As we talked about before in this module, it’s important for project managers to work ethically. This means doing the right thing, not just following rules. There are written rules and laws, but there are also moral rules and values.
What are these moral rules and values? Let’s break it down with some explanations and examples.
Moral rules are like a list of dos and don’ts for how a person should behave. For instance, one moral rule is “don’t steal.”
Values are strong beliefs that guide how we act in different situations. They show what we think is good behavior. Values can be personal, but they can also be shared in groups like companies. When a bunch of people in the same group share these values, they shape how everyone acts in that group.
In companies, these shared values are super important. They make up the core of what the company’s culture is all about. These values are a small set of important beliefs that don’t change much, and they really influence how people act at work.
For example, The Open University (2019) has some values they believe in:
In our work, we stick to The Open University values of being inclusive, innovative, and responsive.
The value of being inclusive and innovative is a big part of what people do at The Open University. They use this value to make sure everyone can access knowledge through new and creative solutions.
Values and moral rules help everyone know how to behave in a group or at work. It’s good to think about them to understand how they affect the decisions we make when working on projects.
Think about the values your workplace or a group you’re in follows. Can you name some of these values? How do these values affect how you work on projects? Share your thoughts with other learners in the discussion below.
In my organization, our key values are especially regularity and punctuality where being present for duty and on time is not joked with.
Also being responsible and accountable for the duty you serve.
Additional Ways to mitigate the effect of PM’s request of the team working outside their comfort zone
4. Organize team bonding activities with freebies, refreshments
5. Commend the team for performance
6. Allocate project bonus to team members
My organization’s morals and values plays a pivotal role in project decision making and they are;
-Safety-First Approach: Safety and environmental stewardship values are integrated into project planning and execution. Decisions prioritize the well-being of employees, contractors, and communities, ensuring that safety measures are never compromised.
– Community-Centric Solutions: The commitment to community engagement and development shapes project decisions. Efforts are made to consult and collaborate with local communities, incorporating their feedback into project design and implementation.
– Ethical and Transparent Practices: Ethical and transparent conduct is fundamental in contractual agreements, procurement, and negotiations. It guides decisions to ensure fairness, integrity, and compliance.
– Innovation for Efficiency: The pursuit of innovation and technological excellence drives project decisions, from adopting cutting-edge solutions to enhancing operational efficiency and sustainability.
– Societal Impact Assessment: Social responsibility is a crucial consideration in project decision-making. Assessments are conducted to evaluate a project’s potential impact on local communities and the broader society, enabling the company to address social concerns proactively.
In conclusion, my organization’s morals and values are not just words on paper; they are guiding principles that steer project decision-making in a direction that aligns with its commitment to safety, community welfare, ethics, innovation, and social responsibility.
In my company, the core values guiding every member is
Accountability
Integrity
Being accurate and precise
Following engineering standards without compromise
Organisational values are a set of core beliefs held by an organisation.
The organisational values of my company includes;
1. We act with uncompromising honesty and integrity is our watchword.
2. We satisfy our client with innovative and superior quality products at affordable prices
The above values have shaped our team to making sure we deliver on the promises of honesty and integrity. We give quality product and services to our esteemed clients. The result is overwhelming in that, the clients always return for more services.
My organisational values are:
1. Safety first but also honesty, integrity & respect for people: in my organisation, we take safety very seriously, we report safety concerns and carry out weekly/project safety brief.
2. Customer is king: as a project team, we treat our client with respect and go out of our way to Satisfy client concerns
3. Cost consciousness: while working on projects, we work holding in mind the project schedule and deliverables outlined considering that exceeding these bounds will incur cost on our company
As a personal development company, some of the values that binds us together is the culture of a shared vision. We believe that the vision though birthed by one person cannot be pursued by only one individual but a group of like-minded person ready to carry the vision out there
Another value is excellence: we believe in an unparalleled delivery of excellence in our services through events that bridges the gap between where they are and where they want to be.
In our organization,our key values includes; Communication, Transparency, Satisfaction , Truthful and to make sure that we delivered exactly that which they required from us and at the expected time.
I work in a hospitality company, the core values are cheerfulness, Good listening, and confidentially, these guide our activities and ensure that clients are at peace and secure. The attendant improves the inflow.
In the organization where I presently work as An RF Engineer,
Our Core Values are
1. Customer Delight-This is also called customer satisfaction. We make sure are customers are always delighted by going the extra mile in rendering services that are not in our Service Level Agreement(SLA).
2. Teamwork- We always collaborate with team members in achieving common goals and also sharing resources in delivering results.
3. Integrity- services are always delivered as promised, no compromise.
4. Leadership- Everyone is a Leader, irrespective of your level or position. Our aim is to see to quality service that is fit for use and purpose being delivered.
5. Proactiveness- In my organization, Proactiveness is key, monitoring links deployed and optimizing when necessary and even visiting sites to prevent disasters when necessary.
6. World class Services- timely resolution to fault calls, Installations, service level Agreement, Timely delivery of services.etc.
In my organization, we hold firmly onto integrity, transparency, mutual respect, ownership, excellence.
These values have impacted positively in the lives of every employee. Ownership simply means taking responsibility for your actions and inactions irrespective of the outcome. You don’t need to make excuses but take the company as yours and decide for the good of it.
Also, my organization believes in excellence. Doing our best for the great good of the company has helped us to achieve immeasurable goals. Moreso, we respect each other’s beliefs, standards and boundaries. This has helped to avoid unpredictable organizational conflicts and has promoted the growth and zeal of everyone.
However, you can never be the version of another person but you. Hence, being transparent in the workplace has helped us to share our knowledge and perception on vital issues that are bound to bring progress and successes to the organization.
Lastly, adventure. We believe an adventurous working environment motivates us both intrinsically and extrinsically to carry out our activities in an exciting manner. This has enabled me to work effortlessly and without fatigue.
We ensure keeping a tidy and clutter-free workspace, filing paperwork into different labeled folders so you can easily find them, returning items where they belong after use, and keeping any other physical resources needed for work organized, too, also
Respect for individual: Recognizing the individuality of team members in an organization or in any work environment is very key as often said that “nobody is an island of knowledge”, and as such there’s room to learn from what others can contribute to a project or task.