No matter where we are, we see how people express values. I am pretty sure that your family has values that it swears to live by-mine places honesty and loyalty to the family above everything else. The school you went to probably instilled the values of excellent integrity in you. Your local Rotary Club association promotes honesty more than any other values.
The same is true for an organization. In organizational sociology, these values are part of the organizational culture. Whether in a small or big organization, there are values that its leaders and followers adhere to, intentionally or not. People outside the organization judge the members of that organization and tailor their responses in their interactions with them using these values. As such, it is imperative for a leader to make sure that he and his members uphold good values.
If you are the founder of a business a business enterprises, how would you make values live in your organization? The first thing is to identify the values you want your organization to adhere to. If you have a small business, this is easily done since you can just impose the values you hold dear to your heart.
But for larger businesses, values identification takes more time since more people are involved in the value-setting process. Usually, the members of the firm's top management meet for this sort of thing. During the meeting they will share the values that they want the organization to live by and choose ones that they think will be vital to the success of the business. Reaching a consensus on this can be difficult since there are many values to choose from and each executive brings his or her own values to the table. Examples of values that are commonly considered in the values identification process are integrity, accountability, respect, excellence, altruism, volunteerism, and work-life balance.
Once the values have been identified, the next thing to do is communicate these values to the staff. The human resource department can be put in charge with this one, although it will have much more impact if the leaders of the organization will make the communication themselves. After all, they are in a better position to give a rationale as to why those values are chosen and to answer any questions that the employees might have. Leaders should encourage their employees to align their personal values with that of the organization.
It will be a good opportunity for leaders of the organization to introduce value statements during this meeting. Value statements give employees a concrete guide to their actions. They will serve as a constant reminder to the employees to conduct themselves in a manner that fits with the organization's values. Value statements can also be used as a guide in the future hiring of employees.
The final step is to live these values. Again, the top management should take leadership role in this one. They should embody the values that they themselves have set. Otherwise, the values will be just for show.
Click here to visit HowToDoThings.com