Hough Personal Values Paper

Personal Values Paper Michael Hough MGT/521 October 25, 2010 Dr. Ed Naser

Hough Personal Values Paper

The values of a manager are important to any business and its employees. The certain values possessed by a person reflect what importance that individual places on specific things. A manager with values that do not reflect those of the business can have detrimental effects as it will not only affect the manager, but also the employees that the manager oversees, and possibly the products or services themselves. Likewise, a manager with values that reflect those of the business can have positive effects as these values are translated to the employees, thus creating a common policy and goal for which to adhere. This paper will examine my own personal values and how they relate to the values held by Kudler Fine Foods. In taking the Ethics Awareness Inventory Evaluation, my score was most closely aligned with values based on obligation and least aligned with values based on equity. For the most part, I agree with these results, especially being least aligned with values based on equity. Someone who bases his or her values on equity does not have a moral compass, believing "that there are no absolute standards of right and wrong. With new knowledge and different circumstances, it may be necessary to change one's beliefs periodically" (Williams Institute of Management and Ethics, 2003). An individual who bases his or her values on equity is most likely to make decisions by only taking into account the specific situation, independent of social mores, etiquette, and perceived respect. These kind of values are likely possessed by an individual who has very little experience, wisdom, or knowledge in successfully interacting with other people.

Hough Personal Values Paper Values based on obligations are the complete opposite of equity based values. When one bases their values on obligations, they exhibit an understanding and respect for other individuals and groups as well as the ethical standards and expectations that have been set

in American culture. More important, an individual who has obligation based values has a healthy respect for personal freedom and does not want to infringe upon those freedoms in his or her decision making. This prompts the individual to take a responsible amount of time to make clear and ethical decisions (The Williams Institute of Ethics and Management, 2003) regarding decisions that may negatively affect anyones freedoms, or the accepted socio-ethical standards. Identifying the values of Kudler Fine Foods is not quite as easy. Although it appears that Kudler exhibits values based on obligations because of their charitable donations of food to homeless shelters, purchases from local farmers, and the propensity to provide low paid employees with food, I think Kudler more consistently exhibits values based upon results. Thus far, the results that Kudler Fine Foods have experienced have been positive with Kathy opening three successful stores. Kathy seems to keep on doing what has worked in the past, even though she is spreading herself quite thin in attempting to work at every store on an almost daily basis and handle the staggering inventory needs. The operations at Kudler Fine Foods seem to center on the if it is not broken, dont fix it mentality, but as more Kudler locations open, the same old processes may begin to fail. Even though Kudler Fine Foods does help its lower paid employees with food, it is expected that these employees could benefit much more from making more money, especially considering the high income areas that the stores are found in. Kudler Fine Foods can employ and pay butchers, bakers, wine stewards, and other food specialists a

Hough Personal Values Paper high salary while their stockers and checkers are making below average wages. Kudler Fine Foods is missing an opportunity to capitalize on technology, and eliminate some of these positions to pay their lower wage employees a bit more. The food specialists and wine stewards can be replaced by an accessible database with the wine inventory and how

to instructions about which wines go with which foods. The food specialists can be phased out in a similar way, replaced by a computer with all the knowledge of a food specialist. This illustrates that Kudler Fine Foods values are more in line with results and equity when considering the Ethics Awareness Inventory. If I were a manager at Kudler Fine Foods, it would be difficult to keep in line with their values because I do not think that Kudler Fine Foods is looking at the whole business picture for the long term. I choose to look at things in a much broader way, looking ahead to the possibilities of the future, and the ways in which to plan for it. Kudler Fine Foods seems only to be focusing on one store at a time while employing the tactics that have worked so far. If I were to be a manager, it would be hard for me to pay a wine steward or a food specialist such a high salary while the stockers and checkers make below average wages, I just do not think that is right. In addition, it would be difficult for me to watch Kathy Kudler spread herself so thin by taking on so many responsibilities. There would always be a worry of her health because her presence is demanded for anyone in the organization, and the business itself to have any sort of security. Other than the operational and wage factors, I would have no problem implementing Kudler Fine Foods mission of providing the best quality food their customers can find. Conclusion

Hough Personal Values Paper In conclusion, it is clear that the Values of Kudler Fine Foods and the values that I maintain do not match up equally. While we do agree on some things, like donating

inventory waste to homeless shelters, and trying to help lower paid employees, we differ in our values, and the things that we put the most emphasis on. As many businesses are, and should be, Kudler Fine Foods is interested mostly in results, and shapes their business plan accordingly. I base my values on obligations, not results. This is illustrated in my feeling about the unacceptable wage gap at Kudler Fine Foods and the businesss reliance upon Kathy Kudler to keep operations going. This is not to say that Kudler Fine Foods is not an ethical and successful business, they clearly have done well thus far, we just happen to have different values.

Hough Personal Values Paper

References
The Williams Institute For Ethics and Management. (2003). Ethics Awareness Inventory. Tempe, Arizona, USA. Retrieved on October 21, 2010 from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/eai/2-eai-profile.asp