Institute for Christian Teaching
Education Department of
Seventh-day Adventists
CHRISTIAN VALUES IN TEACHING
OFFICE MANAGEMENT
By
Ermelinda Aperocho-Tambalque
Prepared for the
33rd International
Faith and Learning Seminar
held at
January 30 – February 11, 2005
CHRISTIAN VALUES IN
TEACHING OFFICE MANAGEMENT
Henry, a division sales manager, was pressured by his boss on increasing his sales for about three months already—a motivation for him to be promoted. He was tasked to hire an experienced sales representative to add to his sales force. A prospect applied who was a worker of their top competitor for five successful years. Of all the applicants, he was top on his list. In the process of interview, he found out that this man had the disc that contained all information about their competitor. He promised that if he is hired, he would give Henry the disc and all the confidential items that were stored there. What will he do? His family was on a financial pinch. His eldest son needs so much money in the nursing school. The two younger sisters are about to enter college. He badly needs the promotion to augment his income.
He went to his highly, looked-up guru for advice. His short and direct to the point reply shocked him: “Hire this guy before someone else does”. As he wandered down the hall toward his office, he met his top assistant. He related his predicament and this subordinate supplemented a mountain of challenge: “Think about what you’re contemplating here, Sir. It is evident that this guy is doing something wrong; if you hire him you would be supporting such kind of behaviour. Besides, he might start stealing from us and sell it to the highest bidder. And, if this case is found out that you hired him knowing he stole important and confidential information, the whole story would boomerang on your face and give our company a bad name”.
What should he do? Should he follow the advice of his mentor? Or take the one given by his assistant? Should he be honest enough in dealing with this applicant? Or, follow his whims to get to the top? This is one of the challenges waiting for our young managers in the field.
Some of the samples of these challenges are the following questionable office practices (Keeling, 1984): “1) An employee punches in another’s time card? 2) Manager doesn’t want to be bothered and tells the secretary to inform callers that the executive is not in? 3) Pirating an employee from another company? 4) Taking credit for another employee’s idea? 5) Padding an expense account? 6) Undermining another employee in an effort to get ahead?”
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to teach students Christian values in office management. Most importantly, this paper presents spiritual implications that will help students develop Christian values in office management and draw them to find interest in the greatest model of Christian values—the Word of God.
There are many values in office management procedure and practices, however, this particular paper presents a few of these like: loyalty, obedience, accountability, respect, courtesy, wisdom, creativity, service and honesty.
BASIC TERMS
Our Christian values
keep us firmly on the foundation of the integration of faith, life and
learning. Although it can be difficult
to teach values, the goal of this essay is to make known to students certain
universal Christian values. We would
like our students to be motivated and inspired to incorporate values into their
daily lives. Quality education and
Christian values are parts of our mission as bridges to education. The
Christian values like: loyalty, obedience,
accountability, respect, courtesy, wisdom, creativity, service and honesty are few of the apparent values that
we would like our students to have in preparation for office management.
In this post-modern world
that is tossed to and fro by a pendulum of principles, (Eph.
Ethics
Ethics in the workplace is the most urgent
problem facing business people today.
This is one of the areas that stir the minds of students in the
classroom today because everywhere, there are signs of ethical weakening. What
is really right and what is wrong. “This
is a systematic study of the part of science and philosophy that deals with
moral conduct, duty, and judgment. A
person’s concept of what is and is not ethically and morally right stems from
deep religious convictions, individual beliefs, and motives” (Flowers, 1975).
Value
This is an idea—a concept—about what someone
thinks is important in life. When a
person values something, he or she deems it worthwhile—worth having, worth
doing, or worth trying to achieve. If
office employees can look upon their working lives as making a real gift not
only to their co-employees and the firm but also to humanity at large, they may
find chance for satisfying their love, esteem and self-actualization needs
(Keeling, 1978). But the word value
means not only a product (what we value) but also a process (the method by
which we arrive at what we value). A
well-known youth researcher, Merton Strommen, defines values “as ideas people
have about the good life and about what life means”. Our concept of good and evil is the basis we
use to rank everything else, including all other values, beliefs, abstract
ideas like truth, scientific theories, people, even God. Values are how we grasp the fusion of good
and evil in any union of circumstances involving interface between ourselves
and external reality (Strommen, 1972).
Office
Office is the place where the information is
processed, such as a credit office, lawyer’s office, or an office in the home. Others may use office when referring to the
people working in that location. Today,
it is commonly looked upon as a function, where interdependence systems of
technology, procedures, and people are at work to manage one of the firm’s most
vital sources—information. In these
workplaces, the focus is not on “high-tech” machines and equipment but on
systems within which information is produced at the lowest possible cost (Miranda
and Gow, 1996).
Management
Management is the art or skill used by those who
blend together the eight M’s--manpower, materials, money, methods, machines, morale,
minute, motivation—in order to set and achieve the goals of the organization
which is profit or service. The word
management is also commonly used to refer to a group of persons, such as top
management, middle or lower management including office managers, who
collectively direct or manage the organization.
In the process of blending the eight M’s, those in charge of the
organization are greatly involved with directing people of diverse cultures and
coordinating the use of economic resources (Narbarte, 1998).
Office Management
The study of office management requires an
understanding of the services which the office provides. This is concerned with all the process of management
and with the collection, analysis, communication and retention of information
necessary for management decisions. It
is the support system of the entire organization (Madon, 2001). Conventionally, the executive office
management functions were limited to basic clerical services and to the office
personnel. However, with the passage of
time, administration began to place more reliance upon the office personnel and
well-designed work systems as the new technology created greater accelerated
rates.
Christian Values in Office MANAGEMENT
One’s
responsibility to an employer is not something that is only bought and paid for
but something which comes from an association of people in a common venture. Working against a common effort would be not
only a moral sin of dishonesty but also an intellectual sin of variation. Next to the duties in the economic sphere,
the Christian finds duties in the political.
These duties do not exist simply because the state hires police to
enforce its laws. Nationalism and the
need to live together in peace reinforce political obligations. Economic and political duties are normal. Religious duties are extraordinary imposed by
the knowledge of God who is the author of life and the end toward which all
life must tend. If there is conflict
among duties, the religious obligation must take precedence. Therefore, a Christian manager has duties in
three spheres: economic, political and
religious (
Kelling and his co-writers said, “That the inspiration for ethical behaviour must originate at the top level of management, filter down through middle management, and permeate the business organization”. The best assurance of high standards of morality in office management is that subordinates work under the direction of men and women who themselves have high ideals. For at least one third of each working day, managers enter into social affiliation with subordinates. During the remaining two thirds of each day, the attitudes, ideals and beliefs that the employees formed while at work in the office are being carried back and relayed to society. Thus, managers have a social accountability to set good examples for their employees. The ethical and moral conducts of managers, as leaders, supersede their own personal and individual motives and needs.
In communicating with their subordinates, the managers should strive to report all facts honestly, accurately, and objectively. To gain employees who will work with them, managers must work with them; be kind, fair, and just; and sincerely praise the satisfactory performance of their workers.
Here are the responses of a series of interview done to office managers and business executives when they were asked to judge the ethics and morality of several questionable office practices (Kelling, 1984):
“It is definitely unethical for an employee to punch in another’s time card. The best solution for a busy executive is to be truthful, have the secretary tell the caller that he is too busy to be disturbed at the moment but that he can talk to him at a latter time. Pirating an employee from another company is unethical. Taking credit from another employee’s idea is definitely immoral. Padding an expense account is dishonesty. Undermining another employee in an effort to get ahead is unethical when it exceeds the bounds of good, clean competition.”
LOYALTY
Basic to an ethical and moral conduct is loyalty. Without this basic quality, no manager or office and no business firm can perform at the peak of potential ability. When office managers are unable to give loyalty to authority of the firm, they find themselves in a position of conflict and mental ordeal, which hinders them from being loyal to either themselves or their company. The only workable solution to the crisis of office managers who cannot abide by the policies and principles set forth by their firm is for them to search out another company to which they can be loyal (Keeling, 1978).
According to Michael Josephson, author of the book Making Ethical Decisions, loyalty is a responsibility to promote interests of certain people, organizations or affiliations. This duty goes beyond the normal obligation we share to care for others. He further outlined the following limitations to loyalty:
“Loyalty is a tricky thing. Friends, employers, co-workers and others may demand that we rank their interests above ethical considerations. But no one has the right to ask another to sacrifice ethical principles in the name of a special relationship. Indeed, one forfeits a claim of loyalty when he or she asks so high a price for maintaining the relationship.”
When it comes to safeguarding information, Josephson mentioned that loyalty requires us to keep them private, but when keeping them breaks the law or threatens others, we may have to “blow the whistle.”
Above all, loyalty paramount to God is the greatest foundation of loyalty.
OBEDIENCE
In Ephesians 5:21, Paul commands us as believers to "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." He then explains how we are to submit… in our work relationship.
In light of that spiritual reality, Paul speaks directly to both sides of the management-labour continuum. He begins by focusing on the employee's attitude in verse 5 - "Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ." The word "obey" in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary means “to comply with what the person is being told, to be obedient” but to never surrender to anyone except to God. When someone hires and pays him, he is under compulsion to do exactly what he says (as long as it's not illegal or immoral or in violation of God's commands).
In verse 6, Paul is still talking to employees, but moves from people’s attitude to
behaviour-- "Obey them not only to win their favour when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart."
This means that the employee should work hard all the time with honesty and veracity. Decide once and for all that his purpose for being on the job is to help make his boss successful, and do his best work whether the boss is watching him or not. In his actions, he must be reliable and worthy of his trust. Because the work that he is doing, where he is doing it, the person he is manager for, the person he is working with, the circumstances and conditions he has to endure, is God's will for him (Johnsen, 2002).
ACCOUNTABILITY
In Michael Josephson’s statement: “Accountable persons are not victims and doesn’t shift blame or claim credit for the work of others. He considers the likely consequences of his behaviour and associations. He recognizes the common involvement in the triumph of evil when nothing is done to stop it. He leads by example.”
Students must come to a realization that as an employee, they should remember that Jesus Christ is the real Boss behind the boss. This is the key to relieving all that job stress from the employee’s life. He should start working with the goal to please his heavenly boss, Jesus Christ!
But, people in positions of power frequently face the excitement to take advantage of their positions by being insensitive and uncaring to people under their power. God says that a Christian manager must never do that. He must not use wicked speech, or throw out unfair accusations, or force his workers to work overtime by repeatedly hinting that he will fire them if they don't. He should not use power-play influence to try to press more work out of them through persistently belittling them or shattering them with threats (Davis and Rowatt, 1988). “Leaders don’t inflict pain, they bear pain” (De Pree, 1989).
Why?
Because the boss is also accountable to a Boss! God wants every Christian manager, every boss,
to realize that he is responsible to God for how he treats his subordinates.
One day, God will ask him to give an account for his management style, and God
is totally fair. He won't be easier on him
because of his title or position. God
did not call managers to be tyrants ruling over a business empire; God called them
to use their strategic positions of management and power to serve Him in the
lives of their workforce.
When their
judgment day comes, God is not going to address the boss as "Mr.
President". He is going to call him by first name and ask, "How well
did you treat your brothers who worked for you?" God sees both bosses and employees
as colleagues, and if they don't treat them exactly, on that day God is going
to even the score.
An
employee may not be able to change job conditions, but he can change his attitude.
He can start thinking that he is serving
Christ as his Boss. He should know that He
is calling the shots, and that He is paying his wages (Johnsen, 2002).
RESPECT
God created us special
next to the angels (Heb. 2:7), we are not just things like paper or other
materials that we can crumple if we don’t need them anymore. I always emphasize in class that people are
special, they are capable of reacting or hurting when not given importance in
the office. The computer, typewriter or any document in the office are things
and can be set aside, but this cannot be done to people, they are sensitive and
vulnerable to hurting, thus should be
given importance when they come to the office no matter how busy the office
managers may be.
“Everyone has a right to be treated with
dignity. We have no moral duty to hold
all people in high esteem, but we should treat them with respect, regardless of
who they are and what they have done. We
have the responsibility to do the best we can be in all situations, even when
dealing with unpleasant people. The Golden Rule—do unto others as you would
have them unto you—nicely illustrates the pillar of respect. Respect prohibits violence, humiliation,
manipulation, and exploitation. It
reflects notions such as civility, courtesy, decency, dignity, autonomy,
tolerance and acceptance” (Josephson).
Respect is of great importance in everyday life this
includes, of course, office management in the business world. At home we were
taught to respect our parents, teachers, and elders. This thought is augmented by our teachers in
school--we were taught to respect school rules,
traffic laws, nation’s flag and leaders, family and cultural traditions
and many others. In public we give
consideration to those who were ahead of us in the queue whether it is in the
drinking fountain, in the bank, in the immigration or in any other place. We
develop great respect for people whom we consider exemplary and lose respect
for those we discover to be double-faced.
Thus, we respect only those who are truly worthy of our respect. Let us remember that in some level, all people
are worthy of respect.
Jobs and relationships
become unbearable if we receive no respect from each other in an
employer-employee condition. There is no
use working for each other when this important value is gone. We may learn that our lives go better when we
respect the things that deserve to be respected. How our lives go depends on how much we
respect ourselves. The value of self-respect can not be taken for granted. Some people discover that finally being able
to respect themselves is what matters most and life is no longer worth living
if self-respect is irretrievably lost. It
is part of everyday wisdom that respect and self-respect are deeply connected,
that it is difficult if not impossible both to respect others if we don't
respect ourselves and to respect ourselves if others don't respect us.
If the employee remembers every day that he is working for the Lord, then in his attitudes, he will be respectful; in his actions, he will be reliable; and in his anticipations, he will be reassured of receiving rewards (Eph. 6:7-8). If he believes with all his heart that Jesus loves him enough to die for him and He is the ultimate, real Boss on the job, he'll be able to deal with any problems much more effectively.
God
says managers should treat their workers with respect, dignity, courtesy and
honesty (Eph. 6:9). Employers should
listen to the suggestions, concerns of their employees and be willing to make
adjustments when things are wrong. Employers should do what they promise to do
with integrity and reliability. If they
do, they too will be assured of receiving from Christ a reward (Johnsen, 2002).
CREATIVITY
Creativity may be used to
deliver certain defined values. This is similar to problem-solving or seeking
improvement in a given direction. “This
is the process of developing new ideas that can be put into action” (Dubrin,
1997). How do we achieve this? How do we get there? How do we deliver this value? The use of creativity is to find a way of “hitting
the target”. If there is already a way
of getting there, then creativity seeks to find a “better” way of “hitting the
mark”. “Better” may mean a simpler,
more effective or cheaper way of reaching the goal. It may also be that the creative way actually
delivers more of the value than the standard way of doing things. In most
fields, however, the value has to be assessed within the normal and standard
structure. The creativity of an architect
has to be assessed within the framework of good architecture. The creativity of an advertising executive
may either be judged by the success at winning advertising competitions (Bono).
Encouraging creativity is
important for the bosses because they are supposed to bring about change and
innovation. Creativity and innovation
are not the same. Some experts, however,
regard creativity as innovative thinking that leads to innovation or ideas that
can be put to use. Leaders who reached
genuine innovations engage in a variety of activities that stimulate
creativity.
The following are suggested innovation goals for
business from Dubrin:
1) Develop a permissive atmosphere. 2) Accept partially developed ideas. 3) Give feedback and financial rewards for successful innovations. 4) Be willing to stretch organizational policy. 5) Be willing to make quick decisions. 6) Broaden your outlook and that of your staff. 7) Encourage a hunger for ideas. 8) Make regular use of brainstorming.
Throughout the Bible, God tells us that work is a good thing. God Himself worked in creation and continuing to work in sustaining the universe. He placed Adam and Eve in the garden and told them to work (Gen. 2:15). Work, like Sabbath and marriage, is sacred and pre-sin in origin. Work also characterizes the new heaven and the new earth (Isa. 66:22-23, cf. Exo. 20:8-11). When God created Adam back before there was any sin, He placed him in a garden and told him to be a gardener. Through meaningful labour, Adam expressed his creativity as a man made in God's image. Thus, work is not beneath our dignity; indeed our work gives us dignity.
WISDOM
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The
figure of Solomon is most often used as the model of wisdom in the Bible. He
was born into the royal
household in
time. In his mid-life as a king, two women came to
him with a quarrel over a baby, both
claiming that the baby
was theirs. After hearing the passionate pleas of both of the women,
Solomon decided for the
baby to be cut in half, with half of the child to be given to each
woman. At that moment, the real mother renounced her
claim to the child and offered to give
the child whole to the
other woman (1 Kings
about Solomon to
illustrate his moral and mental verdict. He was a very accomplished
man. Indeed, a model of success!
The
journey to wisdom, quite obviously, begins much earlier. Socrates used to say
that the “unexamined life
is not worth living”. He meant that we
should reflect periodically
on what we are doing and
why we are here throughout our lives (Rush, 2002).
Consider God for Wisdom. As His free agents, all of us should ask
wisdom from Him. His spirit will work in
us through our minds if we will give Him the chance (White, 1977). The wonderful introduction to the Gospel of
John begins, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the
Word was God… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1-2, 14). St. Augustine said, if you want to know what
God wants for your life think after the Christ, in whom we can see God’s will
reflected for us in genuine humanity. Wisdom is not simply non-figurative supposition,
it is also-- primarily--an intimate reflection on how to live well. It is the best means of achieving the best
goals (Rush, 2002). “Wisdom will be
learned by failures, and the energy that will make a beginning gives hope of
success in the end” (White, 1968).
COURTESY
Whatever courtesy we possess,
we have picked up here and there from others. Some of us picked up much and
some little, and our getting hold of it has been an entirely jumbled
process. “The value of courtesy is too
little appreciated. Many of us who are
kind at heart lack kindliness of manner” (White, 1952). We usually take it for
granted that we know what it is, although few of us have spent even an hour or
two in studying its nature and finding out how we can best apply it to our
businesses.
Courtesy is a friendly,
considerate and sincere attitude in dealing with people, whether in person or
by phone or by post. It is a manner that
puts people at ease and gives them pleasant memories of us. It is goodwill on our part, and it creates
goodwill towards us. It is the art of
giving due consideration to the people whom we meet—the art of appreciating
them and their viewpoints. The basis of
courtesy is a sincere friendliness.
Without this friendliness, the phrases of courtesy, however smooth they may
be, are useless. Following are the points
of the Code of Courtesy (Casson, HN) that will aid students to be courteous:
1) To greet all honest and worthy people with a smiling welcome.
2) To do the best to make them feel at ease.
3) To consider their feelings and their points of view.
4) To value the goodwill and friendship of all people of integrity.
5) To appreciate the good
qualities of the people of other cultures.
In office management life, courtesy is seldom laudable. It gives a rewarding disposition to a
firm. Taking it all in all, it is one of
the most valuable assets of any organization.
It prevents conflict. It lubricates a business and makes it
smooth-running. It wins new customers
and keeps old ones. It is essential and valuable
in an office management as the sunlight in the garden. It makes a business grow.
“True courtesy is not learned by mere practice
of rules of etiquette. Propriety of deportment is at all times to be observed;
wherever principle is not compromised, consideration of others will lead to
compliance with accepted customs; but true courtesy requires no sacrifice of
principle to conventionality. It ignores
caste. It teaches self-respect, respect
for the dignity of man as man, a regard to every member of the great human
brotherhood” (White, 1952).
SERVICE
Education prepares the students for the joy
of service in this world and for the higher joy of wider service in the world
to come (White, 1952). All things both
in heaven and in earth affirm that the great law of life is a law of
service. Christ came to this world as
“He that serveth” (Luke
“God tells employees to serve their managers wholeheartedly. Why? Because there is nothing worse than half-hearted employees! They don't show up on time, they murmur about how the company owes them everything, and their whole attitude stinks. Whatever one does for a living, he must do his job wholeheartedly as a servant of Christ. Whether it's caring for children, or selling hamburgers, or building homes, or teaching, or painting, or fixing computers, or selling products, he must do it wholeheartedly as his way to serve Christ. He is not just working for man; but for God. If he is an office manager, an engineer, or a salesman, he must do his work well with the goal of pleasing God, for He is his the real Boss, and He is always watching what he does. If a person takes hold of this perspective, it will change his life, because all of a sudden, even the most menial task becomes a matter of serving God and ultimately reaping His reward” (Johnsen, 2002).
If an employee works truly for the Lord and not just for men, not one bit of his loyal service will ever be worn out, because God is a faithful observer. God sees every little, extra bit of sparkle he puts into his work. Even if his earthly boss ignores it, and never gives him praise, or raise, or bonus God knows he deserves it, because He doesn't miss a thing. That's why Col.3:23-24 says -- "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward". “Service to fellow human beings, motivated by God’s love is the ideal purpose of life” (Rasi, 1998). “The value of service to God is measured by the spirit in which it is rendered, rather than by the length of time spent in labour (White, 1948).
HONESTY
Honesty is a fundamental value. We relate honesty with people who are honourable, and we have a high regard for those who are honest. Honesty involves both communications and conduct. Honesty in communication is telling the truth according to what we know about it and telling it in a way that won’t delude others. There are three dimensions of this: truthfulness, sincerity and candour. Truthfulness is telling the utmost certainty, sincerity is authenticity, and candour is frankness. While honesty in conduct, is playing by the rules without deceit (Josephson).
We usually think of honesty as something that is a choice: a person may choose to be dishonest, completely honest, or anywhere in between, with respect to a certain truth. Thus, we view it as an aspect of will. Honesty and simply being truthful seem to be one and the same concept. However, though they are closely related in definition and are in fact listed as synonyms, there are differences between the two. Truthfulness is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as "consistently telling the truth, honest" and honesty as "free from deception, truthful, not lying, cheating or taking unfair advantage”. The definitions are nearly identical, so one must turn to the connotations. Truthfulness is speaking the truth as expected. If one is truthful, one tells the truth when asked a question.
Honesty
is truthful, reliable, trustworthy, and open. It encompasses the virtues of truthfulness
without the gaps. Being honest implies that you are willing to tell the truth
at cost of personal risk. It implies
being open and truthful no matter what the conditions are. Real honesty means telling the truth out of
respect for others and for oneself. Someone who is honest does not necessarily
have to be asked in order to tell the truth; it is their standard of conduct
and communication. “We all grow by taking risks, and the most difficult risk of
all is to be honest with ourselves and others (
Honesty stems from respect for others, and that includes respect for their feelings. Real honesty includes truthful tact. Honesty speaks for one's character and improves relationships with others.
The problem of Henry is common to
all managers. Many people believe that nowadays there is a big gray area
between right and wrong, they use that area as an excuse not to worry about
being ethical. We question that logic
because in all the details of life the strictest principles of honesty are to
be maintained (White, 1977). A lot of
grayness can be taken out of ethical dilemmas if one takes the time to sort out
the situation. It is easy to charge
ahead without thinking and then rationalize your behaviour after the fact. The truth is there is no right way to do a
wrong thing (Blanchard and Peale, 1988).
Deviation from perfect fairness in business deals may appear as a small
thing in the estimation of some, but our Saviour did not regard it that
way. His words on this point are plain
and very candid: “He that is faithful in
that which is least is faithful also in much (Luke
“All branches of business, all manner
of employment, are under the eye of God; and every Christian has been given
ability to do something in the cause of the Master. Whether engaged in business
in the field, in the warehouse, or in the counting room, men will be held
responsible to God for the wise and honest employment of their talents. They
are just as accountable to God for their work….If men acquire property in a
manner that is not approved by the word of God, they obtain it at a sacrifice
of the principles of honesty” (CS 142.4).
CONCLUSION
Christian values are important
areas that pose a great challenge to all office
management students. In this
post-modern era where there is great moral erosion
there is a need to inculcate in the minds of the students how they
should behave in the
business world. This essay
affirms the primary importance of the highest values in
business, and helps the students to find relevant steps in applying them. Christian values are
needed if business is to fulfil its roles, not just as the great provider of goods, services and
jobs but also in building a more just world order. A moral and spiritual dynamic, reflected in
the lives of business people is required, which touches inner motivation and gives vision,
wisdom and insight into people and situations.
Many problems facing today’s office managers—problems that are indicative
of clashing or poorly understood values—come about in an attempt to apply
traditional managerial methods to employees of the work ethic. To manage effectively, the office managers must
adapt means for achieving organizational goals to the value systems of the
people who have work to do. These values
includes loyalty which is basic to an
ethical and moral conduct; obedience
is to do what the employee is being told, to keep rules as long as it is not
illegal or immoral or in violation of God’s commands; accountability is a thought that Jesus Christ is the real Boss
behind the boss; respect to parents,
teachers, elders, bosses, workers, other people’s feelings and rights, our
country’s flag and leaders, the truth and people’s differing opinions; creativity seeks to find the better way
of ‘getting there or doing things’, wisdom
is a wise attitude or course of action,
courtesy is a friendly and considerate attitude in dealing with people
whether in person or by phone or by post, service
is doing the job wholeheartedly as a servant of Christ; and, last but not
the least, honesty is truthful,
reliable, trustworthy and open. There
are other Christian virtues in office management but these are the few ones
that are suggested that would be of great help to Adventist education.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Blackburn,
Tom, Christian Business Ethics,
1981.
Blanchard,
Kenneth and Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Ethical Management, New
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Edward, Value and Creativity: Without
Value, Creativity is Useless,
http://www.thinkingmanagers.com/management/value-creativity.php.
Casson,
Herbert N, Courtesy in Business,
De Pree,
Max, Leadership is an Art, Michigan, Doubleday Dell Publishing Group
Inc. 1989.
Dubrin,
Andrew J., 10 Minute Guide to Leadership, Goyal Publishers and
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Roger L, Passing on the Torch,
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Jack R., How to Teach About Values,
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