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PERSONAL VALUES PRIORITY EXERCISE
Think about the things in your life that are most important to you. These things can be
considered your personal values or priorities. Listed below are 24 items, each labeled with a different
personal priority. Your task is to sort the items into four categories of six items each. One category
should represent the six priorities that are
very important
to you. Another category will represent
the six priorities that are
somewhat important
to you. A third category will contain the six
List of items to be prioritized:
Harmony
Advancement
Spirituality
Family
Prestige
Education
Competence
Responsibility
Accountability
Friendship
Meaningful Work
Financial Success
Health
Working Conditions
Achievement
Relationship with Coworkers
Spontaneity
Honor
Patriotism
Human Dignity
Trust
Fun
Intimacy
Power
Prioritization Table:
Very
Important
Somewhat
Important
Slightly
Important
Least
Important
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Chapter 05 – Leadership Ethics and Values
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Reflect on the questions below to prepare for your small group discussion…
1) Describe the process you used to prioritize the items on the previous page. In your answer, be sure
3) My three best qualities as a leader are:
1.__________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________
3. __________________________________________________
3a) How do these qualities interact with your values and decisions about what is (or is not) a
priority in your life, work, etc.?
4) What evidence do you have that you actually possess these qualities? (Be Specific)
Chapter 05 – Leadership Ethics and Values
Exercise 5-4
Exercise Title: The Motives, Values, and Preferences Inventory
Purpose: To provide students with personal feedback on ten key work values.
Summary: The Motives, Values, and Preferences Inventory (MVPI) is a 200 item, online survey that
1. The name and e-mail address of the instructor (electronic copies of the feedback reports will be
sent to the instructor unless designated otherwise).
2. The name of the institution and the class.
The Career Compass feedback report costs $40 per participant. Instructors/institutions will be billed the
week after the reports are delivered to the instructor.
It will take approximately 60 minutes to review the ten key values of the MVPI, describe how to interpret
the results, and allow time for students to review their own results and discuss them in small groups.
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Exercise 5-5
Exercise Title: Voting with Your Feet
Purpose: Demonstrates differences in values among students.
Summary: This exercise is based on the idea that people often have a set of values that are ideally held as
long as they are kept apart from real-life circumstances. When faced with a situation that runs counter to
one’s ideal values, people frequently view the occasion as unique. People usually see these situations as
To run this exercise, instructors should make four signs, written with black magic marker on white paper
or written with chalk on the blackboard. Each sign has one of the following four statements:
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT
ABSOLUTELY WRONG
RIGHT WITH SOME RESERVATIONS
WRONG WITH SOME RESERVATIONS
Signs should be positioned such that the ABSOLUTELY RIGHT and the ABSOLUTELY WRONG signs
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Notes to be read to the students:
You will hear a series of statements in which people have made a decision or performed an act. You will
be asked to measure this decision or act according to your value system and to decide whether or not it
was ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, ABSOLUTELY WRONG, or somewhere in between.
You are not permitted to ask for additional information on any of the situations. Try to make the decision
as best you can with the limited information that is given.
Once you have heard the situation, go stand in the area of the room that represents your decision for that
particular situation. Be ready to support/defend your position.
Notes for the facilitator/instructor to keep in mind:
The rules of the exercise should be read in a brisk manner by the facilitator. Once the exercise has begun,
it is important that the facilitator not elaborate or furnish additional information about a situation even
though the students may ask for more details.
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The best situations will be the ones specifically chosen (see below) or designed for your class. The
situations at the end of this exercise are models and are not recommended for every group you will
observe, no effort has been made to avoid sensitive areas.
The exercise is designed to encourage meaningful discussion. There should be no attempt on the part of
the facilitator to clear up any disagreement or disputes about what is right and wrong, but it is possible to
ask questions that push students to clearly elaborate their arguments, values, and beliefs.
This is a simulated model designed to resemble the processes of moral reasoning. Situations are presented
during the game where limited information is offered and the participants are asked to make judgment–
decisions as to the “rightness” or “wrongness” of the act executed by another person. The model is
designed to simulate the reality of moral reasoning, but is free of many facts and details that cloud the
Stop the exercise to allow sufficient time for closure. Emphasis should be placed on the application of this
exercise to individual leader situations and how it might affect interactions with others. Consideration
may be given to the following:
Differences in our values come from our personal imprinting, role modeling, and socialization.
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Ethical Dilemmas
1. It was customary in some German concentration camps to release a woman if she became pregnant.
a. A married woman in a concentration camp faces eventual death. She makes a decision to
2. An elderly gentleman expressed his desire that should someone need a heart transplant at the time of
the elderly man’s death, his heart be used for the transplant. The elderly gentleman is now near death and
3. Lt. Col. Oliver North had a deep conviction that aid to the Contras was vital to this country’s national
interests. After Congress passed a law making it illegal to provide aid (through appropriated funds) to the
4. Young people should be able to practice birth control or get abortions without parental knowledge.
6. One’s career should come before one’s family.
7. The use of drugs should be an individual decision, not one made by society.
8. Quota-hiring is still needed to atone for past race and sex discrimination.
Chapter 05 – Leadership Ethics and Values
12. Sexual orientation should have no bearing in selection or promotion for any job.
13. Abortions are akin to murder.
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16. Come up with several pertinent topics for your organization/school.