My Personal Code of Ethics PDF

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My Personal Code of Ethics After learning about ethics, you should be familiar with how personal ethics and business ethics overlap in the business world. We all know that businesses cannot mandate or control their employee’s personal ethics or morals, though they can look for and hire individuals who seem to have personal ethics that align with those of the business. Finding and excelling in your employment is exactly why it is important for you to develop a clear and concise understanding of what you believe to be right and wrong—or, your personal code of ethics. Taking the time to think about and put into writing your personal code of ethics will allow you to develop a concrete document that you can look to each day, not only as a reminder of what you believe in but also as encouragement to stick to and uphold what you believe to be right. This code of ethics will include the ideas and beliefs that are the essence of your life and allow you to say “I will do this because I believe that...” This document can be extremely helpful when it is time to look for employment as it can help make sure that you find and apply to companies that will support and align with your beliefs. Let’s get started!

Step 1 First, reflect on your life and who you are. You will put into writing a reflection of who you believe yourself to be. Think of it this way: if you asked a friend to describe you, what would they say? An example of this would be someone saying to you that you are witty or that you are compassionate. List all the traits that anyone has ever pointed out to you in addition to the traits that you believe best define you as a person.

Step 2 Next, think about the things that you believe are important in life. What do you believe? Don’t worry about why you believe these things just yet—simply brainstorm a list of all the things you believe to be important about life; later you will look at the reasons. These are the beliefs that carry you through your life and guide your decisions.

Step 3 Now, ask yourself: how do I relate to (get along with) others? Think about all the places where you spend your time, such as where you go to school, where you relax and have fun, where you earn money. Then think about how you relate to all the people you meet and know in all of these places. Think about your relationships on a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is GREAT and 1 is not great at all. What do you do in the great relationships that make them great? What could you do differently in the so-so relationships that

would move those relationships closer to a 10 (or even a 5)? How could these things be translated into an item for your list in your code of ethics?

Step 4 Finally, ask yourself, why do I believe the things that I do? Think now about why  you believe in what you do; refer back to the items that you listed in the second step. This is a very important step because it helps you to become aware of the significance of your beliefs. You might say it like this; “I believe that it is important to _____ because _____.”

Step 5 Now, after all of this listing and self-reflection, it is time to narrow your beliefs and create a concise list of five to seven statements for your personal code of ethics. If you are still feeling a bit lost as to how this should look, don’t fret—your personal code of ethics can take on whatever format or style that you feel is appropriate. After all, this is YOUR personal code of ethics! However, BEFORE you write your personal code of ethics, take some time to explore online and find one or two examples of other people’s codes of ethics that you like—you might like the content or the format or something else; it doesn’t matter why you like it, just that you are drawn to it on some level. Include your examples (either cut and paste or include a link) with all of the brainstorming from above into the document where you will also include your code of ethics. Furthermore, you can check out the example below for a bit of inspiration! In your own code, you will likely want to expand a bit on each bullet point, offering some kind of explanation or personal example.

Example:

The following bullet points reflect the ethics and morals that guide my life, both personally and professionally, and express the values that I make an effort to honor in my day-to-day living:

● I place significant value in the trust and confidence of my family, friends, co-workers, and community. ● I make an effort to spend plenty of quality time with my family and support them in all of their endeavors.

● I do not change who I am for others, and I stand up for my beliefs, even when they differ from others. ● I treat people as I would like to be treated—with kindness, respect, and compassion. ● I value basic human dignity and basic human rights and make it a priority to avoid causing harm to other living things, both human and animal. ● I continue to work on improving myself as a person and always attempt to put forth my best effort. ● I always try to keep promises that I make and honor my commitments. ● I practice gratitude regularly and believe that actively practicing gratitude allows me to view each day and each experience as a gift. ● I approach all things in my life with honesty and integrity. ● I make an effort to be courageous and stand up for what is right for both myself and others.

Step 6 You are almost done! Read and respond to the two questions below as a reflection on this entire process. Your answer may be brief, two to four sentences will suffice! ●

How do ethics and morals influence personal and community values?

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Are there some fundamental ethical principles that transcend all people?

For information on how you will be graded, please refer to the rubric below....