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Values in Ethics

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Values and Ethics: The Gateway to Career Success
History in business has taught many lessons on how ethics and values, or lack thereof can transform an industry. The breakdown of values and ethics coupled with the lure of wealth and power among some business leaders has proven to be a recipe for failure. The highly publicized scandals in business ethics have accentuated the necessity for universities to prepare students to become ethically responsible leaders (Booth, 1995). In society, understanding and practicing the concepts of ethics and values is a component of success. In order for an organization to ensure an untarnished reputation for its ethical practices it must take a stance on developing a code of conduct for employees and managers to abide. In doing this, the organization must look at all contributing factors to ensure quality and a standard for the code of conduct. Each individual can maintain his or her own integrity to succeed in his or her careers. Positive role models who conscientiously follow their values and ethics are successful in their careers and have a beneficial effect on society. Values and ethics differ between cultures. Values are defined as a set of ideas concerning behavioral traits that are agreed upon either socially acceptable or not. These values are the cornerstone on which an individual’s decision making process hinges. Individuals armed with a good set of moral values tend to make more ethical decisions. Ethics are the questions that an individual poses to his or herself when deciding whether and action or behavior is right or wrong. Because of the increasingly common occurrence of scandals in the business world, organizations and even some industries are creating code of conduct regulations for employees to follow. Unfortunately, what is considered ethical behavior by one organization may not be the same for another that

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