Giving Voice to Values

Tale of Two Stories

Part I. A conflict situation occurred several years ago in a summer job on a position of a waiter at one of the local cafes. The administrator kept assigning inappropriate tasks for waiters, such as cleaning the toilet or cleaning the hall after the cafe closed. I decided to speak up after a week of work, when Julia, my colleague, had to end her day by cleaning the kitchen tables, which did not belong to the responsibilities of a waiter. High unfairness and rudeness motivated me to speak up. The administrator responded with laughter that it was his job to assign tasks. As a consequence, I had to quit my summer job, as it did not meet my values of fairness and tolerance. However, I was satisfied with my courage to protect personal rights and rights of others in a caring way. If I had more courage, I would have spoken up earlier. If others did not feel fear of losing their job and did not agree to complete inappropriate tasks, it would have been easier to solve the conflict together.

Part II. Another situation happened at school in the 6th grade. It was an act of strong violence and pressure exerted on one of my classmates in front of the school. A senior student started mocking and pushing him, while I was standing in a crowd, feeling helpless. I could not speak up in the defense of my classmate because of the fear of being pressured too. If there was someone else trying to stop this pressure in the crowd, I would have also tried to defend my classmate. I was not satisfied with my helplessness. If I were stronger and more courageous, I would have been the one standing in front of the crowd and arguing against offending others. If at least someone from the crowd had opposed this mocking and pushing, I would have joined the attempts to protect my classmate.

Giving Voice to Values

Values are important beliefs that formulate a personal worldview on good and bad aspects of human behavior. Mary Gentile has managed to reach a consensus on the development and usage of personal values in an effective way. In this reference, the following five personal values, which compose my personal worldview, should be taken into consideration.

1) Caring is a feeling of concern for others, which results in providing care to others without waiting for anything in return. This value formulates human relations full of affection and mutual support. It would be impossible to build a family or make friends without caring.

2) Honesty is acting in a truthful and sincere manner. This value teaches that any lie will reveal itself consequently, which means that lying has no value. Honesty supports human relations and favors trustworthiness.

3) Fairness implies an idea of treating every person equally, which does not give any preferences to others. In my list of values, fairness means that it is necessary not only to attend to personal fair behavior but also to ensure that others receive fair treatment as well.

4) The optimistic value lies in having positive expectations about the future. This value teaches to see positive outcomes in any situation, even if it is not satisfying. In my opinion, optimism teaches how to remain highly motivated and enthusiastic.

5) Tolerance is a value crucial to understanding different points of view, even if they are different from one’s own. This value teaches to respect others with a myriad of their peculiarities, thoughts, and beliefs.

The outlined values formulate my personal worldview and provide me with the courage to give voice to them. Every value has both personal and social context, which will help to build human relations characterized by trust, fairness, and tolerance. Thinking about personal values motivates me to show others the importance of paying attention to the same values.

Job Projections

My future profession is supposed to be connected with working with customers in the retailing business. For example, a profession of a sales associate would be appropriate for fulfilling my personal values and career needs. Besides the high professional potential for career growth, the position of a sales associate will help me to understand the values and behavioral patterns of others. However, it is most likely that I will face certain values conflicts in this position. For example, it may be difficult to handle customers’ complaints with tolerance, especially if they are not reasonable. In addition, relations with colleagues may also be challenging, as not every employee recognizes the value of honesty and tolerance. Nevertheless, personal optimism brings hope that every difficult situation will find its logical solution. All these thoughts prepare me to give voice to my values in making realistic projections on professional development and personal expectations about my future job position.

Personal-Professional Profile

1. All answers are “very important”

2. I would add “respects and values the contribution of every employee”.

3. Breakdown in trust between employees and management, Growing inequity in the distribution of wealth around the world, Lack of public trust in business.

4. All answers are “somewhat agree”

5. I expect to face conflicts over such values as fairness, honesty, and tolerance.

6. All answers are “very likely”

7. a) not likely b) very likely c) not likely d) somewhat likely e) very likely f) very likely g) very likely

8. An Idealist

9. -||-

10. I deeply respect my father for being fair, hardworking, honest, and persistent.

11. I am a student willingly trying to settle my life aspirations and goals.

13. Loyalty and tolerance bring essence to care and kindness.

15. I am a risk-taker who tries to defend my own rights and rights of others.

16. a) I am non-confrontational in the majority of cases. However, I act with full confidence and firmness when my friends or I suffer from unfair treatment. b) I suppose that communication in person is the best way to know the feelings and emotions of another person. c) I need time to reflect my communications in order not to offend interests of others d) I prefer using questions.

17. In my view, the greatest loyalty refers to the family with its beliefs and values.

18. a) somewhat naive in the communication with others b) idealistic due to a strong belief in personal values c) a learner willing to know the world

19. The profile has helped me to see my personal strengths and weaknesses, as well as make expectations about my future job position. I hope that it will help me to find the best manner of supporting personal values.

Part-Time Job with a Full-Time Challenge

a) Stakeholders include George, John, night managers, owner of the company, and customers. George’s interest lies in working in the company on ethically appropriate terms in order to stay there until the end of his college education. John’s interest is in keeping the same fraudulent activity for his own benefits. Night managers’ interest lies in avoiding the negative influence of John’s reputation on their performance. The owner of the company is interested in raising profits and keeping the company’s image as appealing to customers. Customers’ interest is in receiving high-quality service and products.

b) John’s rationalizations lie in getting extra money for his life, building his own business activity in the company, and being more creative than others. George should not speak up for the following reasons: John is his friend, George is already involved in the illegal activity, and George might lose his job or entail the guilt on himself.

c) The most powerful response to these rationalizations lies in the fact that John should no longer continue his highly unethical and illegal activity in the company.

d) George should talk to his friend or his employer about the situation in order to avoid destroying his reputation.

The Billing Blind Case

a) The case involves five stakeholders, including Gabby, Todd, other accountants, the company’s owner, and customers. Gabby’s interest lies in receiving experience at the accounting company for her future career development. Todd’s interest lies in assigning tasks he does not want to complete to other employees. Other accountants’ interests lie in avoiding time-consuming tasks, which may affect their performance. The owner’s interest lies in raising the company’s profits to the optimal level without wasting resources. Customers’ interest lies in receiving high-quality service.

b) The company’s rationalizations include an unwillingness to overload experienced accountants with time-consuming paperwork, reduction of overload of some employees by assigning their tasks to new employees, and improvement of the company’s performance by assigning necessary but tedious tasks to those who have not shown their performance excellence. Gabby’s rationalization not to speak up lies in avoiding spoiling her career development with the unfair activity of the company, not losing her current job position, as she does not have any other alternatives, and not damaging her workplace reputation by making complaints.

c) The most powerful response to all rationalizations lies in making everything possible to make the workplace environment highly ethical and beneficial to all employees, instead of putting tension on new employees.

d) Gabby should talk to her boss in front of other employees in order to solve the issue. She should talk about the unfairness of tasks assigned. An alternative option is that Gabby should talk to Todd about his biased attitude toward her.