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Cultural Values and Personal Ethics Paper
Amy Lynn Shipley
University of Phoenix
MBA500
Shelley Pumphrey
Cultural Values and Personal Ethics Paper
In the medieval society, morality was dictated by the simple laws of the church. As John Menadue (2000) reminds us, "The church believed business was basically immoral. Those who worked in 'trade' have often carried a moral or social stigma. If one wanted to live a virtuous life, one should be like the fishermen, give up business and follow Christ." Of course, today even the church acknowledges that one can be a corporate team player and still remain an essentially moral person, in touch with one's personal and cultural values. However, this stamp of approval does not necessarily make the worker's position any easier -- as a rash of corporate scandals and the everyday little economic injustices of life remind us, anyone working in an accountable position in business may find themselves having to balance personal political and ethical values with the greater values and goals of the organization as a whole. This balancing act can occur in many small and large ways. For example, personal values may seem to interfere with corporate or cultural values if an accountant finds something in the business's practice or bookkeeping that seems to be at odds with their personal sense of right and wrong (for example, discovering that a mortgage company one works for practices legal but abusive predatory lending practices that take advantage of elderly, disabled, or undereducated people, and that one's own job is enabling that). Alternately, business values may interfere with personal values if one's work requires sacrifices or life change ...