Is "I'm just doing my job" ever a valid excuse for doing something you don't fully agree with, support or stand behind?

No, it is not, and most of the time it is unnecessary. If you assert your rights consistently from the very beginning, you will usually find that they are accepted, and you won't get into the really tough moral decisions. You'd be amazed how often a boss will accept "no, I can't do that" along with a reasonable explanation as to why you feel that way.

This is especially true in large companies, where your boss has to answer to a higher boss. You won't always be able to keep your job forever, but you'll generally be able to at least buy yourself enough time to find a new job. This does, of course, assume that you are working in a job which you can support in the first place.

If you are morally opposed to cutting meat, don't work in a deli. If you're morally opposed to emergency abortions, don't work in an ER. If you can foresee the potential moral dilemma before you apply for the job, you need to work out a solution before you get the job in the first place.

I strongly disagree with ldyax's comment that "no one would hire someone who refuse to do their job as ordered if they feel they against it". I consistently refuse to do my job as ordered if I feel against it, and I have been hired for many jobs. Again, I've found large corporations tend to be the most conducive to this.

Smaller companies put up with it too, though - it's better for them to keep you around for a few months while you try to find a new job than to lay you off and fight against or pay your unemployment benefits, and that's only when you can't work out a work arrangement that keeps them and you both 100% happy. I suppose it helps that 1) my morals are generally in line with that of the businesses I work for - I'm not a vegan or anti-consumerist or anything - when I take a job it's because I truly want to see the business succeed; and 2) I generally perform excellently at the job I was hired for - so my boss (and her boss, and her bosses' boss) has a lot to lose if s/he fires me over some ego trip. See my sources for examples of what can happen when people don't stand up to authority figures.

Of Course it is. I worked in finance, and I might want to extend more credit than my boss, or work out a more lenient payment plan. Ultimately my boss tells me what to do and I can do it or I can leave and start my own company where I can make all those decisions the way I think they ought to be made.

When the company belongs to you, you can do everything exactly the way you like. If it belongs to someone else, you do things the way they ask, or you quit, and if you quit over every little disagreement (like which supplier to use for copy paper), you won't have a job long anywhere. In order to quit over it, it should be a pretty big issue.

I think the answer is quite simple. Your employer pays you for your ability to do your job, and not for your moral and ethical standards. I think people need to investigate companies prior to employment to see if they are compatible.

We often come across minor issues that conflict with our belief's, but in noway justify losing our jobs. "I'm just doing my job" is also a good go to phrase for people doing thier job, but feel guilty in it's commision.

If your job is legal then its a valid excuse, but if its not then you should think twice before you act because that answer can't support you for future problems.

I don't think so. I always stand up for what it is a believe in, I've never been one to put rules or laws before what's right. I feel my honor is more important than a job.

This is really a tough question. In some cases, the excuse clearly is not valid, like your captain asking you to shoot an unarmed person point blank or sell the drug you confiscated. But we rarely face such problems.

Our problems are more gray area. But oftentimes I don't see we have a choice if we want to keep our job or our livelihood. Sometimes it's enforcing laws we are not agree with, sometimes following school regulations we aren't agree with.

You know what, one of the reason I will resign from the school I'm currently working after my contract has ended is because I don't agree with a lot of their policies. But while I am working there, I must pretend to fully support the school. I have another option, so I can quit if I want, but for many people, they don't have that option.

Well, it is expected from all the employees in the world, really. I mean no one would hire someone who refuse to do their job as ordered if they feel they against it. A vegan who work at a gourmet shop and refuse to handle meat or other animal products surely get fired.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.