill did not mention being qualitative in his work, it can be assumed that quality is the
least needed in his job as his tasks are not dependent upon quality and are considered menial. From
Bill's experience of high school, he says that a lot of the people he knows in high school passively gets
their assignments done. He says that there are students that put the least amount of effort in an
assignments just to get it done and passed. Overall, Bill insinuates that high school students have bad
work ethic and are just passive learners.
My coach Jon is full time worker in a grocery store and a part time worker as our badminton
Coach. He has been working for over 5 years as an assistant coach and in the grocery store. He has
always been highly critical of work ethics and how important it is to maintain a good one. Jon says that
a good work ethic highly defines the person's credibility. As a badminton coach, he looks for good
work ethics in the badminton players to pick out who is competent to play at the varsity level. He looks
for those who listens attentively to the coach's advice and that have improved significantly. According
to Jon, he sees work ethics as being capable to learn from mistakes, and being resilient and determined
after making a mistake.
Jon sees the work ethic of high school students as lacking resilience and motivation. He says
that having good listening skills and getting motivated is crucial in improving the work ethics of high
school students. I agree with Jon's ideas of learning from your mistakes. Nobody has a good work ethic
in the first place and has to develop it through mistakes. It shows that the individual is capable of
changing and that the individual yearns for success.
My last interview is with John Ruan, who is a college student going into his upper division
courses in Psychology. He pursues degree in Psychology and is involved Business meetings. At his

college in San Jose, he is involved in the realm of Business with his peers and started his own small
business selling retail items. John has begun retailing some of his products to earn some extra income
while in college while maintaining good academic performance. In the realm of business, John says a
person's work ethic is highly defined by commitment and the person's passion. He says nothing is
stronger than a person's passion to succeed.
I also strongly with John's definition of work ethic because passion is the main motivator to
succeeding. I believe that without passion, one would have a difficult time going through school and
learning materials. For example, a student should have passion for a subject / major that they are
learning in school or he/she would not be able to be the best in it. According to John, he says that
students in a 4 year academic institution usually have more passion and maturity than those in high
school. He says that college students are willing to take responsibilities and would eventually get things
done.
I see work ethic as a habit that an individual has developed from themselves. I see work ethics
as a combination of morality and competency. My definition of a good work ethic, in the general sense,
is to maintain a good moral in the work itself, being adequately competent, and having the ability to
complete tasks with satisfaction and on time. I believe that work ethic doesn't fully define the overall
characteristics of an individual, but it does, in a way, create a first impression of the individual. Good
morals in a person's work ethic can also define the individual's morality and credibility. I believe that I
have an adequate work ethic, but just not the best work ethic. I am always able to get work done on
time, but it is in the expensive of a lack of sleep due to weak time management skills. I have always
completed my work in an original manner without relying on the internet as a shortcut to finding
solutions. I can improve my work ethics by better managing my time and setting priorities straight.
During school days, I have an extremely busy schedule as I have practice after school and many
homework and test coming up. An improvement in time management and more sleep can further
increase my efficiency and quality of my work and in exams as well as my own health. From getting to

know my friends and students in class, I can conclude that most of the students my age have bad work
ethics. Many of them rely on the internet or other students too much to get their work done in the last
minute possible. At school I can see some of my friends and students hastily getting their homework
done in class out of their teacher's sight.
Overall, I believe work ethic is habit that is developed. Work ethic can also be a skill that can be
developed over the course of the individual's experience. Different working environments may have
different work ethics and it can be a problem if people intertwine the definition of work ethic with
another field, such as the workforce and academia. From these people that I have interviewed, I learned
that maintaining good work ethics can be difficult especially when you have more than one work ethic
that you have to follow. It is crucial that work ethic should not be the sole identifying factor of an
individual's personality. Some people may take too many shortcuts, depend too much on other sources,
or may cheat to get their work done, but one must not come to a generalized conclusion of the person's
overall personality as their can be several underlying factors. For example, my interviewee Henry has
to adjust his time and work to academics and work. A good work ethic also defines the maturity of the
person because he/she is willing to take responsibilities and knows their priorities. I believe that work
ethics do define the person's competency and reliability of getting things done.