UNIT I: HUMAN VALUES

Contents: Marks weightage: 30 marks

Professional Ethics-Objectives of study of professional ethics-Human values- Definition of Morals and Ethics-
Difference between Morality and Ethics-Values-Definition-Types of values-Definition of Integrity- Concept of
Work Ethic- Service Learning- Definition Virtues-Definition-Civic Virtue-Duties and Rights - Respect for Others
– Attitude and values, opinions-changing attitude-beliefs-Reliability-Living Peacefully-Means to be adopted for
leaving peacefully-Caring-Sharing-Honesty-ValuingTime-Co-operation-Commitment-Empathy-Self-Confidence-
Spirituality.

Human values:
 Human values are the principles, standards, convictions and beliefs that people adopt as their guidelines in
daily activities.
 Valuing the connection b/w human beings is important in creating peaceful coexistence and happiness.
 Ex: Love, Kindness, justice, peace, honesty, respect, openness, loyalty and equality……

Definition of Morals and Ethics:

Moral:
 Morals are the welfare principles enunciated by the wise people, based on their experience and wisdom.
 Morals are more like principles, based on teachings and often guided by societal and religious standards.
 Morals refer to the in which people behave in relationships and in wider society.
 In generally morals describe what is right and wrong.
 Morality is concerned with principles and practices of morals such as:
(a) What ought or ought not to be done in a given situation?
(b) What is right or wrong about the handling of a situation?
(c) What is good or bad about the people, policies, and ideals involved?
Ethics:
 Ethics is the word that refers to morals, values, and beliefs of the individuals, family or the society.
The word has several meanings.
(Or)
 It is a principle that governs a person’s behavior or the conducting of an activity.
 Basically it is an activity and process of inquiry.
 Secondly, it is different from non-moral problems, when dealing with issues and controversies.
 Thirdly, ethics refers to a particular set of beliefs, attitudes, and habits of individuals or family or groups
concerned with morals.
 Fourth, it is used to mean ‘morally correct’.
 The study on ethics helps to know the people’s beliefs, values, and morals, learn the good and bad of
them, and practice them to maximize their well-being and happiness.
 It involves the inquiry on the existing situations, form judgments and resolve the issues. In addition, ethics
tells us how to live, to respond to issues, through the duties, rights, responsibilities, and obligations.
 In religion, similar principles are included, but the reasoning on procedures is limited. The principles and
practices of religions have varied from to time to time (history), region (geography, climatic conditions),
religion, society, language, caste and creed.
 But ethics has grown to a large extent beyond the barriers listed above. In ethics, the focus is to study and
apply the principles and practices, universally.

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Values:
 Values are the rules by which we make decisions about right and wrong, should or shouldn’t, and good or
bad.
 Humans have the unique ability to define their identity, choose their values and establish their beliefs.
All three of these directly influence a person’s behavior.
 A value is defined as a principle that promotes well-being or prevents harm.”
 Another definition is: Values are our guidelines for our success—our paradigm about what is acceptable.”
 Personal values are defined as: “Emotional beliefs in principles regarded as particularly favorable or
important for the individual.”
 Our values associate emotions to our experiences and guide our choices, decisions and action

Values of life:
 Honesty And loyalty.
 Respect of others
 Punctuality, regularity and discipline.
 Courtesy and politeness with others.
 Judicious use of resources.
 Taking initiatives.

Values at workplace:
 Honesty And loyalty.
 Respect for the work assigned.
 Punctuality, regularity and discipline.
 Judicious use of resources.
 Courtesy and politeness with others.
 Efficiency in completing tasks.
 Willingness to take up new tasks.

Types of Values:
 The five core human values are: (1) Right conduct, (2) Peace, (3) Truth, (4) Love, and (5) Nonviolence.

1. Values related to RIGHT CONDUCT are:

(a) Self help skills: Care of possessions, diet, hygiene, modesty, posture, self reliance & tidy appearance.

(b) Social skills: Good behavior, good manners, good relationships, helpfulness, No wastage, & good
environment.
(c) Ethical skills: Code of conduct, courage, dependability, duty, efficiency, ingenuity, initiative, perseverance,
punctuality, resourcefulness, respect for all, & responsibility

2. Values related to PEACE are:

Attention, calmness, concentration, contentment, dignity, discipline, equality, equanimity, faithfulness, focus,
gratitude, happiness, harmony, humility, inner silence, optimism, patience, reflection, satisfaction, self-
acceptance, self-confidence, self-control, self-discipline, self-esteem, self-respect, sense control, tolerance, and
understanding.

3. Values related to TRUTH are:

Accuracy, curiosity, discernment, fairness, fearlessness, honesty, integrity (unity of thought, word, and deed),
intuition, justice, optimism, purity, quest for knowledge, reason, self-analysis, sincerity, sprit of enquiry,
synthesis, trust, truthfulness, and determination.

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4. Values related to LOVE are:
Acceptance, affection, care, compassion, consideration, dedication, devotion, empathy, forbearance, forgiveness,
friendship, generosity, gentleness, humanness, interdependence, kindness, patience, patriotism, reverence,
sacrifice, selflessness, service, sharing, sympathy, thoughtfulness, tolerance & trust.

5. Values related to NON-VIOLENCE are:

(a) Psychological: Benevolence, compassion, concern for others, consideration, forbearance, forgiveness,
manners, happiness, loyalty, morality, and universal love
(b) Social: Appreciation of other cultures and religions, brotherhood, care of environment, citizenship, equality,
harmlessness, national awareness, perseverance, respect for property, and social justice.

Perseverance:
 It is defined as persistence, determination, resolution, tenacity, dedication, commitment, constancy,
steadfastness, stamina, endurance and indefatigability.
 To persevere is described as to continue, carry on, stick at it (in formal), keep going, persist, plug away,
(informal), remain, stand firm, stand fast, hold on and hang on.
 Perseverance builds character.

Accuracy:
 It means freedom from mistake or error; conformity to truth or to a standard or model and exactness.
 Accuracy is defined as correctness, exactness, authenticity, truth, veracity, closeness to truth (true value)
and carefulness.
 The value of accuracy embraces a large area and has many implications. Engineers are encouraged to
demonstrate accuracy in their behavior through the medium of praise and other incentives.
 Accuracy includes telling the truth, not exaggerating, and taking care over one’s work.

Discernment:
 It means discrimination, perception, penetration, and insight. Discernment means the power to see what is
not obvious to the average mind. It stresses accuracy, especially in reading character or motives.
Discrimination stresses the power to distinguish or select what is true or genuinely excellent. Perception
implies quick and often sympathetic discernment, as of shades of feelings. Penetration implies a searching
mind that goes beyond what is obvious or superficial. Insight suggests depth of discernment.

Difference between Morality and Ethics:

Morality is different from Ethics in the following ways.

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Definition of Integrity:
 Integrity is defined as the unity of thought, word and deed (honesty) and open mindedness.
 It includes the capacity to communicate the factual information so that others can make well-informed
decisions.
 It yields the person’s ‘peace of mind’, and hence adds strength and consistency in character, decisions &
actions. This paves way to one’s success. It is one of the self-direction virtues.
 It enthuse people not only to execute a job well but to achieve excellence in performance. It helps them to
own the responsibility and earn self-respect and recognition by doing the job.
 Moral integrity is defined as a virtue, which reflects a consistency of one’s attitudes, emotions, and
conduct in relation to justified moral values.

Concept of Work Ethic:

 Industry and Society are the two systems which interact with each other and are interdependent.
 Society requires industry/business system which provides manufacturing, distribution and consumption
activities.
 It needs investment (capital input), labor (input), supply (raw materials), production (industries, business
organizations), marketing and distribution (transport), and consumption (public, customer).
 A lot of transactions (and interactions) between these sub-systems involving people are needed for the
welfare of the society. It is here, the work ethics plays an essential role.
 Work ethics is defined as “a set of attitudes concerned with the value of work, which forms the
motivational orientation”.
 The ‘work ethics’ is aimed at ensuring the economy (get job, create wealth, earn salary), productivity
(wealth, profit), safety (in workplace), health and hygiene (working conditions), privacy (raise family),
security (permanence against contractual, pension, and retirement benefits), cultural and social
development (leisure, hobby, and happiness), welfare (social work), environment (anti-pollution
activities), and offer opportunities for all, according to their abilities, but without discrimination.

Service Learning:
 Service learning refers to learning the service policies, procedures, norms, and conditions, other than ‘the
technical trade practices’.
 The service learning includes the characteristics of the work, basic requirements, security of the job, and
awareness of the procedures, while taking decisions and actions.
 It helps the individuals to interact ethically with colleagues, to effectively coordinate with other
departments, to interact cordially with suppliers as well as the customers, and to maintain all these friendly
interactions.
 Alternatively, the service learning may be defined as the non-paid activity, in which service is provided on
voluntary basis to the public (have-nots in the community), non-profitable institutions, and charitable
organizations. It is the service during learning.
 The service learning is a methodology falling under the category of experiential education. It is one of the
forms of experiential learning and community service opportunities.
 It is distinguished in the following ways:

1. Connection to curriculum: Integrating the learning into a service project is a key to successful service
learning. Academic ties should be clear and built upon existing disciplinary skills.
2. Learner’s voice: Beyond being actively engaged in the project, trainees have the opportunity to select,
design, implement, and evaluate their service activity.

3. Reflection: Structured opportunities are created to think, talk, and write about the service experience.
The balance of reflection and action allows the trainee to be constantly aware of the impact of their work.
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 4. Partners in the community: Partnership with community agencies are used to identify genuine needs,
provide mentorship, and contribute input such as labor and expertise towards completing the project.

Virtues:
 Virtues are positive and preferred values.
 Virtues are desirable attitudes or character traits, motives and emotions that enable us to be successful and
to act in ways that develop our highest potential.
 They energize and enable us to pursue the ideals that we have adopted. Honesty, courage, compassion,
generosity, fidelity, integrity, fairness, transparency, self-control, and prudence are all examples of virtues
 Virtues are tendencies which include, solving problems through peaceful and constructive means and
follow the path of the golden mean between the extremes of ‘excess and deficiency’.
 They are like habits, once acquired; they become characteristics of a person. Moreover, a person who has
developed virtues will naturally act in ways consistent with moral principles.
 The virtuous person is the ethical person.

Civic Virtues:
 Civic virtues are the moral duties and rights, as a citizen of the village or the country or an integral part
of the society and environment. An individual may exhibit civic virtues by voting, volunteering, and
organizing welfare groups and meetings.

 The duties are:

1. To pay taxes to the local government and state, in time.
2. To keep the surroundings clean and green.
3. Not to pollute the water, land, and air by following hygiene and proper garbage disposal.
For example, not to burn wood, tyres, plastic materials, spit in the open, even not to smoke in the open,
and not to cause nuisance to the public, are some of the civic (duties) virtues.
4. To follow the road safety rules.

 the rights are:

1. To vote the local or state government.
2. To contest in the elections to the local or state government.
3. To seek a public welfare facility such as a school, hospital or a community hall or transport or
communication facility, for the residents.
4. To establish a green and safe environment, pollution free, corruption free, and to follow ethical
principles. People are said to have the right to breathe in fresh air, by not allowing smoking in public.
5. People have inalienable right to accept or reject a project in their area. One has the right to seek legal
remedy, in this respect, through public interest petition.
George Washington embodied the civic virtues as indispensable for a self-governing administration.

These virtues are divided into four categories:

1. Civic Knowledge:
 Citizens must understand what the Constitution says about how the government is working, and what the
government is supposed to do and what not to do.
 We must understand the basis of our responsibilities as citizens, besides duties and rights.
 We must be able to recognize when the government or another citizen infringes upon our rights.
 It implies that the government requires the participation of the enlightened citizens, to serve and survive.

2. Self-Restraint:

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  For citizens to live in a free society with limited government each citizen must be able to control or
restrain himself; otherwise, we would need a police state—that is, a dictatorial government to maintain
safety and order.
 He advocated for morality and declared that happiness is achieved and sustained through virtues and
morals.
 He advocated and demonstrated self-restraint several times in his private and public life, and naturally he
was a great leader.
3. Self-Assertion:
 Self-assertion means that citizens must be proud of their rights, and have the courage to stand up in public
and defend their rights.
 Sometimes, a government may usurp the very rights that it was created to protect. In such cases, it is the
right of the people to alter or abolish that government (e.g., voting rights, rights call back).

4. Self-Reliance:
 Citizens who cannot provide for themselves will need a large government to take care of them.
 Once citizens become dependent on government for their basic needs, the people are no longer in a
position to demand that government act within the confines of the Constitution.
 Self-reliant citizens are free citizens in the sense that they are not dependent on others for their basic
needs.
 They do not need a large provider-government, which has the potential to become an oppressive
government, to meet those needs.
 Only a strong self-reliant citizenry will be able to enjoy fully the blessings of liberty. These civic virtues,
applicable to local, state, and central governments, nourish freedom and civil liberty at the root of
democracy.

Respect for others:

 This is a basic requirement for nurturing friendship, team work, and for the synergy it promotes and
sustains.
 The principles enunciated in this regard are:
1. Recognize and accept the existence of other persons as human beings, because they have a right to live,
just as you have.
2. Respect others’ ideas (decisions), words, and labor (actions). Criticize constructively and encourage
them. They are bound to improve their performance, by learning properly and by putting more efforts.
3. Show ‘goodwill’ on others. Love others. Allow others to grow.

Attitude:
 Attitude is a psychological construct, a mental and emotional entity that inheres in, or characterizes a
person. They are complex and an acquired state through experiences.
 It is an individual's predisposed state of mind regarding a value and it is precipitated through a responsive
expression toward a person, place, thing, or event (the attitude object) which in turn influences the
individual's thought and action.
 Attitude can be formed from a person's past and present.
 Key topics in the study of attitudes include attitude strength, attitude change, consumer behavior, and
attitude-behavior relationships.
 Attitudes are our feelings towards certain idea or issues. It dictates how we react in concrete situations.
 Ex: Confidence (can-do/can’t-do), optimism (optimistic), seriousness (playful or humorous/serious)…

Beliefs:

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  It comes from real experiences but we sometimes forget that the original experience is not the same as
what is happening in life now.
 As humans our values and beliefs affect the quality of our work and all our relationships because what we
believe is what we experience.
 Beliefs are precious because they reflect who we are and how we live our lives.
Opinions:
 Opinion is a judgment, viewpoint, or statement that is not conclusive.
 It may deal with subjective matters in which there is no conclusive finding, or it may deal with facts
which are sought to be disputed by the logical fallacy that one is entitled to their opinions.
 What distinguishes fact from opinion is that facts are more likely to be verifiable, i.e. can be agreed to by
the consensus of experts.
 An example is: "United States of America was involved in the Vietnam War" versus "United States of
America was right to get involved in the Vietnam War".
 An opinion may be supported by facts and principles, in which case it becomes an argument.
 Different people may draw opposing conclusions (opinions) even if they agree on the same set of facts.
Opinions rarely change without new arguments being presented.
 It can be reasoned that one opinion is better supported by the facts than another by analyzing the
supporting arguments.
 In casual use, the term opinion may be the result of a person's perspective, understanding, particular
feelings, beliefs, and desires.
 It may refer to unsubstantiated information, in contrast to knowledge and fact.

Changing Attitude:
 Attitudes are associated beliefs and behaviors towards some object.
 They are not stable, and because of the communication and behavior of other people, are subject to change
by social influences, as well as by the individual's motivation to maintain cognitive consistency when
cognitive dissonance occurs—when two attitudes or attitude and behavior conflict.
 Attitudes and attitude objects are functions of affective and cognitive components. It has been suggested
that the inter-structural composition of an associative network can be altered by the activation of a single
node.
 Thus, by activating an affective or emotional node, attitude change may be possible, though affective and
cognitive components tend to be intertwined.

Beliefs, Attitudes and Values:

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  A belief is an internal feeling that something is true, even though that belief may be unproven or
irrational. Ex: I believe that walking under a ladder brings bad luck, or I believe that there is life after
death.
 A value is a measure of the worth or importance a person attaches to something; our values are often
reflected in the way we live our lives. Ex: I value freedom of speech, or I value my family.
 An attitude is the way a person expresses or applies their beliefs and values, and is expressed through
words and behaviour. Ex: I get really upset when I hear about cruelty to children and animals, or I hate
school.
 Beliefs, values, attitudes are different but are related to each other.
 These beliefs and values determine our attitude, which is the tendency to view things in a certain way.

Living Peacefully:
 To live peacefully, one should start install peace within (self). Charity begins at home. Then one can
spread peace to family, organization where one works, and then to the world, including the environment.
 Only who are at peace can spread peace. You cannot gift an article which you do not possess. The
essence of oriental philosophy is that one should not fight for peace. It is oxymoron.
 War or peace can be won only by peace, and not by wars!
One should adopt the following means to live peacefully, in the world:
Nurture
1. Order in one’s life (self-regulation, discipline, and duty).
2. Pure thoughts in one’s soul (loving others, blessing others, friendly, and not criticizing
or hurting others by thought, word or deed).
3. Creativity in one’s head (useful and constructive).
4. Beauty in one’s heart (love, service, happiness, and peace).
Get
5. Good health/body (physical strength for service).

Act
6. Help the needy with head, heart, and hands (charity). Service to the poor is considered holier than the service to
God.
7. Not hurting and torturing others either physically, verbally, or mentally.

The following are the factors that promote living, with internal and external peace:

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1. Conducive environment (safe, ventilated, illuminated and comfortable).
2. Secured job and motivated with ‘recognition and reward’.
3. Absence of threat or tension by pressure due to limitations of money or time.
4. Absence of unnecessary interference or disturbance, except as guidelines.
5. Healthy labor relations and family situations.
6. Service to the needy (physically and mentally-challenged) with love and sympathy.

Caring:
 Caring is feeling for others.
 It is a process which exhibits the interest in, and support for, the welfare of others with fairness,
impartiality and justice in all activities, among the employees, in the context of professional ethics.
 It includes showing respect to the feelings of others, and also respecting and preserving the interests of all
others concerned.
 Caring is reflected in activities such as friendship, membership in social clubs and professional societies,
and through various transactions in the family, fraternity, community, country and in international
councils.
 In the present day context, caring for the environment (including the fauna and flora) has become a
necessity for our very survival. If we do not care for the environment, the environment will scare us.

Sharing:
 Primarily, caring influences ‘sharing’.
 Sharing is a process that describes the transfer of knowledge (teaching, learning, and information),
experience (training), commodities (material possession) and facilities with others.
 The transfer should be genuine, legal, positive, voluntary, and without any expectation in return. However,
the proprietary information it should not be shared with outsiders.
 Through this process of sharing, experience, expertise, wisdom and other benefits reach more people
faster.
 Sharing is voluntary and it cannot be driven by force, but motivated successfully through ethical
principles.
 In short, sharing is ‘charity’. For the humanity, ‘sharing’ is a culture. The ‘happiness and wealth’ are
multiplied and the ‘crimes and sufferings’ are reduced, by sharing.
 It paves the way for peace and obviates militancy. Philosophically, the sharing maximizes the happiness
for all the human beings.
 In terms of psychology, the fear, divide, and distrust between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ disappear.
Sharing not only paves the way to prosperity, early and easily, and sustains it.
 Economically speaking, benefits are maximized as there is no wastage or loss, and everybody gets one’s
needs fulfilled and satisfied. Commercially speaking, the profit is maximized. Technologically, the
productivity and utilization are maximized by sharing.
 In the industrial arena, code-sharing in airlines for bookings on air travels and the common Effluent
Treatment Plant constructed for small-scale industries in the industrial estates, are some of the examples
of sharing.
 Here is an anecdote that illustrates the benefits of sharing, for the young minds!
 The shouting...the screaming…the fighting.
 That was the breaking point for me as I poured out my woes to my mother. “How can I get them to share
as well as we did as kids?”, I pleaded. Laughter was her reply. “Well, thanks a lot, mom,” I said. “I’m
sorry,” she chuckled, “but you didn’t always share.” She went on to explain about the “Box of
Misbehaved Toys.” Every time we fought over a toy, she would quietly take that and put it into the box.
Yes, I did remember that box. I also remember it wasn’t always fair since one person may have caused all
the commotion. But my mother was consistent. No matter what the reason for the struggle was, the toy
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 disappeared into the box for one week. No questions asked, and no chance of parole. My siblings and I
soon learned that sharing a toy was better than losing it. Often, one person would decide to just wait for a
time when no one else was playing with the toy, rather than fight and lose it. It was not a perfect system,
but I tried it anyway, That box was a shock to my kids and it was close to full, within a few days…..As the
weeks progressed, I noticed the box was emptier and the arguing was less. Today, I heard quiet music to
my ears as my son said to his sister, “That’s OK, you can play with it.”
 This story illustrates the worthy joy of sharing as compared to the pain of losing.

Honesty:

 Honesty is a virtue, and it is exhibited in two aspects namely,

(a) Truthfulness and
(b) Trustworthiness.
 Truthfulness is to face the responsibilities upon telling truth.
 One should keep one’s word or promise. By admitting one’s mistake committed (one needs courage to do
that!), it is easy to fix them.
 Reliable engineering judgment, maintenance of truth, defending the truth, and communicating the truth,
only when it does ‘good’ to others, are some of the reflections of truthfulness.
 But trustworthiness is maintaining integrity and taking responsibility for personal performance. People
abide by law and live by mutual trust.
 They play the right way to win, according to the laws or rules (legally and morally). They build trust
through reliability and authenticity.
 They admit their own mistakes and confront unethical actions in others and take tough and principled
stand, even if unpopular.

Honesty is mirrored in many ways. The common reflections are:

(a) Beliefs (intellectual honesty).

(b) Communication (writing and speech).
(c) Decisions (ideas, discretion).
(d) Actions (means, timing, place, and the goals). and
(e) Intended and unintended results achieved.

As against this, some of the actions of an engineer that leads to dishonesty are:

1. Lying:
 Honesty implies avoidance of lying.
 An engineer may communicate wrong or distorted test results intentionally or otherwise.
 It is giving wrong information to the right people.

2. Deliberate deception:
 An engineer may judge or decide on matters one is not familiar or with insufficient data or proof, to
impress upon the customers or employers.
 This is a self deceit.

3. Withholding the information:

 It means hiding the facts during communication to one’s superior or subordinate, intentionally or
otherwise.

4. Not seeking the truth:

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  Some engineers accept the information or data, without applying their mind and seeking the truth.

5. Not maintaining confidentiality:

 It is giving right information to wrong people.
 The engineers should keep information of their customers/clients or of their employers confidential and
should not discuss them with others.

6.
 Giving professional judgment under the influence of extraneous factors such as personal benefits and
prejudice.
 The laws, experience, social welfare, and even conscience are given a go-bye by such actions.
 Certainly this is a higher-order crime.

Valuing time:
 Time is rare resource. Once it is spent, it is lost forever.
 It cannot be either stored or recovered.
 Hence, time is the most perishable and most valuable resource too.
 This resource is continuously spent, whether any decision or action is taken or not.
 The history of great reformers and innovators have stressed the importance of time and valuing time.
 The proverbs, ‘Time and tide wait for nobody’ and ‘Procrastination is the thief of time’ amply illustrate
this point.
 An anecdote to highlight the ‘value of time’ is as follows:
 to realize the value of one year, ask the student who has failed in the examinations;
 to realize the value of one month, ask the mother who has delivered a premature baby;
 to realize the value of one week, ask the editor of weekly;
 to realize the value of one day, ask the daily-wage laborer;
 to realize now the value of one hour, ask the lovers longing to meet;
 to realize the value of one minute, ask a person who has missed the train;
 to realize the value of one second, ask the person who has survived an accident;
 to realize the value one milli-second, ask the person who has won the bronze medal in Olympics;
 to realize the value of one micro second, ask the NASA team of scientists;
 to realize the value of one nano-second, ask a Hardware engineer!;
 If you have still not realized the value of time, wait; are you an Engineer?
Cooperation:

 It is a team-spirit present with every individual engaged in engineering.

 Co-operation is activity between two persons or sectors that aims at integration of operations (synergy),
while not sacrificing the autonomy of either party.
 Further, working together ensures, coherence, i.e., blending of different skills required, towards common
goals.
 Willingness to understand others, think and act together and putting this into practice, is cooperation.
 Cooperation promotes collinearity, coherence (blend), co-ordination (activities linked in sequence or
priority) and the synergy (maximizing the output, by reinforcement).
 The whole is more than the sum of the individuals. It helps in minimizing the input resources (including
time) and maximizes the outputs, which include quantity, quality, effectiveness, and efficiency.
 According to professional ethics, cooperation should exist or be developed, and maintained, at several
levels; between the employers and employees, between the superiors and subordinates, among the

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 colleagues, between the producers and the suppliers (spare parts), and between the organization and its
customers.
 The codes of ethics of various professional societies insist on appropriate cooperation to nourish the
industry.
 The absence of cooperation leads to lack of communication, misinformation, void in communication, and
undue delay between supply, production, marketing, and consumption.
 This is likely to demoralize and frustrate the employees, leading to collapse of the industry over time and
an economic loss to the society.
 The impediments to successful cooperation are:
1. Clash of ego of individuals.
2. Lack of leadership and motivation.
3. Conflicts of interests, based on region, religion, language, and caste.
4. Ignorance and lack of interest. By careful planning, motivation, leadership, fostering and rewarding
team work, professionalism and humanism beyond the ‘divides’, training on appreciation to different
cultures, mutual understanding ‘cooperation’ can be developed and also sustained.

Commitment:

 Commitment means alignment to goals and adherence to ethical principles during the activities.
 First of all, one must believe in one’s action performed and the expected end results (confidence).
 It means one should have the conviction without an iota of doubt that one will succeed.
 Holding sustained interest and firmness, in whatever ethical means one follows, with the fervent attitude
and hope that one will achieve the goals, is commitment.
 It is the driving force to realize success. This is a basic requirement for any profession.
 For example, a design engineer shall exhibit a sense of commitment, to make his product or project
designed a beneficial contribution to the society.
 Only when the teacher (Guru) is committed to his job, the students will succeed in life and contribute
‘good’ to the society.
 The commitment of top management will naturally lead to committed employees, whatever may be their
position or emoluments.
 This is bound to add wealth to oneself, one’s employer, society, and the nation at large.

Empathy:

 Empathy is social radar.

 Sensing what others feel about, without their open talk, is the essence of empathy.
 Empathy begins with showing concern, and then obtaining and understanding the feelings of others, from
others’ point of view.
 It is also defined as the ability to put one’s self into the psychological frame or reference or point of view
of another, to know what the other person feels.
 It includes the imaginative projection into other’s feelings and understanding of other’s background such
as parentage, physical and mental state, economic situation, and association.
 This is an essential ingredient for good human relations and transactions.

To practice ‘Empathy’, a leader must have or develop in him, the following characteristics:

1. Understanding others:
 It means sensing others feelings and perspectives, and taking active interest in their welfare.

2. Service orientation:
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  It is anticipation, recognition and meeting the needs of the clients or customers.

3. Developing others:
 This means identification of their needs and bolstering their abilities. In developing others, the one should
inculcate in him the ‘listening skill’ first.
 Communication = 22% reading and writing + 23% speaking + 55% listening.
 One should get the feedback, acknowledge the strength and accomplishments, and then coach the
individual, by informing about what was wrong, and giving correct feedback and positive expectation of
the subject’s abilities and the resulting performance.

4. Leveraging diversity (opportunities through diverse people):

 This leads to enhanced organizational learning, flexibility, and profitability.

5. Political awareness:
 It is the ability to read political and social currents in an organization.
 The benefits of empathy include:
 Good customer relations (in sales and service, partnering).
 Harmonious labor relations (in manufacturing).
 Good vendor-producer relationship (in partnering.)

Self-Confidence:
 Certainty in one’s own capabilities, values, and goals, is self-confidence.
 These people are usually positive thinking, flexible and willing to change. They respect others so much as
they respect themselves.
 Self-confidence is positive attitude, wherein the individual has some positive and realistic view of himself,
with respect to the situations in which one gets involved.
 The people with self-confidence exhibit courage to get into action and unshakable faith in their abilities,
whatever may be their positions.
 They are not influenced by threats or challenges and are prepared to face them and the natural or
unexpected consequences.
 The self-confidence in a person develops a sense of partnership, respect, and accountability, and this helps
the organization to obtain maximum ideas, efforts, and guidelines from its employees.
 The people with self-confidence have the following characteristics:
1. A self-assured standing,
2. Willing to listen to learn from others and adopt (flexibility),
3. Frank to speak the truth, and
4. Respect others’ efforts and give due credit.
 On the contrary, some leaders expose others when failure occurs, and own the credit when success comes.

The factors that shape self-confidence in a person are:

1. Heredity (attitudes of parents) and family environment (elders),
2. Friendship (influence of friends/colleagues),
3. Influence of superiors/role models, and
4. Training in the organization ( e.g., training by Technical Evangelists at Infosys Technologies).

The following methodologies are effective in developing self-confidence in a person:

1. Encouraging SWOT analysis. By evaluating their strength and weakness, they can anticipate and be prepared
to face the results
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2. Training to evaluate risks and face them (self-acceptance).
3. Self-talk. It is conditioning the mind for preparing the self to act, without any doubt on his capabilities. This
make one accepts himself while still striving for improvement.
4. Study and group discussion, on the history of leaders and innovators.

Spirituality:

 Spirituality is a way of living that emphasizes the constant awareness and recognition of the spiritual
dimension (mind and its development) of nature and people, with a dynamic balance between the material
development and the spiritual development.
 This is said to be the great virtue of Indian philosophy and for Indians. Sometimes, spirituality includes
the faith or belief in supernatural power/ God, regarding the worldly events.
 It functions as a fertilizer for the soil ‘character’ to blossom into values and morals.
Spirituality includes creativity, communication, recognition of the individual as human being (as opposed
to a life-less machine), respect to others, acceptance (stop finding faults with colleagues and accept them
the way they are), vision (looking beyond the obvious and not believing anyone blindly), and partnership
(not being too authoritative, and always sharing responsibility with others, for better returns).

 Spirituality is motivation as it encourages the colleagues to perform better. Remember, lack of

motivation leads to isolation.
 Spirituality is also energy: Be energetic and flexible to adapt to challenging and changing situations.
 Spirituality is flexibility as well. One should not be too dominating. Make space for everyone and learn
to recognize and accept people the way they are. Variety is the order of the day. But one can influence
their mind to think and act together.
 Spirituality is also fun. Working is okay, but you also need to have fun in office to keep yourself charged
up. Tolerance and empathy are the reflections of spirituality. Blue and saffron colors are said to be
associated with spirituality.
 Creativity in spirituality means conscious efforts to see things differently, to break out of habits and
outdated beliefs to find new ways of thinking, doing and being. Suppression of creativity leads to
violence. People are naturally creative. When they are forced to crush their creativity, its energy turns to
destructive release and actions. Creativity includes the use of color, humor and freedom to enhance
productivity. Creativity is fun. When people enjoy what they do, it is involvement. They work much
harder.

Spirituality in the Workplace:

Building spirituality in the workplace:
 Spirituality is promoted in the workplace by adhering to the following activities:
1. Verbally respect the individuals as humans and recognize their values in all decisions and actions.
2. Get to know the people with whom you work and know what is important to them. Know their goals,
desires, and dreams too.
3. State your personal ethics and your beliefs clearly.
4. Support causes outside the business.
5. Encourage leaders to use value-based discretion in making decisions.
6. Demonstrate your own self-knowledge and spirituality in all your actions.
7. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Spirituality for Corporate Excellence:

The spiritual traits to be developed for excellence in corporate activities are listed as follows:
1. Self-awareness: Realization of self-potential. A human has immense capability but it needs to be developed.

PE,4th sem Page 14

2. Alertness in observation and quickness in decision making: i.e., spontaneity which includes quick reflexes,
no delay but also no hasty decisions.

3. Being visionary and value based: This includes an attitude towards future of the organization and the society,
with clear objectives.

4. Holism: Whole system or comprehensive views and interconnected with different aspects. Holistic thinking,
which means the welfare of the self, family, organization and the society including all other living beings and
environment.

5. Compassion: Sympathy, empathy and concern for others. These are essential for not only building the team
but also for its effective functioning.

6. Respect for diversity: It means search for unity in diversity i.e., respect others and their views.

7. Moral Autonomy: It means action based on rational and moral judgment. One need not follow the crowd or
majority i.e., band-wagon effect.

8. Creative thinking and constant reasoning: Think if we can do something new and if we can improve further?

9. Ability to analyze and synthesize: Refrain from doing something only traditional.

10. Positive views of adversity: Make adversities one’s source of power—a typical Karma yogi’s outlook! Every
threat is converted into opportunity.

11. Humility: The attitude to accept criticism (it requires courage!) and willing to correct. It includes modesty
and acknowledging the work of colleagues.

12. Sense of vocation: Treat the duty as a service to society, besides your organization.

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Important Questions:

Level 1: Remember

1. Distinguish between ‘morality’ and ‘ethics’?

2. List different types of values and give a few examples in each?
3. List the civic virtues one should develop?
4. List the types of virtues, with an example for each
5. List the factors for one to work peacefully?
6. List different ways the honesty reflects?
7. List the benefits of empathy?

Level-2: Understand
8. Explain the term ‘respect for others’ with suitable example?
9. Explain what should one do or not to do live peacefully?
10. Distinguish between ‘caring’ and ‘sharing’?
11. What are the impediments to proper co-operation?
12. Explain the factors that shape self-confidence in a person?
13. Explain two methods of developing self-confidence?

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 14. Illustrate the ethical aspect principle of caring or sharing, with an example?
15. Explain various actions of an engineer leading to dishonesty?
16. Explain Service Learning?

******************************* ALL THE BEST**********************************************

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