UNIT-1

What is the importance of professional ethics and

values?
“Try not to become a man of success but rather to
become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein. Professional
ethics is important because it dictates to professionals
a series of rules related to the way professional acts
towards the people with whom he/she relates
professionally. From a philosophical point of view,
ethics has to do with morality and with the way people
act in the sense of goodness or badness

Where do we learn values and ethics?

Our teachers, and parents did teach us the use of
‘golden words’ that are Thank you, Sorry and Excuse
me. That was a step towards making us realize the value
of our actions. 

Values and Ethics are like our mother tongue—these

don’t need to be separately taught. A child learns values
and ethics as a part of his growth and development, in
which its family, school, and neighbourhood play an
important role. As children grow up, their peers,
teachers, influence, and shape their values. In
adulthood, people are inspired by workplace
environments. In other words, the values a person has
and the ethics he follows is moulded by the culture,
type of people he is in contact with.

Need of human values:

Value education is always essential to shape one’s life and to give one an

opportunity of performing on the global stage. The need for value education

among the parents, children, teachers etc, is constantly increasing as we

continue to witness increasing violent activities, behavioural disorders and

lack of unity in the society etc. Value education enables us to understand our

needs and visualize our goals correctly and also indicate the direction for their

fulfilment. It also helps remove our confusions and contradictions and enables

us to rightly utilize the technological innovations.

There are different views that call urgent need to inculcate human values in

Indian society. Numerous traditional values which have been inherited from

past remain valid and true to be adapted by future citizens but many fresh

values to match confronting problems in emerging Indian culture. Presently,

negative human values are in upper side. It may be because of neglect of

value education which created vagueness and indiscipline in the mind of

people (Satya Pal Ruhela, 1996)

What are the 6 types of human values?

Values that may be included in the general definition of
human values are love, brotherhood, respect for others
— including plants and animals — honesty, sincerity,
truthfulness, non-violence, gratitude, tolerance, a sense
of responsibility, cooperation, self-reliance, secularism
(the freedom of practicing own religion and belief) and
internationalism. (the state or process of being
international.) Internationalism promotes peace and
security, self-determination, economic stability, and
humanitarianism. For example, in a world
international sporting event like the Olympics, the host
country will have great economic benefits because of
attracting foreign investment
Introduction
Value means worth. A value is a socially acceptable
concept of what is important and to what degree.

Values define how we treat others in any association.

The effect of good values lasts lifelong in dealing with
difficult or unfortunate or adverse situations that come
along the way of life.

The Story of a Carpenter

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his
employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-
building business and live a more leisurely life with his
wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss his
paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by.
The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and
asked if he could build just one more house as a
personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it
was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He
resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior
materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.
When the carpenter finished his work and the builder
came to inspect the house, the contractor handed over
the house key to the carpenter. “This is your house,” he
said, “it is my parting gift to you.” What a shock! What
a Shame! If only he had known he was building his own
house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he
had to live in the home he built none too well.
Do we find ourselves in similar situations as the
carpenter? Moving through our work hours fast paced,
driven to “get the job done”, without much thought to
moral values. How do we regain our focus as
individuals and organizations? This is the challenge for
the employee and the employer. Ethics are fundamental
standards of conduct by which we work as a
professional.
“Never change your core values.” In spite of all the
change around you, decide upon what you will never
change: your core values.
According to Radhakamal Mukherjee, “Values may
be defined as socially approved desires and goals that
are internalized through the process of conditioning,
learning or socialization.”
Value can also be defined as a principle that promotes
well-being or prevents harm. Human beings have the
unique ability to define their identity, choose their
values and establish their beliefs. All three of these
directly influence a person’s behaviour. Thus, values
are principles before us that guide and direct our
behaviour.
Features of Values

The values have two poles, the positive and the negative as good and evil

They have a rank within the world of values ranging from the lousy to the excellent.

-There is a social, moral and ethical hierarchy.

- Values are in themselves a quality and do not determine a quantity, ie they are not
quantifiable.

- They are also flexible because they can change over time according to the
experiences and needs of individuals

Its durability varies, being some more permanent than others.

Sources of values
Values are believed to be hereditary and genetically
determined but some of them are driven by
environmental factors which are as follows;
 Family – Family is the prime and most important
source of obtaining values. Every child learns
some values from his family since his childhood
and retains those values in his mind throughout
his life. The ways the parents nurture, educate
and raise their child shape his personality and
inculcate values in him.
 Society – After family, society also plays a
major role developing value system of an
individual. Every child learn basic manners and
discipline from the school. Besides schools and
 colleges, other groups of society such as
religious groups, economic and political groups
to which an individual belongs also affect value
system of an individual.
 Personal factors – Personal characteristics like
intelligence, ability, appearance and education
level of a person determines his value system
very strongly. For example, an intelligent and
educated person will understand and learn the
social and work related values relatively faster
than the uneducated person.
  Culture – Cultural factors which influence
value system of an individual include norms,
beliefs and other behaviour patterns which are
preferred and acceptable by the society. These
values are often carried in rituals, customs or
narratives that are often repeated and highly
resistant to change because they are seen as
absolute.
  Religion – Religion is comprised of set of
values and traditions which guide routine
behaviour and decision making of an individual.
Religious values help people determine what is
good or what is bad.
  Life experiences – Man learns most from his
own experiences and sometimes from
experiences of others too. The values which an
individual learns from own experiences of life
are relatively long lasting and difficult to change.
  Role demands – Role demand refers to the
behaviour which is associated with the particular
position or role profile in an organisation. Every
individual plays multiple roles in his life. The
problem occurs when there is a role conflict. In
such case, individuals quickly learn the value
system prevailing in the organisation so that they
may survive and progress in the same
organisation.
  Constitution – Almost, all the existing
constitutions of various countries highlight the
values of democracy, equality and world peace.
The values enshrined in the Constitution of India
are stated in its Preamble are Justice, Liberty,
Equality of status and opportunity and Fraternity.
Herein, justice occupies the first place, followed
by liberty, equality.

What are Terminal Values?

Terminal values are the goals that a person would like to achieve
during his or her lifetime. They signify the final goals and
objectives of a life of a person, and they are his/her destination.
Therefore, they are also referred to as the end-state of existence . 

Examples of Terminal Values

 A world at peace (free of war and conflict)

 Family security (taking care of loved ones)
 Freedom (independence, free choice)
What are Instrumental Values?
Instrumental values are modes of behaviour in achieving the
terminal values. These values are used often in the day to day lives.
These values lead to conflicts since they differ within a group.
Generally, these values show ways an individual would follow to
achieve the aims in his life.

Examples of Instrumental Values

 Cheerful (light-hearted, joyful)

 Love (affectionate,tender)
 Honest (sincere, truthful)
 Self-Control (restrained, self-discipline)
TYPES OF VALUES
Classifying values has always been a complicated task
since there is no hard and fast rule to classify values as
they are closely interlinked. Some of the important
values are as follows.
 Personal Values – It is personal to an individual
both in terms of their possession and their use. It
is a desire and cherished by the individual
irrespective of his social relationship. These
values make a person good for himself.
Examples being ambition, cleanliness, discipline
etc.
 Family Values – Family as a social institution is
based on certain universally defined value
system which are nurtured and cultivated within
a family system. Mainly, these values comes
from the lead of the family mostly father who
transfer these values to their children, who
further impart these values to future generation.
 Social Values – It refers to certain behaviours
and beliefs that are shared within specific
cultures and social groups. These values are
good for the society and form the basis of the
relationship of an individual with other people in
society. Examples being courtesy, charity, civic
duty etc.
 Moral Values – These values constitute attitude
and behaviour that a society consider essential
for co-existence, order and general well-being. It
enables an individual in making a distinction
between right and wrong and good and bad etc.
Example being fairness, justice, human dignity
etc.
 Ethical Values – Ethical values are a set of
moral principles that apply to a specific group of
people, professional field or form of human
conduct. These values presuppose moral courage
and the power to act according to one’s moral
convictions even at the risk of financial,
emotional or social security. These relate to our
personal behaviour with our fellow beings. All
moral values are also covered under ethical
values.
 Spiritual Values – it refers to the process of
reflecting on non-material dimensions of life and
acquiring insights into personal experiences.
They affect the individual in his relations with
himself and concerned with the realisation of the
‘Self’ and being one with ‘Divinity’. Examples
being truth, beauty, goodness etc.
 Cultural Values – Cultural values are the
standards of what is acceptable or unacceptable,
important or unimportant, right or wrong in a
society. It gives importance to preserve cultural
practices, ceremonies, traditions etc. which
might be threatened by the materialistic culture
 of modern times. Examples being hospitality,
social order, tolerance etc.
 Trans-cultural values – Values that are similar
in practice among different cultures throughout
the whole world. These can be categorized as
universal values since these values are followed
across the cultures.
 Intrinsic Values – They are the ends in
themselves, not the means for achieving some
other end. In the hierarchy of human values,
these values stand at the highest place and are
superior to all other values of life. Examples
being goodness, beauty, happiness, bliss etc.
 Instrumental Values – These are such values
that are useful in deriving some other benefit
through them such as economic gain or an
increase in status. A subject is said to have
instrumental value when it is pursued, not for its
own sake but for some ends beyond itself.
Example being education for success in life,
political power to do public service etc.
 Aesthetic Values – It seeks to emulate the
beauty of the Divine through the arts. Things and
activities which gives joys of beauty are
aesthetic values. Example being beauty, taste,
architecture etc.
 Democratic Values – These values are
characterized by the respect for individuality,
equal treatment to all, ensuring equal social,
political and religious rights to all, impartiality
 and social justice and respect for the democratic
institutions.
 Dis-Value – Values which demoralize and
undermine the human growth and development
can be termed as dis-value. This includes
jealousy, envy, revenge etc.

Values across culture

 Power Distance – Power distance is the degree
to which people accept uneven distribution of
power in the society and institutions. People with
 high power distance tend to accept unequal
power distribution. The people with low power
distance relatively prefer equal distribution of
power. Low power distance cultures adopt
Democratic way of governance (for e.g. India)
and high power distance cultures adopt
autocratic style of governance (for e.g. Gulf
countries).
 Individualism vs. Collectivism Individualism is
the degree to which people in a country prefer to act
as individuals rather than as members of a group.
Collectivism is the equivalent of low individualism


 Masculinity vs. Femininity – Masculinity

represents the degree to which the culture
favours traditional masculine domination over
privilege and power (for e.g. Afghan Taliban)
whereas femininity value represents no
demarcation between the roles of males and
females (for e.g. Egalitarian societies such as
Canada, New Zealand etc.)
 Long term vs. short term orientation – Long
term orientation is a national value which
emphasises on future, saving and perseverance
(For e.g. Value of sustainable development)
whereas short term orientation emphasises on
past and present.
 Indulgence vs. restraint – Indulgence is the
degree to which people prefer to enjoy life, have
fun and fulfil natural desires (Materialistic way
of life) whereas restraint is the degree to which
gratification of individual’s needs, desires and
behaviour is governed by social norms or
spiritual values (Spiritual way of life).
Quotes on Human Values
 “In order to lead a meaningful life, you need to
cherish others, pay attention to human values and
try to cultivate inner peace.”― Dalai Lama
 “Teachers can be a living example to their students.
Not that teachers should look for students to
idealize them. One who is worth idealizing does
not care whether others idealize them or not.
Everyone needs to see that you not only teach
human values but you live them. It is unavoidable
sometimes you will be idealized -- it is better for
children to have a role model, or goal, because then
 the worshipful quality in them can dawn.”
― Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
 All fine architectural values are human values, else
not valuable. -- Frank Lloyd Wright
 In order to lead a meaningful life, you need to
cherish others, pay attention to human values and
try to cultivate inner peace.----Dalai Lama
 The cultivation of Human Values alone is
Education.-------Sathya Sai Baba
 Every human actions becomes dangerous when it
is deprived of human feeling. When they are
performed with feeling and respect for human
values, all activities become constructive.------------
Dalai Lama