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Essay: The importance of values during the COVID-19 outbreak

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  • Published: 26 March 2023*
  • Last Modified: 6 April 2023
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  • Words: 1,969 (approx)
  • Number of pages: 8 (approx)
  • Tags: Essays on Coronavirus

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“Values are like fingerprints. Nobody’s are the same, but you leave them all over everything you do.” – Elvis Presley

In light of the recent COVID-19 outbreak, our world is facing a human tragedy. Affecting over 175 nations, the growing impact continues to devastate the global economy. While many may claim that the coronavirus was an “unforeseen problem” or a “black swan event,” the convenient narrative shifts when reviewing the public-health response of countries. A large part of countries being able to flatten the curve relies on the values set in place by government administrations. Values in the introductory course “Management and Organizational Behaviour” at the Sauder School of Business took an ethical application. Whilst the word “value” is often referred to as the monetary worth of something or the fair return of exchanged goods, COMM 292 taught me the wider implications for the effectiveness and success of organizations dependent upon social values. Throughout the course, I was able to understand the importance of developing interpersonal skills and recognize a broad range of organizational processes. Upon reflection, I learned that a large part of an organization’s success is not solely based on the quantitative results, but rather, the people and culture in the workplace.

Values, according to the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values is individually-based on “numerous values with varying degrees of importance” (Schwartz, 2012). Schwartz argues, based on the writings of many theorists, that values have six main features related to beliefs, desirable goals, specific actions or situations, criteria, an order of importance and relative importance of multiple values to guide action. With the Schwartz Dominant Value Scale, my overall average was 4.18. This indicated an average of “medium importance” and general agreeableness for all values to be important to a certain extent. My three most dominant values were power (5.5), benevolence (4.6) and security (4.6). Both benevolence and security related to the stability of relationships with close contacts whereas power related to control or dominance over people and resources. Since attending UBC, I believe such values reflect my current efforts to build few, but very important, connections with close friends and colleagues. Coming from a small high school community, university has proven to be overwhelming with approximately 60,000 students. Similar to a common saying, I prefer quality over quantity when building connections. Related to power, I value social status and prestige. I need to maintain a positive image. My involvement with the RCMP National Youth Advisory Committee allowed me to influence policymaking and have small control of youth representation in the province. My work with the RCMP led to acknowledgments that I take pride in. I appreciate experiences that build my knowledge in the areas of commerce and social justice. For benevolence and security, maintaining relationships and a consistent routine is attributed to my lifestyle. When completing KPMG’s internship assessment on my psychometric profile, my thinking style indicated a strong preference for familiarity, order, and consistency. Such correlations support my reluctance to change. Once COVID-19 had transitioned classes online, I was one of the last students to pack up from my dormitory. My mother described my behavior as stressful due to her growing concerns versus my calm approach to the situation on campus. My lowest values on the scale were universalism (3.1) and tradition (3.5). During high school, attending a boarding school modeled after England’s leading Westminster School drilled tradition into my studies. However, since attending UBC Sauder, I have challenged my previous commitments and thoughts with more progressive thinking. The school’s vision “to build a more just, sustainable and prosperous world through innovation and responsible leadership” (UBC Sauder School of Business, 2020) creates a platform for students to explore new ideas. Therefore, I believe this exposure has shifted such values to the lower end of my scale. When completing the values survey with my group Jango, we were able to connect over values of wisdom, inner harmony, and happiness. In gaining a mature understanding of life, appreciating freedom from inner conflict and being content, such values were highly individualistic. In favoring the interests of individuals over the interests of collectivizing in a group, I believe our results showed that each member in our group was dedicated to their personal growth throughout the course. In reference to Michaéla C. Schippers’s “Social Loafing Tendencies and Team Performance” article, I believe our team was both high in agreeableness and conscientiousness. With all members having low social loafing tendencies, our team performance reflected admirable performance in the debate and quizzes. This fact correlates with Schippers’s argument that although we had high variables for team performance, we were not the top team in terms of performance. When analyzing other teams, we noticed that “the negative effects of social loafing tendencies could be buffered, even reversed” when other team members stepped up significantly to overcompensate (Schippers, 2014). Overall, a high level of consensus regarding the relative importance of values was present in my COMM292 group. However, my dominant values of power, benevolence, and security motivate my behavior but are continuously exposed to new experiences.

Delroy L. Paulhus’s article entitled “Toward a Taxonomy of Dark Personalities” explored highlights, key advances, and controversies emerging from people with dark personalities. When prioritizing certain values over others, I consider the tumultuous times COVID-19 has presented itself with and the dominance of the “dark tetrad” amongst world leaders. After watching a Netflix Documentary on Jared Kushner from the “Dirty Money” series by Alex Gibney, I understood that often, regardless of political affiliation, the most qualified, knowledgeable or honest people never achieve positions of power. Such discussions were the highlight in the fourth student debate. In the documentary, Kushner’s rental properties received hundreds of health code violations whilst the government looked away. Additionally, Jared Kushner worked as a senior advisor in the Trump administration overseas with conflict of interest speculations as he searched for international investors to sustain Kushner Companies; a massive real estate company based in New York bequeathed to him by his father. Such instances support why it pays it to be a jerk as Kushner placed his own priorities ahead of the well-being of the country. According to Jerry Useem’s article, “Why It Pays to Be a Jerk,” narcissistic CEOs were found to cluster near both extremes of the success spectrum. However, he made an important distinction that “jerks, narcissists, and takers engage in behavior to satisfy their ego, not to benefit the group.” When reflecting on my Schwartz values of power, benevolence, and security, it is clear that some of my values are similar to dark personalities that achieve prominent leadership positions. With my intentions to eventually become a CEO or an Executive Director, I would like to emphasize that I don’t picture myself as a “dark personality.” According to the HEXACO model, my honesty-humility factor was relatively high. In an article published by Kibeom Lee and Michael Ashton, both researchers found “correlations ranging from -0.80 to -0.94 for observer reports” when comparing traits of the “dark tetrad” and a low honesty-humility factor (Lee et al., 2014). Therefore, there is still hope that I don’t turn out to be a “dark personality.” Nonetheless, I believe my values show that to have freedom, values of power, benevolence and security are crucial to supporting this notion. During tumultuous times, such values can determine standards of living. Being able to take the reins, be supported by close friends and have stability is more important to me as opposed to other values because it is what starting a career needs and what our world demands with a pandemic. As an example, we could look at the survival case study completed in class. Our group did poorly when compared to others but we learned that one’s self-righteousness or a strong belief that they are correct, can sway a group’s result heavily. There is a struggle for power as I wouldn’t want another person to determine my fate. In the end, I know that when prioritizing values of power, benevolence, and security over others, they are the product of my environment and are determined by my current phase in life in starting a career.

As I intend to specialize in finance and work in investment banking, based on my most important values, I believe a decentralized line-of-business structure would allow me to be consistently motivated, purposeful and at top performance. By working in sales and trading, which is divided into equities (stocks and shares) and fixed income, currencies, and commodities (corporate credit, government debts, and interest rate products), a decentralized line of business can offer a logical means of decentralized responsibility and delegation of tasks. With my value of power, being responsible for what I contribute to the bottom line of a business is important to me. I would want to be a part of an organization that has a reward-based system because when working in financial markets, sales is all about people skills, resilience, and persistence. Such “soft skills” separate employees from each other in receiving more revenue for the company and oftentimes, not all people can develop these skills. For example, the Royal Bank of Canada operates in a bureaucratic format. More similar to a geographic organizational structure, they have been able to improve functional coordination within target markets and create a mentorship program in the upper-middle area for general managers. Financial security is huge at the Royal Bank of Canada as it emphasizes its ethical process, with reason, of hiring or firing an employee. In general, both the decentralized line of business structure and the geographic organizational structure appeal to me. Also, I would prefer a workplace that discourages social loafing tendencies. I am highly individualistic and although I do value personal connections through benevolence, I prefer my work to be rewarded and not unfairly shared with others when working in a team. Space for upward mobility is important as I would expect to develop my knowledge, dedicate time and contribute more to an organization. I would feel discouraged in an environment that supports internal politics. I tend to take personal comments too harsh and personally. According to Max Weber’s view of an ideal bureaucracy, as mentioned in the short excerpt published by McGraw-Hill, a “rational bureaucracy normally has the following general characteristics: formalism and a utilitarian tendency of officials to treat their official function in the interest of the welfare of those under their authority” (Parkinson et al., 1996). Such characteristics fit my value for benevolence when interacting with others because when working in a tight-knit environment, I appreciate the effort in making acquittances in the workplace. Although I am uncertain in the exact business segment of finance I will work in, I believe that a decentralized line-of-business structure would best align with my values of power, benevolence, and security.

In conclusion, as the global economy will attempt to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, the need for organizational systems to support “the production, the distribution and the consumption of the material bases of life” will be essential (Kasser et al., 2007). In the article “Costs of American Corporate Capitalism: A Psychological Exploration of Value and Goal Conflicts,” it presented American corporate capitalism as a complex social system. Despite its success in generating great wealth and alleviating problems confronting humanity, it still incurred costs by conflicting with pursuits that are essential to well-being. This point resonated with me because it is crucial acknowledging constant change that occurs and what shifts in our core values and along with management and organizational behavior will be applicable. As I will continue my journey at the UBC Sauder School of Business, COMM292 challenged my thoughts on the effectiveness and success of organizations dependent upon social values. I look forward to applying my knowledge, developing interpersonal relationships and recognizing a broad range of organizational processes in the business world.

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