Portraying values

Watch the two videos from business ethics speakers and discuss how your organization portrays its values. Share any examples where behaviors were portrayed positively by your leaders or an instance where someone was unethical in your work environment.

            Portraying values, this is how a company shows their employees, investors, and the rest of the world how they work and what they are all about. This is an important task as companies want others to believe in them and they want people to be a part of their organization. The company which I work for is trying hard to modernize how they do business and what their values are, I work for one of the oldest companies in America, and there is a lot to work on with an organization this old.

I work for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, this company first started in the 1850’s when there were not many big companies at all and things were much simpler. The problem with working for a company that is this old is that it takes a lot of time to modernize technology and also our way of thinking. Many times when I read about the history of my company I have found that not much changed from the beginning until the 1970’s. During the 1970’s the company understood that they would have to compete, and become innovative if they were to adapt to the changing times.

In our organization I believe that one of the biggest changes was that they have gone from a good ol’ boy system of hiring friends and family, to hiring many more college graduates with fresh ideas. I believe that this makes a huge difference because the railroad knows that they cannot stay the same, they have to come up with new and innovative ways to remain current. Hiring individuals who are trained in business allows the company to find individuals who know what to look for in a business that needs to continuously improve.

Another important value which BNSF holds dear is safety. Working for the railroad is one of the most dangerous jobs which people can do, safety is paramount. To portray that they are focused on safety in 2013 they rolled out a safety program called approaching others.” Approaching others represents a fundamental change in BNSF’s safety culture and mindset, while building on the strong safety commitment and processes of the past two decades. It is the single largest training program in BNSF's history” (BNSF, 2015). This is a movement towards portraying values at BNSF which has had thousands of employees awarded for their commitment to approaching people when they see that something is unsafe.

Values are extremely important to an organization, BNSF has shown that they are extremely committed to letting their investors know that they are committed towards the growth, talent, and safety improvements which are needed in this modern era which we live in today. Not having values to stick by and showcase to the rest of the business world can be detrimental to growth and success. I can see that it is obvious that the organization which I work for will continue to improve and showcase their improvement.

Reference:

BNSF: Building for the future (2010-2015). (2015, September 20). Retrieved September 26, 2015, from http://employee.bnsf.com/communications/Pages/BNSF-Building-for-the-future-2010-2015.aspx