Module - 44

LIFE SKILLS
“A strong positive attitude creates more miracles than any

wonder drug!”
Values
• Enduring belief that influences our choices in life to

promote well being
• Principles that reflect one’s judgement of what

is important in life
• Ethical values – govern virtuous behaviour
• Personal values differ from person to person.
• Some values have priority over others depending

on need level
Morals
• Principles of right and wrong in human behaviour,
based on one’s own conscience
• A thought, word or action is considered morally

good if it agrees with general perception of what is
right and what is wrong
• Morals stand for ‘goodness’ and promotes acceptable

behaviour of individuals
Ethics
• Derived from the greek word ‘ethos’
• Ethics is the set of codes of conduct or moral principles

with which behaviour can be analysed as good/bad or
right/wrong.
• Provides well disciplined standards and how to act and

respond according to situations
• Ethics is based on logic and reason

Ethics, Values, Morals
• Ethics – Rules that help us tell difference between

right and wrong – encourages to do right thing
• Values – Tell us what is important – helps us to make

decisions about right and wrong
• Morals – Rules we use to decide what is good or

bad
Integrity
• Character trait that reflects a person’s degree of

honesty, adherence to moral principles and a
complete harmony of one’s thought, speech and
action
• Person of integrity – guided by morality and has

consistency in character
Integrity
• Types of integrity
➢Professional
➢Political
➢Academic
➢Integrity in daily transactions

Civic Virtues
• Moral duties or standards of righteous behaviour of
an individual as a responsible member of the
community and an integral part of the environment
• Eg. Volunteering in community initiatives, Voting in

elections, attending important meetings
Civic Virtues for a Self-governing Republic
• Civic knowledge : Rights, duties and responsibilities
as enshrined in constitution
• Self restraint : Restrict ourselves from untoward

activities to maintain safety, law and order
• Self assertion: Comes from self esteem. If Govt. acts

against people – duty of citizen to alter government
• Self reliance : Virtue to support oneself, not to be a

burden to the society
Respect for others and self respect
• Self respect is necessary for respect of others
• Respect – deference and acknowledgement of

importance of another person, his viewpoints, rights
Living peacefully
• Living peacefully
➢Respecting others and accepting differences
➢Forgiving others
➢Not interfering in others matters unless necessary
➢Giving credit for others works
➢Adapting to circumstances that cannot be changed

Living peacefully
➢Engage in good deeds
➢Enduring basic needs of everyone without

exploiting resources
➢Nurture love for all living beings

Caring and Sharing
• Caring – having and expressing concern about
others and their feelings and well being
➢All kinds of living things
➢Environment
• Sharing – knowledge, facilities, goods, experiences
➢Leads to collective growth of society
➢Come voluntarily
➢Strengthens social ties, leads to peaceful living

Honesty
Workplace
• Stating facts clearly without any dilution
• Refraining from deceiving customers
• Not responding to bribes/ nepotism
• Being straight forward
• Seeking truth before deciding and acting

Courage
• Courage – is not the absence of fear
• Ability to face fear and act in spite of being afraid
• Willingness to confront with pain, agony and

uncertainty
• Seen in these situations
➢As part of duty (eg. Firefighter)
➢To face physical challenges (eg. People

engaged in adventurous/ dangerous sports)
Courage
➢Courage in a social context (eg. To fight
discrimination, for freedom etc)
➢Intellectual courage (to seek and speak truth even

if it upsets prevailing beliefs)
Valuing time
• Be aware that time is a perishable resource
• Get your priorities right
• Be punctual
• Plan in advance
• Get rid of procrastination

Cooperation
• Process of individuals working together synergistically

towards completion of common objectives without
surrendering individual freedom
• Advantages: Pooling of diverse and/or

complementary skills, gathering more ideas,
enhanced manpower, greater resources,
minimum utilisation of time
Cooperation (contd…)
•Cooperation between different section of company
ensures better output, quality and efficiency
•Lack of cooperation leads to delay, lack of
coordination, insufficient communication, low morale
•Reason for lack of cooperation
▪Absence of effective leadership
▪Lack of awareness among employees
▪Differential treatment, ego etc.
Commitment
• Quality of holding on to a cause that one believes in,

even in difficulties and setbacks, with great attitude
• Three components of organizational

commitment
➢ Affective commitment: Employee loves his job and

is aligned with organizational goals and values
Commitment
➢ Continuance commitment: Employee is driven by

fear of possible losses by leaving the company
➢ Normative commitment: Employee feels obliged

or duty bound to stay, even if he is unhappy
5 rules to enhance organizational
commitment
• Commitment to people-first values
• Clarify and communicate the mission of the

organization
• Guarantee the organizational justice
• Create a sense of community
• Support employee development

Empathy
• Ability and willingness to imagine oneself in
another’s place and see things in their
perspective
• In workplace it leads to
➢ Better teamwork
➢ Better understanding of what motivates others
➢ Better appreciation of customer needs
➢ Better understanding of public perception of the

Confidence
• Quality of believing in oneself and ones’
abilities
• Encompasses two traits
➢ Self esteem: one’s innate sense of self worth –

reflects the individual’s evaluation of self value
➢ Self efficacy: Belief in one’s own capacity to

perform, accomplish specific tasks and reach goal
Confidence (Contd…)
• Presence of confident employees in a workplace
lead to:
➢ Open sharing and expression of opinions
➢Setting higher goals for employees and

organization
➢ Lesser tendency to complain
➢ Openness to change
➢ Better overall performance

Character
• Sum total of person’s values, beliefs and
personality
• Reflected in thoughts, behaviour, actions

Spirituality
• Broad concept involving a sense of connection to a

higher transcendental reality and a quest for ultimate
truth and meaning of life
• Practices like meditation and prayer are meant to focus

on one’s inner life
• Spiritual thought encompasses humanistic values,

love, compassion, tolerance, harmony etc
Sense of Engineering Ethics
• Two different senses of engineering ethics
➢Normative sense (Analyses how people ought to act)
▪ Knowing moral values, finding accurate solutions to

moral problems and justifying moral judgments in
engineering practices
▪ Study of decisions, policies, and values that are
morally desirable in the engineering practice and
research
Sense of Engineering Ethics
▪ Using codes of ethics and standards and applying
them in their transactions by engineers
➢Descriptive sense (Analyses what people think is

right)
▪ Refers to what specific individual or group of

engineers believe and act, without justifying
their beliefs or actions

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LIFE SKILLS

“A strong positive attitude creates more miracles than any

• Enduring belief that influences our choices in life to

• Principles that reflect one’s judgement of what

• Ethical values – govern virtuous behaviour

• Personal values differ from person to person.

• Some values have priority over others depending

• A thought, word or action is considered morally

• Morals stand for ‘goodness’ and promotes acceptable

• Derived from the greek word ‘ethos’

• Ethics is the set of codes of conduct or moral principles

• Provides well disciplined standards and how to act and

• Ethics is based on logic and reason

• Ethics – Rules that help us tell difference between

• Values – Tell us what is important – helps us to make

• Morals – Rules we use to decide what is good or

• Character trait that reflects a person’s degree of

• Person of integrity – guided by morality and has

➢Integrity in daily transactions

• Eg. Volunteering in community initiatives, Voting in

• Self restraint : Restrict ourselves from untoward

• Self assertion: Comes from self esteem. If Govt. acts

• Self reliance : Virtue to support oneself, not to be a

• Respect – deference and acknowledgement of

➢Respecting others and accepting differences

➢Not interfering in others matters unless necessary

➢Giving credit for others works

➢Adapting to circumstances that cannot be changed

➢Engage in good deeds

➢Enduring basic needs of everyone without

➢Nurture love for all living beings

➢All kinds of living things

• Sharing – knowledge, facilities, goods, experiences

➢Leads to collective growth of society

➢Strengthens social ties, leads to peaceful living

• Stating facts clearly without any dilution

• Refraining from deceiving customers

• Not responding to bribes/ nepotism

• Being straight forward

• Seeking truth before deciding and acting

• Willingness to confront with pain, agony and

➢To face physical challenges (eg. People

➢Intellectual courage (to seek and speak truth even

• Be aware that time is a perishable resource

• Get your priorities right

• Get rid of procrastination

• Process of individuals working together synergistically

• Advantages: Pooling of diverse and/or

• Quality of holding on to a cause that one believes in,

• Three components of organizational

➢ Affective commitment: Employee loves his job and

➢ Continuance commitment: Employee is driven by

➢ Normative commitment: Employee feels obliged

• Clarify and communicate the mission of the

• Guarantee the organizational justice

• Create a sense of community

• Support employee development

➢ Better understanding of what motivates others

➢ Better appreciation of customer needs

➢ Better understanding of public perception of the