PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

AND
APPLIED ETHICS

PRELIM MODULE
UNIT 1: A BRIEF BACKROUND TO PROFESSIONAL DEVLOPMENT
AND APPLIED ETHICS

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compilation.
 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND APPLIED ETHICS
Introduction
The word personality itself stems from the Latin word persona, which refers to a
theatrical mask worn by performers in order to either project different roles or disguise their
identities .At its most basic, personality is the characteristic patterns of
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make a person unique. It is believed that personality
arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

Personality Development is one of the most important aspect in human venture. It is linked
with success or failure of the human beings. Hospitality industry deals with taking care of the
needs of the public and thus it is important for all those people who work in this sector to
focus on building the right personality that would empower them succeed there. Without this,
it would trigger to dissatisfaction of customers. The hospitality industry provides various
unique and interesting processes that individuals go through to develop certain attitudes,
attributes or behavior. Everyone has his or her own experiences in life that falls out their
views about the world and the way in which they discern things around them. The hospitality
Industry provides personality development to their staff which would help in contributing to
the success or failure of the business.

BASICS OF PERSONALITY
Fundamental characteristics of personality
 Consistency: There is generally a recognizable order and regularity to
behaviors. Essentially, people act in the same ways or similar ways in a variety of
situations.
 Psychological and physiological: Personality is a psychological construct, but
research suggests that it is also influenced by biological processes and needs.
 Behaviors and actions: Personality not only influences how we move and respond in
our environment, but it also causes us to act in certain ways.
 Multiple expressions: Personality is displayed in more than just behavior. It can also be
seen in our thoughts, feelings, close relationships, and other social interactions

UNIT 1
A. Introduction to Professional Development and Applied Ethics
This course describes the skills, knowledge, and performance outcomes required to develop the ability of
students to become professionals in their field by understanding the ideas of improving one’s personality and
ways on how they are going to be valued in the business industry by means of presenting their ideas like
company meetings, professional networking, interviews and through proposals of services considering the
proper collaboration to their associates and portraying professional business.
Personality Development - an improvement in all spheres of an individual’s life, be it with friends, in the
office or in any other environment.
IMPORTANCE: Personality development grooms an individual and helps him make a mark of his/her own
Personality development goes a long way in reducing stress and conflicts. Personality development helps you
develop a positive attitude in life. What is Personality Development?
What is Professional Development?
Professional development is learning to earn or maintain professional credentials such as academic degrees to
formal coursework, attending conferences, and informal learning opportunities situated in practice. It has been
described as intensive and collaborative, ideally incorporating an evaluative stage.

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compilation.
 It also teaches writing skills and emphasized verbal communication and preparation of plans that require them
to research career options and company potentials and stability to develop a strong and effective career
pathway.
What is Ethics?
Ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in
terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues.

What is Applied Ethics?

Applied ethics is the actual application of ethical theory for the purpose of choosing an ethical action in a given
issue.
Applied ethics is usually divided into various fields.
 Business ethics discusses ethical behavior in the corporate world
 Professional ethics is concerned with the standards and moral conduct that govern the profession and its
members.
A. PERSONALITY DEFINED
Personality: it’s who we are. Our personalities determine how we act and react, as well as how we interact with
and respond to the world. (Parents, Environment, Genetics, Culture, Friends, Work)
What is Personality?
It was derived from the Latin word ‘persona’ meaning ‘mask’. - The relatively stable feelings, thoughts, and
behavioural patterns a person has. If personality is stable, does this mean that it does not It does. Changes occur.
Definitions of Personality in Psychology
1. “Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual, of those psycho-physical systems that
characterize his/ her characteristic adjustment to the environment” – Allport (most comprehensive
definition )
2. “It refers to the unique and consistent pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving” – PervinRaymond
Cattell defines personality as, the traits that predict a person’s behavior.
3. According to American Psychological Association, “Personality refers to, individual differences in
characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.”
4. Morton Prince (1924) defines, “It is the sum total of all biological, innate dispositions, impulses, tendencies,
appetites and instincts of the individual and the acquired dispositions and tendencies acquired by
experiences.”
5. It is the more or less stable and enduring organization of a person’s character, temperament, intellect and
physique that determine his unique adjustment to his environment. (Eysenck, 1952).
6. Personality usually refers to, the distinctive patterns of behavior (including thoughts and emotions) that
characterize each individual’s adaptations to the situations of his life or her life. (Walter Mischel, 1981).
7. It is generally defined as, individual’s unique and relatively stable patterns of behavior, thoughts and
emotions. (Baron, 1993).

B. NATURE OF PERSONALITY IN PSYCHOLOGY OR CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES.

1. Dynamic Organization-Psychological elements of the system are independent but function in a linking
manner. it can change
2. Psycho-physical Systems – Psychological elements of the system are traits, emotions, intellect,
temperament, character are based in the neurology and endocrinology of the body.
3. Unique- Everyone will have different personality.
4. Consistent Pattern- an individual behaves in the same way in different situations.
5. Thinking (cognition), Feeling (affect), Behaving (behavior)

C. DETERMINANT OF PERSONALITY IN PSYCHOLOGY

1 Biological Factors-
1. Body Built,
2. Physical defect,
3. Physical attractiveness
4. Health Conditions
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compilation.
2 Psychological Factors
1 Intellectual Determinants
2 Emotional Determinants
3 Excessive Love and Affection
4 Self-disclosure
5 Aspiration and Achievements
6 Achievements
7 Goal Setting
3 Environmental Factors
1 Social Acceptance
2 Social Deprivation
3 Educational Factors
4 Family Determinants
5 Emotional Climate of Home and Ordinal Position
6 Size of the Family

D. THE BIG FIVE OF PERSONALITY

1. Openness - the degree to which a person is curious, original, intellectual, creative, and open to new ideas
People high in openness are highly motivated to learn new skills, and they do well in training settings They also
have an advantage when they enter into a new organization. Their open-mindedness leads them to seek a lot of
information and feedback about how they are doing and to build relationships, which leads to quicker
adjustment to the new job.
2. Conscientiousness - the degree to which a person is organized, systematic, punctual, achievement oriented,
and dependable Conscientiousness is the one personality trait that uniformly predicts how high a person’s
performance will be, across a variety of occupations and jobs. In addition to their high performance,
conscientious people have higher levels of motivation to perform, lower levels of turnover, lower levels of
absenteeism, and higher levels of safety performance at work.
3. Extraversion - the degree to which a person is outgoing, talkative, and sociable, and enjoys being in social
situations Extraverts do well in social situations, and as a result they tend to be effective in job interviews. They
have an easier time than introverts when adjusting to a new job. They actively seek information and feedback,
and build effective relationships, which helps with their adjustment.
4. Agreeableness - The degree to which a person is nice, tolerant, sensitive, trusting, kind, and warm. People
who are high in agreeableness are likeable people who get along with others. Not surprisingly, agreeable people
help others at work consistently, and this helping behavior is not dependent on being in a good mood. They are
also less likely to retaliate when other people treat them unfairly.
5. Neuroticism - the degree to which a person is anxious, irritable, aggressive, temperamental, and moody
These people have a tendency to have emotional adjustment problems and experience stress and depression on a
habitual basis. People very high in neuroticism experience a number of problems at work.
D. VALUES AND ATTITUDE
Values - refer to stable life goals that people have, reflecting what is most important to them - Broad
preferences concerning appropriate courses of action or outcomes The values that are important to people tend
to affect the types of decisions they make, how they perceive their environment, and their actual behaviors.
Early family experiences are important influences over the dominant values. Values of a generation also change
and evolve in response to the historical context that the generation grows up in. The values a person holds will
affect his or her employment.
Attitude - A predisposition to respond in a positive or negative way to someone or something in one’s
environment - Influences by values and are acquired from the same sources as values - Focus on specific people
or objects, whereas values have a more general focus and are more stable than attitude

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compilation.
Self-esteem - the degree to which a person has overall positive feelings about his or herself People with high
self- esteem view themselves in a positive light, are confident, and respect themselves. On the other hand,
people with low self-esteem experience high levels of self-doubt and question their self-worth.
Self-Efficacy - a belief that one can perform a specific task successfully . Self-efficacy is different from other
personality traits in that it is job specific. People with high self-efficacy setting higher goals for themselves and
being more committed to these goals, whereas people with low self- efficacy tend to procrastinate.

VALUES
Values defined in Organizational Behavior as the collective conceptions of what is considered good, desirable,
and proper or bad, undesirable, and improper in a culture.
Some common business values are fairness, innovations and community involvement.
According to M. Haralambos, “A value is a belief that something is good and desirable”.
According to R.K. Mukherjee, “Values are socially approved desires and goals that are internalized through the
process of conditioning, learning or socialization and that become subjective preferences, standards, and
aspirations”.
According to Zaleznik and David, “Values are the ideas in the mind of men compared to norms in that they
specify how people should behave. Values also attach degrees of goodness to activities and relationships”
According to I. J. Lehner and N.J. Kube, “Values are an integral part of the personal philosophy of life by
which we generally mean the system of values by which we live. The philosophy of life includes our aims,
ideals, and manner of thinking and the principles by which we guide our behavior”
According to T. W. Hippie, “Values are conscious or unconscious motivators and justifiers of the actions and
judgment”
A value is a shared idea about how something is ranked in terms of desirability, worth or goodness. Sometimes,
it has been interpreted to mean “such standards by means of which the ends of action are selected”.
Sometimes, it has been interpreted to mean “such standards by means of which the ends of action are selected”.
Thus, values are collective conceptions of what is considered good, desirable, and proper or bad, undesirable,
and improper in a culture.
Familiar examples of values are wealth, loyalty, independence, equality, justice, fraternity and friendliness.
These are generalized ends consciously pursued by or held up to individuals as being worthwhile in them.
It is not easy to clarify the fundamental values of a given society because of their sheer breadth.
CHARACTERISTICS OF VALUE
 These are extremely practical, and valuation requires not just techniques but also an understanding of the strategic
context.
 These can provide standards of competence and morality.
 These can go beyond specific situations or persons.
 Personal values can be influenced by culture, tradition, and a combination of internal and external factors.
 These are relatively permanent.
 These are more central to the core of a person.
 Most of our core values are learned early in life from family, friends, neighborhood school, the mass print, visual
media and other sources within the society.
 Values are loaded with effective thoughts about ideas, objects, behavior, etc.
 They contain a judgmental element in that they carry an individual’s ideas as to what is right, good, or desirable.
 Values can differ from culture to culture and even person to person.
 Values play a significant role in the integration and fulfillment of man’s basic impulses and desire stably and
consistently appropriate for his living.
 They are generic experiences in social action made up of both individual and social responses and attitudes.
 They build up societies, integrate social relations.
 They mold the ideal dimensions of personality and depth of culture.
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  They influence people’s behavior and serve as criteria for evaluating the actions of others.
 They have a great role to play in the conduct of social life. They help in creating norms to guide day-to-day
behavior.

Types of Values
1. Terminal Values
These are values that we think are most important or most desirable. These refer to desirable end-states of
existence, the goals a person would like to achieve during his or her lifetime. They include happiness, self-
respect, recognition, inner harmony, leading a prosperous life, and professional excellence.
2. Instrumental Values
Instrumental values deal with views on acceptable modes of conductor means of achieving the terminal values.
These include being honest, sincere, ethical, and being ambitious. These values are more focused on personality
traits and character.

Terminal Values Instrumental Values

A comfortable life (a prosperous life) Ambitious (hardworking)

An exciting life (a stimulating, active life)
A sense of accomplishment (lasting
contribution)
A world of peace (free of war and conflict)
A world of beauty (the beauty of nature
and the arts)
Equality (brotherhood, equal opportunity
for all)
Family security (taking care of loved ones)
Freedom (independence, free choice)
Happiness ( contentedness)
Inner harmony (freedom from inner
conflict)
Mature love (sexual and spiritual intimacy)
National security (protection from attack)
Pleasure (an enjoyable, leisurely life)
Salvation (saved, eternal)
Self-respect(self-esteem)
Social recognition (respect, admiration)
A true friend (close companionship)
Wisdom ( a mature understanding of life)
Broadminded (open-minded)
Capable (competent, efficient)
Cheerful ( lighthearted, joyful)
Clean (neat, tidy)
Courageous (standing up for your beliefs)
Forgiving (willing to pardon)
Helpful (working for the welfare of others)
Honest (sincere, truthful)
Imaginative (daring, creative)
Independent (self-reliant, self-sufficient)
Intellectual (intelligent, reflective)
Logical (consistent, rational)
Loving (affectionate, tender)
Obedient (dutiful, respectful)
Polite (courteous, well-mannered)
Responsible (dependable, reliable)
Self-controlled (restrained, self-disciplined)

The values a person holds will affect his or her employment.

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compilation.
Importance of Values
Values are the enduring beliefs that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially
preferable. These are more difficult to change or alter.

As ethical conduct receives more visibility in the workplace, the importance of values is increased as a topic of discussion
in management.

Values are general principles to regulate our day-to-day behavior. They not only give direction to our behavior but are
also ideals and objectives in themselves. They are the expression of the ultimate ends, goals or purposes of social action.

Our values are the basis of our judgments about what is desirable, beautiful, proper, correct, important, worthwhile and
good as well as what is undesirable, ugly, incorrect, improper and bad.

Pioneer sociologist Durkheim emphasized the importance of values (though he used the term ‘morals’) in controlling
disruptive individual passions.

He also stressed that values enable individuals to feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves.

E. Shils also makes the same point and calls ‘the central value system,’ (the main values of society) are seen as essential
in creating conformity and order.

Indian sociologist R.K. Mukherjee writes: “By their nature, all human relations and behavior are embedded in values.

 Value is the foundation for understanding the level of motivation.

 It influences our perception.
 Value helps to understand what ought to be or what ought not to be.
 It contains interpretations of right or wrong. These influence attitudes and behavior.
 It implies that certain behaviors on outcomes are preferred over others.
 These allow the members of an organization to interact harmoniously. These make it easier to reach goals that
would be impossible to achieve individually.
 These are goals set for achievements, and they motivate, define and color all our activities cognitive, affective add
connective.
 They are the guideposts of our lives, and they direct us to who we want to be.
 Values and morals can not only guide but inspire and motivate a person, give energy and a zest for living and for
doing something meaningful.
 Actually, values are important to the study of organizational behavior because they lay the foundation for the
understanding of attitudes and motivation.

Individuals enter an organization with preconceived notions of what “ought” or what “ought not” to be. Of course, these
notions are not value free.

These are part of the makeup of a person. They remind us as to what is important in our lives, such as success or family,
but also, by virtue of their presence, they provide contrast to what is not important.

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This is a compilation of topics from various references. Credits are given to the respective authors included in this
compilation.