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Dealing with Conflicting Values

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Have you ever been in a situation where your boss asked you to shape up or ship out? Most people might agree that this expression is viewed in a negative light and is an indicator that the employee is not performing well at his/her job. However, there are cases where job performance is impeded by conflicting values between employers and employees. Likewise, because values are the foundation for which individuals govern themselves, a conflict in values between individuals and organization/interpersonal business protocols could pose a huge threat to the overall effectiveness of the organization. With this in mind, what do you do if your personal values are in conflict with organization and/or interpersonal business protocols? Mary Gentile, author of “Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What’s Right,” offers several solutions to this problem. Before confronting the issues of conflicting values, it can be assumed that most people have a set of core values also known as universal values. Mary Gentile supports this concept and provides that there are “lots of talk about different cultures, but even across cultures there is a list of core values”(Simon, 2010). When conflict of values between an individual and a company arise, Gentile suggested that the individual can leave the company, do what is asked, or find a way to change the problems within the organization. When I consider the solutions that she presents in her book, it seems apparent that these are the few options that the individual has. Unfortunately for many, making a decision is very difficult because it forces them to compromise the very foundation of their being. When I entered into the military over eight years ago, I was asked if I was a conscientious objector. I didn’t know what it meant at the time, but after it was explained to me, I knew that the answer would

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