Importance of Honesty and Competence in the Workplace

This reflection discusses the importance of honesty and competence in the workplace through a personal experience. The author shares how lying and incompetence led to loss of trust from the manager and poor work by the company. The author also shares how upholding ACS values can help in such situations and gain respect and trust from the manager. The reflection concludes with the lessons learnt and the importance of honesty and competence in the workplace.

Portfolio 2: Reflection 1
Reflection
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Portfolio 2: Reflection 2
Portfolio 2: Reflection
I was once working in a firm, working as a clerk under the supervision the manager. He
was a strict man who wanted his work done within the time he prescribed. He gave me an
assignment that I was supposed to submit the following morning. There was a football match that
evening and my friends and I had scheduled to go watch the match. That evening we went for the
game hoping I would wake up early the following morning and complete the assignment.
Unfortunately I overslept and even reported late to work. I lied to the manager that my dad had
fallen sick that evening and had to take him to hospital, I even claimed that he had been
admitted. Later that day my father came by the firm and I was busted.
My lying made it even worse. I realized that lying made things worse rather than better.
This brought me to thinking of the repercussions of lying. I lost the trust of the manager and all
my truths were from then doubtable. I had been incompetent at first by choosing to watch the
match rather than work on my assignment. I gave privilege to pleasure rather than to my work
which ought to have been my number one privilege. I also became dishonest to my manager. I
learnt that two wrongs don’t make a right. I learnt that my work should be my number one
obligation. My lack of both honesty and competence led to the loss of trust from my manager.
Honesty and competence are important in workplace (Philip, 2012; Dillon, 2010).
If I found myself in a similar situation, having an assignment and a match to watch at the
same time, I would observe and uphold the ACS values. I would start by trying competence. This
means that I would keep my work before anything else. I would therefore give all I can to my
work before even considering to watch the game. My schedule would start with the work and if
am lucky to complete my work before the match starts or ends I would watch the either the

Portfolio 2: Reflection 3
whole match or the remaining part. I would prefer eating into the match’s time rather than my
work’s. If by any chance I failed to complete the assignment and submit it in time I would be
bold enough to admit my mistakes and ask for forgiveness. I would tell the manager the whole
truth. This would gain me respect and trust from my manager (Dillon, 2010).
The experience led to poor work by the company. This was my fault as had I submitted
the work in time then the firm would have offered better services to the client. The client would
have continued with his business as required and he/she would have gained whatever he/ she was
supposed to. My failure to submit my work on time caused me my manager’s trust, caused the
client not to trust the firm and ruined the business of the day for the client. The client declined to
pay the firm which led to loss of money for the firm. All this was caused by my laziness and
incompetence.
My father became very angry given that I used him a false excuse to get out of trouble.
He claimed that I wished him bad luck. Of course I didn’t but that is what it looked like.
However I wanted to get some sympathy from my manager and I used my healthy father’s
health. This also made feel guilty. My conscience kept me guilty for long. I kept thinking of how
I had wronged all of them, my father, the manager and the client.
The good thing that happened with the incidence is that I learnt my lessons a very hard
way that I will never forget them. I learnt that neither incompetence nor dishonest pays. I also
learnt that both of them combined cannot also help during one’s profession. The coming of my
father was another good thing that happened during the incidence as had he not passed by the
workplace I may have managed to get away with the incompetence and the dishonesty. His
coming however set the records straight and gave me the chance to change my life around. He

Portfolio 2: Reflection 4
personally urged me to always be honest. As the truth is the only thing capable of setting free
(Davis et al, 2013; Herman, 2009).

Portfolio 2: Reflection 5
References
Davis, M., Kumiega, A & Vliet, B. V. (2013) Ethics, Finance, and Automation: A
Preliminary Survey of Problems in High Frequency Trading. [REVIEW] - Science and
Engineering Ethics 19 (3):851-874.
Philip A. E. B. (2012). Ethics and Information Technology: Anticipating Ethical Issues in
Emerging14 (4):305-317.
Dillon, R. S. (2010). Respect for Persons, Identity, and Information Technology. Ethics and
Information Technology 12 (1):17-28.
Herman T. T. (2009). Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ethics: A
Bibliography of Recent Books. [REVIEW] - Ethics and Information Technology 3
(1):77-81.