Training activity 4.3

Value clarification exercise: Personal values and decisions*

1. Goals
   

   To make participants aware of the following:
   • Their own values
   • The values required of magistrates as prescribed by the oath of office
   • The impact values have on the ability to act with integrity
   • The importance of acting with integrity as the key to judicial ethics

2. Group size
   Individual
   Group of 4
   Plenary
   

3. Time required    90 minutes

4. Materials
   

   Handout 3:	Values and decisions worksheet
   Handout 4:	Major life decisions worksheet
   Handout 5:	Values and decisions matrix sheet
   OHT 10:	Personal values and decisions

5. Process
   

   1. Introduce the activity as one that will explore one’s values and how they affect the decisions that one makes.

   2. Give each participant a copy of Handout 3: Values and decisions worksheet and ask them to complete it.
      (10 minutes)

   3. Give each participant Handout 4: Major life decisions worksheet and ask them to list on it, in the first half of the page, their most important life decisions ie decisions that have shaped their current situation or circumstances eg choice of career, where they live, whether they became married or not, financial decisions. They should then rank the 3 most important of these decisions.
      (10 minutes)

   4. Distribute Handout 5: Values and decisions matrix sheet. Trainers may wish to reproduce Handout 5 on a flipchart sheet to show participants where to insert the different aspects.

   5. Participants should transfer their 3 most important major life decisions from Handout 4 onto Handout 5.

   6. They should then list their 6 highest ranked values also in the spaces provided on Handout 5.
      (20 minutes)

   7. Give the following instructions relating to Handout 5:

      1. Evaluate the first life decision horizontally across the matrix; for each square associated with a particular value, determine whether the decision made was congruent with or served to advance that value. If so, enter a (+) sign in the square.
      2. If the decision did not serve to advance the value or was contrary to it, enter a (-) minus sign in the square.
      3. If there seems to be no relationship between the decision and the value, enter a zero (0) in the square.
      4. Repeat this procedure for the other life decisions in relation to each of the 6 values listed.
         (5 minutes)
   
   
   8. Form the participants into groups of four to compare and discuss their results and to note any incongruence between their decisions and their stated values and how they feel about it.
      To facilitate the discussion, use OHT 10: Personal values and decisions with the following questions to consider:
      • Were there more plusses, minuses, or zeros on your matrix sheets? What does the information suggest?
      • Are any general patterns apparent in all the matrix sheets? If so, what are they?
      • How committed are you to decisions that were in accordance with your stated values?
      (20 minutes)
      
      
   9. In plenary, guide the participants in discussing what was learnt from the experience. Discuss general principles, linking the exercise to integrity, ethics and values required in the judicial system.
      General principles
      1. “Values” are defined as “standards or principles considered valuable or important in life” (Oxford Paperback Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 3rd ed, 1990 at 903)
      2. Magistrates’ Oath prescribes two values:
      • Allegiance to the constitution and its principles;
      • Administering justice without fear, favour or prejudice
      3. Integrity is a quality that all magistrates must possess (Article 1, Code of Conduct)
         
      Integrity is an ability to adhere to a code of ethics or values. (Use the Right Word – A Modern Guide to Synonyms Reader’s Digest, The Reader’s Digest Association (Pty) Ltd, 1969, at 246) The word also connotes honesty and moral virtue. In the context of ethics, it can be described as an ability to withstand external pressures, to put aside one’s own bias or preconceived ideas in order to administer justice in a fair and consistent manner in accordance with the oath of office. In other words, it is the ability to act on one’s values in the decisions that one makes.
      
      
   10. The following questions may be included in this discussion:
       1. What happens when a person makes decisions that bear no relation to his or her values?
       2. What happens when a person makes decisions that are incongruous with his or her values?
       3. What implications do these matters have for making important decisions about one’s life and in one’s work?
       4. What can one do to ensure that one’s decisions are congruent with one’s values?
       (20 minutes)
   
   
   11. Refer participants back to Handout 4: Major life decisions worksheet, the second half of the sheet. They should write down in the space provided under “What changes can I implement?” any major life decisions that they need to make in the near future and the values that they will take into consideration when making them.
       (5 Minutes)