This document discusses clarifying personal values to help make ethical decisions in one's career. It provides a list of values and asks the reader to select their top five. The reader chose compassion, loyalty, trust, bravery and flexibility. They explain that these values focus on relationships and allow for understanding different perspectives through compromise while maintaining integrity. Having clearly defined values provides guidance during conflicts or difficult decisions.

1. Associate Level Material
Appendix C
Clarifying Personal Values
Each of you will be faced with numerous moral and ethical dilemmas throughout your career. To
be prepared to make these ethical decisions, it is helpful to clarify your personal values, and
morals before you are faced with an ethical dilemma. Review the following list of values and
create a list of the five values most important to you in making decisions.
acceptance discipline promise keeping
accomplishment diversity respect
adventure equality responsibility
ambition fairness risk taking
assertiveness flexibility service
beauty freedom success
bravery honor teamwork
compassion humility tradition
competence loyalty trust
conformity obedience understanding
creativity order winning
customer satisfaction power
List of Five Important Values
1.
Compassion
2.
Loyalty
3.
Trust
4.
Bravery
5.
Flexibility
The commonalities that I see in the values that I have chosen can be found within
most relationships, whether it be personal or business. The values of compassion and
flexibility are very similar. In all relationships the ability to have compassion for both
parties is met with the flexibility to understand and compromise in most situations.
Loyalty and trust go hand in hand in many successful alliances. The reason being is that
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2. trust is needed in securing loyalty. Even in our own relationship with ourselves, we must
trust in our values and be loyal to our true beliefs.
Bravery goes hand in hand with all of the values that I have listed. A person must
be brave enough to trust their heart and common sense when using compassion and
flexibility and brave enough to be willing to gain the trust needed in loyalty. Utilizing
the value of bravery, which is followed by compassion, flexibility, trust, and loyalty will
aid in ensuring the ethical decision making that I face now and in the future will be based
on my own values that have always led me on my journey through life.
Being faced with the conflict of one of my values will simply bring me back to
my list. Having the ability to be flexible in my beliefs simply means that I am strong
enough to bend. In other words by staying strong in my values, yet flexible enough to
view opinions and ideas of others with an open mind, I will be able to have the
compassion and trust needed in change if it is for the better.
I learned my values through years of being taught through words, actions, and
even mistakes. The values that I hold dear are cemented in my everyday life, whether it
is personal or organizational values. In my opinion by staying true to who you are and
the beliefs that you hold so dear, a person has the ability to create a strong foundation that
will have the capability of holding even the heaviest of tasks or burdens.
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