So what do you do when your values conflict? For example, I consider loyalty and honesty to be two values that can conflict. When they conflict, I need to violate one for the other. Thus, I think it is important for me to have an explicit order where I knowingly prioritize one over the other. My order is loyalty over honesty.
Hypothetical Example: My manager tells me that there is going to be a layoff in two days and employee x is definitely going to be one of those that will be leaving the company. She also tells me that no one can get wind of this because of other things going on internally and externally from the company. Employee x asks me, "Are layoffs planned and if so am I on the list?"
At that point I need to choose between loyalty and honesty. If I tell employee x that there will be a layoff, I've violated my loyalty value so I can adhere to my honesty value. If I tell that person I can't talk about that, then I've provider fodder for a reasonable person to think that there could be a layoff and thus, again, violating my loyalty to my manager and arguably adhering to my honesty value. So, in this situation my guess is that I would have a hard time saying "absolutely not" and would opt for something akin to "you know that kind of information is confidential so I could never tell you 'yes' so any other answer is completely unreliable."
Do you believe that values can be in conflict at times? In the example above, is there a way to adhere to both values? Can you provide and example of two different values conflicting?
I'm interested in your thoughts.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
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I don't think this is a conflict of values. Employment always requires loyalty and knowledge of confidential information on some level. No one should expect you to break this confidence. If someone asks a question as in your example, your response should be regardless of whether or not you heard anything in confidence you couldn't tell him. You shouldn't say "I can't tell you" because that implies there will be a layoff. That is being loyal to your employer and honest to the employee. Of course, a good manager, would continue the conversation to understand the employee's level of anxiety and discuss the importance of prudence in this economic climate. I believe the choice to balancing these values is not always clear at first, but you can almost always balance both.
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