An Example Of Ethical Values In The Army

When soldiers are processed into the military they must begin to learn and live the Army values. Those values are loyalty, duty, honor, respect, selfless service, integrity, and personal courage ("Army Values," n.d.). These are drilled in to the hearts and minds of every soldier even though at times some of these soldiers end up in ethical dilemmas. The reflective observation of the different examples of ethical problems can occur as a young soldier, a leader, or simply because of environmental influence. As a young soldier, many are nervous and scared of management and not meeting expectations. They are normally placed in an environment mixed with both civilians and fellow soldiers and have certain expectations placed on them as they arrive.

Values are core beliefs such as duty, honor, and integrity that motivate attitudes and actions. The Army uses Department of Defense Directive 5500.7, Standards of Conduct, to provide guidance to military personnel on standards of conduct and ethics. (Powers, n.d.). The ethical values a soldier possesses are the values that each person has to differentiate between right and wrong. Unethical behavior occurs within many different organizations and at many different levels. According to Kreitner & Kinicki (2013), organizations that foster a pressure-cooker atmosphere for results, unwittingly allows managers to set the stage for unethical shortcuts by employees who seek to please the boss and protect their jobs. Within the military, this is evident by the high rewards for accomplishing goals and then the punishment for not obtaining them. When an ethical lapse occurs it impacts the organizational culture. The organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values and beliefs that governs how people behave in organizations. This culture is comprised of the organizations observable artifacts, espoused values, and enacted values. It provides boundaries and guidelines that help members of the organization know the correct way to perform their jobs. The observable artifacts consist of the physical manifestations of the organizations culture. The espoused values are the stated values and norms that are preferred by an organization. These are the values normally established and taught to the employees of an organization. Then the enacted values represent the values and norms that are exhibited by the employees. When an ethical lapse causes the enacted values to misalign with the organizations espoused values then performance drops and also can be a gateway to more ethical lapses. The managers and leaders must try to reduce the gaps between espoused values and enacted