Impact of Social Work Values and Ethics on Professional Practice

This essay reflects on the alignment and conflicts between personal and professional values within social work practice, specifically within the context of ORS, an organization supporting disabled individuals. It discusses the importance of values like respect, justice, and integrity, and how they relate to the mission and values of ORS. The essay also addresses potential conflicts between personal values and organizational demands, such as prioritizing profit generation over the organization's mission. The author reflects on how liberalism influences the organization's structure and daily operations, and how personal values guide their approach to helping others, while acknowledging the challenges of balancing personal and professional ethics in complex situations. The essay concludes with a reflection on the lessons learned from working with disabled individuals and the importance of promoting social inclusion and equality.

Running head: PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL VALUES
Personal and Professional Values
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL VALUES
In today’s generation almost in all cases and situations personal opinions and decisions
are not put into effect while working in the corporate sector or even the public sector (Ametrano
2014). However, there are always certain values that are personal but that are put to use while
working on an everyday basis. Personally, being involved with ORS, I would say that there are
always certain values and opinions that I make use of at work as they govern my personality and
affects the evolution of my being as a human being as well as a service provider to the society
(Beckett, Maynard and Jordan 2017). These values include respect for all irrespective of
parameters like their ethnicity or nationality or race and religion; justice for all based on the issue
involved and integrity as it reflects the thought process behind my workings.
The mission and values of ORS Group are aimed at providing support and extending services
to the disabled population of Australia across fifty locations. The mission of this organisation is
to become the best in the field of providing services to disabled people and help and support
them in achieving their own occupational and employment goals. The values of the organisation
range across a number of attributes and can be stated as follows:
 For us it is very important to make a marked difference not only in the lives of our clients
but also the lives of the employees and co-workers and the communities where we extend
our services
 Personally I feel that working in a united way and achieving goals by working together is
both easier and more efficient. Also, as mentioned earlier for me respecting people
irrespective of any parameters is equally important and these are values that are
completely in sync with the value of ORS that aims to promote excellent service by
working collaboratively and respecting diversity of workers, clients and the communities
involved along with their thought processes.

2PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL VALUES
 The entire organisation works in different small ways but aims at achieving the unified
goal of helping people with disabilities to achieve their vocational goal.
 I also personally believe that being responsible for one’s own actions is excessively
important and this is followed by ORS also wherein the workers are responsible and
accountable for the work they do and believes in providing the best quality of service
while maintaining and pertaining to ethical parameters
 Innovation at work and evolution on a personal level go hand in hand. The organisation
aims at using new ideas and disruptive strategies to cater to the changing needs of people
and promoting the latest and most improved methods and technology
Value congruency is very important and is hardly found nowadays as mentioned before. As I
have mentioned in certain cases, while mentioning the values of ORS as an organisation, many
values match the values I look up to and try adhering to on a daily basis. In fact, the very reason
behind me joining this organisation is that I could relate to the mission and the values that are
followed here to reach the goal of providing the best help to disabled people (Aguilar et al.
2012). Being able to train the disabled people and catering to their needs has been of immense
help in my personal journey. Respecting everyone equally and bringing out the talent that each of
us own together and providing the best possible service has been both enjoyable and peaceful.
The values of this organisation are also congruent to my values of equal justice for all as the
disabled people are often not able to explore their capabilities and work on the same. With the
help of this organisation they are able to achieve their personal goals and push the limits of their
capabilities. Also, here ethics of performing any task or any assistance are maintained
meticulously and so professional integrity is also adhered to in this respect (Reamer 2013).

3PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL VALUES
Although mostly working with ORS has been easy due to the similarity of personal and
professional values, one cannot completely ignore the possibilities of situations where the
personal and professional values differ and clash. Sometimes situations arise where I am
commanded by higher authorities to take up steps that do not match the steps I would have taken
if I was solely responsible for the same. For example sometimes the repercussions of not being
able to meet the marketing targets in the Bondi Office are serious and can even lead to
termination. Also, only experienced professionals with disabilities are helped but no attention is
paid to people who do not own such experiences. This leads to a personal conflict within wherein
I try to figure out ways in which I can adhere to the values of the organisation solely or place my
feet in the shoes of higher authority. The other most important example of mismatch of values
are the profit generating techniques and strategies utilised by the firm that are not in sync with
the mission and vision of the firm. To earn higher profit margins or revenues, the firm often
takes steps that are not sustainable in the long run and I not being a part of the higher authority is
unable to do anything about the same. Other times I make sure that the values of the organisation
are given more priority as compared to my personal value priorities.
It is important here to note that the concept of liberalism widely contributes to the
organisational structure, its values and even its daily working. As both males and females
working under this organisation are given similar and equal opportunities to show their
excellence and working capabilities, the concept of liberalism in combination with feminism is
both applicable and well defined in the everyday working (Coates 2015) and s completely in
inclination to one of my views on liberalism. The concept of liberalism through some radical
values though present in a subtle way govern many policies and workings of the firm (Yazij and
Doh 2013). The fact that employees are given due recognition and appreciation for their work

4PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL VALUES
and endeavours helps to promote enthusiasm and leads to lesser friction as I believe that this
generation is not completely comfortable with working under someone’s guidance due to the
independence and technology that we are brought up in. Liberalism is a concept that governs our
daily walks of life and also in the ORS organisation (Brammer, Jackson and Matten 2012). This
being followed in the ORS organisation doesn’t practically imply with respect to the context of
labour unions or laws that are associated with worker unions or even in the field of politics.
However, the employees of this organisation are given the freedom to share and express their
ideas and the liberty to take up their own small initiatives to work toward a better future.
Collective as well as individual rights are respected and taken care of. However this concept of
liberalism does not affect the code of conduct or rules of discipline that governs the workings of
this organisation (Sayers 2013). Like mentioned before the repercussions of not being able to
cope up to the targets and the criteria of being able to work with the organisation are in fact rigid
and to some extent strict and imposing in nature and no amount of liberal thought is expended on
the decision taking in this aspect.
According to my opinion, my personal framework of values, the most important social value
is that of helping people out in different ways possible using personal capabilities (Banks 2012).
I feel that small efforts on one person’s part can lead to a large impact for someone who is not
capable of doing something or needs help in some aspect. It also involves respecting people and
giving value to their decisions and working together towards achieving the best possible
outcome. However, I also believe that sometimes asserting one’s own idea over the idea of
others is important as it might just be the best possible solution to a given problem (Parrott
2014). Even though almost all of my values are in sync with the views and mission of ORS,
sometimes situations do crop up when action has to be taken by prioritising the corporate values

5PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL VALUES
more than the personal values (Durkheim 2013). These situations often lead to a personal
conflict wherein the ethics of the organisation fall vague but action is still to be taken according
to the commands or orders of higher authorities. The whole idea of liberalism governing my own
set of values gets affected in case of those situations and circumstances.
Working in the placement cell and being able to interact with several people who are
disabled and yet yearning to learn new things and implement their capabilities to the best
possible extent has provided me with self confidence as well as a new perspective towards life.
However, the only conflict that I continuously faced and learnt the most out of was the fact that
sometimes social values are quite different from the implications of the same values. In this case
incorporating the entire cohort if people with disabilities in my organisation and allowing them
to work with us were not practically possible and that would lead to degradation of quality and
not allow the organisation to reach the targets of growth and quality assurance. On the contrary,
at the end of the day I was satisfied about the fact of being associated with this organisation as it
helped to explore newer horizons and helped solving peoples’ problems with the help of hope
and positivity. It also helped to bring about social inclusion and promote social equality and
promotes equal justice for a big section of people across all fifty locations.

6PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL VALUES
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