Ethics

A persons values are those aspects in life that are important to you to ensure that you live a good life. They are not values that a person wants or would like to have but they are the basic foundation of a persons life. They determine what kind of a person you are and what kind of a person you have been brought up to be. Most values are developed at a very young age and people grow up with them. However, other values are picked up in life based on life experiences or other teachings from school, church or the environment. Regardless of where they originate, they shape a persons life and let people know what that persons stands for in life. Because of their originality, personal values differ in people. There may be some similarity in values especially in members of the same family because they grew up knowing the same things. However, values are very personal and there are as many as there are human characteristics.

The career in which a person is involved also shapes their values. However, your personal values determine the career path that you will choose. People who have strong principles will obviously not get into careers that require them to do certain things they do not believe in. If you work with people everyday, then your values are going to be more based on social skills. They develop each day because you deal withy different people every day. Situations occur at times when you are forced to live against your personal beliefs and this is both stressing and frustrating. According to Lopper, stress does not necessarily come from long hours at work or having many roles in life. It mostly occurs when your values have been conflicted because you are in a situation that requires you to do something you actually do not want to do. When stress is of this level, the only to get rid of it is by sorting out the conflict so that what you are doing is not contrary to what you believe.

Values do not necessarily state what is acceptable by society rather, what is acceptable by an individual. Therefore, they may be developed by the society but they will not be determined by it. This means that the society may shape your values but it does not define them. Your values may be different someone elses values but that does not make them wrong. Because values are not tangible, they become difficult to measure. This has been compared to how easy it is to sell a pair of shoes as compares to an insurance policy, which you cannot see or feel. It will all zero down on how much a person believes in something. Albert Einstein once said, Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts. In this light, it is therefore important to determine what is important to us and what will highlight the values about which we so much care.

John Galt (1779-1839) explains that although man has been understood as a rational creature, he chooses what he wants to be. In order to survive happily, he has to chose his life, learn how to sustain it as well as discover and practice certain values instilled in him. He therefore describes vales as mans morality. Values are the reason that we stop what we are doing and ask ourselves whether it is the right thing to do. It defines the character of a person. If you have low values, then you probably will not be very valuable to other people. This can be at home or at work or simply just living life. A nurses values will definitely be different from those of a dancer. They may not be wrong or right but they are different. For instance, working with patients every day gives a nurse a feeling of self-satisfaction knowing that she has helped other people. However, a dancer also helps people in her own capacity.

Values are developed by what we read, with whom we work and with whom we associate. Buddha always taught that people should not believe what they read or heard (even if it came from him) unless it was in accordance with what they believed. Other notable authors such as Sam Keen also note that peoples lives are energized by passion. However, this passion should not be reckless and unsupported. He further explains that the value of your passion will manifest in the effect that it has on other people around you. If a nurse is passionate about their job, many more people will feel the effect because heshe will work with undivided attention to ensure their work is done. If the passion is not driven in the right direction, it can be compared to a forest fire, which destroys everything in its path as opposed of offering light and warmth. This explains that discipline is important when it comes to personal values.

Personal values are instilled in young children right from birth. They learn various aspects of life just by observing their parents. Children with older siblings also catch on some habits from by watching them. Other ways a persons values are developed is by reading and watching other people around them. Hawkins (2006) believes that reading inspirational books all through your life can have a dramatic effect on how you relate to other people or to issues. Hawkins says that when you read what other people have been through and how they deal with their problems, then you become inspired by their story and hence share the same belief.

Your environment and the society can also shape your personal values. If you grew up in a conservative neighborhood, then you have high chances of growing up to be a conservative. If you grew up in a Christian background, then most of your values are going to be Christian-based. However, a few exceptions to the rule go out of what they grew up learning and explore the world to build their own values. In such cases, these people understand what they want to believe not because the society does but because they have first-hand experience. Normally, people are driven to this direction by various circumstances in their lives. Values can also be shaped or developed by looking at other people and learning from their mistakes or achievements. For instance, Martin Luther King Jr. lived is life studying Mahatma Gandhi. He looked at him and developed the same values he had towards humanity.

People face many challenges in their work places. Nurses have to deal with sick and disgruntled patients and family members and still maintain their cool and professionalism. This may sometimes be difficult but they learn to do it. If certain values are not instilled in a person, they may not be succesful or even qualified nurses. This industry requires that people go to work with an open mind because anything could happen. Nurses understand what they are getting into before they become nurses. A nurse has to have certain values within themselves before they even think of joining the career.

Your personal values have a certain impact on your job. How you deal with colleagues as well as how you deal with customers or suppliers is based on your personal values. There are sometimes conflicts when you are forced to do something that goes against your values but is a requirement at work. A nurse may feel they need to treat a patient but the hospital requires that every patient have insurance before they are treated. This is termed as an ethical dilemma and many people sometimes do not know how to deal with. People are mostly drawn to careers that do not contradict their personal values. In fact, research shows that people prefer working with organizations that have high ethical standards and those that have a social responsibility as well as a name to uphold. They therefore attract and retain very good employees who work diligently and are loyal.

According to Richard L. Daft in his book Organization theory and design, an organizations values are netted from the values of every employee who works there. The values of an organization will be based on the values of the people who work there as well as the values of the stakeholders, who may or may not be based there. The personal values of an employee translate to their behavior at work, which has a direct impact on how decisions are made in an organization. However, the values of a company cannot be based on a single persons values. The practices of the business reflect largely on the companys values. However, Daft explains that each company should make their values known to their employees before they hire them. In such cases, the employees understand that there will be consequences if they go against the values of the company.

Conclusion
Personal values are mainly based on how a person grew up and what they have understood in life. However, these values have to be translated in behavior every day. How a person behaves lets people know what kind of a person they are and what they believe in. It also determines the career path they take and ensures that they maintain their jobs. Certain professions require that employees have certain standards, which have to be instilled in a person as they are growing up and becoming mature adults. Many respectable people have for years emphasized that life without meaning is not worth living at all. Therefore, it is important to have certain values within individuals and to ensure that everything a person does is based on what they believe.