Gen/200 Professinal Values and Ethics Paper

Running Head: PROFESSIONAL VALUES AND ETHICS

Assignment: Professional Values and Ethics Paper

GEN/200
February 7, 2011

      Professional values and ethics are critical to career success. Whether you are an executive or office worker, a health care professional or student, it is important to do the right thing.   Being ethical in the workplace or during your personal time, taps into your basic moral being.   It is rare to find a company that does not require their employees, no matter what level, to sign an ethics statement.   From the “me” decades of the ‘80s to the present, we constantly hear of companies where executives took   the liberties of making deals with friends or thinking of the companies bank account as their own.   It is very important to the success of a company and/or employee that business is conducted in an ethical manner. “Companies with strong ethics programs have found that their efforts can greatly reduce potential costly fines” (Inc. 2000). When a company is cited for unethical business practices they are fined considerably and when an executive is convicted for their unethical business practices, they are fined and sentenced to a lengthy jail term.
      “Ethics are beliefs about what is right and wrong based on individual value and morals.” (Ebert & Griffin, 2009, p. 20). Ethics are the beliefs whether a decision that affects other people are good or bad. Values are beliefs of a person or a group with an emotion of either for or against something. Many professions such as teachers, doctors, and accountants have code of conduct or guide of ethics and values to abide by. Boeing, manufacturer of commercial airplanes, has a list of cooperate values which the company lives by each and every day. According to Boeing (2011), “The Boeing Company is committed to fostering an environment where integrity is valued and forms the foundation for every decision. This environment includes a culture in which open and honest communication is expected...