Before describing how my values impact decision making, it is important to first define the basis on which I make moral decisions. This is based on the three levels of personal moral development: the preconventional level, the conventional level, and the postconventional level (Graham 1995). The preconventional level is the most basic level and relates to a state where decision making is based on following rules, being obedient, and avoiding punishment. The conventional level is the middle level and relates to a state where decisions are made based on living up to the expectations of others. The postconventional level is

highest level and relates to a state where decisions are made based only on personal judgments of what is right, with this including having no regard for how the decisions will be viewed by others. In my own moral development, I am at the middle level. While at times I aim to be at the higher postconventional level, I am often motivated by the expectations of others and by a need to be accepted by others. Being at this level also explains why I am impacted by organizational and cultural values as well as personal values and why my decision making differs based on whether the decision relates to my personal life or my professional life.

While I do generally make professional decisions based on organizational values, there are cases where I have put my own values ahead of those of the organization. This has occurred in situations where I have had to make personal decisions. For example, there was a situation where I was pressured to place the blame for an error on another employee. Despite this being what the group wanted, I went against this and chose to accept the blame for the error rather than blame it on an innocent employee. In this case, the difference was that the moral decision was specifically focused on another individual. In most business examples, this is not the case. Instead, moral decisions are focused on consumers as a whole or competitors as a whole. The main point is that there is rarely a specifically identified individual. In the exception described there was a specific individual and this changes the moral basis of the decision. Rather than think of the decision as an overall organizational one, I considered it as a personal one between myself and the other employee. With this focus, my personal values became more important than organizational values. Jansen and Von Gilnow (1985) predicted this outcome, where they describe how most individuals will act based on their own personal values when faced with a situation where they are unable to justify the organizational decision. This illustrates how my decision making is impacted by organizational values, where I adopt the values of the organization when I am operating on the basis of being an employee of the organization. However, my personal values remain the same. The significant difference is that I often consider my values as being like my personal opinio

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