Personal Reflection: Examining a Time When Values Were Compromised

This essay presents a personal reflection on a situation where the author compromised their values while working as a director of immigration. Facing pressure from superiors to accept bribes and allow illegal activities, the author grappled with the conflict between personal ethics and job security. The essay delves into the pressures and opportunities that led to this compromise, including the need for money and the potential for promotion. The author acknowledges the moral wrongness of their actions but rationalized them using moral justification, comparing their behavior to that of corrupt leaders. In retrospect, the author reflects on alternative actions, such as reporting the corruption and involving anti-corruption agencies. The reflection highlights the challenges of upholding personal values in the face of external pressures and the importance of proactive measures to prevent similar compromises in the future. Desklib offers a range of resources, including past papers and solved assignments, to support students in their academic endeavors.

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Personal Values Reflection
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University
Location of university
Date
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Question 1
There was a time when I working as a director of immigration in my state. I do remember
this event as it made me compromise my values greatly. The manager of immigration forced me
a number of times to accept bribes to allow some illegal immigrants to cross the border. I
normally hate bribes as they are against Christian values. The is also a number of times when I
was forced to allow some drug traffickers to cross the border as they had links with some big
government officials Cairncross, 2016). I didn’t want to report the matter as it could lead to my
termination. I witnessed many innocent people being denied a visa all because they couldn’t
comply with the unethical demands of the immigrant officials. I had to compromise with my
values of honesty and kindness. I had to engage in dirty affairs all with the aim of securing my
job. The job was well-paying and losing it would greatly affect my financial capability.
Question 2
There are various pressures of opportunities that pulled me to compromise my values.
First, I needed some good amount of money to buy a family house. I had tried to save with the
aim of buying the house but all this seemed to in futile. By accepting the bribes, I saved a lot of
money which enabled me to purchase the house. Secondly, I had the opportunity to be promoted
by complying with rules of bosses (Poocharoen, 2016). My bosses could possibly promote me
and this meant a higher earning an opportunity to achieve my childhood dreams. I had no other
option than complying with the requirements of my bosses as reporting their behavior would lead
to my termination. It would cost me a lot of time and finances to win a case against my bosses.
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Question 3
I had the understanding that what I was doing at that time was wrong. However, I had
nothing to do at that particular time as all I wanted was my job. The mechanism of moral of
disengagement that I employed was moral justification. I justified that my actions were right as
all human beings are lustful and untrustworthy. I compared my behavior with that of the leaders
who had been elected to serve the people (Jacquemet, 2017). The leaders embezzled all the funds
without minding of the people who had elected them. I also took my actions to be better as
compared to those of the people who took the little that the poor had. In fact, I was better off as I
was taking the bribes from the rich.
Question 4
I would not have accepted the bribes as this is against moral ethics and my Christian
values. I could have reported the immigrant officials and the leaders to the concerned body. All
that was required of me was obtaining enough evidence to show that the officials and some
leaders were corrupt. I would also have silently involved the anti-corruption agencies in
conducting undercover investigations to prove that my claim was right (Leonard, 2016).
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References
Cairncross, F. (2016). Corruption and its consequences. Nature, 409(6823), 982-982. doi:
10.1038/35059162
Jacquemet, N. (2017). Corruption as Betrayal: Experimental Evidence on Corruption Under
Delegation. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.897480
Leonard, E. (2016). Coping with Corruption. International Studies Review, 13(3), 535-537. doi:
10.1111/j.1468-2486.2011.01058.x
Poocharoen, O. (2016). Collaboration in Anti-Corruption Work: Who to Work with and How?.
SSRN Electronic Journal.
Student