w. 4 Career Goals, Values and Ethics Flashcards
(Gati, 2015)
Making better career decisions
(Sucher & Preble, 2017)
Case Study: Follow Dubious Orders or Speak Up?
types of career paths
- Linear
- Expert
- Spiral
- Transitory
- Linear
progress upwards in a hierarchy to positions of increasing authority and responsibility
- Expert
becoming increasingly proficient in area of expertise and career emerges in specialisation
- Spiral
shift btw similar occupational areas, specialities or disciplines (can occur within the company too).
Usually changes occur after you’ve been in field long enough to develop some competence & you leverage the knowledge & skills acquired in a previous spiral to develop a new set of knowledge & skills in a new spiral.
Moves can be sideways or even downwards
- Transitory
when individuals change from one field or job to another, typically every every 3-5 years, that’s very different or wholly unrelated.
Want variety, stimulation & independence in life instead of having career in the traditional sense
encore career
(Freedman 2007): people choosing to make significant career change late in their year, usually involves innovation/social entrepreneurship
→ spiral and transitory paths now much more common
boundaryless careers
involves the sequence of job opportunities that go beyond the boundaries of a single employment setting.
Characterised by boundaryless benefits
Skills & knowledge
Reputation & networks, access to knowledge
protean career
(Hall, 1996): flexible, adaptive, self-directed approach to career management
features of protean career
- Multiple employers & work arrangements
- Individual is in charge of own career proactive, self directed & autonomous
- Goal of psychological success (Must align with values & broader life goals)
- Success measured subjectively
- High degree of mobility
benefits of protean career
Pursue goals more congruent with who they are, priorities & values
Likely to view career in broader context of their lives
Since professional identity isn’t as important they’re free to focus on things they value
disadvantages of protean career
Less stable,
Less development
Work life impacted
career goals
Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Timebound
SWOT
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
Values are
are generally stable, evaluative beliefs that guide our preferences for outcomes or courses of action in a variety of situations. They are personal convictions about what one should strive for and how one should behave.
value theory
Schwartz 2012
6 Value theory features (Schwartz 2012)
1) are beliefs - inextricably tied to emotions
2) are motivational - reference desirable goals that people strive to attain
3) have broad application - transcend specific actions & applications
4) serve as standards or criteria - to evaluate & provide ourselves with feedback
5) are ordered by importance
- a relatively stable system, hierarchical system distinguishes them from norms & attitudes
6) Guide actions- higher values drive behaviour
Person-organisation value congruence:
when employee and organisational values are similar
Organisations can also benefit from some level of value
incongruence, as employees with diverse values offer different perspectives, which could lead to better decisions. Also, too much congruence can lead to a ‘corporate cult’, which can undermine creativity, organisational flexibility, business ethics, etc.
Employees are more likely to
make decisions compatible with the organisation’s missions and objectives.
When people work in organisations that have values that fit with their own, they are more likely to be satisfied
and productive. Congruence also leads to higher job satisfaction, loyalty, commitment, citizenship behaviour, lower stress, and lower turnover.
Linking values to behaviour
Values have a judgemental element & typically reflect belief about right/wrong, good/bad, worthwhile/not.
Abstract concepts, not always easy to follow in practice
what strengthens our actions to values
Something makes us mindful of the value
Have a specific reason to apply value in the situation
Environment supports the behaviour that are consistent with the value
values develop through what process?
socialisation process
Values help give
direction & coherence & to recognise opportunities to achieve outcomes (which depend on the situation we’re in)
3 things values do?
a) affect perceptual processes
b) Legitimise & justify past behaviour
c) Can affect organisational outcomes → job satisfaction, ethical decision making
how can we sharpen our awareness of values?
by reflecting on them learn how to devote time to things that are most important to you
Self-directive values →
innovation-oriented cultures
Security values →
bureaucratic cultures
Benevolence values →
supportive cultures (Berson, Oreg, & Dvir, 2008)
ethics
a set of rules or principles that defines right and wrong conduct.
Shape the way we live. Helps us to live a life worth living.
Ethical people have a well informed conscience
Act in a way that’s true to who they are and what they believe
It’s not just about the big issues, however ethics also informs our daily interactions
values
evaluative beliefs about what is deemed to be important
sunlight test
where you only act in a way that you would be proud to see on the front page of the paper.
Most importantly, ethics allows us to
act in a manner that accords with a set of core values and principles
Linking values and ethics
Ethics is a framework (set of principles and arguments) for thinking about the issue and is concerned with the question “what should one do” or “how should one act”. The emotional force of your values in contrast would lead you to an intuitive feel for what you should do. Principles tells you how to get there.
In other words, ethics involves acting in accordance with values and principles. These are the things that matter most to you.How much weight you give to your personal values and principles will likely determine your course of action.
Together values and principles act as an internal ethical guide.
When considering a future career in specific organisations and industries, it is important to get to know what
an organisationstands for, why it is in business and how it will conduct itself, and importantly whether these align with your own values and principles.
An ethical framework in an organisation communicates
the gold-standard for behaviour and decision making. This framework is usually conveyed as purpose, values and principles and represents the DNA of an organisation.
ethical dilemmas
arise when our own values and principles are in conflict with others.
Indeed not every ethical question has one right answer, and that’s okay. There is no ethical theory that can resolve every situation perfectly. Lots of things in our lives have moral value and sometimes they come into conflict.
with regards to ethical dilemmas how are we wired?
wired with an ethical approach towards deciding what is good and what is right, for example:
The Duty Approach - (also called deontology) – is concerned with the question, what duty do I have here and what are the rights of the others?
The Virtue Approach – is concerned with the question, what sort of person would I be if I did that?
The Consequentialist Approach – is concerned with the question what gets the best outcome for most people?
key approach to ethics is
to continue to be reflective and to examine your own values and principles, to be aware of your ethical approach and how this effects your ethical choices and behaviour.
How to resolve ethical dilemmas ask:
- would you be happy for it to be the headline?
- is there a universal rule that applies here?
- will this have a good result?
- what if everybody did that?
- what will this do to the character of your organisation?
organisations can create environments where ppl feel forced to make tough choices because
1) It is psychologically unsafe to speak up (retribution/harsh reactions)
2) Excessive pressure to reach unrealistic performance targets
3) Conflicting goals provoke a sense of unfairness
Leaders must accept
they are held to other standards and that others will interpret their behaviour accordingly
What questions should you ask (Sucher & Preble) when deciding whether to follow dubious orders or speak up?
1) Am I comfortable with the likely consequences?
2) Am I fulfilling my duties and respecting others’ rights?
3) Am I respecting the community and its norms?
4) Am I meeting my and my company’s commitments?
a job is made up of
a ‘set of task elements grouped together under one job title and designed to be performed by a single individual’, or ‘the set of prescribed work activities a person normally performs during a typical work period’
features of a job
- Level and form of task interdependence
2. Level of discretion or freedom to job craft implied by monitoring systems in the job:
Making better career decisions
Gati, 2015
Case Study: Follow Dubious Orders or Speak up?
(Sucher & Preble, 2017)
Per Schwartz’s (2012) value theory are values ordered by importance relative to other values and NOT to social goals, priorities, norms, and attitudes?
NO Values are ordered by importance relative to other values and NOT to social goals, priorities, norms, and attitudes.
