Work Ethic Essay

An important personal characteristic one can bring to the workplace is their integrity. Yet, many of us struggle with the difficulty of merging our individual morals and beliefs with those of our employer. Author Joanne Ciulla writes “in our society, work shapes your life and your identity” (94). Unfortunately, many people are not able to work in jobs of their choosing because other motivations such as “paying the bills” can dictate decisions. Growing up, my father instilled me that no matter what job I did, that I owed it to myself to give “an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.” He found the intrinsic value in the honest work itself when the monetary compensation was not always what it should be. I believe that an important work ethic to help us make the right decisions comes down to our unique identity; sometimes shaped by our experiences, but often times can be positively detoured by choosing to live both personally and professionally by a moral code called integrity.

The auditors take a week long break, and during this time your boss asks you to do a routine task, which is, shred client documents. Do you perform this task without question? Ciulla, Martin, and Solomon suggest that not all ethical work problems are clear-cut and there are three aspects to consider when faced with potential dilemmas such as this one “1) Am I doing the right thing?; 2) Am I doing it the right way? 3) Am I doing it for the right reasons?” (xxv). When you can answer “Yes” to all three of these questions, you can make a sound judgement if this assignment acts within the guidelines of truth and honesty (Ciulla, Martin & Solomon, pg.