Culture, Values, And Ethics Essay

The term "culture" has been used more and more recently but what exactly does it mean? Some have even regarded culture as "the most central problem of all social science" (Malinowski, 1939). According to Merriam Webster (2016), culture is defined as the arts and other manifestations of human achievements. If culture was as simple as Merriam-Webster defines it then the lives of anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists would be much easier. As we know, culture varies greatly across religion, countries, and some cases in just states; the difference between the north and the south. We can conclude that culture is a set of shared thoughts, values, and cognitions (Geertz, 1973). With culture in itself varying tremendously based on values and location, then surely organizational culture is no simple concept either. The term "organizational culture" has just recently become to be used more (Barley, 1988). Though there may be disagreements on defining culture universally, researchers tend to agree that culture is of vital importance in an organizational context, whether that organization is a company or a government (Kilmann, Saxton, & Serpa, 1986).

Culture is an observable, powerful force in any organization. “Made up of its members’ shared values, beliefs, symbols, and behaviors, culture guides individual decisions and actions at the unconscious level. As a result, it can have a potent effect on a company’s well-being and success” (One Page, n.d.).

1. What were the costs and benefits to stakeholders of the actions taken by Massey Energy and its managers?

Culture is the collective attitude, intellect, and atmosphere that a community creates for itself. This includes values, traditions, and social norms. Specifically, organizational culture is within a community, group, or business that shares values, follows a code of conduct and standards, and holds its members accountable for their contributions. Organizational culture arises from the goals and mission set out by the company. A negligent culture can provoke and encourage inappropriate behavior between employees. As shown with Uber, organizational culture can become dangerous and harmful to its members if proper standards are not established.

Another challenge occurs when emotional influences over the decision-making process, which may over shadow the importance of personal values in the process, pose as another challenge. Emmerling (2003) states that the emotions felt during the decision-making process can have an effect on the number of alternatives, amount of effort people are willing to invest, and people's willingness to take risks.

“Culture consists of the symbols, rituals, language, and social dramas that highlight organizational life, including myths, stories, and jargon. It includes the shared meanings associated with the symbols, rituals, and language. Culture combines the philosophy of the firm with beliefs, expectations, and values shared by members. It contains the stories and myths about the company's founder and its current leading figures. Organizational culture consists of a set of shared meanings and values held by a set of members in an organization that distinguish the organization from other organizations. An organization's culture determines how it perceives and reacts to the larger environment (Becker, 1982; Schein, 1996). Culture determines the nature

R.E.M. ....Religious, educational and moral values. These are the three values that affect society today the most, I think. Society may look down on people if they do not live by what society thinks is correct. For example if a persons values are corrupt then society will look down on that person, but if a person has real high morals then society will think that they are fake of just a “goodie”. In society today you will be looked down anyway your moral beliefs are.

Culture can be defined as a set of shared values, shared beliefs and customary ways of thinking doing things, which shape and guides the ways of organisational members. Culture is therefore very crucial as it has the ability to influence the processes or the activities of employees and the functioning of the organisation without necessarily imposing measures and control.

The organization culture as a leadership concept has been identified as one of the many components that leaders can use to grow a dynamic organization. Leadership in organizations starts the culture formation process by imposing their assumptions and expectations on their followers. Once culture is established and accepted, they become a strong leadership tool to communicate the leader 's beliefs and values to organizational members, and especially new comers. When leaders promote ethical culture, they become successful in maintaining organizational growth, the good services demanded by the society, the ability to address problems before they become disasters and consequently are competitive against rivals. The leader 's success will depend to a large extent, on his knowledge and understanding of the organizational culture. The leader who understands his organizational culture and takes it seriously is capable of predicting the outcome of his decisions in preventing any anticipated consequences. What then is organizational culture? The concept of organizational culture has been defined from many perspectives in the literature. There is no one single definition for organizational culture. The topic of organizational culture has been studied from many perspectives and disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, organizational behavior, and organizational leadership to name a few. Deal defines organizational culture as values,

Culture within an organisation is a system of shared values, beliefs and norms of individuals in the organisation and how the value consensus creates a way in which people behave. The shared values have a strong influence on the individuals in the organisation and dictates how a person acts, dresses and performs in their job. A unique culture is developed and maintained by an organisation which provides guidelines and boundaries, through informal means, for the behaviour of the people within the organisation.

Values and ethics are one of the most important characteristic of an individual. They basically define who we are and what we believe. There are many factors that determine our values and ethics. Culture, religion, and many other factors affect our beliefs. Many times are values and ethics can clash with different people who hold different views and beliefs. This doesn't mean our values or ethics are wrong it just means we think differently than others. Most people have a good sense of ethics and values. Knowing between right and wrong is a good foundation to practicing good ethics and morals.

I was born in the late 1950s and spent my childhood in the 1960s and teen years in the 1970s. My upbringing was shaped very much, by how I was taught and raised. My parents were both members of a conservative religious organization and so with that said I learned this way of thought. We were raised to believe that the 10 commandments were the basis of all things right and wrong, that if we followed them our lives would be as God wanted. Not to mention our parents! As a child, we first believe all that our parents teach us. They are like God to us and must be right no questions asked. I had by then

Morals, values and ethics define who we are and what we believe. Culture, religion, and many other things affect our beliefs. One uses various types off ethics when surrounded by different groups. Knowing between right and wrong is a good foundation to practicing good ethics and morals. These things make morals, ethics, and values important in society.

An organization’s culture shapes the attitudes and behaviors of its employees by defining boundaries, providing a sense of identity and stability. It also establishes a standard in regards to what employees should say and do. Culture can be transmitted via stories, rituals, material symbols and language. Culture within an organization is no exception.

Everyone has their own unique culture that they identify with which plays a huge role in shaping a person’s identity. Our values, morals, and experiences are structured by the society and culture that surround us each day. A person’s beliefs and morals are formed by culture and remains throughout their entire life. Culture varies from one place to another and it makes people throughout the world similar but very different as well. It made you the person you are today and determines who or what you choose to associate yourself with in the future. One element of culture is the learned behavior patterns and associated with it that we develop as we grow up living within the culture. Learned behavior isn’t something that is only exhibited by humans, but as well as animals such as dogs and cats that follow what their owner teaches them.