Practicing Organization Development: A Guide for Leading Change: A Third Edition

VALUES, ETHICS, AND OUR FIELD OF PRACTICE

“Values” and “ethics” are widely used words, but their meanings are not widely shared, although people tend to assume shared meanings. For our purposes here, “values” are “standards of importance” and “ethics” are “standards of good/bad or right/wrong behavior based on values.” For example, respect, integrity, authenticity, honesty, truth, profit, shareholder value, and stakeholder value are values. These values can be expressed through such ethics as “Respect yourself and others,” “Act with integrity and authenticity,” “Be honest,” “Be true to yourself,” “Seek to maximize profit and shareholder value,” and “Seek to maximize stakeholder values.” [For “A statement of Values and Ethics by Professionals ...