Professional Values and Ethics

Professional Values and Ethics
Learning Team C
Gen 200
Shazia Ali
February 1, 2010

Professional Values and Ethics
      Values and ethics are the framework of how an individual live their life. They affect our career choices, our family, and the choices we make. Values is the ideals, customs, institutions, etc., of a society toward which people of the group have an effective regard (Dictionary.reference.com, 2010). These values may be positive, as cleanliness, freedom, or education, or negative, as cruelty, crime, or blasphemy (dictionary.reference.com). Ethics are rules or standards governing the conduct by which we live our lives and the decisions we make. Professional values and ethics are learned by various sources like family, our social environment, and school.
      Professional values and ethics is our main source of learning how to act and be successful in both our personal and professional lives. Our first source of values and ethics is family. A family who has a strong solid bond set the foundation in which we learn our values and ethics. According to Chris M. Bell and Justin Hughes-Jones, “Legitimate power related to structure and position can carry moral weight but may not influence the power holder’s perceptions of rules and general norms” (Bell and Hughes-Jones, 2008). Values and ethics are important for families to teach their children so that as adults they make the right decisions in life, whether it is in school or in their professional career. Ultimately the family or parents are the ones who instill values and ethics in their children.
      A second source of professional values and ethics is social environment. These individuals may help their friend find their way through life by helping him or her overcome obstacles they may encounter. They are people in our lives who genuinely care for us.   When an individual surround his or her self   around individuals who are doing positive things, he or she will start doing the same thing,...